Get To Know Our Friendly Staff

Nate’s contributions to the Midwest dance scene have been numerous and relevant. As a founding member of Chicago’s Style Matters collective and now as owner of Caliber DJs, he has also had a significant role in reshaping the idea of what it means to be a wedding and special event DJ, and has helped to build a successful event model for couples everywhere. Nate got his start in Madison, Wisconsin in May of 1998 and his local profile quickly rose as he promoted shows in clubs on a regular basis. Upon moving to Chicago in August of 2000, he upped his exposure through gigs at institutional Chicago clubs like Crobar, Smart Bar, RedNoFive, Big Wig and others. Steady invitations to spin at clubs from Hawaii to London came in and he also found himself with numerous weekly gigs around the city, including his highly successful Sunday morning Funk and Soul brunch at local Wicker Park hangout Moonshine. About this time he met Spencer Lokken of the Chicago DJ trio Orchard Lounge, and the 2 quickly became friends. When Spencer incorporated his wedding DJ business Style Matters, Nate was one of the first on board, helping with a number of weddings every year as the company grew more and more. Nate also launched a record label, Bad Advice Inc. in 2008, which released projects from some of Chicago and the UK’s best House music artists.

In October of 2009 everything changed as Nate was named music director and talent buyer for the legendary Chicago dance club Smart Bar, housed in the basement of the Metro. The club, which celebrated its 30th birthday in July of 2012, has played host to dance luminaries and legends alike week after week. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, ?uestlove, Laurent Garnier, Kaskade, Nicolas Jaar, Dave Clarke and Seth Troxler are just a small fraction of the artists that have graced the decks during his tenure. In addition, he is the man responsible for overseeing the creation of Queen!, Smart Bar’s highly popular pan-sexual Sunday night soirée which features residents Derrick Carter, Gramaphone’s Michael Serafini, Garrett David and the late Frankie Knuckles. In 2012 Nate decided to take a break from nightlife and use his knowledge and experience to go in a different direction, launching Caliber DJs in the Bay Area.

Nate has already become a favorite of planners, vendors, venues and above all happy couples across the Bay Area and has been enjoying a rapidly-filling schedule at various locales from Sonoma to Tahoe and from as far south as San Diego to as far north as Ukiah. Just some of the venues already performed include the SHED (Healdsburg), the Ritz Carlton (SF), the Thomas Fogarty Winery (Woodside), Cline Cellars (Sonoma), Paradise Ridge Winery (Santa Clara), the Mountain Winery (Saratoga), The Lawrence Hall Of Science (Berkeley), The Claremont Hotel (Berkeley), The Mark Hopkins InterContinental (SF), Diablo Ranch (Walnut Creek), The Marin Art & Garden Center, Lucchesi Vineyards & Winery (Grass Valley), The Ainsley House (Campbell), The Park Chalet Restaurant (Golden Gate Park), the Grand Hyatt Union Square (SF) Hotel Vitale (SF) and the Golden Gate Club (Presidio)

Yet another Midwest Maestro-turned-West Coast Wunderkind, Nicholas Schuster is a dedicated vinyl junkie and a seasoned veteran of the Midwest and West Coast dance scene, having DJed all over San Francisco for the past 8 years alone and now taking on a lead role in Caliber DJs. Brought up on his father’s extensive record collection, he was first inspired early on by artists ranging from Queen to the Pointer Sisters, Jimi Hendrix, The Sex Pistols, Run DMC and even Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan. However it wasn’t until high school that his first real job at a local ice rink would put him in a position to volunteer on Fridays and Saturdays to DJ the open skate- a position that would lead him to a 20 year love affair with DJing from which he would never look back.

Currently Nicholas holds down regular residencies across SF, including his monthly party “Everything Is Happening”, which takes place at Madrone Art Bar.  Incredibly versatile and a consummate professional, he is sure to give you and your guests an immensely fun and unique auditory experience from start to finish.

Raised and based in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, Olga T is the premiere female DJ of the Northern California Women’s and Queer club scene.  Her ability to play nearly any genre of music, from Hip Hop, Dancehall/Reggae, 80s, 90s & Y2K Throwbacks, Funk, Old School, Latin, R&B, to Top 40, Electro, Trap and Dance Anthems allows her to satisfy any kind of audience. Olga T is known for having perfect crowd reading precision, passionate energy and flawless transitions that always generate a happy and packed dance floor.

Currently Olga T is a resident DJ at SPiN SF (Susan Sarandon’s ping pong social club recently opened in the SOMA area of SF) and also a resident DJ and audio tech for MANGO @ El Rio in SF. Already in its 21st year, Mango is the Bay Area’s 1st and longest running outdoor afternoon party for women, queers and their allies. Other residencies include 1st Saturdays at Q Bar in the Castro, 2nd Friday nights at El Rio and she also holds down a residency at The Night Light Bar in Oakland, California. Olga T is also a recurrent guest DJ at Hard French and numerous special events throughout the Bay Area and beyond. In addition to absolutely dominating the Bay Area nightlife scene, she also has extensive experience DJing for weddings, private and corporate events making her the perfect fit and a valued addition to the Caliber DJs family.  A loyal vinyl head and always true to the original art form of DJing, Olga T is masterfully explosive in each and every performance!

Weddings and special occasions are no stranger to Michelangelo Battaglia, aka Mike Bee, who got his start DJ’ing family weddings and high school barbecues as a kid growing up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mike’s musical journey would take him across the country to San Francisco and see him immersed in music and DJ culture, working at nearly every level of the industry over a 25-year career, making him an exceptional choice to soundtrack one of the best days of your life.

An early path as a classically trained opera and music theater student at Carnegie Mellon University took a left turn as Mike dove headfirst into the emerging rave scene of the early 90’s. After moving to the West Coast, he immediately started DJ’ing through out San Francisco, as resident selector of such legendary club nights as Ikon Massive (for which Mike programmed and mixed a commercially-available CD compilation of the same name), La Belle Epoque and Bottom Heavy. Mike’s DJ’ing exploits have seen him open for myriad big-name headliners, from James Murphy to LTJ Bukem, Mark Farina to Andras Fox, Alexander Robotnick to Ryuichi Sakamoto & over his 20+ year DJ career Mike has done thousands of gigs both home and across the country and globe.

Mike’s longevity as a DJ has also seen him incorporate many different musical genres into his repertoire: starting out as a drum’n’bass DJ and moving through  UK/2-step garage, Broken Beat, downtempo & chillout styles, disco, deep house, techno and more. His eclecticism is a result of a lifelong musical addiction that is the lifeblood of his skills as selector, curator, presenter & tastemaker, and he is asked to consult his encyclopedic knowledge of music and culture daily.

If there’s a hat to wear in the industry, Mike has worn it – whether as dance/electronic music buyer for Amoeba Music SF (1998-2011), columnist for Urb Magazine (1997-2000) or XLR8R (1997-2005), co-host of Future Breaks FM (1997-2004) or the Friday Night Session (2002-2010) on sadly deceased former community radio hub KUSF 90.3FM, nightlife promoter (1995-present) or Mike’s current endeavor as owner of Lower Haight-based dance culture record shop Vinyl Dreams. Launching in 2011, Vinyl Dreams has been Mike’s attempt to give the Bay Area dance music community a place to gather & commiserate and experience music and culture with no barrier to entry.

Mike continues to DJ regularly in SF and beyond: as resident DJ at Housepitality SF, Das Sind Wir SF, Dance Jam Berkeley and Muka SF, while his travelling endeavors have seen him recently drop sets at the Sunset Campout (Belden, CA), Chillits (Laytonville, CA), Folding Space (Seattle), Desert Trip Fest (Indio, CA) Dublab (LA) and Systematic (LA) .