A Night in the Life of Ilirjana Alushaj

She hasn't got a phone but Ilirjana Alushaj is still the most popular girl in Greenpoint. "I lost my BlackBerry and I don't know where my bandmates are," Apache Beat's frontwoman tells me as we wait outside Brooklyn venue Coco66, where we're about to catch a show from her buddies Oneohtrix Point Never. Still, she doesn't sweat the prospect of spending her night solo as hordes of bearded boys and inked-up girls stop to shoot the shit with her. "God, you know like every single person here," I say to her. "Well, you know, I'm like friends with the band and stuff," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "Wait, is this boring for you? This is supposed to be about how we like to party or something, right? How can we make this better?" I pause to think, and ten minutes later we're huddled by a dumpster chugging two Four Lokos from the shop next door. "This tastes like sick," says Ilirjana. "Yeah," I say, "I think that means it's working."

She and I, along with her bandmate Mike Dos Santos, catch the show and chug some more and dance to weird house music and tell everyone that we just saw Dakota Fanning making out with another girl in the back room. A few hours later, I emerge from the bathroom to find Ilirjana slumped over the bar in all her sticky-sweet post-Loko glory. "This random dude just handed me these while I was peeing," I tell her, opening my palm to reveal two tiny blue pills with happy faces stamped on top of them. "Dude!" she squeals, "I can't do that!" "Really?" I say, "Why the hells not?" "Cause I'm not ready! You haven't even interviewed me yet!" "Oh," I say, "So like, when does your debut album drop?" "October 5th" she says, and I grab a pen from my pocket and write "OCTOBER FIFTH" on my arm, and she's laughing as I'm sticking out my tongue in preparation and slurring to her, "OK, are you ready now?"

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Favorite places to party in New York:
Venue-wise it always changes. In the same night I could be in the basement of Monster Island and end up at a late-night after-party in a hotel room at the Tribeca Grand. It is more a case of what the party is, rather than where.

Best night to go out:
Wednesdays for GHE20 GOTHIK and Wierd.

Times a week you go out:
Some weeks every day and other weeks never. It depends on what is happening and what I have to do.

Favorite DJ:
From New York, Kingdom and Brenmar

Drink of choice:
Vodka cranberry

Favorite party jam:
"What You Are Talking About!?" Redlight ft. Ms Dynamite