Page 13 - DemoZone Magazine Issue 003

" Undeground is in the blood at all times - I can't take it away -
Its where I'm from. "
Tell us about life before "House music" in 1998?
I was a bit of a late bloomer. I became a DJ as I studied Aerospace Engineering in University. This was 1986 and I was DJ'ing Hip hop - mainly backyard parties. lowrder car show events and weddings. I had never heard of house really until on night a hair stylist friend of mine invited me to some party that started at a warehouse at midnight and went until 6am. Since my "hip hop" gig was done about 2am so I checked out this "underground". This was before the "rave scene" had developed. It was amazing. I was tripping on how dark and minimal the lighting and warehouse vibes were. This was the first time I heard house music in general played all night, also the first time I had seen such variety of people. I was DJ'ing in the Lowrider subculture, - but THIS is what i loved! The first song I heard was Xavier Gold "you Used to Hold". It was a fateful event because the DJ that was playing was a guest at this "art event warehouse". Shortly after I graduated university (about 2
years later) i moved into that exact warehouse and began having house music events every weekend. I went from a graduate engineer turning down the suburb urban safety of an well paid engineering offer to living in that warehouse amongst the transients and soup kitchens to begin my journey into house.
Tell us about after 1998, did you expect the track to do as well as it did?
About 1996, I decided I would need to start producing tracks that DJ's played. HOUSE MUSIC was my first production and I came up with some cash to press some white labels that I would hand to the International DJ's that would fly into LA and play. Frankie Knuckles was the first to just "drop it in his set" kind of trusting it was a good song. The crowd loved it and he turned to me and said "congratulations" with his kind smile. Also Tony Humphries was killing the track many times a night on his mix show. It was amazing!