Dance Music For Nerds

Dance Music For Nerds started as a weekly alt/indie dance night in Greenville, NC in 2005. It was an instant success and was booked at King’s in Raleigh and the Soapbox in Wilmington several times. It was started by Danial Rowe and featured guest DJ’s every week along with the occasional performer. The most notable guest DJ’s were several members of Art Lord and the Self Portraits, which has since evolved to become Future Islands. Performers included Moss of Aura (Gerrit from Future Islands’ solo project), Lonnie Walker when it was just Brian solo with a guitar and a kick drum, Love Language's Stuart McLamb's previous band, the Capulets, and Dan Deacon.
It was a fun night that never took itself too seriously. The DJ’s spun indie tunes that you normally could only dance to around the house, along with a whole lot of guilty pop pleasures. Danial was the only person with actual DJ experience, guest DJ’s were not chosen for their technical skills, rather it was for their ability to read a crowd and keep people in a dancing mood. DMFN ended when Danial left the PhD in BioMedical Physics program at East Carolina University to become a full time high school math teacher in Raleigh. He has since returned to graduate school at Duke University to earn a Masters of Arts in Teaching; being a college student again has given him the urge to resurrect DMFN on a very occasional basis. The Pinhook is a perfect fit as it is very similar to the venue DMFN started at (Peasant's Cafe) all of those years ago.