JASON QDUP

All right, we are on a DJ's journey. Welcome my guest for the first time again. Cued up.

Hello?

Welcome, good to see you again my friend.

Great to see you and yeah, thanks for having me on for the first time.

But anyway, Jason is nice enough to come back on. All right. So and thankfully, it's been long enough that it'll feel like we're having this conversation all over again.

Right. Well, you know, hey, I feel like we could have conversations like this all the time and, you know, probably still love each other a lot.

Yeah. So yes, which is the whole idea of this podcast, music nerds talking music. So to start with, tell me what music was like in your household as a kid. What did your parents listen to, and how did you consume it?

yes. Now it's coming back to me. So, yeah, you know, have my parents were definitely both musically inclined. My mom listened to a lot of Prince and, you know, the. Well, my dad was really into country, which is, you know, for me, I can appreciate a good country song, but is definitely.

That's already way, way cooler than my parents.

not my uh... so to speak uh... you know i i've warmed up to particular aspects and then genres within the sub-genres of of of country uh... but

It seems to be having a modern wave lately. I listen to Post Malone going country, I actually don't hate it. And I'm not a big fan of country, so I guess he's doing something right.

Yeah. Right. Yeah, it's always been one of those ones where it's depending on the subgenre, it can be either really good or really bad for me.

So, okay, so you got country, your mom, so Prince, and what else?

Yeah, and well, and I was, I've got a brother that's, you know, three and a half years older than me. So I was always kind of chasing my brother around and, know, getting into the music that he was getting into. I think he was, he's very cool. he's a musician as well. You know, he's a drummer. you know, I, I've gone through a lot of different, musical periods in my life. And, you know, my first, first concert was the Jackson five, victory tour.

Was your brother cool?

I was very, very, very small and we took the Metro and it was, I can't even remember this, the 80s, so under 10. I, yeah, so I was definitely exposed to live music and music in general.

Okay. Yeah. How old were you? Under ten or over ten? Okay. That's pretty small for a concert. Did that, like when you, what do you remember feeling after that show? Like, I mean, did it like grab you? Like, yeah.

the whole experience was crazy. absolutely. It was, it was the most amazing thing that I'd ever done. know, kind of from the moment I remember actually having money of my own from getting allowance. It was always like going and buying records or tapes and, you know, from hip hop, you know, I remember breakdancing in second grade and taking my Herbie Hancock record. I think it was probably like some sort of breakdance compilation record into second grade show and tell and you know breakdancing with the kids in second grade so

Right. Wow. Second grade. Wow. That's pretty cool. Hip-hop wasn't around when I was that young for me, but that's a good start.

Yeah, you know, so that was the 80s, you know, not to date myself, it was, you know, it was a minute ago, but yeah, was, music was always a big thing in my life.

Did you, so what you talked about like buying cassettes and records already and I have memories of being a very small kid and my mom was always going to, she loved shopping, whether it was garage sales or the mall or whatever. And I have some memories of some garage sales where people were selling records or 45s, and like even that young just being like, like what? And I had like a little orange portable record player.

Right.

Maybe actually it would be awesome if I still had that now. But I just remember I was fascinated. I had like, don't know, Joan Jett, I Love Rock and Roll on 45. I'm like, oh my god, I wish I had that now.

I've got such a huge 45 collection now, it's the only thing that I really let myself actually buy because...

Have you ever, do you ever, do you ever like mix with him? Yeah.

yeah, yeah, I love it. It's more challenging. It's more like turntable style, know, mixing old classics and stuff where, know, you're either...

Yeah. I've only seen, I've seen a few of those, know, Kut Chemist and Shadow doing like their brain freeze and that, you know, and going get into the 45s. And there was, you know, some, think Matt the Alien, I forget the other DJ, he paired up with, and there was like, yeah, I mean, like, you know, kind of early on in my DJing career, seeing two other dudes kind of, you you know, you're kind of certainly, okay, you know, we're kind of on the same level, you know, and then they bust out the 45s, you're like, oh, okay, that's

Yeah, Matt's a great 45 DDA.

You're going that's like that's like really deep cuts and I can't imagine it's like super easy to DJ with 45s

You know, it's a little bit more of a challenge is one of the reasons I like it. It's also in terms of like the size and weight is definitely a little bit easier. I still have, you know, all pretty much all the vinyl that I've collected other than, you know, whatever stuff that I've unloaded. So I've got a lot of rave classics and a lot of hip hop and a lot of disco house and funk and all sorts of stuff in here. But I feel like every time that I actually

Really? Still? That's awesome.

move house i burned through a friend relationship or two so it's

Right, right. Well, hey, as long as you got the storage for it. So at what point then did you actually, like, DJing get on your radar? I mean, it sounds like you were exposed to pretty hip music fairly early, so.

I do have this memory of like riding to school and with my mom and my brother and listening to the radio and actually hearing a mix on the radio, like on the morning show where the DJ was mixing and kind of knowing what the two songs and that was the first time that I think, you know, other than, you know, seeing videos, you know, like whatever, Herbie Hancock rocket and some of those early hip hop videos where it was like, they're scratching and what's that? But I have this distinct memory of like, hearing a radio DJ on the morning commute to elementary school and hearing a mix happen and knowing what the two songs were and putting it in my head that it happened. I didn't necessarily know that it was somebody that was sitting there doing it with Dex and was probably too younger, went over my head of what was actually happened. that's my first memory of like,

Yeah. It's like your seeds, yeah, seeds inception.

putting two and two together like, wow, these are two songs that are playing at the same time and kind of being just amazed by it. But yeah, I went through a bunch of, know, I was, I was a metalhead for a while into hip hop and, you know, all the, the, the nineties grunge stuff and nine inch nails and all that stuff. And I was in high school. I was dating a girl and her, her best friend, her, older brother was a DJ and he was the first person that was when I was probably don't know maybe 15. I remember going over and like actually seeing a set of decks and you know this was in Maryland suburbs of Washington DC and actually hearing and seeing and getting to put my hands on records and this was like right when I first started going out to you know underground parties in Baltimore, which were pretty legendary parties back then. getting my friends, know, whatever, brother's fake ID, my friend's brother's older brother's ID so that I could go and get into the club sort of thing and going out to raves. within like, was just instantly into it. and

So about what year or what era was that?

This is like 1994, 95 probably.

A4 and A5, okay. So what kind of music was big there at the time?

well, I think for me, it took a little while for me to, was into really heavy music. was listening to like Nine Inch Nails and ministry and stuff like that. So kind of like the techier side was some of the first stuff, but definitely break beats were something that was real big for me to start with. And the DJ that went by Rob won. know there's a famous West coast. Rob one as well. So different, different guy. But this was the guy that at the time he was, he was into a lot of like hardcore and drum and bass and he was a drum and bass DJ, a breakbeat DJ as well. So I was kind of instantly brought into that world. it took me kind of a while to start liking house music more, but I was, I was, you know, but you know, within the first, you know, the first couple,

Same. Were you cut into big beat when that hit? Yeah.

yeah, yeah, yeah, I've got so much of that stuff. That was a huge influence on me. There's actually a Facebook group of guys that are all about Big Beat and I love it that it's constantly posting up old Big Beat records and just talking about records from that time.

Oh. OK. Side note, remind me to ask you. I'm going to remind myself to ask you about that later, because, that was my first electronic show. Well, it's not true, because I did go see the Chemical Brothers. But it was kind of before I really knew what was going on in the scene. Like, it was kind of a very s-

Yeah, just remind me. I'll shoot you an invite. Yeah, Chemical Brothers were one of the first. Chemical Brothers and D-Lite were my gateway into the electronic world, I would say.

Yeah, and they're doing full on concerts, right? So, yeah. Right. Right. So for me, it was kind of interesting because I remember going to Chemical Brothers and I mean, I was such a music nerd that I didn't really, I just didn't know people in the scene. So I'm just like, okay, well, I guess I'm just going by myself, you know, and like, so I'm kind of taking in the whole thing, which was like, first electronic show and chemical brother, you know, it was definitely a good one to go to. But it was also like, Whoa, what is going on here?

Yeah, especially I'm sure seeing like a big live PA like that where they've got especially back then they must have had a

Yeah. also, but you know, and used to seeing bands though, you know, I mean, I was used to, you know, and I liked electronic music. So I didn't have a problem with that being sequenced keyboards. And, know, it's like, but you're kind of like, you know, there's just that, okay, what is this about? I'm really interested in it. I love the music. I don't quite know exactly what they're doing. You know, like, are they, what are they, what are they actually playing versus what is just being played? You know, if you mean

Right. Yeah, totally.

So there was a lot of that that I didn't quite, but it was enough to make me go, okay, I love this. And then I went to see Fatboy Slim and then it was like, it was all over.

Yeah, totally. Yeah, you know, even sometimes when you see like a live PA act like that, like a live electronic hack, even still it can be like, okay, what are they actually doing? You know, what's being played? What's being sometimes, sometimes it's

Thank Right, yeah. I mean, you just accept pretty much that all singers have augmented voices at this point. Or at least auto-tune or something, or something that's manipulating or helping out, or background vocals, whatever. OK, so back to that scene, though, because obviously that was DC, kind of a legendary scene, and especially, you know,

Right. Right. Yeah, totally. Yeah, well, this was in Baltimore. mean, I definitely it was DC Metro area, but I first started going out in Baltimore and Baltimore had, you know, all the whole Baltimore club sound as well. So that was something that was, you know, was out and about and on the radio on, you know, Friday and Saturday nights, you were hearing if you were listening to the Baltimore stations, you were you were hearing, you know, club music as well. And that would bleed over into the rave scene as well a little bit.

Okay, yeah.

Paradox was a venue that was like one of the legendary Baltimore clubs and they used to do Fever, they would do on Thursday nights, Fever and Sunday Mass. yeah, I definitely started going out very shortly after that, but definitely the first area was Baltimore.

So tell me about your dive into DJing then.

Yeah, it was quick. Pretty much had gone out a couple of times and was already exposed to somebody having decks. That was a good DJ and realizing that it wasn't. Actually, I remember going, it was a tower of records that I just went with a friend and my friend was doing record shopping and buying drum and bass and stuff and he was pulling out records that was like literally like, know, Josh Wink higher states of consciousness. was like, Hey, hey, you want that, right? It was like, that was that tune you liked. So that was how it started was literally him being like, Hey, you really like this. You should probably buy it. And then the next thing I knew I was, you know, every Wednesday or Thursday or whatever days that the different record stores around the area were coming in.

Thank God for music. Thank God for music pushers. it is pretty much, it is pretty much just like going, hey, do you want some crack? Well, sure. Let me give it a try.

Hahaha. Yeah, well, like I said, at that time it was like I was I was spending disposable income, you know, I had a job at that point, so I had disposed, you know, a kid that had, you know, by that time, I, had had had a car, I 16, I had a car, I had a job, had enough money to like go and buy a couple records here. And I would just be going and buying CDs anyway, so.

Yeah. Yep, yep, same, Yeah, it's like Tuesday, new music's out. All right, let's go to tower.

Yeah, Tower and then yeah, would Tower was just like the closest thing and you wouldn't think that Tower would be such a great store but they had a crazy underground like drum and bass and hip hop and all sorts of electronic great beats.

Yeah, I remember getting all that, you know, I was very varied, you know, pop and pop some rock alternative. Yeah, little, little bit of industrial, Nine Inch Nails. I remember buying that based just on the review, from like a Pulse magazine or something, described Nine Inch Nails as like in excess, like if in excess were, were crucified in studio. And I went,

you

I don't know exactly what that means, but that sounds really interesting to me. like there there's good songwriting, but it's a little more anguished and a little pain, you know, more about it. But but yeah, that was that was huge for me. I remember. So even before I was mixing, I was but I was fascinated with with the remixes, you know, so I was buying 12 inch remixes and then like.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

recording one of them on a mixtape on side A and then I like, well, I like the remix of the remix goes on side B. you know, so I'm like putting together my own compilations of dance music, you know.

yeah, I remember doing that just with the radio and taping songs off the radio and then taking one tape and dubbing them to the next so that I could put them in the order that I wanted them in. And that was when I was like 11 or 12 or something, you know?

Right. Yeah, I used to record Right. my brother, I had a five year old older than me brother, and he had said, oh, you you can record music with videotape. You know, you just use the audio in, you know? And I'm like, oh, that's pretty cool. So I did that a couple of times where I knew we were having like in college, like house party and actually recorded like a five hour. set, like this is the before I was DJing, but I was like, I go, what do I think the vibe is going to be like at midnight and, the rise and fall of the party and so. So, so did you start playing, I assume you started doing the bedroom DJing and then like house parties or do you kind of

Right. Yeah, I feel like house parties, yeah. Yeah, you know, I think probably by the time I was 17, I like to think that I was a pretty good DJ by then, you know, for...

Were you like scratching like right away?

no, I didn't really start getting into that probably until, you know, I messed around a little bit. You know, I was doing basic things, but I didn't really get an actual scratch mixer for a few more years after that and didn't like actually focus in.

was going ask you, did you play instruments like growing up in a school band or anything?

I had a, I, I, I played drums, but it was, you know, it was casual. wasn't like drum line or anything like that. And, know, there were other instruments. Like I took some saxophone lessons for a little while, but it did not stick. really wish that like, would have stuck with that and I would love to play a wind instrument now. So it wasn't until, you know, later after I'd been DJing for some number of years that I really. And, started wanting to, make music that I really started focusing in on actually learning more music theory and playing keyboards and you know that's when I'm writing now that's kind of my you know weapon of choice because I can with all the other different kinds of virtual instruments and things you can you can make it into most anything but I've you know the pandemic I've started delving back into guitar and bass a little bit as well so it's it's all good fun

Nice. So you are mostly self-taught with that though?

yeah, I mean, I I've never taken like formal lessons. I've done a lot of video and I was like lesson websites subscription sort of thing.

Yeah. Right. Nice. Yeah. I kind of wish... I always knew that I would be mad if my parents made me take like piano lessons or something, but at the same time as an adult, I kind of look back and I go, man, I kind of wish they had made me take more something formal, know, music training.

Right.

so you're DJing, you're playing house parties. Did you start playing clubs or are you still in Baltimore like when you started playing out or?

Um, yeah, you know, I feel I know I was playing in some clubs that I wasn't really old enough to get into I feel like by by the time I was like 17 I had I had linked up with a group of older friends that I had met through going out I'd met at at Fever and Rise, which were both Baltimore raves. And back then around, yeah, was either at, Rise was a warehouse and Fever was all like paradox, which was a club. But I had linked up with a group of friends that were a few years, you know, maybe.

Is that like warehouse raves or at a club or?

between seven and 10 years older than I was at the time. And I gone to like an after hour, an after hours party to go and hang out. this was, you know, in Baltimore and they lived in Northern Virginia, which is like the other side of DC. So it was like a trek, like, you know, 45, 50 minute trek, you know, not, not super far, but

Mature for your age.

and went and went and did like an after hours thing and like the next week ended up over there again and at one point you know was telling them about stuff and like kind of like pushing my mixtapes and stuff being like hey this is me and they put it on and then like in the middle of the night we were all hanging out and it was like hey let's go get your turntables so we went and got my turntables from my house in the middle of the night and took them back and then I just kind of left them there and we started doing that quite quite regularly. And within a few months, that's actually where I met the guys from Fort Knox. This was pre Fort Knox recordings days, but I met Steve Raskin from Fort Knox five and he was doing the Thunderball stuff there on 18th Street Lounge recordings. And so it was already. doing like recording and stuff. that was, that was my kind of intro to my first recording sessions. We're sitting in on some early thunder ball, like a drum and bass recording sessions. But, and then Steve kind of came on and we were kind of the resident DJs there. And then, I don't know, a few months later I met John out and about and we all started DJing together over there. It would be like, you know, pretty much

Hey, Jace.

pretty regularly where, you know, fever was on a Thursday night and then there would be buzz in DC on a Friday night. And then pretty much the rest of the weekend, we would just be hanging out playing records three for three. And, yeah, we, think I ended up living at that house at one point as, as was John H. back in the late 90s. yeah, we had formed a DJ crew back then called the 308 crew, which was the number of the house that we were having these, cutting our teeth as DJs together and having these just fun, multiple day long jam sessions.

Thanks. Right. That's a lot how, you know, my mentor, good friend, DJ MB, Mitch, we worked together. And also, like, once we started talking music, it was just evident that we could finish each other's sentence when it came to our music taste, you know? And so that's awesome to hear love resonance kind of thing. You guys were obviously kind of sparking on the same energy, you know?

Yeah, well, yeah, it was interesting because at the time Steve had was kind of just picking up DJing but had been playing in, know, punk bands and was just getting into electronic music. So it was really interesting. You know, he was kind of like my mentor in, production because I had never, seen, a sampler or, an actual recording session and stuff. So it was, yeah, it's. It was a good time.

So did you, so as you're, what's your, know, kind of how did you navigate that journey? So it sounds like you were already a good DJ. I assume you guys, probably progressing along, starting to get, as you get more known, get more gigs of note, that kind of thing. And you guys are kind of forming your own collective. So what was that like then with, with Steve I, I, I'm very loose on my knowledge of about Fort Knox five, like the earlier days, but it sounds like there was a lot of collaboration and a lot of working together and a lot of, also a lot of individual things too.

Absolutely, you know, it was great. mean, I remember so Steve and Rob who's the part of Fort Knox five as well and also the corporation the guitar player sit our guitar player for the corporation in Fort Knox five So back then they had a design studio and I remember like going for some of my early mixtapes would go over there because they had a DAT recorder and like turntable set up in their office So I would go over there to record my DJ mixes. yeah, the first couple of sessions sitting in on some vocal recording sessions for old Thunderball albums. yeah, literally my first production computer that was an old Mac, like a gray. great top Mac Steve gave me that was just like his computer. was like, Oh, I got a new computer here. And, you know, I kind of bought some of the other same gear that he had, you know, like in a car, yes, 2000, a little sampler and was kind of,

That's a pretty ideal way to learn how to produce though, mean, just that environment, sounds like was very, all kind of learning as you go and helping each other kind of get a little mentored, you know, that's pretty...

absolutely. Oh, absolutely. I doubt I would have been known that I could do it as much as I did if I didn't have a mentor like that kind of showing me the ropes and encouraging me. And the first song that I ever did that got pressed the vinyl was something that I did with Steve where he was really kind of driving things, but I was helping pick out samples and kind of helping.

Right. I've co-produced a few songs, but I've never driven. Right? Yeah. Yes. I'm like, no, no, I know what it should sound like in my head, but I can't do it. I need someone else to collaborate with. So at what point then did, I guess, from what I know and have heard about the DC scene, it sounded like it was pretty vibrant all the way around. And I went to.

Yeah, it's sitting in the, was driving from the passenger seat basically. Yeah Yeah, which I haven't even been to because I haven't been back to the area in a long time. Just a lot of my family moved out of the area during the pandemic.

I don't know what it used to be like, but we had a great time when we went. So I'm like, all right, if this is anything like what it was, I'm sure it was like a really super fun place to be going to for stretch of time.

Absolutely. So the the lounge was great. You know, old lounge I'm sure it's still lot of the same people that are involved and you know, freed, you know, driving the bus and I know the area that has been put into but yeah, that's that whole scene was amazing and being somebody that you know, I was a resident DJ there for you know, a good number of years when I moved back to DC and it was one of these clubs that was always packed and it's packed because of the music there but also people would it's like a was a destination spot like you know people knew it was cool to go to the lounge so all sorts of people would would head there so it's interesting to be a dj there because you know it's one of the few places that i i played that is like that where it's it's like a bar atmosphere you know there's a dance floor It's more kind of like classy upscale. There's house music in one room. You know, there's a patio that might have like disco or something like that. And then another room that's like open format. They've got a jazz band upstairs. So there's a lot of different things going on. And it was just heavily curated where, you know, one of the few places that you know, an atmosphere like that where I felt really empowered to tell people no to requests, you know.

Yeah. Well, and one would hope that at a place like that, that even if not every room is your cup of tea, that you can appreciate good curation when you come across it. It is funny though, there was a place here in San Francisco, it's called Shine, and it was some of the same people that are still in clubs now.

you Yep.

But was kind of like our cheers. It was like maybe 125, maybe 150, maybe on a super busy night, packed, packed, everything's packed. But it was, you knew you were gonna see friends there, even if you didn't even know who was DJing, whatever. You're just like, okay, yeah, let's just go to Shine. It's gonna be a good night out. And when they sold it, they asked all the DJs, But know, like they had residencies and I had New Funk Boutique at the time and they're like, no, you know, we don't want to change things too much, And so if you want to keep your show going like, okay, well, we'll give it a try. And then the first night there, they had little table service set up, which they'd never had table, never had bottle service before. And there was a birthday and the woman is like coming up to me making requests and I'm like, okay, this place is done. This place is done.

Yeah, well that Well, that was the thing about the lounge was and I used to play and what they called the main room which was like and it was Basically a converted mansion like a row house mansion like a really big place But it was also like it used to be like a mansion, know, so like you would go up these stairs in turn and immediately you would see the DJ booth and it kind of looked like a bar so it encouraged a lot of people coming up and asking for drinks and asking where the bathroom is because it's also kind of like dimly lit and kind of what you would think for like 18 strip lounge, just like low lighting, like.

Right. Yeah. Well, you're you're you're behind the deck. So it looks like you're supposed to be there. Obviously, you know what you're doing, you know.

You know, and it's a wall of records. It's just like a wall of records and, you know, lots of candle lit, velvety wallpaper, know, kind of interesting sort of thing. like, yeah, it just kind of encouraged that sort of you being the first thing that they see right there. I feel like you had a lot of interactions with people that...

There's nobody running interference. You need somebody running interference.

It was at least kind of like closed off so people would have to come around and like they would try to scream from the front and I'm like come around here and like there's like a little little side place where you could go over and have a conversation but I have a lot of fun conversations that way too

So, did you have other jobs during the time or at what point were you able to do music? how that worked for you.

yeah. Yeah, well, I've it's an ebb and flow, you know, kind of that where we left off around DC kind of as you know, the year 2000 was, was turning I ended up moving to Los Angeles, and was out on the west coast for a good number of years, which is where I really kind of like decided I had wanted to hone my skills as a music producer and put a little bit more effort into that and It was kind of while I was out there that that that Fort Knox kind of really got up and running as a record label and they formed as a group them But I was I was doing like online marketing, know working for tech companies and doing you know, I was like a campaign manager for Marketing stuff and had that job for a long time and that was even through through while I started putting out know, vinyl as Q-Dub Foundation, which was myself and two other friends and had started just kind of basically doing DIY pressings of some of the first songs that we were really putting together.

That's one you really got on my radar with that one, the Renegade Master one you did.

yeah, yeah, was yeah, that was bomb strike. So that was like actually in.

I closed out my first party people mix with that song. I was so proud of myself doing my first like, okay, kind of branded mix and where I'm like, okay, I think I got this now. It's like this infusion of the, and maybe talk about for you, like for me, I didn't come from a real strong funk background. See my growing up with Kenny Rogers and Neil Diamond and There wasn't a lot of funk in that mix. So it was music like yourself and producers where, and it was, I give a lot of gratitude to Ali B for his Oh Shit records. I listened to that and literally I was just like, what in the hell am I listening to right now? Because this, I didn't know people were doing remixes that were really paying homage to it.

Yeah, that that got was definitely kind of really big at that point. This was like whatever mid mid mid 2000s, you know 2005 2006 2007 that that area it was really heavy and you know, I remember for you know, kind of all those years from you know 2002-3 a lot of that time We had started doing

Yeah, maybe like, yeah, yeah.

I I was definitely still playing Breaks and House and all the stuff that I was always playing before, but had really started to seek out sort of this like mid-tempo at the time, you know, like the new funk sound was, was, you know, what I consider to be new funk and, you know, what a lot of the, the, the DC guys like all good funk Alliance and, you know, some of earlier Ford Knock stuff, I kind of fell into that, that area where, you know, some of the less sampled stuff, but,

There was really a lot of good talent around that area.

yeah well dc is it's a big melting pot you know you've got all the embassies from everywhere are there and you know american university georgetown and howard all that right there so there's a lot of cultural diversification and with

And it sounds like, a good friend of mine is he's tour manager for Theory Corp, know, small world, you know. But yeah, that kind of like the lounge, like a very cool loungy scene, like a very kind of sophisticated, funky, a little down tempo, but dancey. And you could go new funk and funky breaks. And, it's like really spanned on a sweet spot there.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and you know, I mean... Yeah, it was interesting when I first started DJing there. And I would go in and these would be, you know, I would just, it would be like me in the main room, you know, and I would play for like five hours, we would whatever, get started at 9 30 or 10 PM and close at 2 AM. I start out playing at 8 BPM, like what you would expect to hear, like at 18th street lounge, you know, in thievery corporation and, you know, the Lebanese blonde and all like world beat. that sort of stuff as people were filling in. But then they liked me to, it was basically open format, you know, I was kind of supposed to be playing what wasn't happening in the other room. So the gold room was always house music and the patio was always packed because people could smoke out there and they would kind of play whatever they would want. So I would actually end up playing a lot of hip hop in there and remixes and stuff like, you know, kind of

I

the sound that you're talking about, know, some more sampled sort of stuff, but just all over the place. And I'd ramp them into house and all that towards the end. But I also knew that it was my job there to be playing what the other areas didn't have. So when I first started playing there, that's just not what I expected to be able to play there. ending up getting being expected to be the guy that was playing that sort of stuff. ended up being a blessing and then super fun.

My first experience with something like that was going up to Whistler and seeing those DJs where I didn't really, really good. It's funny because I had to wrap my mind around it because obviously I could tell they were good and they could handle the crowd. But it took me a while to really realize as a DJ what exactly they were dealing with, which is in a place like Whistler,

Really, really good DJs in Canada.

you know, like we're in February, President's Day, they get like a gigantic gay contingent that goes up there, So like from one week to the next, they might have a vastly different independent crowd. One week it might be like, it's like a Japanese holiday. even though I played a variety of music, would like progressive and breakbeat was kind of my two main, in the little bit of house, And then, but these guys would just go, I don't know, you know, it'd be just vast, like one song to another to another to another. and I just kind of thought of it as, like, these are good, these are good party DJs, I could tell I was kind of putting it down a little bit of I was being a little snooty with it, you know, and then after watching them for years, though, and seeing how good they were at operating and being able to handle crowds that were not you know, maybe very sophisticated and being able to entertain them. I'm like,

Yeah, well, yeah, and you Yeah, you get a lot of the the the the snowboard guys out there as well and they're you know all young kids that like to go and ride all day and like to go out and Party and drink on I that was actually the first first place that I ever played in Canada Matt the alien had brought me up to play is really good at Max fish

Yeah. In Whistler. Tommy Africa's or what did you play? Max Fish. OK. Yeah.

there he had a really good Tuesdays but yeah that was actually my first DJ experience was up there doing that

Yeah. Maxfish was the one with the turntables are kind of elevated, right?

I don't man this was 2008 was the first time it said it's been a little while But yeah, I remember I don't know I remember going downstairs

Yeah. All right. All right. I'm trying to remember my places there. Tommy's has got, know, they built that cool plexiglass DJ booth. Yeah, that was cool. I remember John.

Yeah, I know there's like Tommy Africa's and the at least at the time that was another good one and Whistler. Yeah. Yeah, that one was always interesting because it kind of felt like those like when you would see a band play and they're like behind the cage, you know, and there's like beer bottles, it kind of like almost felt like the plexiglass gave it that sort of vibe.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, well, yeah, like, nine inch nails, it'd be perfect or something. So I remember one time John was DJing and a buddy of mine, also DJ there, DJ Milton. And he, was like resident at a bunch of the, bunch of places up there and he fricking loved John and he was a little exuberant that night, had a few drinks and like while John's playing and doing great, is just like, banging on the fiberglass, like it's a hockey game or something. And I'm just like, OK, you know, those Canadians, they let you know when they like you.

Right. Yep, for sure.

Okay, speaking of then, you so you're playing, you're talking about playing, playing a Whistler, so did you move back to DC and like, you starting to travel around DJing or what was your, you know?

Yeah, so. Yeah, yeah, it's kind of that. So, you know, I had that corporate job and was, you know, kind of on those first like 2005 through maybe 2010. And then I moved back. It just kind of got. I was just over kind of the job situation that I was in, and I left that and just decided to kind of move home and recenter myself and. Figure out what I wanted to do, and I mean, obviously knew I wanted to do music, but was just, you know.

Is your family still in the area?

Oh, yeah, you know, I still do have some, a lot of my close family has moved out of the area just over the pandemic, which is odd because it's always been my home base. And I still have family and still have friends there, but I haven't been back in a little while. But yeah, I think I moved back in 2010 and kind of quickly like jumped into that. you know, Steve and John were around and holding these residencies and we're doing a lot of touring and I started going in and subbing for them, you know, at a street lounge and, you know, some of the other clubs, tropicalia we had a residency at for, you know, like five years there. but kind of fell into that. And, at the time, was, it's kind of taking some like tech courses and try, you know, thinking about doing, just switching up. the side of technology that I was working on and it's something that I never really thought that I would do but I ended up getting linked up. Rusty B from All Good Funk Alliance had linked me up with our friend DMACC at a very successful at the time wedding DJ company and I never really thought I would do it but I started going out and helping Rusty on some of these gigs and got to the point where I was doing 10, 12, 15 weddings in a year and had a guy that was booking me for them. And that only made me a better DJ needing to do that. And we did them, we definitely played what people wanted to hear, but also tried to make it cool and add some of our knowledge and flair to things. But that was kind of the point where I really started being able to do

Alright.

music full time because I was having a lot of residency gigs. At that time started doing some more traveling and stuff DJing around.

What year did you move out to LA?

Well, so this is this is my second.

And actually, you were still in DC when you came out to Burning Man, right?

Um, yes, the first first year that I went out to the berm which I think was 2015 or 14 14 or 15 15 I think maybe 16. I don't know. It's all kind of blends together

Yeah. I was thinking it was maybe 2015.

Yeah, it was right around that area. I that was right around. I went the year after John had passed, because he had passed like right before the burn or like a month beforehand. I know Steve and I were kind of, you know, knew that we wanted to go and. It was just it was too soon afterwards for us to pull together and go that that first year, so it was either 15 or 16. can't quite remember. 16, maybe.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. That was, I had one of the thrills of my music slash DJ life was I pitched the rest of the Cowboys on doing a, usually when we did space Cowboy parties at Burning Man, it was usually with the Mog, usually at an art installation. And usually if it was Burning Man, it was usually pretty bang and breaks. And I just had that image though, cause I loved that music. that I was hearing the funkier side, know, new funk, ghetto funk, all that. And in my head, I was just, okay, I want to gather whoever's here and see if I can throw, my own day party doing that. And the rest of the Cowboys were kind of like, okay, cool. Like you're, run with your lane, you know, we'll, we'll support it, you know, and, and, know, having, didn't, I think I had only met John maybe like briefly, but then that, that time Burning Man, the year before he passed, got to hang out with him and Ali B and John's wife was there. And, I'm trying to think who else I'm missing a name that we had on one of the DJs, but, for me, that was just like a total thrill was this, this other side, as, as a, as a DJ and, you you talked about getting to play like five hour, five hour sets, having, having the ability to to be part of the Cowboys where it's underground and banging house and breaks. Then they're like, okay, we're to go like totally this like sunny, warm, funky music, and we're still going to bring it, it's still going to be awesome, just a totally different vibe. So yeah, that was cool getting to hang out with John and then sadly, the follow-up of you guys coming out to Burning Man and getting a healing journey, I suppose, that year together, right?

You Yeah, yeah, that was that was a crazy experience that I'll never forget. So one of my favorite stories from that burn was actually coming over to play play with the Cowboys then. And I don't know if you remember, but there was like a huge dust storm at like the time. And I know I was like still trying to get my bearings. I had been there, but I was like at my camp and I was getting ready and this like just gnarly dust storm rolls in and I just met this kid all right, I don't I need to get over here to play this set. And he was just like, follow me. Come on, let's go. And he like, ushered me there through the dust storm. He was like, I know exactly where it is ushers me and I get there. And Ali B is DJing. And the decks are just trash from the dust storm has just got them everything's acting and wonky He's like, Yeah, go ahead, go ahead. And Like I go to hop on and we're like this in the same kid that like was like that, that, that, that, that, like, I'm going to lead you there. He pulls out the compressed air, dust can, sprays all the gear out, gets it all working hunky dory. And then I'm just like in there and able to play. was, it was awesome.

was awesome. remember in that, I can't remember if was you and Steve that made it, but we had a, it was still one of the most played mixes we've ever had was the Fort Knox 5 Tribute to John set.

yeah, that was a fun one to put together because that was like going and just pulling a whole lot of old sort of things that we hadn't delved into in a long time.

Yeah, that had to be an emotional one.

Yeah, for sure. know, it's also, know, reliving through music like that was also healing as well, you know.

Yeah. Well, and then I remember we had, and we had you guys play at the Treasure Island party. That was a huge one. The Halloween party. That was a big bang and set.

yes, that was... Yeah, that was really good. That was crazy too. yeah, after Qbert and Krafty Kuts, was... Yeah, that was one to be remembered. I would say out of all the sets is up there in my...

Yeah.

being able to close out after all those legends in that room was just like...

A lot of people, well, people who are close to me are kind of used to me like downplaying the part of me, which is that I am part promoter because I'm part of the Space Cowboys. And I have a very active say because I have a very strong opinion about artists and DJs that I love. it's definitely been an honor and a treat and kind of goes both ways. There's part of me that's like, I get to... be in the crowd and watch it or be next to you guys as a DJ it's been a treat to be able to just be part of this community and see how meaningful it is to be able to create that kind of vibe with people and share that energy.

Yeah, likewise, I always feel at home whenever I get to play with the Cowboys and know that I can play all my weird, weird break stuff or, you know, kind of know that, you know, all the different odd things that I'm, you know, I may steer it a particular way, you know, with thinking what you guys will like, but exactly.

I'm Cowboys are authentic if nothing else. that's one of the things that I do enjoy getting, whether it's had the good fortune to have Z-Trip and Cut Chemist and just telling both of them, like, hey, you guys are kind of in your own lane here compared to everyone else. But thankfully, they... what the Cowboys have done over the years and the crowd they've built up and community, there's just a lot of music heads, you know? And so Hey, whatever you want to play today, there's a lot of people that love house here, the love, love breakbeat. They love drum and bass. So at the, whatever menu, the menu is open, play whatever you want your, you know, as long as it's authentically you, it'll connect.

Ahem. yeah well yeah those guys definitely have that ability to draw you in with a little razzle dazzle and you know take you anywhere they that you know before you know it you're listening to stuff that you never never heard before

Yeah. Yeah, well, just seeing Cut Chemists and Charlie Tuna a week and a half ago. it was for, they were doing a benefit for the LA fires. And after the new year, I've kind of been purposely staying away from the clubs and night vibes. But man, those two together are just, I was like, chef's kiss. Yeah. So where are you at?

Yeah, dynamite.

Now, with your music and you're still making music, obviously, you talked to me about some things that are coming out.

still making music, you know, I'm working on some like sample pack sort of stuff as well. Yeah, I've got right now like right now I've got master as soon as we get off I'm going to be

Where and where where I'll I'll let you plug where where would I where would you where would I find those when they do come out?

well, I mean, pretty much anywhere out there. If you wanted to go and buy them, know, Beatport or Juno Download or TrackSourcer. If you want to stream them, you know, any place from SoundCloud to Spotify. These are all of the usual.

Well, as a budding producer, I'm not always great at creating my own stuff. So yeah, sample packs are on my radar.

yeah, sample packs. like Splice. Splice is probably the number one place. But the company, so right now I'm working on another vocal pack where it's like, I'm more kind of in the background because I'm engineering it and, you know, producing the vocals and aligning everything and doing all the nerdy behind the scenes stuff. with Evan Everyman, who's a really, really talented MC that I've worked with a couple of times and have a few tracks with and a lot of history with. And we've done two two packs now with the companies called black black octopus sound which is you know a pretty decent size sample pack company that you know, I think we're really really stoked to and blessed to be working with so These are and it's all mostly just vocals. I do have done a little bit more on this like making loops and doing like some different odd like vocal chops and production sort of stuff. But it's mainly just so that when you were going to make a song and you wanted some kind of hip hop-y vocals, you could get some royalty free vocals in order to put into the pack.

night. I've seen you play a bunch. Have you messed around with playing in Ableton setup or something and playing more loops and clips and things like that? Has your style changed?

I mean, have and I've, it's on my radar. I would really love to do some sort of a hybrid live show. It's one of those things where I think I would, yeah, I would need to take apart and figure out exactly what I would want to do live. You know, I do a little bit of talk box so I could see doing some of that. It's just a whole other mentality to do stuff that way. And I know some guys that, you know, like, KLab is one of my favorite buddies from Australia or New Zealand. From the other side, from Down Under and Kiwi side that does a really, really awesome job at a hybrid live setup where he's playing a lot of the, has his guitar and doing a lot of solos and stuff. I want to bring a level of playing stuff and not necessarily just you know, triggering loops and hitting buttons. So it's something that's on my radar and I'd really love to put together, but I think my vision for it is pretty grandiose. So I could see, I could see doing that at some point though, is something that I keep in the back of my mind and maybe need to put a little bit more effort towards when, you know, I'm finishing up a track, figuring out how to put it into that format and break out parts.

Yeah. Nice. Do you like DJing with your accompaniment or no?

Yeah, I've definitely enjoyed having when I've got a good MC that knows when to come in and when to go out. doing the whole four deck set with four knocks just feels like us being back in the 308 basement. It's almost like when we're doing it, if we're doing like Chambla is a bit more planned out than. You know, we would usually do things because most of the time it's just like jamming and it's just like jazz and yeah, you know, where, know, we might come up with routines and, you know, call stuff out, but it's, yeah, it's just, it's fun. It's like, you're like a jazz musician, you know, playing with somebody and saying, okay, we're in A minor and we're playing one, four, five. And, you know, somebody just picking up the other instrument and you guys just working it out, you know.

Yeah, freeform, right, right. Right, right.

So yeah, that's a lot of fun. It kind of brings that live element into things.

Right on. what else, like so musically, where do you putting your attention, you know, as far as songs, like, because you have had some, like, of white labels, correct?

so right now, I've actually I've got a Yeah, I've actually been kind of hoarding a lot of my bootlegs. I'm planning on starting up a Patreon. So, you know, there's a lot of my peers.

Okay. I just checked out A-Skills after he was here for New Year's and I was talking to him about that. And so I went and checked it out and I'm like, damn, there's a lot of good music there.

There's a lot of tunes. and these are guys that I know and I can hit these guys up but I go up and pay for them and hop on every now and again. A-Skills has a really good one. Craffy has a really good one. Wobble has a really, really good one. Father Funk has a really, really good one. Those are the guys that are kind of more in my lane that I know of but there's a lot of other guys also like Cohen Sound and guys like Nick Bike. There's a lot of guys that, there's different. I kind of see myself going in the same lane as know like a skills and crafty and those guys where you might have I'm still trying to figure it out But I really I'm hoping to do this over the next couple months because I've been you know hoarding my my my secret weapon You know bootlegs and stuff for

How big is the arsenal now?

I've got to, I've got to pull it all together. Honestly, my, my, my, my goal is just, have enough of a buffer where I'm trying to figure out exactly how many songs and you know, I'll probably, it'll probably be like a general support thing. And then like the DJ level where you're getting, you know, unreleased songs and stuff. And then like the producer DJ level where I'm including some samples and tutorials and things like that. And then maybe another level that is you know, like more of like a mentorship or like lessons thing where, you know, it be a limited amount, but we'll have, you know, a few slots available where, you know, budding producers can send a song in and, you know, basically I'll, we'll hop on a zoom or something like that and I'll open it up and show them what I would do with the session and kind of help them, you know, more on a like mentorship type.

This is probably the silver lining of the pandemic and Zooming as people are a lot more used to all this now.

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent, you know, so it's something that I've been kind of wrapping my head around for a little while and I'm planning on launching, you know, hopefully in the first half of this year is the plan.

Are you active on Twitch? you live stream on your insets?

honestly, not as much as you would think. I do it here and there, but it's like, it's something that I didn't do as much during the pandemic. was just kind of like hermiting myself and buying a lot of,

Amen, brother. I went, I called it turtle mode.

I just, didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. And like, I make really fun, like party music and you know, it, it, I just felt confused, you know? So honestly, I, I bought a lot of instruments and, you know, started playing guitar and, you know, focused a lot more on, just trying to figure out what I wanted to do and giving myself a break from, just trying to be as productive.

It probably didn't feel like a super fun time. Yeah. Yeah.

has, you know.

I had a very, I can relate. did a very similar, I didn't totally stop DJing. My friend Jordy throws these tricycle sound system raves. It's like USB speakers on the back of this three wheeler. And we'd out into the middle, not the middle, but like a foresty part of Golden Gate Park and throw like a 50, 60 person rave in the park. And it felt so unlike. any of the other club stuff. You know, it was like, my God, like I need this for my sanity, you know, like in just mental health, just have some semblance of, you know, togetherness and community again, and, but back home, I would call it going in my bubble. I'm like, I'm to go in my bubble. And I started listening to, albums from teenage years, I would bring up genius.com, It's not holding the record, but it has all the lyrics and I would just sit there not thinking about what music I was going to play. Just, I just need to like sit here and get some joy from listening to music again,

Yeah, you know, I can definitely identify with that where like, for so long, being a professional DJ and, you know, I've gone through periods where, yeah, you know, you're playing five, six times a month easily and, you know, same places and having to, you know, try to keep playlists fresh where just the act of like, okay, well, I'm gonna go through all of my promo list and then I'm gonna go and I'm gonna shop on... this website and I'm going to go shop on this website and I'm going to go to SoundCloud and you know, whatever all of the different odd places that you go to kind of digitally dig for tunes it and the way you're, you're, listening through things and just like in little snippets and just like, yes, yes, no, no, no. And then eventually you're going and taking those and like really trying to learn them and do all the preparation to actually be able to play with them. where it's like a different kind of consumption where yeah, being able to just do that and you know, be that teenager that is hearing something for the first time and actually like listening and having the experience of enjoying music. It's a little bit, yeah, something that can easily make you feel jaded after a while of doing so much where it's like a

Yeah. Yeah, just joyfully listening, you know. Yeah.

It's a job. mean, it is if you're doing that many, it's a very, very fun job. But yeah, it's a, I have to remind myself sometimes to like actually just like take that whole playlist of all the selected stuff that you did and just like listen to it front to back and actually like be with it and enjoy it.

Yeah, I look at my last FM stats sometimes, almost like if anyone used Strava. I'm like, oh, my numbers are a little low. I don't think I'm just listening to enough music. So it's a reminder to myself, I think one thing the pandemic did is it turned me on to podcast even more. And so I can be a little. Addictive is the wrong word, it's almost like music collecting. after a while, though, I'm I'm hearing too much talking, and I need to switch over and listen to more music.

you

So I'm curious, One festival I've always wanted to go to is Shambhala.

Yeah, Shambhala, it's my favorite of all the festivals that I've gone to. you know, part of it, we get treated very well. you know, I think last year was the 10th time that I've played. So something where I've definitely got a pretty decent following and I know a lot of people there. But overall, for me personally, musically, You know, there's what like five or six stages and for me and There's a definitely some some bleed between the the stages, but you've got you know stages that Definitely are more Fractal forest is definitely you know known for breaks and the funky side of things and

Fractal forest is the one I always hear about that says.

You know, they had the whole funk jam, which, you know, on the Sunday is like a six hour chunk of a lot of lot of DJs bringing out 45s and, you know, a lot of, a lot of, you know, the scratch bastards and, you know, guys like Newmark and, you know, like really, really choice DJs hopping in and kind of going three for three for three, you know, after, after that's on Sunday after hearing. And probably is kind of one of my favorite times of the festival, kind of after just having your ears just all sensory from giant sound systems and, you it being kind of rave level 11, you know, for the whole time, going out in the middle of the day and just listening to like old funk records in the middle of the woods is something pretty magical. But

Yeah. think some of favorite memories with some of the Whistler crew was like the day after the big party. know, because it was kind of like what you were saying. It'd be like, oh, like Vinyl Richie is going to be playing old funk tunes at a loft party or something, like, whoa, okay. And he was playing like everything from like, I don't know, he... from Kiss, you know, I want to rock and roll all night, party every day into it, into another song, pop song, funk song, rock song, was just like, but the vibe he had, you know, just...

Yeah, Scott, Scottie is crazy. He's, um, he's one of the guys that I saw that like made me really, really want to like dig into this whole like 45 culture. And he's, um, you know, I, I've seen, I've gone to like skating events where it's just like, you know, like had the half pipe or like pool or whatever. And he's just like DJing punk rock and like whatever anything from, you know, yeah, like you're saying, you know, playing, you know, West coast G funk to like punk and

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott and just all over the place kind of open format style and is one of the guys that really got me into liking that sort of DJing but yeah, but Shambhala what I was saying is you and you've got you know, the village is definitely more like bass and drum and bass and you got the Grove it's kind of got there more like there you know, you're gonna see Just different kinds of DJs. It's just like a different vibe for each of them, but every one of those stages like i could have my list of like okay i want to see this person here there's this person playing at the same time as this person but then i've got all these people i want to see but then i end up just getting stuck at some other stage with somebody that i'd never heard because it's so good um i don't know just musically for for me it's it's one of these places that exposes me to a lot of music and um i don't know it's just my my my favorite of all the festivals that i've i've done I certainly had a lot of other places that I love to go, that one definitely is like the heartbeat of Festival Land for me.

Right. And there was the year that we were both at Pex Festival in Maryland. Yeah.

Yeah, Pax, Pax, yep, which was like, yeah, the whole like, Philadelphia, like, burner crew out there. Yeah. And that one was out in, in, in Maryland. I, and I actually went to, as a kid went to summer camp, at that location.

Right. Yeah, that was.

yeah, so I was saying, as kind of as a fun little tidbit was I went to summer camp at the location that that pecs was at was like a summer camp. Just as a kid was interesting in there was a few like really, really old school raves that were thrown at that same location.

Yeah, yeah. Literally. That's interesting. I remember talking to one of the employees. I'm like, so what are the kind of things do you have out here? And they're like, oh, it's a big range. Sometimes it's really arty. Sometimes there was like a big sex party weekend and they had bond. I was like, oh, OK. So this is nothing for you guys. This is just some people raving in the woods. Not a big deal. Yeah, Shambhala, I've been told many times, my buddy Maculet.

Ha ha ha ha. Ha

Mac has told me he's been up there a couple of times doing video for Fort Knox 5 and I'm not sure who else. He's just been rapturous about it. He's just like, dude, you got to come, you got to come, you got to come.

Yeah, you know, it does start to feel like a DJ convention because after a while, like I said, there's so many people that, you know, with the magic of the World Wide Web where, you know, you're people that I've met, that I've been, you know, either collaborating with. Yeah, you know, that I've been collaborating with from people that, you know, are my idols to, you know.

Part festival, part industry night.

Last year I got to meet Anderson Pack who was just like the DJ set and was just very very humble and hanging out there's always in the the artist camping area they have like little you know happy hour events where they they serve all door dervs and stuff and made sure to go and at least say hi since he was back there in Chile and being really cool. Reggie Watts, that was really really cool there last year. They had the John Tahata, the Wahata, Reggie Watts and him. That was really really awesome. Yeah.

That's an interesting pairing. It sounds a little like the atmosphere. I've only been to WMT one time, and that was 2006, which was an awesome year to go musically, because it was when Electro was first. These guys were just starting to play stuff. And it was like, whoa, my jaw on the floor. But it was so cool seeing all these big DJs going to each other's And you could just kind of see that even though it was label showcases and

Right.

There were showing off DJs on the labels, all this stuff. There was also a high amount of professionalism. But you could tell they were also actually having fun because they were getting to hang out with their other buds, people they don't get to see all the time.

Yeah, it's been an interesting thing where over the past couple of years there at Shambhala like multiple of the stages have started to build these other like really tiny side stages that like you would just stumble onto and last year, this is the kind of thing that happens, know, last year I was hanging out with a friend of mine.

You

It was like camp behind the pagoda, which is like the like the main stage, you know There is a lot of house music on that stage bass music and other stuff there as well You know depending but it's like the the largest stage and he was like, hey come over here and I didn't really exactly know where he was taking us and like we Go through this corner, which I had never been in and it's like a small like 50 person like room little like outing that had made that was a small stage and it was like Chris Lorenzo and Sammy Virje were in their tag teaming to like 20 people. It was awesome.

You reminds me of seeing, okay, what's the what's the breaks guy with the big dreads? Freak nasty. One morning I was riding riding my bike back from deep playa and I was super tired but I just I just wanted to I heard some breaks playing so I actually there was there was so I mean literally there's maybe like 10 people inside this big like was one of the big corner domes you know if it like I know fits thousands of people probably

freak nasty. Yeah.

And there's like 10 people and I look up and freak nasty is out there with sunglasses on and his dress big smile on his face. And he's just just doing this thing. And I'm like, dude, there's like 10 people you could probably cut it. But hey, he looked like he was having a great time.

Yeah, it was the same thing. I walked in and those guys were just like going off to the 20 people that were in that room. But yeah, I ended up spending like three or four hours in there because there was a whole bunch of the DJs in it. think word got out at the time, you know, I think it was still like, you know, one of the first one of the first nights that the thing was even open and nobody really knew where it was, where I think by the end of the festival, a lot of people had stumbled onto it or heard about this other like small little side.

Right. Have you, are you going up this year?

I'm planning to

you know, no, it takes a little work.

it's not the easiest place to get to. It takes a little work, you know, I mean, there there are ways, though, you know, it's actually not that far over the border from Spokane, Washington. So, yeah, there are ways to do it, but it's, you know, it's definitely can be challenging, especially if you're doing like the burn or anything else, you know, around that that time of year, you know, it's.

Yeah.

you know, maybe not quite as much energy as, you know, going and building art installations and then the conditions, but it's a big undertaking, you know.

Yeah. Little different. It'd be nice after, well, a lot of my friends have just taken to saying about wanting to do things with little less suffering. So I know that Sean Velaz says it takes a bit to get there. But trees, river, I don't know. That would

Right. Yeah, there's definitely some packages that they have now too, where it's like, they've got like whatever 10 set up and kind of more plug and go where you got to get. Yeah, you don't necessarily have to worry about having the big infrastructure there.

ease your life a little bit. Yeah. So musically, is there anything else that you would really want to accomplish? DJ bucket list things? What's on your list?

Yeah Yes, there is there are a lot of things that I would like to accomplish man I would I would there are so many festivals that I would like to play I would like to go in and do some of these even and bigger EDM and like Beyond Wonderlands and you know base canyons and and all these different odd events I'd love to be Out and about and doing some some great things out there, you know, it's yeah, there's a never ending list of places that I would like to go to. I've never done a Ibiza. I've never done that. So there's, there's, there's a lot, there's a lot of areas in the world that I haven't been to that I'd love to still get to. And yeah.

I've done it once, 2000, it was fantastic. Do you do you I don't see myself ever stopping with music like in one way shape or another, I'll be sharing or talking about music or, or the format might change like doing this podcast. But but yeah, fundamentally, music sharing and community sharing, the sharing love of music and music with people I feel like that's just

No, Yeah.

Okay, that's I can just breathe easy because I'm be doing that till the day I die.

Yeah, 100%. I, know, whether or not it's making it for myself or just sitting around and practicing or playing an instrument or, know, whether or not it's for, honestly, for me, it is for me in the first place, you know, like the whole reason I started DJing was because, you know, as a raver kid that used to like to go and dance the whole night. And I, you know, I just wanted to give that, that feeling back, you know, so it's kind of what, you know, I'm just That's why I really do like to do sets where I'm just improvising because at a certain point it's like I'm part of the audience and if I pull off a cool mix it's like I'm surprising myself as well.

that's the best feeling, right, when you're just in the flow state. Who else is exciting to you musically, whether it's electronic or just anything that's part of your life musically right now?

Yeah, you know, there's a lot of cool stuff like, you know, like the band Jungle is really, really awesome. I find them really, really rad. I really like some of the side stuff that Matt Johnson from Jameriqua has been doing, like some little odd like side project things that that's really cool. You know, I'm a big synth nerd so I, get into trying to find old weird 70s synth nerds. psychedelic stuff, so I'm constantly digging and, learning new old music. really do enjoy, searching through old, even, even now I search for, old disco and funk records that I've never heard. And, I spent a lot of time on discogs going through record stores and like going through like Obscure 80s boogie funk and stuff that there were like, 500 pressings of in 1982 that you know, it's just weird old punk records, so it's it's I certainly have my lanes and things but I'm also very Diverse. I love reggae. I love classical a lot of it tends to be on the funkier side It's, yeah, for me, that's part part of why I feel like I'm such a multi-genre DJ is because to me, it's kind like you said, where it's like, the journey of creating that mixtape that was a five hour long thing. you were talking about making a mix and where would it be at midnight? That's when it's going to be at its height. You know, like I like that the Ebsen.

Yeah. Brevity was definitely not a problem. like, know, no, yeah, hold on. I want to fit this in and I want to fit this in and where does you know

Yep. I like the ebbs and the flows. So yeah, it's a never ending exploration and learning session.

Nice. Any last thoughts as you've been, have we been talking about your musical journey? Any last thoughts?

I think we've covered a lot of stuff, you know. I'll say that right now, the next couple things that'll be coming out, I got a remix single that's gonna be remixes of my last single with Awoke, who's a really, really awesome female B-girl MC. I got like a Breaks remix from Kenny Beeper from Australia and a kind of like Hip House remix from Roast Beats who does the Cutting It Fine label. So that's actually when we hop off here, I'm going to listen and listen to the last round of Masters and we'll be getting that into the system and hopefully around it'll be March and March, hopefully right around this time in March, you know.

Nice.

mid-March will be.

Big fan of roastbeats. Good quality stuff.

Yeah, I've been wanting to work with both of those guys for a long time and Yeah, really really enjoying he's been doing like this kind of cool like hip-hop sound lately in UK somewhere

OK.

Yeah, so you know just that and i'm really really wanting to get this patreon so that would be I guess my my my message to people out there is support independent music, I I do my best to embrace the spotifies and stuff that feeds the algorithm but if you like, Your underground dj friends support their music, Go and buy a song off of Beatport or better yet go and buy it off of Bandcamp if they have a Patreon you don't have to subscribe forever, but go and subscribe for a couple of months, That kind of stuff goes a long way And a lot more of the revenues Go to support that the art that you like it's fine, you know go and save their songs on Spotify and all that as well, but also

Yeah.

you know, realize that if you're really trying to support people that there are ways to do it that support them more than some of the streaming technologies out there nowadays.

I Yeah. Amen. I think those are good words to close by. Jason, thank you for sharing your DJ slash producer journey. Much appreciated. And I'm sure we'll have you on again in the future.

Yeah, would love to do it. I always enjoy myself talking with you. yeah, we can nerd out. We'll.

yeah, I have a bunch of music nerd stuff, you know, that maybe that'll be next session.

Yeah, yeah, that sounds good.

All right. All right. Thank you, brother. Talk soon. Bye.

Much love, man.