Do you have a signature quote; something that maybe describes you and your style?

There’s this trend that I started on Twitter, it’s called “Let It Play.” That’s kind of my style; I don’t just keep my head down and keep on doing these crazy quick mixes. I watch people and if they like what they’re hearing and they’re feeling it then I let it play a little bit. “Let It Play” is how I differentiate myself from other DJs. They sort of just keep their head down and do routines that they think are awesome or that they worked on, whereas I sort of just watch the crowd and let it play if necessary, you know.

So how do you connect to the masses? You’re obviously on Twitter, what’s your Twitter handle?

My handle is @herbertholler and on Facebook Herbert Holler as well (though I’ve reached my friend maximum).
Is that where people can find all things Herbert Holler?

Yeah they can go to my Herbert Holler page; I have all my events listed.

Gotcha. So you’ve been here in the city since 94’?

Yes 1994.

And what other places has DJing taken you?

Let’s see; nationwide it’s taken me to California, Ohio, Florida, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta.

All over…

Yeah, all over, pretty much. That’s national. All of the major markets nationally and then some other not so major markets, and then internationally Kyoto, Japan; Tamarindo, Costa Rica; Cozumel, Mexico.

When you last spoke with Citiology you said that your specialties were hip hop, classics and soulful house. Is that still the same?

Well I really play everything; there’s nothing I don’t play. I try not to play cheesy pop and commercial dance music if I can help it. If I don’t have to then I won’t play it. Maybe that’s a good way to narrow it down. Ask me what I don’t like to play, and I’ll tell you pop; cheesy, poppy music. I don’t like playing that. Whether it’s commercial cheesy rap music, commercial r&b, commercial dance music; I mean that’s the stuff I’d rather not play. But I really play everything else.

About what element of nightlife here in NYC do you have the most savvy?

I really kind of know nightlife period better than anybody else. I mean I understand it; I’ve been on it since 1994. I really understand the way it works.

Do you have a connection to house music? Is that one of your favorite styles to play?

Yes. If you were to ask me what I really love to play, first I would say anything with soul in it, and then I would also tell you house music. Mind you, people are mislabeling house music these days. You know, Pitbull and Neyo, Afrojack, Rihanna; that’s not really house music. I guess commercial dance music is a better way to put it. I really like playing house; like real, real house music, underground house music. I definitely enjoy playing hip hop classics. I enjoy playing disco. I enjoy playing 80’s stuff. Different kinds of electronica, you know that’s fun too.

Where would you be at midnight on a Saturday?

Saturday night I’m either in another market like Chicago or DC doing a party there or here in Brooklyn doing a night at Deity.  I’m just really all over the place. The only thing I have right now is Deity the third Saturday of the month, which leaves the rest of the month open to guest spot and be in other cities.

Nice. So can we get a playlist from you, of where you can enjoy some good, soulful house music?

Wednesday:  Wednesday nights at Cielo you can’t go wrong. It’s Little Louie Vega and Kevin Hedge, so it’s always soulful and global and really good.
Thursday: StudioXXI
Friday:  The Morgan in Bushwick – Tyrone Francis is doing some parties on Fridays every now and then. Also check out my gig the Freedom Party at LPR

Saturday:  Saturdays every so often in Brooklyn at a loft called 12-Turn-13, it's a party called Mister Saturday Night. They do house music and it’s definitely deep and underground.

Sunday:  Off the top of my head you can try Sunday nights at Santos Party House. Downstairs, Tony Touch spins underground house music. 718 Sessions once a month on Sundays at Santos upstairs, Danny Krivit plays underground house music and club classics.

Bradford James:  Whatever he’s up to. He’s a really good deep house DJ, like really deep, deep. Like, kind of got to dig down and meet him halfway on it. That’s the way it works with the deep stuff. Some people will find it boring, but if you can try and dig down and really search for it and feel it, then you really start to understand why so many people across the whole planet really love deep house music. It’s just this great, incredible feeling, this vibe. It’s like being sort of hypnotized for two hours. I think I’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head with what I gave you so far.

What sets them apart from the crowd?

It’s really the music. In general, music is what’s going to make a difference in New York City these days. Most places that open are really just trying to emulate a financially successful business model. They’re not opening to add to the nightlife culture or to create a type of experience; they don’t really give a shit. They’re just trying to be like Vegas, trying to get a celebrity, trying to have a million tables, no dance floor and a bottle on every table. So if you have a place that puts music first; unless you like the Kim Kardashian Vegas crap, then you want a good time and everybody will really appreciate it.

When we started Freedom that’s what we did. We knew that there was a lot of great music that we couldn’t play and we wanted to create an event that was like real NYC parties that maintained an identity and the culture of NYC nightlife, so what we said was let’s just put music first and everything else will fall into place. And that’s what we continue to do. We just make music the most important element of the night; nothing else is as important. We had Steve Nash in VIP once and who knows what he wanted to listen to, but we didn’t ask him. We played for our dance floor and he was two-stepping and enjoying himself all night. We don’t play music to sell bottles. It has nothing to do with that. We’ll always play what we play, regardless of where we are or who is there. So that’s how these house music parties differentiate themselves from the other crap.

When you talk about the greatest parties and the greatest club experiences, you talk about parties that had nothing to do with bottle service. You talk about Soul Kitchen and you talk about Giant Step or you talk about Body and Soul or you talk about Freedom or you talk about The Funk Box, or Red Parrot; those are the places that people remember and appreciate and look back fondly on. So I’m trying to create an experience and sort of just leave my mark on things. To do that I think is so much more than just money.

Well I think that’s the perfect segue for you to run down where we can find Freedom in The City, where we can find it elsewhere, and other parties where people can hear you let it play.

Well you can hear me every single Friday at the Freedom Dance Party. We are now approaching our 9th year of weekly Fridays; we’ve been doing a party every single Friday since 2003. It’s the longest running weekly Friday night dance party in the history of the city. We’re at LPR that stands for Le Poisson Rouge; the red fish. It’s at 158 Bleecker Street between Thompson and Sullivan. We’re there every single Friday no matter what. Doors open at 11, we close at 4am. Ladies are free until midnight, just $10 afterward; guys are just $10 until 2am and $15 afterwards. General admission is $20, so you can just get at me, Herbert@herbertholler.com, and I can put you on the guest list.  We play a mix of soulful music from yesterday through today with a heavy emphasis on classic hip hop, classic 90s, classic 80s, classic reggae, classic r&b and classic house; we play a little bit of everything. The Freedom Party is now in Chicago once a month, we’ve done a number of those already and they’ve been very successful, so if you’re in Chicago you can catch us there. We will also be doing DC once a month and  we’re working on Boston, Miami and Philadelphia as we speak.

If you want to catch me outside of Freedom I’m doing a lot of different one-offs. Really the best way is to email me and I can tell you where I’m at. I’ll add you to my distribution list called the Herbert Holler. It’s a free nightlife email that I’ve been doing since 2000 and it lists all the parties in town; not just my own, and you’ll find out where I am.

I also have a new house music mix coming out. It’s about an hour long of some underground house music, stuff that I really love and I think it’s a great mix. It’s called My House, Vol. 3 and if you want to hear the different mixes I’ve done you can go to soundcloud. It exposes people to the underground part of house music. There are at least 20 different genres of house music, before you even get to the commercial dance music. There’s deep, there’s tech, there’s minimal, there’s soulful, there’s global, there’s ambient – it just really goes on and on so, check out those My House mixes and definitely come to the Freedom Party if you want to sing along to the tunes because people sing all night.