i realy think you should be using your EQ if your mixing techno and forget about this extreamly bad advice you got at said squat party.
if you want to blend and create energy in your mix i would say its vital
you may want to cut a certain sound or frequency before intended on the record to suite the mix or its great for little tricks and creating your own fills like taking the middle rite down and the treble rite up for like 2 beats to give you a intense rush of high freq madness(sounds real good if the bass is cut at the same time)if your not using EQ then your cheating yourself out of a deeper world of mixing.
feel free to take this advice-USE YOUR EQ,s ;)