Lil Thunder
Marie Litton is stuck in the '80s (not that she has a problem with that)
Vanessa Gochnour
More I Am A DJ
If Cyndi Lauper’s right—and let’s face it, she usually is—girls want nothing more than to have fun. If this includes a cheap cover (free for ladies, $3 for guys), stiff drinks, and an endless stream of '80s hits, DJ Lil Thunder’s Turn On The Red Light Dance Party has what all the girls could ever really want. Playing cheesy yet danceable tracks every Wednesday at 3 Kings Tavern, Lil Thunder (better known as Marie Litton, singer-guitarist of Denver's darkly rocking Ghost Buffalo) jams everything from Digital Underground to the Pet Shop Boys to New Order. But as Litton's recent talk with Decider shows, she isn’t behind the soundboard just to rack up style points; in fact, she spends just as much time on the dancefloor as she does programming the tunes.
Decider: Why did you feel it was necessary to bring back the ‘80s dance party?
Marie Litton: My girlfriends and I always tried to go out dancing, and it just sucked. It’s all this weird, new, techno stuff, and that’s not any fun to us. We’re in our mid- to late-twenties, and we want music that reminds us of being wild and young. We want music that we grew up listening to, that we identify with. It’s the kind of stuff that makes us think about the good old times, which probably weren’t good old times at all.
D: DJs don’t usually dance to their own tracks. Why do you like initiating the dance party?
ML: I like going out there so people feel a little more obligated, or at least not as embarrassed, to dance. I feel like if I’m doing it, it brings energy to the party. People will feed off of that. If you want to have a dance party, you better bring it. And I always like to dance. It’s like a crazy workout to me; I’ll dance all night.
D: Do you rely primarily on MP3s when you’re DJing?
ML: Yeah. I feel like it was kind of lame to use all MP3s when I started. I’ve spun records before; it’s not hard or anything. It would be cool to switch it up—to put my iPod and my vinyl on—but I don’t have the turntables right now. And honestly, if I’m dancing it would be a really hard thing to do. It’s easier for me to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I kind of feel weird sometimes… well, not too weird. Actually, fuck it, I don’t care. A couple of people will be like, “What do you do?” And I tell them, “You’re looking at it.” I’ve gotten some bad looks, but fuck them.
D: It doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of pretension to what you’re doing.
ML: No, not at all. I liked going to the Snake Pit when I was younger. It wasn’t pretentious at all; so many different groups of people would go there. But then when I went to Lipgloss, I just didn’t like that vibe. I just want it to be where nobody feels nerdy, where they can just be themselves and have fun.
Decider: Why did you feel it was necessary to bring back the ‘80s dance party?
Marie Litton: My girlfriends and I always tried to go out dancing, and it just sucked. It’s all this weird, new, techno stuff, and that’s not any fun to us. We’re in our mid- to late-twenties, and we want music that reminds us of being wild and young. We want music that we grew up listening to, that we identify with. It’s the kind of stuff that makes us think about the good old times, which probably weren’t good old times at all.
D: DJs don’t usually dance to their own tracks. Why do you like initiating the dance party?
ML: I like going out there so people feel a little more obligated, or at least not as embarrassed, to dance. I feel like if I’m doing it, it brings energy to the party. People will feed off of that. If you want to have a dance party, you better bring it. And I always like to dance. It’s like a crazy workout to me; I’ll dance all night.
D: Do you rely primarily on MP3s when you’re DJing?
ML: Yeah. I feel like it was kind of lame to use all MP3s when I started. I’ve spun records before; it’s not hard or anything. It would be cool to switch it up—to put my iPod and my vinyl on—but I don’t have the turntables right now. And honestly, if I’m dancing it would be a really hard thing to do. It’s easier for me to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I kind of feel weird sometimes… well, not too weird. Actually, fuck it, I don’t care. A couple of people will be like, “What do you do?” And I tell them, “You’re looking at it.” I’ve gotten some bad looks, but fuck them.
D: It doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of pretension to what you’re doing.
ML: No, not at all. I liked going to the Snake Pit when I was younger. It wasn’t pretentious at all; so many different groups of people would go there. But then when I went to Lipgloss, I just didn’t like that vibe. I just want it to be where nobody feels nerdy, where they can just be themselves and have fun.
