THE lineup Skiitour

WHISTLER’S SKI-BUMMING DJS

BY SEAN MCALINDIN

Dave Rollinson of international DJ/ producer duo Skiitour traveled from Auckland, New Zealand, to Whistler, British Columbia, 14 years ago to ski with friends.

“I ended up loving it a lot so I just stayed and built a life here,” he says in his laid-back Kiwi drawl.

Rollinson was spinning records at a local venue when Tim Livingstone of Kelowna, British Columbia, started chatting him up about an obscure track he was playing – “Venasque” by German record producer Ian Pooley.

They jumped in the studio the following week, played a show together the week after that and have now been touring the world for more than a decade.

“Ski towns are the best towns to play because everybody parties hard … If it’s a pow day, the whole town is out riding on the mountain together … If the snow is crappy, everyone is out partying together. They are living life to an extreme.”

— Tim Livingstone

“People seem to like funky, bassy house music that are in the ski world,” says Rollinson. “We play a real unique style. It’s kind of hard to put your finger on it, but a lot of the stuff has recognizable samples in it.”

Once a month, the easygoing twosome perform an après ski gig at the iconic Garibaldi Lift Co. lounge bar above the Whistler gondola building. They’ve played at the Shambhala Music Festival in the Kootenay Mountains since 2012 and appeared at Breakfast of Champions Block Party, Space Coast Music

Festival and Chasing Summer Festival. Aside from the turbo-funk-boosted, feel-good, bassy house music they spin, you can always count on Rollinson and Livingstone to look flawless in their retro, onesie ski suits or matching track suits.

“Originally, our plan was to go around in the winter DJing at ski towns to pay for our gas money to ride the different hills,” says Livingstone. “It’s been very successful up to the point where we don’t always have the time to ride the hills anymore. We’re busy playing multiple shows per week. It’s gotten bigger and bigger beyond anything we ever thought it would be.”

SkiiTour is scheduled to perform more than 80 dates across North America this year. Ski season takes them to resorts throughout California, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Alberta and beyond. There’s something about mountain towns these two just can’t get enough of.

“Ski towns are the best towns to play because everybody parties hard there,” says Livingstone. “I think there’s a real sense of people kind of living life to the fullest. If it’s a pow day, the whole town is out riding on the mountain together and enjoying the immediacy of that. If the snow is crappy, everyone is out partying together. They are living life to an extreme.”

“Normally skiers are crazy bastards, so they just give it,” says Rollinson. “We’re going full ham this winter. It’s a pretty insane tour we’re doing. We’re trying to bring après-ski culture to North America.”

When they’re not on the road or the mountain, SkiiTour are in the studio writing and recording original EDM music. Their latest single “Double Double” is a mashup of “Mistadobalina” by Del tha Funky Homosapien, which was itself a remix of “Zilch” by The Monkees. A new track in progress is based on samples of Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust.”

“We want to have exclusive songs to play in our sets that nobody else can have,” says Livingstone. “We’re able to instantly get feedback on the dance floor to know if it works or not, or if we have to tweak something. The songs rarely come out on the first draft.”

SkiiTour will perform with local DJ and promotor Rambo, whom they first saw on television when he won $11,000 playing Plinko. He then invited them to play at his annual Wigs and Onesies party.

“We saw him on ‘The Price is Right’ and said, ‘We have to meet this guy,’” says Rollinson. “We see him at Burning Man and bump into him here and there. We’ve known him a long time. He’s awesome.” | skiitour.com n