Six questions for Sovietpanda

When First Avenue was looking to revamp its Saturday-night dance party in 2006, the legendary club went to an unlikely -- and unproven -- DJ.

At the time, Peter Lansky (aka Sovietpanda) was a struggling University of Minnesota student who dreamed of moonlighting as an electro-dance-rock tastemaker. Three years later, Too Much Love is First Ave's flagship dance night. With Lansky at the helm, it's become the antithesis to the Top 40 club nights that dominate the downtown scene.

Too Much Love's success has gotten Lansky DJ sets all around town. Last Friday, he performed at the Walker Art Center's After Hours party. But home base is still First Ave, where he books national acts on a consistent basis (Deathface, Traxx). Some of his heroes (Diplo, LCD Soundsystem) have stopped by for impromptu sets.

In preparation for the anniversary party, Sovietpanda took my questions.

Q Three years in the club scene is a long time -- it's like grandpa status. Did you think you'd last this long?

A I had no idea going into it. I didn't think I was going to get asked back a second time. And I had no idea I'd be DJing for a job.

Q The fan base came right away, but fellow DJs were skeptical of you and your laptop -- was it hard overcoming some of that initial criticism?

Q Who's been your favorite Too Much Love guest?

A Last July, I had Jacques Renault. He's a house and disco DJ from New York. He's part of the production duo Runaway. He was my No. 1 wish-list DJ from North America. Runaway's big hit is a tribal, repetitive, big-drums-floating-piano house track. It doesn't have words, it's pretty abstract. And he had kids jumping up and down screaming for this song. It sounds cheesy, but the vibe was unreal. It was really cool.

Q Do you ever fear that your guest DJs might be too esoteric, even for your fan base?

A I do think about it. But any time that I do get really worried, I've been surprised and proven wrong. Traxx (a DJ from Chicago) in January was an example of that. I was a little worried about how his style (acid house/jakbeat) might go over. But people just went nuts.

Q What Twin Cities DJ do you think is really doing something different right now?

Q What's the strangest side gig you've gotten because of your Too Much Love success?

A I DJ'd outside the Metrodome after a Gopher game. I don't get these gigs because I'm playing the right kind of music for the event. The Metrodome thing was weird in that it wasn't weird at all. I just went there and did it, and it wasn't a big deal.