Monday Commute (019) - Dangerhouse

Dangerhouse links:
https://www.instagram.com/djdangerhouse?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Ian Myers links:
https://www.instagram.com/ianmyers_official/?hl=en

Monday Commute on IG:
https://www.instagram.com/mondaycommutepodcast/?igsh=MWpqczVmcjM4MHdvaw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

All right, sweet. Let's do it. Right on, man. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Thank you. Thank you, man. I appreciate it, dude.

SPEAKER_04 0:05

Yeah, thanks for doing this.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_04 0:08

Um, we met maybe three, four months ago. I think it might have been longer. Really?

SPEAKER_02 0:16

I don't know. I have no clue. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:18

Um, but we're in Casa de Danger, the premier after hours venue in OC. Um, but you just built out your studio.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Yeah, it's uh still a work in progress, like my life, but um, yes, I hung some art my roommate Sonny got me for my birthday. Um, some decor I've had in uh storage boxes for different events I've done. This was some of the stuff I had in like the boat parties I've thrown of like military knitting and some we did a party in Venice on the beach with the same stuff. So just it was time to get out of storage and make a room out of it.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

Was this the when we went to Utopia? That guy that did all the art upstairs with it, was this that same dude? Uh like the trippy looking art upstairs.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Yeah, I don't I don't quote me on it. I don't think so. I think it was a different artist.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

This was one of Sonny's friends. I I feel bad not knowing his name. Uh we can edit this, right? Yeah, I'll edit the name of the dude. Just to put his name caption right here. Yeah, I'll tag him. Oh, I love it though.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

But yeah, it looks sick in here. Thank you. Um, what else are you gonna do to the studio?

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Uh new desk. I want to get one that's wide, goes across maybe the whole almost the whole length. Um get the monitors like off stands, and so they're just like up. They're you know, they can have little like miniature stands or clips of the table. Utilize the room space a little bit better. Yeah. Um so a little less crowded, so we can have multiple people at the desk, not just two. Like I like to collab with people and stuff, and sometimes this room will get like six, seven, eight people in here, and it's like it's tight and sweaty.

SPEAKER_04 2:09

Yeah, it's nice having a like a different space, you know, to like actually like build out a studio.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah, I'm pretty fortunate to have this house, having a four-bedroom and just one roommate, it's kind of a blessing, you know. Space to to put things and have a designated studio is nice, especially in Orange County where cost of living's uh astronomical.

SPEAKER_04 2:31

Yeah, it's kind of become like a a spot that everyone comes to to produce. It's pretty sick.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Yeah, you know what? It's uh I enjoy it. It's and not having to leave my home and just have a lot of creative people come through. Yeah. Um, it's really what I built it for, to be honest. Like that's yeah, I'm saying the after hours the same thing. I have a nice set of decks, and people come and jam, and there'll be big artists that come through, and it's just uh it's enjoyable to not have to deal with some nightclub stuff, you know, just do it here.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

Yeah, yeah, it's nice. We get spoiled now because you can just do everything from a bedroom. Like I just have like a bedroom studio that I have, and you can dude, people are making like number one hits in their bedrooms.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah, it's it's a it's it's a trip, dude. I always like uh I've used the analogy, like um like the nerds in high school are like now the cool kids because like the gaming geeks or something they got that are like locked in their bedroom, they make a hit and then all of a sudden they're like they got groupies, yeah. It's a trip.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

Yeah, because all the I feel like every artist is kind of just like an audiophile nerd, just collecting gear that you don't necessarily need to buy, but you just like having toys, you know? Yep, yep, yep, yep. It goes from Legos to thousand dollar cents.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Just get a V10, real big deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

I actually just got um, you know the Audiz. I think it's Audiz or Aud Easy. I forget how you say the name. It's like A-U-D-E-Z-E, the headphone company. Oh, okay, Aud D's. It's those like big ass uh mixing headphones that you see everyone using. I got a pair of those, and those things are fucking sick. Are they working? Yeah, yeah. Cause I use I'll use the monitors just to you can only wear headphones for so long until your ears just get fatigued. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Working off of monitors just to like do the songwriting part, and then throwing these headphones on later to do the actual mix is yeah, I I definitely notice fatigue uh having hearing deficiency, but DJing for a long time, having residencies where I played three, three and a half, four hours apiece, like multiple times a week, like fatigue is real, fatigue is super real. And then but and especially in the studio too, like you can spend you know four, five, six, eight hours in here and not really notice things after a while, and then like I always make sure I take a break every like at least two hours, take like a 15 minute um, just for my just own creativity, but like ears to rest, and then um but like even a track, like I won't listen, like I'll make something in the studio, and then I'll come back in a week and hear it and be like, I don't even remember it sounding like this, you know. It's just it you you just lose elements after a while.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

Yeah, and you you'll make a track, and I I purposely like stopped doing this. I used to just work on music, and then the next day I would like bounce or that night I would bounce it out to my phone, and then when I would go to work, I would listen to it in the car.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's that's normal.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

But I kind of found that it's just like you get ear fatigue, like we're saying, but you almost just like it becomes mush, you know? You can't really like hear what you need to hear. But if I make a track now, I'll just leave it on my laptop, and then like you're saying, come back a week later, and then it's more clear what needs to be fixed.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Yeah, what needs fixed, what needs updated. It's like I just showed you that that Usher remix I did, and I was like looking at your face, like waiting to see if like, and you you gave me like oh that's and it's like I I lost I lost fact like like touch that like immediately because I'm already involved with the track so quickly, you know, and like you you already know what the track is. So when you wait for that first drop, then it's like what do you say, what do you think of it?

SPEAKER_04 6:35

Yeah, you already know what's coming, is the problem.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Yeah, yeah. And uh yeah, some homies they they just go, Oh yeah, this is good, this is good. And it's like, I don't want you to tell me it's good. Tell me what I need to fix or what needs to be like get better, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

Yeah, I think it's definitely important to have people you can send music to.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah, you need a couple assholes in your life, you know.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

Yeah. But I kind of just lately I haven't really been sending music to people because I just I just can't really find a sound and kind of like a lane that I want to go down. I'm trying to figure out kind of my place.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

You know, I've heard a lot of like homies artists always say that, and I kind of do the opposite, but at the same time, I I think I've all also fallen in my lane. Um good music is good music. Like spend time doing remixes, and then when that energy is there for an original, then jump on it, you know. But trying to spend track after track trying to do an original, like, and especially if you don't have that like the theme or the creative like drive for something like at that moment, you're just gonna make noise, you know. Yeah. So if you if you like hear like I I'll go out and I'll hear a a track at like a at an event, I'm like, I want to do it differently, you know? And like I'm like, I want to do that, but but the way I do it. Because I like I like the way that like the crowd reacted on that one. Like I see like this is a fucking hit track or a pop track, you know, and I'll then I'll flip it and I'll do it my way, you know. And I think that like that keeps me inspired, and then like I can either move through that track fast and then I jump to an original, or like that's kind of been my way of making music is just um not limiting myself, but doing the stuff I want to do. And then when the creativity creativity hits, then hopefully it it you can put it on paper quick enough, you know.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

Yeah, I think not forcing yourself to be creative is it's a hard thing to do because when you're not making music, you feel like you're just falling behind.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Yeah, yeah, it's I I I I I I fully agree with that. I also see people go down the the lane where they keep they keep pushing themselves to the point of burnout, you know. And music's meant to be for enjoyment, you know, at the end of the day. And like I think the industry's kind of taking a sad fate by it being a profession for so many people that don't actually love the music, you know? Yeah, and so people who are driven to make uh the same tune as a big pop, like a big artist, you know, someone's crushing beatport, and like I'm just gonna use this to reference track and make it almost identical. It's like, what are you doing? Like to me, like that doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

Yeah, and even even big DJs are doing that.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Uh-huh. Yeah, everyone's falling back and making it easy on themselves. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

It's like even like Clooney, for example, he was on the Latin tech house wave for a long time. And then his earlier stuff, I really like his earlier stuff. It's simple and kind of just like bouncy, groovy. Yeah. Almost like stripped back minimal G house almost. It has like a funky flavor to it. But he went down the Latin Tech House wave for a while, and he's kind of getting back to his old style, but he started making like uh like the cristusy deep tech kind of sound. Yeah. Yeah. I see those guys kind of I mean you kind of have to though when you're at at that level.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

You know, you if you think about like their tour schedule too, you know, what market are they trying to go for? You know, sometimes like DJs will make stuff in the Latin market just to be touring in Latin America, you know?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Um, so I don't fault them. I mean it's like I said, I think it's like it's what you like at the moment, you know. Yeah, maybe we don't like it.

SPEAKER_04 10:46

And you can't, as an artist, you gotta still be able to like change and evolve, you know. You can't just be stuck.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Everyone's gonna love your first shit. Yeah, because that's what broke you out, but you don't want to be stuck in that lane. Like, look at Skrillex. Yeah, you know, Dank Audi's a phenomenal producer though, and he can keep changing his styles. But there's a lot of artists that I know that had some breakout hits and then just fall off, you know. So I've seen it happen a lot. Yeah, it's sad, but yeah, it's tough. I think uh there's just too many people making too much shitty tunes, not enough good stuff out there.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Part of the problem is everyone's it's almost like uh a race to the bottom, you know? Yeah, everyone's on this like hamster wheel of just putting out music and music and music, and I just think earlier in like the 2010s, they would maybe drop like six, seven tracks a year or like an album, and people actually like listen to it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Now it's just like you drop a song and then it's kind of like well, I think like I I always kind of like revert back to Walker and Royce's self-help, you know? Like what a movement that made for um that sound. And I I mean, quote me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they put out another album since, you know, like or they just do they just drop some random singles here, but they hold on to all their stuff, you know, they let their tour schedule and their tunes when they play kind of carry them.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

Yeah, but I feel like they were kind of grandfathered in, like Chris Lake, he's not dropping songs once a week. I think those bigger guys can get away with dropping less music.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

But if you're trying to make it, the more music you put out, the more music DJs are playing your music, you know?

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah, it's a catch 22, I guess. Um I think what you put out is definitely gonna stick to your name. So if you don't put out good stuff, and if you just keep on that train of copying other other hits, I I you know, I don't know. There's no real formula anymore. I think I think the only formula is if you have a social like media like team behind you that pushes all your content and you're on TikTok, and yeah, like that's the only thing that's actually working right now. It's sad.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

Yeah, it is sad. I just noticed because I started posting on TikTok again. What's that? And there's just so many bots, and it just seems like TikTok, I don't know if this is actually an actual thing that happens, but it just seems like TikTok almost sends like bot likes and follows to your account to incentivize you to keep posting shit, you know? But on Instagram, it seems like when I do get follows and likes on Instagram, it's usually real people.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Yeah, I think the only time I get follows is like if I'm talking and meeting with someone, you know? Yeah. Unless like unless like a the LED wall at the gig has my at DJ Danger House on there, it's not like I don't get a follow, even if I play to a thousand people. Yeah, it's like, oh, two people followed me, and like hmm, that's a pretty wild margin right there, you know, when it seemed like the show went well, you know.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how like you said, there's not really like a formula anymore. So you're kind of just like shooting into the wind.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

You meet DJs that have like 15, 20k followers, and you're like, didn't you just start like two years ago or like a year ago? And like like what you just kind of like you look at them, you're like, What where do they get these numbers from? Like they're not they're not touring, they're not like on a team, and so there's just like a there's a lot of facade out there, I guess, in the content world. And um I mean I could talk about that all day, but I'd rather not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:04

Um, I wanted to ask you, yeah, um, just about please don't trip.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Uh yes, my my events.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Yeah, because I don't think we've talked a little bit about it, but the first time I saw the festival, I think this was pre-COVID. I don't remember what year it was.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Um it was us okay, so what please don't trip started as the first one uh was Don't Trip, We Got Toast, and it was a morning set I did with my my good friend Risky um at another festival called Pitch Tent at the property I was talking about um in Flagstaff at Play upon the Rosa. Yeah. Um we had a we were good friends with the the people that threw the event and uh you know we'd support the event, play there eight years in a row or something like that. But one one uh year, I think it was 2018, I believe, uh we had a morning set from 5 a.m. till noon. And it was just me and my boy going back and forth. And it was that's like that's our that's our prime time. Like that's that's our our hour for our people. And uh so on next to the decks, we brought like I bought like four toasters, and I got all these, like I got probably like 50 avocados. Like I cut up mangoes, cilantro, like all the like cucumbers, like all this like it was like an avocado toast station behind the decks. And so like during our set, I was like sitting there making avocado toast for everyone on the dance floor and like walking it up, like don't trip, we got toast, like you still worry about going to get breakfast, stay on the floor, and we had like bottles of champagne and tequila, and we just it was a fucking party. That's tight. And so that's where Don't Trip originally started, and it was more of a joke. Yeah, apparently, um, but like it's it was like don't worry, like we're we're gonna keep partying either way, yeah. And uh that's where the mentality came from. And then 2020 came came, and I threw a boat party on January 1st on New Year's Day of 2020, and it was called 2020 Vision, and it was my idea I was gonna have for parties on the equinox and like uh like the solstices and stuff, and so so I was gonna do you know the the first tied in with my birthday on the floor, so it was like my my vision of going forward and what I wanted to do was like a passion project in a sense, and um then COVID happened literally like a couple months later, and so I couldn't fulfill my like my vision for the rest of the year with these events, and during that time I was going through um pretty wild little some I was having some like spiritual revelations going on in my life a little bit, and so I was working with a shaman at the time, and um she had kind of pushed me into like she's like, Why why are you gonna stop doing your events? And I was like, Well, it's COVID, it's like every DJ online that's doing any events during this time is getting absolutely murked by you know social media and uh and I don't want to like I can't really risk that and she's like do it anyway and I was like okay, all right, and she's like yeah, you should. I'm like, okay, and I did. And so I did um I did an event, the first one, which was um I think it was like around it was like in it was pretty pretty peak of COVID. It was like September, like Labor Day weekend uh of uh 2020. Yeah, and I did on the side of Lake Elsenor, this big hill, um, mountaintop, and did like around 175 people uh for three, four days. It was a great event. Um weather was wild. We had like 115 degree weather like almost all weekend. It was pretty brutal, but like we we served mushroom tea to uh like the whole crowd one day. And it was just like one of like everyone tripping at an event called Don't Trip first off. It's great. Uh but the uh there was a there was a wildfire that was going on literally across the lake on the other side. Um, and this was like started going off like after everyone's tripping.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

And so, like Dude, that shit always happens when you're on mushrooms.

SPEAKER_04 19:30

There's always some weird thing that you're like, dude, this would never happen if I wasn't on mushrooms. Well, everyone at this point thought it was like, okay, this is it, this is a popular music.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Like, how is this happening right now? And uh actually the the entire like all the surrounding uh community got evacuated except for us. So, which was super wild to like look back on it that we were allowed to continue doing this during like the peak of COVID when like the entire community got evacuated except for us. Um, so there was a great like energy that kind of came from that whole thing. Um and the community kind of pushed me to do another one like pretty quickly, and I did one, they wanted me to do one for Halloween. I ended up doing it on Diwali, which is like an Indian holiday for light, you know, the light defeats the dark, and um it was done in Julian, uh, which was like literally like two and a half, almost three months later, when I did it. So to and then out that event jumped up to like five, six hundred people. Damn. And um same we had a really weird situation with the police there. Like the police came every single night for four nights, and they're like, You guys gotta shut it down, you guys cannot be doing this. And we're like, We're gonna do it anyway, you know. And they like and lo and behold, they like let us do it, which was wild to like look back on it. But I mean it just kind of shows like even even the police like didn't really stand for the nonsense that was going on during COVID, and like and and the people that really were at the events were people like there's like artists that you know I like look up to. Um, I know as an artist myself, like if I'm not expressing like I can get depressed, and like it's not good for my mental. So it was like this is helping the artistic community, not putting their names on the flyers to you know let them deal with the brunt of social media like I did, but it was a just a sp a safe space for everyone, and that's kind of what I built Please Don't Trip for. And um that the energy just kind of kept building. And within a year, I did three events, and the third one was in Utah at a ski resort of seventeen hundred and fifty people.

SPEAKER_04 21:41

Damn, I didn't realize it was that big.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

It went it went from like uh you know a hundred, two hundred person event to almost two thousand in a year. It was wild. And it was all self funded, like no no sponsorship money, no, no daddy's money, no you know, like it was it was a it was a it was a big nut we had a We had to, you know, take on.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

So yeah, I think it's just the timing too. Stuff like that always happens. People want it out of their houses. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think the thing with the police, like Lake Elsinore is a pretty Republican area. And I'm sure they were just like, dude, we're over this, you know.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Yeah, you know, uh, luckily I didn't have to deal with them in at Lake Elsinore. Julian, I did. Or Julian, I mean, yeah. Yeah, Julian I did, but I don't know, the grace of God, I got away with that one. And then uh by the third one, when we had, you know, that in Utah, like I I didn't have any other choice but to actually hire the police for the property. Yeah, just because the the size of the event and um it wasn't renegade anymore, I had full insurance. I mean, I I had to pay the the police 30 grand just to literally kind of harass our guests instead of like doing anything. Like it was a little kickback that the owner of the property wanted to be buddy buddy with the police, so we ended up flipping the bill for it. It was it was it is what it is, but at the end of the day, like pretty crazy to tell like a Utah police officer to like leave your guests alone sometimes. Yeah, like we had a situation where um Stevie Mack, rest in peace. Uh, he was on like in the vendor village on a megaphone and uh and uh ice bucket yelling out nipple dips for pickle chips and like literally like getting girls to come by and like dunk their dunk their boobs in uh like a ice cooler for pickle chips. And it was like standard woke activity, yes, exactly a festival woke experience that you can see at basically any festival. Yeah, but the Utah police were not having it. They were like, you can't have nudity here on property, like you're gonna go to jail, da da da. And I'm like, I had to like interject and be like, hey, it's private property. I hired you guys. If they want their tits out, they can have their tits out, and like to tell that to like a mounty is pretty wild, dude.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Yeah, because Utah, Utah's a Mormon state, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Yeah, dude, it's crazy. The uh we had Mormons like uh employees at the ski resort. So I was there like a week and a half before the event, and I've got Mormons like full denim dresses to their ankles, like building our fire pits and like and like handling some of like the uh the the food distribution stuff, and I'm like this is wild. It was pretty it was a really wild, like juxtaposition to like what our event is about, like and then having like this Mormon it's like a spiritual experience, you know? Yeah, of 3,000 people Mormon town, like that's cool have like welcome, don't tripper signs in their gas stations and restaurants and stuff. Sick. They saw it as like you know, we're helping the community, and it was just pretty wild to like witness what this went from to that in such a fast time.

SPEAKER_04 24:59

Yeah, I think that was the one that I saw videos of. That you had like all those little stages built.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Yeah, so all the stages I've been against uh using trussing and metal and yeah, it looks whack. I like uh yeah, I I like using natural elements, wood, and um, and so we had the first two don't trips literally we built the stages out of like lumber and like they're based after pyramids and in in Teepee style. And then the third third one in Utah, um we we went a lot bigger, and uh we had a uh I hired a um a team of builders, professional builders, to build like these designs, and we use the trees from the land. So cut down you know massive trees and then built the tree. They're still on the property to this day, like still standing. They're permanent. So that's cool. Um that was kind of like the the goal is to reuse them each year and expand on it. But we only did another following year before we kind of just put a a cap on it because it was the greed that came in from the town, the fourth the the fourth event. Uh like literally every cost we had that came from that area like tripled uh the rental on the cabins, the cost for uh travel, you know, the police, the EMTs, everyone was just getting their they wanted their peace. And the fact was the event was still growing and needed to needed some space before we got attacked like that. Yeah. Especially with no corporate money or sponsorship money. It was just they put us in a really bad position. And um Yeah, it was tough. So we I you know, me and my partners, we decided to put it on hold. We're like, we you know, this is killing us. Like, we're not you know, we took on a good almost six-figure debt. Yeah, uh, I had to pay that off before we could do anything. And uh from that point, it was like I had my own stuff going on in my life I had to handle, and so did my other partners, and it was just like it was just best for us to like slow to the roll. I've had a lot of people like ask, like, when is it gonna happen again? We've done a couple pop-up smaller events um for fun, and uh we'll still continue to do those. Um, but the festival stuff, I just the amount of energy that goes into it and the reciprocation from it is just it's not justifiable. You can see a lot of festivals these days really struggle um to stay afloat and keep the the quality going, and um it's unfortunate, but I don't really feel like putting myself through that again, you know.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

Yeah, the even just like on a small scale, it's a like the chances of shit going wrong in the event being successful, it's just like yeah, a very thin line.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Yeah, you know, more power to anyone that wants to hold renegades and do stuff. It's keep doing it. I love it. I love seeing it, and I love I'll always support it. It's uh it just I don't know. I just I know like once we got once you got to a certain point of people and there's la like there's lashback, like there's people that don't like when you do something not by the book, or you know, I have I've I have I've had death threats, I've had stalkers from this event. Really? Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. Over what? Just I had a really wild situation. Dude went, took too much acid, took too much, like lost his mind at the festival. Um he had to get strapped down by EMTs. He was like spitting spit in the face of cops, like he didn't know he ended up going getting locked up. This is in Utah, and uh it really um put a dent in you know his you know, his life that he was going through at the moment, and he was like about to have a kid or something, financially kind of screwed him up a little bit, but he like he holds me completely responsible for it, and he thinks that I set up the event to like spiritually attack him. And uh there's like no like and he's like he's he th he lives in like Nevada or something like that. He's came to he's showed up at a gig of mine here in Huntington Beach, like really, yeah. Like that's so sweet. Other people and like I had to like talk him off the ledge from like whooping my ass with the group of people and like explaining like you're you're out your fucking mind.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Like that's crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

And uh that's just one instance, you know, there's there's other people that were involved with the event that you know um I thought we were making money handover fish and we weren't sharing it properly with uh um you know the people involved, and it was like look, we we didn't make money, we lost a lot of money, yeah. And they're like, how's that possible? I'm like, well, I don't know, you you showed up and you poured some tea or something. Yeah, like I don't I don't know what to say to you. Like, there's a lot more behind the festival than than you know what what comes across right away, you know.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

Yeah, the festivals are just a fucking logistical nightmare.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

It it is. It's um that's why I give uh props to Mikey Maid with Off the Grid, and you guys do it really well. I see it. You guys are you guys are great. Um it takes a strong leader, takes a strong team, takes it takes proper money to get yourself out of situations and holes and and keep fighting and uh know there's a bigger goal at the end. Because I think with the pro I mean, I I know with the proper money I could do it again and from the things I've learned and uh it's just about do I want to? Because you know, it was easy 6 a.m. till midnight every night for like six months working on it, you know. Yeah, and like that's that's a lot of energy, you know.

SPEAKER_04 30:45

Yeah, there's a lot easier ways to make money.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. It's I I also like it's it's passion though, you know, it's it's art, it's creating this you know, the community, it's it's great. Like I I hate it, but I love it. I know I know I'll still I know I'll still do other stuff. I just don't won't do anything on that scale again.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I think doing your own events is doable, but I think once it gets to the festival level, there's like a line of where you kind of have to have one, I guess the funding, but it's like if you're booking these huge artists, you're getting the return a lot easier. So there's like you can only get so big until it's like it's a yes and no.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

It's you really have to have your ear to what artists are gonna pull, and those ones are are priced pretty high up there. Um, some of the artists that I wanted to grab um that would been a been a good promotional pull for us, are like 30, 40, 50k. And it's like there's our almost our entire budget for entertainment. And it's like on one artist when you need you know a hundred to get through the whole three, four days. Yeah, if you got multiple stages, you know. If you got one stage, cool, but that's then that's also promotional value of how many people are coming for you know 15-20 artists, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

You know, that's why I think Desert Hearts kind of made it work. Because they just have one stage.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Yeah, I I love the one stage vibe, it's it's proper, um, and they've built a community that understands them and supports them. Um I would I would love to stay in that lane. It's just uh I know it takes a lot of firepower promotionally to make that happen. You need you need big artists right off the bat.

SPEAKER_04 32:39

Yeah, yeah. The initial investment, you gotta just get a fucking business loan for like 300k. Mama, daddy. Yeah. No, yeah, that's that's why I like Coachella in these big festivals. It just blows my mind that they could get this to work.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

This year, I mean, I looked at this year as like Coachella was really reaching out to save themselves from the last few years they've had that weren't that great. Like a lot of people complaining, and then there was like it was like two or three years in a row that Coachella didn't sell out, and so the people that were like reselling tickets couldn't sell tickets. And then this year it was like people were trying to buy tickets for three grand. Yeah, you know, it's like they did that huge like reach out to all these influencers and like hyped the fashionable up to this like extent, and it's like it's still the same thing, yeah, every year. Every every year, it's just a bunch of DJs. Like, why why this year? Because Bieber's here. I mean, not really, he's there every year if he's playing or not.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Yeah, I think I don't know, Coachella is so at that scale, it's like it's so complex in the way they just market it and book the artist strategically.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

It's a it's a pe I hate it, but like people want to be seen there, you know?

SPEAKER_04 34:06

Yeah, Coachella has gotten really bad with that.

unknown 34:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

That's why the we were talking about Lib. Like Lib seems like a little like it's not indie, but it just seems to have like a better crowd of people that go to it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 34:23

Yeah, I think it's just it's it's for people that have taken enough acid. You know, it's like coachella are people that have drunk enough seltzers, yeah. It's it's a just a different crowd, you know. I think people that are a little more you know reality tuned in are going to lightning a bottle, you know. People that are tuned into social media are going to Coachella. Yeah, you know, it's just the reality of life, I think. Yeah, it's how how you tick.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

Yeah. You uh were making uh you were producing when like before you started doing all the festival stuff and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

I'm I've I mean I've I've got I've gone in different waves. Um I've been DJing for I don't know like twenty twenty years or so, but producing for uh 14, 15 years. I think I put in my first uh production back in like 2012. Yeah, and then I did stuff from like 2012 to like 14, 15. And I did I did it under an alias. I did a couple under Dangerous, and I did uh a handful, like five or six of them under an alias called Eminal Crackers, and um that was actually got a little kind of popular in in Brazil and and Southern America. Um but I I took a job that kind of took away my creativity and my energy, and so I didn't produce music for a long time and put a lot of energy into my job, and uh, and then I just really recently in the last probably two two and a half years just get got back into production and uh and a lot a lot more focused on that now and a lot less DJing. Um and uh because I'm just I just enjoy doing it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:16

It's hard to do both.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

It it truly is like you you have so many hours in a day that you can spend on subjects. Like if it's if you're working and you're and your your job wears you out, like you're you don't have that creative energy to keep going. No, you can push yourself, but you're gonna burn yourself out somewhere in some some ways and gonna have to recoup it somehow, you know. Whether that's you know, uh you've got a good routine routine of meditation and and and and a physical outlet somehow to bring it back. Um but yeah, it's I think it's just about rest and pause and creativity. Like I I've been in the arts my whole life. Um I went to art school for design. Um I won a scholarship in high school for through photography to get to art school. Um I was digging a graffiti in high school, a little bit of a little bit of college. Um did a lot of branding with the graphic design for different companies and some brands throughout college. Um and which kind of fell hand in hand when I started DJing uh in the community and stuff. Like I I was always DJed, was in high school. Uh it was more underground hip hop and like turntable stuff. Sick. But I fucking sucked. I truly, I truly sucked. Uh I just didn't, I like my other homies are so much better. I mean, I just it was like it was just for fun and shits and giggles. And I went to um went to the Orion, I went to like a little uh jungle rave back in like I don't even know what year it was, probably like 2002 or something like that. And uh I heard jungle for the first time. I was like, oh I love this. And so it jungle is what got me going, and then it just evolved into electro and and but then I started I I just I gave up on hip-hop and I started DJing um you know jungle and electro, and that's what got me going.

SPEAKER_04 38:09

Yeah. I think everyone kind of starts in hip hop, you know.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Yeah, it just I think it just depends on your age, you know. What what uh you know, I mean 20 year olds that have will never even touch hip hop, you know.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

Yeah, especially now, because house is just so big.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Yeah, house is big. I think um what I've seen just through my years and my last job with being having me really tied in with billboard charts and stuff like that, is um music just the the genres come in waves. Like house and hip hop will will flip-flop, like in the club scene, it should say. Um every about four years, about four to five years, you'll see like hip-hop take a little more of a focus, and then house take a little more of a focus, and it'll it'll fight back and forth a little bit. But right now, like I I think you we watched like Drake kind of like take the cake for all the hip-hop stuff and the charts, and then he there was really nothing that really followed that in the club scene that like were huge tracks to keep the that's that scene going. You can only play every Drake track so many times, you know.

SPEAKER_04 39:20

Yeah, there's not really any like I don't listen really to hip-hop anymore. Yeah, but there's not like really artists that are like coming up, you know? There's no like heavy hitter guys that are like no carrying the scene.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

No, it look look little John's playing house music.

SPEAKER_04 39:39

Yeah, and uh fuck, what's his name? T Payne? He started making dovsteps.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

T Payne, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 39:45

Murder beats.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

Oh my god. Uh yeah, it just uh there isn't and like the younger white boy rap stuff that really hasn't hit um like Young Gravy or like it's like what's the other one here at Huntington, Young Pinch. Young Pinch, I forgot about that guy, dude. I had him come into um one of my residency sandbar back in the day when he was he was like I don't know what year this was, probably three, four years ago. And uh I recognized him, nobody else did. I was like, Yo, what's up, dude? How you doing? He's like, What's up, man? And he's like and I'm like, I didn't have any of his tracks on me, and it's I'm playing house music all night anyways. Yeah, but he was like hit him and his uh publicist or something were like pushing me to fucking play some shit. I'm like, I almost tell you. I was like, I know who you are, like I I think you're dope, but like I'm not gonna kill my dance floor right now. Like this is my bar.

SPEAKER_04 40:42

Yeah, his early stuff was cool. Yeah, I liked his early stuff, yeah. But I don't know what he's up to now. I I don't know. Maybe it was on TikTok. Fuck, you really, you really especially in other genres, I've kind of just been like noticing with house music, it's so much easier to kind of like gain traction because one, it's only it's only you, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:07

Yeah, so you don't have a band of people that has to like the cost and travel and the uh personalities, the emotions you gotta deal with, the girlfriends, the fucking all the hate, like all that is just down to one person.

SPEAKER_04 41:21

Yeah. Because with a band, it's like, dude, how do you even you have to get like big bookings to even like cover the cost of you guys touring? 100%. 100%. You know, it's like And then you need a ban. I do not envy people that are trying to make it in other genres.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

No, I think DJing kind of really crushed that market. But I I think at the same time too, like I because I'm so tied with like charts and billboarding and like unlike following genres of music and and waves, yeah, rock music has been dying for a long time. Um look at K-Rock. I mean, like their one of their biggest tracks was um Walking on a Dream, like Empire of the Sun. Like, that's not rock, no, that's electronic, you know? Like, and so it's like that was like their number one track on uh K-Rock for almost four years.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

Damn.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

Yeah, it's people don't like that's like one of those things like I was aware of, so like I know like the different genres of music that were hitting and not hitting, and so like I can I can see just based on studying, yeah, like why bands aren't doing well, you know.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

Yeah, I mean I have been seeing like the what is that called? Like punk kind of like a day to remember kind of blink 182 style. There's like I think they're from California somewhere, okay, but it's like kind of blink 182 style sounding stuff, like the emo era, yeah, like emo kind of rock. Um and they were like popping off on Instagram and they like booked a bunch of shows in California, but yeah, that's a dude, that's such a tough yeah, like world to make it in.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

I I I do see um I think loop artists are kind of be a little bit more sought after soon. I mean, look at um, you know, he stands on his own, but O'Fir. I mean, O'Firs, you know, playing live guitar and producing great tracks and is a phenomenal DJ. Yeah, good stage presence. It's it's artists like that that are gonna be kind of breaking the mold and from the strictly DJ stuff, it's gonna bring more substance back to the market, you know. Um but like yeah, even even a drum machine while you're DJing, like it's it's it's the ones that are gonna start stepping on the box a little bit, and um, or like vocalists, you know, and they're the people that are actually singing on their own tracks. Yeah, like Lucid. Yeah, Lucid. Shout out to homie Dean. Yeah, he's he's he's crushing it right now. He was one of our artists we've My partner Brad Rubin, he was like, Look, dude, hey, like, check out this artist. And I was like, Oh, he's fucking dope. Super dope. He's like, Yeah, I've been talking to him for like the last couple weeks, and he's like, he doesn't have a manager, he doesn't have management. He's like, he's he's all about it, dude. I'm like, all right, well, you know, our budget's like fucking nothing. And he's like, Yeah, but he doesn't want that much. And I'm like, all right, that's fucking awesome. Like, let's and we and he came out for the it was a third one in Utah and uh he played, and I was just like, dude, this is our boy. And uh and then that this was back in 22, 21, 2021. So now to see him, you know, last was a few months ago. I went to uh up and up to LA and Stranger Land through a party. It was a medigami's headlining in uh this like um cathedral almost. Yeah, I saw that and and Lucid's opening for him. And I'm like, to see the growth from where he was, you know, four years ago till today, it's like bro, he's crushing it. Yeah, and he just now he's now he's just strictly doing just a super dope show. He just played on the Mayan art car out in San Fran with uh some big big artists, and um he did a track with Beltran that he performed at EDC. We were me, me and Sonny were at EDC. Um my partner Brett had a table at a I think one of the circuit grounds tables or something. And uh so we're came with Lucid all night, and he's like, Oh, I gotta I gotta go real quick. I gotta go perform. We're like, What were you what? What are you performing right now? He's like, Oh yeah, I'm doing a track with Beltran. So like he shot off, like I'm like, it was just cool to see him like just getting his legs and going right now and doing like doing like really choice dope shit. Yeah, so shout out Dean. Love you, dude.

SPEAKER_04 45:42

Was he making like the same style back then?

SPEAKER_02 45:45

Um he's I would I would say he's just very versatile. I mean he's done stuff from like meditational music all the way to like banging tech. Now he's like more in the indie vibe, I would say, but he's it's just you can't pinpoint him, you know. Like he's he's he's turntablist, he's a vocalist, he's smoking the dider do on stage. Like he's he's he's a he's a spectacle man. Yeah, he's he's a phenomenal artist.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

I like seeing those dudes like get successful. You're like, these guys are just so fucking talented, yeah, you know, and they're like, I could just their brains just work differently than regular people.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

I I know a handful of these type of people too that like like that don't that should have so much more like uh attention that don't. And I think like a lot of the music industry kind of shuns them sometimes because it hurts the other artists that are like on their labels or on their roster because like they shit on so many other artists left and right, and like you just like it's like undeniably good talent, you know. Like speaking of tone of arc, my homie, yeah, he's he's insane. Insane, he cuts down trees and makes his own guitars out of them. And these guitars are like nothing like they're not like a stupid fender, they're like works of art you would see like in a museum, yeah. And you're like, this is insane. Like that's the type of art like artist, like, and he's does his own vocals, does his all this production, makes his he's he's like he's a painter, he's he makes his own clothes, makes his own clothes everything, everything is original, yeah. Like, and you're like, and he just doesn't get the love, you know, from the scene. He does here and there, but like it gets thrown a bone by some like promoters that see him, but yeah, he should be touring the world.

SPEAKER_04 47:36

Yeah, I think a lot of those guys Lucid's really good at promoting himself. I don't know if he who is like helping him with all that, but he's like, I recognize he's been picking it up a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Yeah, I think maybe his management kind of pushed him like, hey dude, you're gonna start making some some little content, you'd make you get on content.

SPEAKER_04 47:55

Yeah, his videos are cool though. Yeah, it's like different, you know, but it fits his brand very well.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

He's just an artist through and through, so I don't think I think anything he does is is fail-proof. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:06

But I was saying, like, a lot of these guys just don't know how to like promote themselves, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Yeah, I'm I'm a I'm a definitely a victim of my own social media hatred.

SPEAKER_04 48:17

Yeah, yeah. You uh I always tell people you just have to find a lane that you don't absolutely hate doing, you know? Yeah, it's which is hard to do.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

I I've even thought about just doing a when I do release, I've got a whole plethora of tracks to release, and I'm wondering if I should even put it under my name at this point. Like maybe just do a whole new alias, you know. I just don't know because wear a mask. I would I I would never, I would never wear a mask. But uh no, just just to have a fresh start, you know. I've been with my name for 20 years. It's you know, it's whatever the whether people like me or don't like me, it's just it's still there. I think uh a fresh name kind of might help sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 49:08

Have you thought of any names? I have actually.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

I got I got a name. I don't I don't even know if it's taken though. But uh comma, like the like the the the the symbol, the combo. It's kind of just the actual symbol would be funny. Exactly. But it but uh you spell it out C O M M A, but you're just on a lineup, you know, it's just a comma in between. Well yeah, it's either at the beginning or it's at the end. It's gonna hopefully it's just hidden. Yeah. It's it's for like the numericals. Um no, I think it would just, you know, it's kind of like the prince vibe a little bit. It's a symbol. Um, but also I think the the word comma, like tell the story, like it's like sentence isn't done yet. Yeah, like this is a this is sentence isn't finished. I'm I'm gonna continue doing it. Yeah. It was kind of like the thought process behind it. Patent pending, don't take it. I just saw um I'm sure you know Julian.

SPEAKER_04 50:01

Uh King Julian.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

Oh, yeah, I've seen him play a couple times. I haven't met him personally. Um, I think the first time I saw him was the Dylan Nathan or um yeah, Dylan Nathan was it Dylan Nathaniel? Dylan Nathaniel, sorry my dude. Uh at his show at the circle, and uh I was like, oh, this kid's pretty good. He was there when he was and then uh the the other the social garden one I saw him at too.

SPEAKER_04 50:27

Oh yeah, yeah. That's what I was just gonna say. He was there when you guys like right when you guys got there is when he hopped on, I think. Okay, yeah. But yeah, he uh he posted on his Instagram like yesterday or the day before. DreamWorks sent him uh an email and they were like, Yeah, you can't use this name. Yeah, because King Julian is like their character in the what fucking movie is that? Madagascar?

SPEAKER_02 50:56

Dude, just so he had to change his name.

SPEAKER_04 50:58

I'm like, that's pretty tight.

SPEAKER_02 50:59

Just tell him to fucking pull a dead mouse. Remember uh Disney trying to fucking come after dead mouse back in the day? Yeah, I remember him mentioning that. So King Julian, uh stand on your own, two feet.

SPEAKER_04 51:11

And it's funny because I uh saw somebody with the same name. It was King Julian on Instagram, and I sent it to him, and I'm like, yo, who the fuck is this guy? And uh he was like, No, it's all good. I got the trademark, and then like a week later he like posts this on a social that he can't use the name anymore. So I thought it was kind of funny.

SPEAKER_02 51:32

I've I've had that I've had that issue um a couple times over. Not not by someone reaching out, but me having to deal with um it was back in like 2014, 15 or something like that. Someone did danger house up in LA, but did it like Dead Mouse H A U 5. Yeah. And I was like, I reached out, I'm like, hey dude, like I'm Danger House. You're not Danger House and like literally 45 minutes from my fucking house, yeah, my my my door. Like we can't we can't be doing this, you know. And he's like, he's like, it's different, man. I'm like, no, it's like totally my like that's it, it's it's it sounds the same. If you call somebody like, I'm going to a danger house show, are they gonna have to say H A U 5 or what? Yeah, like I just like I was like, it's really uncool, you know. And uh I didn't really have any grounds to like step on him with because uh you know I'm a designer, I know, I know what you can and can't get away with. He can get away with it, yeah. And um I actually kind of pulled a little kind of a shady move on him just to get it back. I basically told him I was like, hey, I'm a designer, like I will give you a full branding package with a different name if you like release your socials and give them to me. Like, I just think it's like it's better for both of us. Like, you'll you'll get a free branding package. I'll help you with a logo, help you with your website, stuff like that. Like, but you just can't take my name. And he's like, he like, let me think about it. He came back, he's like, Alright, cool. And then, like, so like, all right, we'll release him. So I got him, and I was like, and I wrote him back, like, fuck you, dude. Like I'm not, I don't work for free. Like, this was really fucked up of you to do to begin with. Yeah, and like go off my name and uh hopefully I don't ever see you. He was he was a little upset.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

Have you ever s like seen him around? Like under another alias?

SPEAKER_02 53:21

Oh no, and he never he never really poked his head in. He gave me some threats here and there and talked some shit, and just he was just as soft as I expected, really. Yeah, trying to run off someone else's name and like history to it's just it was just dumb to begin with.

SPEAKER_04 53:38

Yeah, because the first thing I did when I was gonna like choose an alias. I just went on like every social like platform, every music platform, and just like look to see if there's already somebody. Because it's not even worth my time to like have to deal with it when I could just choose something else.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Well, I just saw I do you know what's even worse is I just saw on Spotify there's like a four-person band out of like Tennessee that calls themselves Danger House, and like they just popped on like within the last year, which gotta trademark it and sell it to them and then use your other name. Well, I've got 20 years of experience in like and the trademark, and they just they went around it, you know. And um I like so I was mad for like a week and then I was like, I don't care, I just don't care.

SPEAKER_04 54:31

I mean it's yeah. Does the trademark even do anything?

SPEAKER_02 54:35

If I want to sue them, but but what I'm gonna sue four dudes, like yeah, they're making some honky tonk music, like yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:43

It's like realistically, it's yeah, it's you got a pretty good shot of outshining them.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

I just don't it they're gonna they're gonna yeah, it's a band, like we said. Like, how are they gonna even keep their legs going? Yeah, that's very true. Yeah, so I just kind of like let myself just breathe it out, and I was like, eh, they're they're not gonna last. Same thing with this other guy, you know. So and I I did I actually had another one in Australia. There wasn't like a full-on danger house in Australia, but I I actually sent him a C S and desist and was like, Hey, like I have a trademark and everything. And he was like, Cool about it. And he's like, Yeah, he's like, He's like, You're right, all right, I'll change my name. Yeah, never never had a problem after that. But it's it's crazy, dude. I mean, it takes two seconds of research to to go, oh you know what, someone already has a name, move along, you know.

SPEAKER_04 55:29

But yeah, because I had I I was going under uh mayor, M-A-Y-O-R, and then some dude on Spotify, who's like an electronic artist too, and he already had the name, and he was already kind of like had a bunch of streams and shit, and I was like, all right, I'm just gonna change my name. Yeah, it's tough, man. It's tough. Let's use my government name.

SPEAKER_02 55:54

Even even then.

SPEAKER_04 55:56

Yeah, someone else has the exact same name. Yeah. I was actually gonna hit this dude up because he has uh the Instagram handle, just Ian Ian. I was gonna hit him up and see how much he would charge me to just buy his Instagram handle.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

Most likely he probably doesn't even like connect with it, huh? Is it still using? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 56:15

I think the last post was like 2018.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

Yeah, it's some people just lock them in and they just forget about them. I've I've tried on different uh sites for different names. I think I think I did with uh Don't Trip. I think it was like please one of my or another project I had, like it was just like locked up. You can't like some people just you can't get a hold of them.

SPEAKER_04 56:36

Yeah, it's annoying because it's like dude, I could actually use this handle and it's just sitting there dying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

Yeah, we uh when uh I did Don't Trip, there's it was it's please don't trip, but the some of like the um we did some like mar uh merch with Don't Trip on it, and then we had uh free and easy, uh the brand that was doing Mac Miller's stuff with Don't Trip, contact us and like hey you guys can't use this, and I'm like, I'm like we're not we're not an apparel brand, like we're just we're in event space and everything. They're like, Well, you can buy a don't trip shirt on your website. I'm like, oh shit, you're right. So I had to take it off. But you know, that's that's that's theirs to begin with, you know.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

But what what what were you uh doing, I guess, from the time like I guess before like 2018, like DJing, like where were you gigging at back then?

SPEAKER_02 57:32

Um a lot of a lot of um out of state residencies, honestly. Um I think here in Orange County, um back in what was that, I think 2014, I won OC Weekly's best club DJ. Um shout out. Yeah, before before that I had uh basically my re like I think my favorite residency was Yost Theater when they first opened. I had was uh the resident there for almost four years, and uh I helped bring in a lot of lot of great acts, worked with some lot of great artists and talent teams, and um a lot of the promotional groups that grew and started doing bigger stuff. And I mean Side Piece came from there. I mean uh Dylan was part of uh what was it was it party? Yeah, party favor was two guys before um there was uh a plethora of artists that came out there, to be honest. I can't I can't think of them, but uh a lot of a lot of uh great shows. Um I it was resident a lot of different clubs around town. Um I had residencies out in Vegas at Palms, Rio, um Hard Rock.

SPEAKER_04 58:47

Um you were playing house music?

SPEAKER_02 58:49

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 58:50

I'm just so curious because like before it seems like before COVID, nowhere was playing house music. Yeah. At least just like from the outside, it seemed like they were playing like in Orange County, EDM. But it wasn't like house how it is now.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

Um yeah, there was just fewer spots. I mean, the cob on Wednesdays was huge.

SPEAKER_04 59:11

It was all weekday stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:13

Mostly weekday stuff.

SPEAKER_04 59:14

Taco Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

Um when Giant was in town too. There was better shows when Giant was promoting stuff. Um even Spon Day. I mean this it's just it was a different era than it is today. Yeah, like I I I wish I could go back to that time.

SPEAKER_04 59:33

I'm just so curious.

SPEAKER_02 59:34

I would love to rewind time a little bit, but you know, I at the end of the day, you just have to make better things and hopefully they they stick. I mean, later today I'm gonna I'm gonna go check out a venue I've been eyeing for a minute. Um uh talk with a buddy of mine and see if we can partner up and do uh some one-offs here in Orange County. Um, if that comes to fruition, then I'll definitely have a little more to speak on. But it's uh there's there's a lot to go like go against these days. Uh before there wasn't such a hard margin for venues to like make money right out the gate, and you could grow nights. Yeah. Um now it's just the cost of living and cost of a business is so high. And but the the the trade-off is not many people are drinking as much. So these venues aren't making the money that they used to. And so there's just a lot more risk on that end. So it's it's tough. It's tough talking venues in a in a doing unique stuff and giving the artists that know what they're doing, and the artists that they bring in like time to let it grow instead of just like uh doing a cookie cutter EDM, like DJing friends with controllers and yeah, giving like people like full reign of the of a venue that shouldn't be on stage. There's so many DJs that shouldn't be on stage. And that's our problem right now is we have um a lot of veterans that uh should be playing and keeping venues like afloat and a vibe, and like you go to this place because you know it's good music. Like you go place and you you just assume like you're gonna get banged out with like hits for like the first nine to ten, eleven o'clock hour before you even get to the actual like decent DJ, you know, and people are burnt out, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:25

Yeah, sandbar is like super generic tech house, but like if you want to just like listen to generic tech house, like it's a cool spot to just like have that because nowhere else really like has Dallas music.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:37

That was uh that was my baby for a long time. I was when I was with the uh the Sharkies group, I started that that uh music format. I did all the music programming for like the restaurant side too. Yeah, you walk in, have lunch, the music playlists were created by me, and then I'd bring I had my Friday residencies and the DJs that came in. And really what it came down to was I was button heads with the the company being more corporate, and that's what they wanted. They wanted the cookie cutter mashup remix stuff, and uh it went from a certain like like good housey vibe to like commercial play out, like played out shit. I'm like, I can't have my name on this anymore. Like I can't I can't support this idea. And uh walking away from it sucked, but I'm I also was like burnt myself out doing it too. Like I was like mentally just drained from telling kids to stop playing Fisher, like or like take your sunglasses off. Like, like you just it's a college bar, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:42

It's college Huntington, like that's what it is.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:46

It could have been good. It it was good for the first year, I think, and then it it it changed.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:50

Yeah, what I thought was a sick vibe. This is actually like I think this was like the first time you probably don't remember this, but this is like the first time I like I went up to you and just like said what's up and uh we were at uh Palmina in Newport when uh you and Bijan were playing there, yeah. And uh I know I knew all the management over there because I played at Esperanza in Manhattan. So he like got us in and got a table, and uh the shit you guys were playing over there, like the vibe in there was sick. It was like indie dance, like yeah, tribal afro house.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:30

Yeah, it that was uh after I had started Sandbar, um we our next project was Palmia in Newport, and we opened that. And I started the format in winter time um without any promotions behind it, and just did um did Saturday nights there, and we kept it mellow and just like I was more on the afro side for a while, and then um when we geared up for summer, is like when I decided to bring Bajan on. Um, because he was he was a hand he was helping me a lot with Fridays at Sambar, and he was on the same wavelength, just a different tone of music and a different crowd. Um when that thing kicked off, it was a lot of fun. It was like it was just a nice it was a nice breather for me because like I was so burnt out of like the typical tech stuff, yeah. And uh to have that like on Saturday night, it was like it was just an enjoyment, like to like relax and try new stuff and like a different vibe. And it it hit like we were we'd we had like a line around the building at 9 p.m. You know, like to go in and would be at capacity at like 10 30. Yeah, that's like unheard of these days, you can't do that, yeah. And um the un like it would have been still going if you know they actually had their license to do to have a dance like entertainment after 10 p.m. That's what shut it down was uh Newport politics and um the owners just pushing it anyways and um not having that space anymore. It sucks because like that would have been a great night in a beautiful spot.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:02

You can't just get the permit after the fact. Uh no, no, no, no. No. You gotta do it before you like well do the all the like each venue.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:12

Uh this is this is from working with uh you know being a operating partner for bars for you know 13 years. I I understand the politics of like different venues and stuff like in cities, like a a venue needs to have like be grandfathered in with like permits and licensing, and you can't just apply and get permits for a new venue. Like yeah, people don't want uh a party place in their town anymore. So like Newport is they they won't approve an entertainment license. That's Newport. Yeah, but it's it's it it applies for a lot of different cities too, though. Um it's a little easier when you go inland, but Orange County is extremely t difficult on the politics when it comes to parties and events and stuff like that. That's why I think a lot of events spaces. And venues really struggle in the long term here in Orange County. Why LA and San Diego just seems like a better viable option for an artist to grow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:09

Yeah. Bijan has been killing it lately.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:12

He's consistent for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:14

Like he's a fucking hustler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um they're doing that uh day like pool party thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

Oh, yeah, I saw that. Up in Santa Monica or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:25

No, at uh that hotel in Huntington.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:29

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:30

On the water right there.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:31

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:32

Yeah, he's using Rob's uh sound system. The voids? Yeah. Nice. So what what what pool is it?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:42

Like the Hilton or something like that?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:43

Um I forget what it's called.

unknown 1:06:47

Fuck.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:48

It's the C something?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:52

Paseya?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:53

Maybe. I don't know. It's the it's one of those hotels right there.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:57

It's uh like Main Street side or like farther down?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:00

No, farther down.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:02

Okay. I would assume it's probably like the Hilton or something because like I can't imagine anywhere in Pacific City being able to get away with voids. Um, yeah, it's the ones on the other side. Yeah, it's got a good further bigger hotels where they can like contain it to that space. Yeah. That's cool. Oh yeah. Good for you.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:19

I'm surprised that they allowed that.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:21

When I saw it, I was like, damn, they're I think it's probably tourism's down. You know, they need some of these hotels probably need that push.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:29

Yeah, and he has a good little following with casually late.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:32

They have a little like doing great with his brand.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:36

But yeah, he just uh he just I think he started is it tonight or this weekend? The LSXO. He's doing like a little speakeasy thing up in uh Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, that looks cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:48

Yeah. Yeah, I'm curious to see how those I forget when the like pool party one is, so I want to try and go to that one. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see the turnout for those.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:00

I think Orange County is tough, man. Just because there's everyone's the party groups are so spread apart. But I have seen a lot of different groups coming together like these days. Like uh sounds like the those Soundgarden guys are doing um stuff in the Santa Anna area. Yeah. Um then Sound Check. I think everyone's sounds something sound check, sound burn. Yeah, it's uh you know, it I think there's these different segregated styles too. Um I think if someone was big enough to be like, let's all do something dope, like Orange County could have a vibe, but yeah. Um it seems to be the problem sometimes, is everybody wants to be the big dog and um not be like you know the owner and just just let all the dogs play.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:52

Yeah, that's just tough with throwing events. There's just yeah. Well, someone's gotta make the money, you know. Yeah, there's no money to be made. Exactly. You're just doing it to self-promote yourself at the end of the day. Yeah, you know, that's what most of the parties are now.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:08

Yeah, I I I know there's a lot of uh I could talk shit all day. I could talk shit all day. No, but there there are some events that you know the promoter isn't a DJ. I just haven't seen in a while, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:25

Yeah, because it's like you're not making any money. Like, what's the point of you throwing these events if you can't DJ your own event? You know? Yeah, like you gotta be making money to like just be a promoter.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:38

I I the the here, I'll I'll put it this way the promoters that I see that are uh doing things properly aren't DJs, you know. Yeah, that's very true. Yeah, the and that's that's the reality of it. They they go, this is what I'm good at, I'm gonna do this. But they never really had a a vibe to be a DJ to begin with. They don't they don't DJ and then go, it's it's DJs that go, Oh, I gotta be relevant, I have to promote. Yeah. And so they're not that great of a DJ.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:07

Yeah, you're wearing too many hats.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:09

Yeah. Just stack the stack the speakers and put the bags in a the fries in a bag. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:16

Have you been to Brussels?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:18

Yeah, I have.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:21

Yeah, it's a cool little spot. It's a little, it's almost like the Chris Stussy Deep Tech Bros. It's a little that vibe. It's a little more classy, like sound than over here.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:37

Yeah, I think uh well, I think just Laguna in general kind of gives that vibe. Yeah, you know. Um super sweaty, but yeah, I haven't I haven't been this year, but I've seen a lot more of their content being pushed. So it seems like they're just they're um yeah, I'd love to play there someday. I just I need to reach out to those guys. That'd be a vibe.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:58

Yeah, yeah. Speaking of promoting yourself, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:02

I know I that's my biggest problem is I'm I don't reach out. I don't, I just kind of I've been in a position and I've been fortunate, I know, I should say, to have the the gigs and the and the stuff that I've done and the relationships. Um and then I like after I left my my job with the Sharges group and the entertainment director, um I chose not to play in Orange County for a year and like told myself like I'm I'm not gonna associate with like what's going on. Like I don't like the undercutting, I don't like the hundred dollar payout nonsense that everyone is like accepting. Like it's like I and all the gear all of a sudden started turning to XDJs and and like and like what happened to CDJs, what happened to the mixers, you know, like um I kind of just I wanted to separate myself from that, like and so I did. I took a year off and then uh sat in the studio, made made more music, and um I I'd rather just come back and and and play like you know the the gigs that are fun, the gigs that are like doing it right. Like Brussels like doing it right. I love hey, come hit me up. I'd love to play for you guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:14

Yeah, I know a lot of the guys that play there probably hook you up.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:17

Oh, I it's funny, dude. Everyone says that, dude, like we haven't played there, like I'll hit you up, I'll I'll get you in, I'll get you in, I'll get you in. I'm like, cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:25

You just never hit him up.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

No, I don't know. Yeah, you I don't know him personally, so I don't like I'm not like hey, hear me play or yeah, come book me.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:34

I hate being that guy, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:35

Yeah, exactly. It's not really my mode. I'll I'll go down there one day and check it out when you know the timing's right, and you know, and if we run into each other and it's organic, then yeah, I'm like, yeah, I'd love to play.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:46

Yeah, I don't like I try to stay away from just like hitting people up on Instagram to like get bookings because then they're just like bro, I've never not to be like that guy, but it's like Rob never seen you in my life.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:57

Yeah, I would I've I've never and I I would never I think it's um it's in poor taste. I mean if you're uh house music is a community, are you supporting the community or are you just pulling from it? You know, like go go to the event, bring your friends, like buy a drink, have fun, like go enjoy yourself and feel it out. Like don't go because you want to like you wanna make a 15-second reel for yourself. Yeah, that's really what it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:22

Yeah. I actually I I wanted to talk about this because I posted not to bring TikTok up again, but I posted this TikTok the other day, and uh fuck, what was it about? It was me and uh you know DJX Boyfriend. The DJ's name's ex-boyfriend? DJ X boyfriend, that's his his um no. He runs uh cool contest records.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:47

Uh-huh. Anyway, I think I've heard someone bring his name like that name up before, and it just I don't I guess I never like put two and two together.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:56

Yeah. I posted a clip and we were talking about uh just like throwing parties in LA, and there's just like a bunch of parties going on that I didn't really know was going on. And everyone in the comments is like uh how come you just talk about these parties but never say what they are? Like, how do I find these parties? Like people nowadays just want to be spoon-fed, like information. Yeah, it's like there's ways to figure out what parties to go to, and then just go to the parties and then figure out which ones are sick, you know? You don't need to be like have this perfect plan of all the best parties you want to go to, like go to different ones and see what your vibe is, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:40

Yeah, no, I guess much of a comment. I I don't know what to tell you on that one. Um I I first off, I don't have a TikTok, so I think uh I stopped after Instagram. I was like, I'm just tired. I mean, I'm I'm from like the MySpace days, yeah. And uh Facebook and then Instagram was like, do I need an Instagram? Like that's how it was when I got on. Yeah, so TikTok, I was like, no, I'm I'm done. Yeah, I'm done.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:05

I don't like I just use it to promote this because I don't like using TikTok, but if I'm gonna spend all this time like doing all this and like promoting, like at the end of the day, it's to like promote artists, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So why would I not like use all of the avenues of social media to like promote this, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:32

If there was a a good platform that you know, I I'm sure AI is pretty close to it being done. It's just one platform where you you make one post and it hits all of them and it's and and it makes it unique for each each platform, I'd be okay with that. But it's the it's the amount of time you have to put into it, and then learning an algorithm on when to post it, and like and then building an audience that you not sure who your audience is. I there's just so many hurdles. Yeah, there's so many hurdles to it, and then dimension sizes for each platform, like yeah, real real things.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:10

I guess that's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:10

I've never like oh it's this oh dude, I'm I'm I'm a designer. Like I I've I've done I've done content for I was doing content for my event, like having to make you know, there's a hundred there was a hundred and eleven DJs and artists for uh the last don't trip. I made an individual flyer for each one. Like, and then that was and then reels and like multiple different reels, video the edits and like and like stuff for the the campsites, for R V camping, for for the cabins, for like all these different like little bits, and you have to and they have to be certain dimensions, certain pixels, and you're like, my god, what am I doing? Yeah, it's a lot of work. Wasting my time.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:02

That's why people get paid to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:05

And we and I had T I had people that I hired to do it, and they like weren't that great. Yeah, you know, yeah. This is a lot. This is like you can people say, like, oh, I'm a social media marketer, m marketing, and oh cool, right on. Well, why am I teaching you? Why am I doing this?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:28

It really takes a lot of time to figure out how everything is actually like how everything works, you know? Because now I'm starting to kind of get into like a formula of how I like post things, when to post, yeah, how it's gonna look. But it's kind of just like trial and error. You just have to do that for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:51

It changes every year too. It changes every six months. There's different algorithms, the way um like one of our one of the issues that we had with Don't Trip on the last one was their iPhone had an update that uh prevented us from our ads to be seen on iPhones from that like on social media. So not so the year prior worked fine. And then we spent literally three times as much on our marketing budget the following year, and it hit like one tenth as good. Yeah. And we're like, wait a minute, what's like why are why are all of our you know our numbers off? Like, why do we spend this like in like and then the social media managers like oh there was an algorithm update or something, and like so iPhone had an update, and this is what happened, and we're like that's what we hired you for. Like, why why why are we learning this like after the event?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:46

Like, yeah, spending money on you were you just spending money on ads?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:51

Um, we were doing everything. We had I mean it was personal advertisement, but we had I mean we were in a di we were in a different market, we're in Utah. Yeah we we're advertising, you know, from Salt Lake City to like even like Idaho and and Nebraska and stuff, because like those were markets that were like untouched for electronic music because you know they but it's close enough to where our location of our event was that people would hit like we actually got people from those areas off our ads, yeah. Um so it it's it was worth it, but like it you have to be a absolute savant at doing it, yeah, you know, and uh and that's the problem. Like, unless you're a big corporate company with a budget to figure it out and team to figure it out, then the little guys are always gonna struggle. Yeah, you know, that's just that's just how it that algorithm is based. It's how it's built, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:49

Yeah, and it's always kind of changing. It's kind of the same for the most part, but with social media and even just music in general, you have to just be you have to be an idiot, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:04

I think you have to be horse girl.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:07

Well no, I was gonna say like you have to be cool with like posting a bunch of shit, like songs, whatever, like all this promotion stuff for no like engagement, you know? Yeah, you just have to like be able to sit in that for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:26

I think part of my plan is, you know, I think it makes sense and why I'm I'm not putting out music right now is because I'd rather I'd rather wait and not fight the fight the social media like challenges and eventually run into the team that knows how to do this and and it like sees my potential, my talent, and goes, Oh, you have all this ready to go, you're ready to run, aren't you? And I'd be like, Yeah, let's go. Yeah, but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna sit here and spend half my day on social media to and like to keep keep going. Yeah, it's doesn't it's not fun. It's it's mentally and emotionally draining. Yeah, it is. Yeah, so I just don't so I just make I just make music and I enjoy it, you know. And then when when the time's right and I launch, then cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:11

Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask you. Like, what's your plan? But I guess that was your plan.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:15

Yeah, it's it's about finding the right team, putting all the pieces of it together, and it's I'm also helping other artists though. It's not just myself, it's like there's you know, multiple people involved with this. So it's when we all go together, you know. Well, there's there's a lot of music behind all of us that we're uh going for, and uh and once once the team's there, there and I've I've put a number of pieces of the puzzle together already. Yeah, just I think the last few people are are literally the agency and uh and the the content, you know, who's in charge of content.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:51

Yeah, because you can really tell a difference when there's like somebody that's just doing it by themselves or the people that have a team, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:59

There's just yeah, one social media manager that runs five people is better than five people doing their social media, I think.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:06

Yeah, you know. I'd be curious to talk to like I talk to a lot of DJs and producers, but I really want to talk to like the managers and the people kind of like the teams behind all the DJs and stuff, because I'd I'm just so curious of like how all that works.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:26

Well, the the manager is the tour manager and then um you know the agent. Yeah. I think the agent's really the most important part of it. Yeah, that's that's the asshole that makes things happen. Yeah, you know, the manager just keeps the artist in line and and and working and without you know going off the rails. The tour manager is just making sure that you know the equipment and the the gear and uh the the flights and all that shit are are are dialed. But uh it's really the agent, I think, that's really making the big noise. And to get there, you you have to break through the the barrier of uh being you know, you have to be valuable. Yeah, and and that's I think that that's the biggest part is have a brand that you can fill a venue with, or uh if your content or your your music is big enough to fill a venue and um you know you're you're able to have a great stage presence, like then you know, you can make it work, but it's it's it's who how how you're getting that attention, that agent, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:29

Yeah, yeah. I really like the just like the strategy behind it, you know, like putting them on specific lineups and just like the back end of like how you get somebody like to blow up.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:42

You know, I think that's the easy part, honestly. It's about just that artist getting to that agent side first. It's there's a plethora of a lot of a lot of festival events rely on agencies to fill these, like the like if you look at a lot of the festival lineups that are like the heady ones or the good like the ones we enjoy, they're very similar. Like each one is basically just the same bigger artist just in a different place on the flyer, and then the ones below it um are the ones working up to that stage. Um and those names are not in the wheelhouse of festival like uh producers. Um I I don't know too many festivals I mean Deather Hearts is one of them though, but I don't know too many uh festival produce production companies that are in tune as artists and booking. You know, I think they really uh rely on the agencies to fill those those gaps in. Yeah, and so that's what's happening is these agencies have the opportunity to fill festival lineups across the globe because their agencies are big enough to you know they're reached out and they have these big artists and they go, Here, you need to get this artist on, you need uh you need to book these smaller guys. Yeah, you know, you want this artist, you have to take these two. That's how that's how I mean that's what I've dealt with when I've been uh dealing with bookings and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:12

Yeah, because you can't it's so hard to like break into that because like you're saying, like these agencies kind of they stronghold like gate kept, yeah. And that's why you see the same artists on the same lineups every year.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:27

So yeah, it's it's um it's too much of a risk for festivals to risk smaller guys, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:37

Big festivals for sure. Yeah. So you gotta just get your licks on the small stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:43

So that's where the renegades come in, you know. All the little guys need need need to love on the renegades, and that and if it's done right, I think the content's captured right at these renegades, which are like truly a vibe, you know. Like some of the smaller part, like look at the Yune stuff, you know, like Yun crushed, you know. Um and like if they if they captured good content, whatever artists, like look at Mary Droppins, yeah, you know, like when she played that. Like, I think that was more of a push for her career, uh being seen in that that vibe, you know. That me personally, that's the way I look at it. Yeah, I remember booking Mary uh when she was playing house music, you know. Um that before she was uh in the bass realm. Yeah, you know, she's got a cool style, yeah, yeah. She absolutely does. Yeah, yeah. She crushes, she's on fire right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:34

Yeah, it's nice to see people doing different stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:37

Absolutely, absolutely. Makes the world go around.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:40

Yeah. Well, cool. What time are we at? Hour 30 minutes or so.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:46

Hour 30? Yeah. This is fun. I loved it, man. I appreciate you having me, dude.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:52

Yeah. We've uh we've had some chats before, so I knew already knew the snowball was gonna start rolling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:59

I don't I you know what, I don't really talk too much, but I think if I put a mic in front of me and we discuss like the music scene, like I enjoyed like being a supporter of it and and giving my two cents when I think people don't really give me the opportunity to talk about it. Yeah, so thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:15

Yeah, yeah, it's easy to talk about music all day. So um I guess plug yourself, even though you don't have like social media.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:24

Uh you can find me DJ Dangerhouse at uh on Instagram. I don't really do anything else for social media wise.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:32

Um Do you have any music out on like SoundCloud? I spotted it.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:38

Literally holding on to everything. You want to hear me book me. Um I've got some great stuff. I respect that. Yeah. Uh I I do I give my I give my track out to some other DJs that play it and I'll get some content back soon.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:50

What's the timeline you think?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:53

Um I'm gonna be I'm gonna release some uh a couple tracks this summer. So I'm I've got some older stuff I did a couple years ago that are I'm gonna I'm gonna get uh put out finally. Um so yeah, you'll hear you'll hear a couple tracks by the end of summer. Sick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:07

Well sweet.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:08

Much love, my friend.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:09

Thanks, dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:10

Cheers.