DJ Pierre Amador

When: DJ Pierre Amador spins at the Cool School Café, 13 NW 13th, on Thursday nights and Friday nights after hours. He also DJs at the Dolphin II in Beaverton Saturday and Sunday nights, and in Milwaukie at the Dolphin Tuesdays and Fridays.

What are your favorite tracks these days?

"That's a tough one, I like so many songs. I like this track 'Stinging Red' by Who da Funk and 'Contact' by Brooklyn Bounce. When I'm spinning underground or after-hours it varies, because I don't stick to one format."

What types of dance music do you like the best?

"I like hard house. Progressive trance is pretty cool, cause it's still banging but it has that voyager feeling. Like regular trance kind of makes you drift on the dance floor. I've been slowly slipping back into tribal; I think tribal is going to make a big comeback. Lately, I've been getting into global house in different languages, like Arabic."

Do you drink when you DJ, or is it important to be sober?

"It depends on the night. A night could call for a couple shots of Jager, just to get the groove going. Anything can happen between your house, putting your stuff in the car, and getting to the club."

Do you have any DJ heroes? People who got you interested in DJing in the first place?

"We're going to have to go way back to the '80s. In the '80s I was really big into freestyle and hiphop, so I liked DJ AJ. I got my first taste of freestyle listening to Power 106 out of L.A. They played a lot of freestyle like TKA. I think that's what really got me into dance music. STEVE "TAPPY" LANNING