DJ Willyum

"It's like our monthly mass, if you will," jokes 29-year old Will Putney about his monthly Philadelphia Experiment DJ gigs at Silk City. Putney, who DJs under the moniker Willyum, makes up one-fourth of the Philadelphia Experiment DJ crew and has a long history in the house music scene.

A Temple University grad and Fort Washington, Pa., native, Willyum began DJ-ing around town more than 10 years ago.

In the early '90s when I was in high school, I used to travel down to the city when the electronic and rave seen was getting big. I definitely gravitated toward it and decided I wanted to try DJing myself."

As a Philly DJ mainstay, Willyum's seen the community change and grow. "When I first started out there was a lot of interest in DJ culture. That peaked at the end of the '90s and now there's a bit of a backlash," he says. "Younger kids seem more into live music, though there are certainly people who are into both."

These days Willyum divides his time between his position as head buyer of house music at 611 Records and working on his deep-house label Worship Recordings, where he records and releases EPs of local house DJs about once a month.

The Philadelphia Experiment has been at Silk City for more than five years. "People are always smiling. The positive energy is something that people notice," he says. "It's not trance-y or too bass-y. It's good, deep funky house music. We don't play traditional club music."

In fact, there's nothing traditional about the Philadelphia Experiment. The crew sets up four turntables and two DJs spin at once, playing off each other and incorporating each other's beats into complex mixes. "It's an interactive, challenging experience for us as well as the crowd," says Willyum.

Willyum also DJs at Soma on Tuesdays with Rob Paine, at Lounge 125 on Wednesdays with Sean O'Neal and at West Philly's recently opened O Bar on Sundays as a part of the Philly Soul Collective.

He plans to stick with house music. "Though I certainly entertain thoughts of doing something else, this is really all I've known for a decade now. Five years from now I'd definitely still hope to be involved."

--JULIE GERSTEIN