“Before Atomic, I certainly wasn’t throwing weekly parties,” DJ Basura says, laughing.
Also known as Michael Boado—general manager at San Jose’s Needle to the Groove Records—he has been spinning and slinging records since the early ’90s. His lifelong love and appreciation for records and music led him to pursue it more seriously around 1993, he says.
“Back then, it was a different scene. There was no Serato. DJs played records out. That was what you had to work with, records or CDs,” says DJ Basura. “And when I turned 21, I started looking for gigs. I played a few parties, a few nights at a place called Johnny V’s, and then eventually Waves Saloon.”
Dive bars like Johnny V’s (formerly on East Santa Clara Street) and venues like Waves (since replaced by Splash on Post Street) gave young DJs like Boado the space to experiment, hone their craft, and build a name.
“There was one specific night at Waves,” Boado recalls. “Jeff Jagged [Jeff Evans] of On the Corner Music, Lori [DJ Fuschia, Lori Braithwaite] and I would play upstairs, lots of electro and electroclash.”
The core group of patrons that frequented that specific dance party at Waves, Boado says, became regulars at the Blank Club on 44 S. Almaden Ave., where Boado was given his first consistent DJ residency.
“They were like, ‘Dude we love what you’re playing, how you’re mixing, it’s awesome,’ and so when I got this residency at the Blank Club, they were stoked,” says Boado. “I’m closer to them all now, and these folks are all regulars at the Ritz now. They go to all the shows, they always show up and it’s crazy.”
Blank Space
When Corey O’Brien and punk magazine publisher Larry Trujillo bought The Blank Club in 2003, they were two locals who understood that the alt-music scene in San Jose needed a space.
Formerly located on the southeast corner of First and San Salvador, the “intimate” club featured a small stage, no backstage area, and less-than-ideal conditions for bands to load in their gear and perform comfortably. Still, the bands had fun, and Blank’s crowds continued to grow, drawn night after night to the dimly-lit venue marked by a glowing neon “Blank” sign out front.
“Prior to [Atomic], it wasn’t on my radar. I wasn’t looking for anything,” recalls Boado. “In my collection, I had Depeche Mode and New Order records, but I wasn’t trying to do an ’80s night, per say.”
Trujillo and O’Brien—the latter now owner of The Ritz—coined the name for the weekly dance party Boado would eventually helm, inspired by Blondie’s disco-rock anthem “Atomic.”
“I was playing music from that era, all the stuff popular in the 2000s, but I was mixing in ’80s songs like (New Order’s) ‘Blue Monday’ too. (O’Brien) and Trujillo heard of me and we eventually connected,” Boado recalls. “Larry was looking for a DJ to fill in, to start a weekly (party) at the Blank Club. I came in and met up with Corey and Trujillo and he said, ‘We’re gonna try this out, ok?’ and I came on, and the rest is history.”
Boado’s residency at Blank Club was a success. Atomic drew in crowds from across San Jose’s alt-scene and more, week after week, Boado says.
“College students, old school, barflies…it was a good mix of folks,” he adds.
And after almost 12 years of operation, the Blank Club closed on Jan. 31, 2015. Seeking to run a mid-sized club, O’Brien opened The Ritz a few months later at the corner of 1st and San Salvador streets in the SoFA District.
“The Ritz opened up a few months later and people had mixed reactions and mixed emotions about it,” Boado recalls. “Because the Ritz is such a huge place. Thursday nights were much more intimate at Blank, real small. The way it looks when it’s dark and things are getting going, it could look super packed with 50, 60 people in there. And when you take a party like that, and bring it to a place like the Ritz, you expect it to be good but it doesn’t translate. It didn’t transition well.”
The Ritz’s first few years were tough, Boadosays. “People were like, ‘Man, this place is too big. It’s not as intimate as the Blank. It doesn’t have the same vibe.’ It took us a few years to get a good rhythm going, even with live shows.”
“A lot of nights were slow, and with Atomic, we tried it,” Boado says. “But it was just not clicking.
“We were doing the same thing but it was different and our patrons were not coming. The old school punks, the barflies, they weren’t showing up. And so we put it on pause for a while.”
Atomic Comeback
After a decade of doing weekly events, the DJ says he was feeling burnt out. “Doing a weekly for a decade? It was rough. So the pause came at the right time,” he says. “It was a good time to put the brakes on Atomic and try out new things.”
In 2022, Atomic roared back to life with the “Comeback Party,” as a monthly event at the Ritz. “I said, ‘Let’s give it another go!’ but not as a weekly thing. That was out of the question at that point,” Boado says. “We had a good response. People were yearning for it.”
There’s been a resurgence of the dark wave genre, says the DJ. “There’s newer, modern bands that still have that old sound. Back then Atomic started as an ’80s night, with your core shit like Depeche Mode and Joy Division,” recalls Boado. “We would sprinkle in indie shit by LCD Soundsystem and Interpol to balance it out and get other people in as opposed to those who only wanted to listen to 80s music.”
Two decades in, The Cure and The Smiths still anchor Atomic’s setlist, says Boado, spun alongside ever-popular ’80s favorites including New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle,” Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Q Lazzarus’ “Goodbye Horses,” and newer post-punk, darkwave, and goth acts. “All the new stuff goes well with the old,” laughs Boado.
Atomic celebrates its 20th anniversary this Saturday, July 19, at The Ritz. DJ Basura will headline the night, joined by industrial-techno DJ Plastic Disease and goth/darkwave DJ Bit.
Atomic celebrates its 20th anniversary this Saturday, July 19, at The Ritz, 400 S 1st St, San Jose. DJ Basura will headline the night, joined by industrial-techno DJ Plastic Disease and goth/darkwave DJ Bit. $13.50 general/$262.58 VIP. Visit ticketweb.com.
