DJ Dossier: Tricky T

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Back in the day (specifically, the late '90s) he was a hand-picked protégé of the renowned Z-Trip, who worked such bygone venues as Tempe's Green Room and the old Nita's Hideaway. He was also a big part of the formative years of the Blunt Club back in the early part of this decade, digging through crates and spinning up hot hip-hop tracks for the masses.

In more recent years, Tricky has been a part of the boffo Pinky Ring affair every Wednesday and many other nights around town. He's also teamed up with Universatile Music's Pickster One for their joint effort TPMD, which stands for "Tricky and Pickster Makin' Dollars."

Not only has the pair been raking in the scrilla, they've also been making local music fans get their ass on the dance floor and have a somewhat secretive Sunday night party in the works that undoubtedly will bring in the masses.

Name: Tom Laurie

AKA: Tricky T

Club gig(s): Right now I do Pinky Ring. It's been at Bar Smith for years but we're moving to PCL in Scottsdale in like two weeks. On Fridays I am now at Party Foul at Homme Lounge. Saturdays, I am at Cherry Lounge on Mill Avenue in Tempe. And I also have a Sunday project that we are working on.

Preferred genre(s): I play all kinds of stuff. Everything from soul, James Brown and stuff, to hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest, to rap music, Litttle John type of stuff to electro, house music, and all kinds of shit. Pretty much everything except country.

Weapon(s) of choice: I use two Technics 1200 turntables, a Rand 56, my Mac laptop and Seratto Scratch Live.

Describe how you got started as a DJ: I grew up in this town outside of Philadelphia listening to the DJs on the radio, which got me very interested in it. Then I moved out here to Arizona in '95 and met Z-Trip, who showed me the ropes. I wasn't really doing clubs at first, mainly practicing at home for two years. I got really lucky and got involved with Ty Carter, who was throwing the really big shows at that time. I was 20 years old and opening up for The Roots, Outkast, and Nas. Z-Trip and I started doing this night at the old Green Room in Tempe in '98, but we left there and started another night at Nita's Hideaway called Funky Cornbread with DJ Tige.

What's the significance behind your DJ name? My mother gave it to me. My mom pretty much from a toddler called me Tricky (even to this day she does) because as a kid I was getting into trouble, causing a ruckus.

Which do you prefer -- MP3s or vinyl? I played on vinyl for my whole career except for the past three years, but to be honest, I barely even play any records anymore. Kinda sad, I guess.

What's been the worst thing about the decline of vinyl usage by DJs? The worst thing is the whole crate digging for music aspect of DJing is almost gone. Any song is available through anybody. All you have to do is Google it and you've got it. Now it's turned into MP3 digging, it is not even comparable.

What's your most treasured vinyl score? I can't remember what year it was, but I went into Tracks in Wax once and somebody had literally just left and sold a bunch of '90s hip-hop singles that were impossible to find. And I came up on all that shit for just three bucks each. There were some Souls of Mischief 93 'til Infinity singles, Public Enemy singles, Run-D.M.C. singles, like all this amazing shit. Whoever sold that shit got 50 cents each.

What's the track you can't get outta your head lately? "Reading Rainbow -- Captain Culo Remix." It's a funny song that my boy Cutso from the Bay area made as a crazy remix of the Reading Rainbow theme. I've been playing that a lot lately, bugging out on it.

What's been your best experience as a DJ? Going on a huge bus tour with Z-Trip. We did a 26-city tour for in 2007 for this video game soundtrack he did called All Pro. It was amazing, a very good tour experience. I have been on tours in bands, but to be on a nice eight-bunk bus was very nice.

And the worst? To be honest with you, playing at stupid places in Scottsdale. Girls coming up and saying crazy things like, "Do you have anything good?" or, "Play something that I can dance to," when the dance floor is already packed. Things like that.

What other musical projects are you working on? D-JR and I are doing a Pinky Ring CD and TPMD, we're doing another CD. That's probably it right now.

How has Phoenix's DJ/dance scene changed over the years? What pops in my head right now, is that it seems like people back then went out to have fun, but nowadays it seems very somewhat pretentious. People are going out to be seen, which doesn't seem as fun and as open. Hopefully this Sunday project I am working on is going to change that.

If you had the power to change anything about the scene, what would that be? I'd make people more open-minded musically. People kinda get stuck to one particular kind of sound and then they follow whatever is going on, instead of just having fun.