Chris Lorenzo Was Thrown Out of a Club in His Boxers Before He Could Even DJ His Set

Chris Lorenzo–whose debut album, Destroy the Image, came out last November–faced that exact scenario when he was scheduled to play a set on his birthday. Here, Lorenzo recalls what happens when you mix a drunk DJ, a club fight, and 20 no-nonsense bouncers.

A couple of years ago on my birthday, three of my best friends, and I went out and got sloshed. You know, the day was good. We were out drinking all day and all evening.

We eventually headed to and entered the club where I was set to DJ. Everything was fine and dandy. We were drinking and all having a good time. There were about 15 minutes before my set was due to start and I went over to the DJ booth. I had all the wristbands and the booth was busy.

I got right to the booth and the doorman said, "No, you can't come into the booth."

And I said, "Well, I'm the next DJ. You gotta let me in. Here's my wristband. I need to come in and get set up."

He wasn't having any of it. He moved away from the booth briefly to go attend to something by the fire exit. I took my opportunity. I thought, I'll just creep in there. And then halfway into the booth, someone grabbed me by my collar and ripped me out of the booth.

We ended up wrestling. Then a few people jumped in like lighting engineers and other DJs. They try to get into the middle of it. And they eventually started calming down, saying, "He's the DJ. He's the next DJ."

But then the cavalry came over to us. I think there were about 15 or 20 other doormen, and they weren't too happy. And after arguing with them to try and tell them I was the next DJ, I ended up getting pulled to the floor by four or five of them. I got a really good kicking. It wasn't the best thing I've ever been through.

The next thing I remember—I got a few good hits—but I was standing outside the club in my boxer shorts, feeling sorry for myself, as you can imagine. As they were beating me up, they took my trousers. I can't say what country we were in, but it's not unheard of for bouncers there to also take your phone and your wallet. They do it because you can't go to any club afterwards and no taxis will pick you up. It kind of just kills your night completely.

There were mixed emotions going through my head. How could they do this to me? It's my birthday! I'm the next DJ! What's going on? It was just 0 to 100, as you can probably imagine. I think I was a bit drunk, but I soon calmed down. I've got to thank my manager for that.

I think the best thing about the whole night was when taxis pulled up to take me home. They saw me in my boxers and they just kept driving away.

I think the club realized I was supposed to be DJing five minutes after the incident. A few of the people—the promoters I guess—told me that they went over to the bouncers and said, "Yeah, he was the next DJ."

[The club's] story was that I was overreacting that night and I was too drunk. Which … I wouldn't completely dismiss. I wasn't completely calm and collected. But I think if you're going to be dragged to the floor, you're gonna act a certain way. We eventually got home and carried on drinking.