DANCEiSM

I got into the idea of DJing in junior high ’cause I grew up in Half Moon Bay, just south of Daly City – home of the Invisible Scratch Pickles. I had my parents turntable and bought a bunch of breaks to try playing them at parties…

I never actually executed it until recently though. Maybe 7 years ago?

Back then, I mostly played no wave and early house tracks. Now I use vinyl and Serato, though I would prefer CDJ 2000′s. That shit’s the future.

What are the five (5) songs you are obsessed with right now? Can be any genre.

1. Jamie Woon – “Night Air” (Deadboy remix)

2. Carly Simon – “why” (an oldie that made my last summer happen but it’s still holding strong)

3. The Weekend –  ”What you need” (so sweet)

4. Julien Jabre – “Swimming places” (uplifting)

5. Los Panchos – “lo dudo” (classic)

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Never seen Star Trek, so I suppose Star Wars.

Top three acts you’ve ever seen.

Ooooooh.

Can’t really narrow it down. Ok-

-Tito Puente

-Delorean

-His Hero Is Gone

Top three acts you want to see.

-R. Kelly

-Brian Eno

-James Blake

Deadmau5 or Daft Punk?

Daft punk. Easy. I think I’m too old for Deadmau5? How did that dude blow up?

Tell us the stupidest thing you’ve ever done in the context of being a performer.

I convinced my best friend to stage dive during a Lemonade show and he broke his collar bone on the way down. Shwoops!

Tell us the craziest thing that has ever happened to you, in the context of being a performer.

I was sitting in on bass at a jazz club in Shanghai once, and a random Chinese girl from the crowd walked on stage during my solo and started grinding me. Freaking. AT A JAZZ CLUB.

I also went AWOL for two days when we played Primavera Sound Fest in Barcelona.

Yikes.

Boxers or briefs?

Boxer-briefs. Trick question.

You mentioned to me earlier [DANCEiSM: not in this interview] how it’s “trippin you out” that house is going mainstream. Tell me more about how you feel about that – not just kids listening to SHM, but also electro entering pop music (e.g. Britney, Chris Brown, Taio Cruz, David Guetta, etc.)

Well, I guess we all saw it coming. Daft Punk was the hit at Coachella a few years ago, Berlin became the new hot city in Europe, Kanye created a scene over losing the euro MTVs to electronic music and then sampled Daft Punk for his next single, Jersey Shore…. All signs point to rave? Maybe we can blame Australia?

In college I lived in a co-op and played in a hardcore band with a dude named Steve Aoki. He got into DJing his first year out and began playing hip-hop into banging electronic filter pop remix shit, which I thought was tasteless and juvenile. Maybe he helped set the standard?

What defines a rave? What defines a dance party? Are you a raver? Is the scene today more about the music or the drugs, in your opinion?

A rave happens illegally or semi-legally in a warehouse or non-traditional venue space where inhibitions are lowered and there’s some sense of community.  A dance party can happen anywhere. Club, bar, post-dinner party, whatever. I was a sXe hardcore/punk kid in the 90′s, not a raver, but I got into raves when I moved to Barcelona and started partying for the first time.

The scene, whatever it may be, will always be about the music, but the music is always directly influenced by the drugs that are en vogue. Weed and acid made psych rock, coke and ludes made disco, MDMA and ketamine made dance music, leftover ecstasy in Oakland made hyphy, sissurp made chopped and screwed southern rap.

What drink should Danceism-ers buy you to show their appreciation for how awesome your set will be?

Water ’cause they’ll be sweating it out.