When Scotty Thomson strolls in to spin at the nightspot known as Hydrate, 3458 N. Halsted, May 31, he will be sans Speedo.
'That's the old Scott, when I wasn't a full-time DJ, and it really was something that my publicist liked to latch on to,' Thomson said, laughing.
Yep, the muscled 33-year-old previously would offer his eclectic music wearing, well, nothing but a Speedo—oh, and maybe flip-flops.
But that's not the case anymore. He's now clothed, usually, with an occasional shirtless evening.
'I like to show up with a smile on my face and I'm excited to play music for people, and I think that kind of comes through in my sets,' said Thomson, a New York native. 'I always had a huge CD book in college and people always told me to bring my CDs to parties because I always had a lot of fun music; I was always buying upbeat stuff that people like to hear when they're drinking or having house parties. I didn't even think of it as DJ'ing then, but I guess I was a DJ in the making.'
Thomson, who lives in New York, is now a full-time DJ who has had gigs at Avalon, XL, SBNY, HK Lounge and elsewhere in his home state. He also has been hired to DJ in nightspots in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities.
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'Right now, my music takes up most of my time,' Thomson said. 'If I'm not traveling and spinning places, I'm working on music, listening to music, researching music—that kind of stuff.'
Thomson, who is gay and 'recently single,' said his spinning combines recognizable music with a mix of classics and a lot of European imports, stuff that other DJs don't traditionally play. And it's music and beats that 'get people very excited, such that they want to know what it is.'
Fun is key to Thomson's musical world.
Thomson attended Friends Academy in New York, then St. Mary's University.
'People are always shocked when they see my [ collegiate ] All-American sailing certificate on the wall [ at home ] , and right next to it is my DJ booth. They think [ the combination is ] so weird,' Thomson said, laughing.
In reality, it must be Thomson's Gemini personality shining through.
And in the DJ booth, his skills truly shine through.
See www.hydratechicago.com .
