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Slaying the DJ scene w/Taylor Jordn
37 Plays3 days ago
Yasi and Steven get into the Electronic Dance Music scene with Taylor Jordan (a.k.a. TSlayz) to learn about the life of a professional DJ. From all-night DJ sets to self-defense scrunchies to Frank Sinatra to Gamers For Giving, Taylor takes us behind the scenes.
Taylor's instagram @taylorjordndj, @tslayz
Tik Tok: @tslayz
For Gamers For Giving, go to https://gamersforgiving.org
For her interview with Bold Journey, go to https://boldjourney.com/meet-taylor-jordn/
Bio: Taylor Jordn (aka Tslayz) Is a full time DJ, Content Creator & Streamer. She hails from Detroit, Michigan but have lived in Los Angeles CA. She has had a true passion for Techno music ever since she was a kid. She got my first set of DJ decks 15 years ago and instantly knew music was her life's pursuit. She wears a lot of hats with the within the realm of the numerous industries. She constantly finds myself with an overbooked schedule and a daily to do list. She streams full time on Twitch playing games like Apex Legends, Halo & League of Legends. She built up a like minded positive uplifting community called the Slayerz Club. It bridges the gap between her music and gaming fanbases to have a safe space to chat make friends in the gaming and Techno community. She has been vegetarian for 10 years and 3 years Vegan. Her trusty companion is her 4-year-old puppy named Lenci.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Overview
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the Athletes in the Arts podcast, along with Yasi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas, and we thank you for tuning in today. We are a consortium of sports medicine and performing arts medicine academies and organizations dedicated to improving the health and wellness of athletes and performers everywhere.
00:00:39
Speaker
So please go to www.athletesandthearts.com for more information and resources. Plus, if you like our show, please feel free to leave a review and tell your friends.
00:00:50
Speaker
We would certainly appreciate it.
The Life of DJs in EDM
00:00:52
Speaker
So today we are going to learn about DJs. Now, we don't mean Casey Kasem in America's Top forty s countdown, and we're not talking about those who you hire for a wedding.
00:01:03
Speaker
We're talking about DJs as performers, stars in their own right, performing in clubs, arenas, and festivals all over the world. Electronica, or EDM, house, hip-hop, and other genres of music are part of this scene, and they can also be further divided into subgenres like trance, trip-hop, and techno.
00:01:21
Speaker
and This broad style of music started out over 40 years ago in earnest underground parties and raves in Chicago and Detroit, and then spread to Europe soon after. In the new millennium, the electronic dance music scene has grown in popularity worldwide and moved into the mainstream.
00:01:37
Speaker
DJs became the focal point, performing sets as long as four hours sometimes in all-night venues and festivals. ah COVID had a detrimental effect on festivals and venues in general, but the scene has rebounded big in the last couple years.
00:01:51
Speaker
However, being a DJ is not all glamour and fun. The physical demands of performing, late night hours, and the music culture itself can be challenging to navigate. So to find out more of what it's like to be a professional DJ in the EDM scene, we invited professional DJ Taylor Jordan, aka T Slays, to join us today.
Meet DJ Taylor Jordan (T Slays)
00:02:10
Speaker
So Taylor, thank you so much for being on our show today. We're really glad to have you. How you doing today? Welcome. I'm so glad to be here. This is actually my first podcast, so I'm really excited. And the badge of honor will wear with pride, for sure. so um So tell me just little bit. So let's go back a little bit in the beginning of how someone like you is yeah in the DJ world and the music world, techno world, gaming world.
00:02:34
Speaker
So how when you're growing up, were you really interested in music at the time? Were you interested in video games? Was there a certain part of your life that like sparked all this? Okay, so... So back when I was a kid, I was actually a competitive gymnast, like a high level junior Olympic competitive gymnast in 2011. I was actually ah Eastern national champion on all around bars and as team.
00:02:55
Speaker
So ah when I was that high level of a gymnast, I could not put myself at risk getting injured. During season or, you know, half the time in Michigan, it's snow and cold. So like, what am I going to do?
00:03:08
Speaker
I going to go outside? Like, I'm probably not going to go outside. I'm going stay inside. So me having to be so strict with what I could and could not do, I turn to video games and music because I'm inside. I can't get hurt. you know Yeah.
00:03:21
Speaker
uh so i tapped into those i got into music because my dad owned um some event complexes and clubs and kind of was in the nightlife scene so i accumulated decks really really early on and got into like early 80s 90s and early 2000s electronic and dance tracks and which i have the vinyls to this day like all the old vinyls from his club which is really cool cool ah So, yeah, the music inspired me there. i liked listening to the music.
00:03:52
Speaker
I would take my iPod. Back in the day, I had the little iPod Nano. Maybe, I don't know what, 200 songs? It was the coolest thing when my parents got it for me. I got that, and I would listen to the craziest, like, electronic. Back in the day, like Skrillex and Deadmau5. Mm-hmm. I can't believe that's back in the day. can't believe it's called back in the day. Back in the This is like early 2000s. This for me is like yesterday. I know, right?
00:04:18
Speaker
Yeah. I would put my hoodie on and I would put in my earbuds on my little iPod Nano. Right. The first one that came out and listen to my tracks before I competed. And it would like give me the adrenaline rush. And, you know, I would before you competed in gymnastics. Gymnastics. Yeah. Okay.
00:04:34
Speaker
uh and then video games it was cold in michigan a lot of the time and still couldn't get hurt so um i was very much like up at night i feel like i was always like had a lot of energy uh and so i would play video games i had a lot of friends that were boys and they got an xbox 360 and were playing halo 2 and then like two weeks later halo 3 came out and call duty 4 and i was Ready to go. I got an Xbox 360 and that was revolutionary.
00:05:04
Speaker
So I started grinding video games then and never stopped since. so take a So the TEJ board, so again, back back then it was still, it was just becoming more digital or is it was were those early boards digital or they were vinyl first and then moving to digital? oh i Well, I didn't have vinyl back then, but back when my dad had a club, um,
00:05:26
Speaker
DJs were using vinyl. Then they were using CDs. I remember that he had a whole cabinet in the DJ booth. There was just CDs and CDs and CDs and CDs. And back then, CDJs, which is what people DJ on now, had slots for CDJs. And now the ones just have like people use usd USBs and SD cards. right There's not even the the CD slot in the CDJs.
00:05:50
Speaker
um But wait, wait hold on. Sorry. Scratch when I'm not talking or like confused. ah Wait, where were where was I going with this? Sorry. We're talking about going from analog and vinyl to digital. So yeah, the vinyl stuff is cool.
00:06:06
Speaker
And I'm very, very into vinyl. Vinyl is still cool now. It's like a kind of niche, but if you can do it, it's sick. um There's problems with vinyl if you're doing an event um or at a club.
00:06:19
Speaker
if the tables are shaking, you have to like make um right the table, the speakers, everything has to be placed right so that you can play. Otherwise, stabilize it. Yes. So with how venues are nowadays and all this stuff going on, sometimes that's not possible. And it's just, you know, convenience that CDJs are, you know, the easiest thing to do.
Taylor's Career Path & Early Hustle
00:06:41
Speaker
So then your gymnastics career, you you're a champion gymnast and you move on from that and you go into high school. And so where did gymnastics go for you? Okay, so I did that for like 15-ish years.
00:06:54
Speaker
I was very competitive. I ended my season winning. and When I won, i had regionals and nationals. Those were the last two competitions I did. I actually had a broken foot. Wow. And I competed, you know, back in the day. I wasn't thinking, you know, oh, broken foot. I'm like, whatever. It's now or never. Right. We have to compete. You know, they're like, take some Motrin, a foot injection, tape some plastic to your foot. It'll, you know, it'll be fine.
00:07:20
Speaker
hu um And somehow I still won with barely any practice. ah And then after I was just like, This is enough. I had arthritis already at then. um There was a lot of other stuff going in my life on in my life at that time, too, with like parents divorcing, yeah you know, quitting gymnastics, just like ah a lot of stuff happening.
00:07:40
Speaker
ah So I just didn't really know what i wanted to do at that point. um So I ended up quitting. I did want to go to college for a long time, but at the same time with gymnastics, no one actually thinks of ah there's not a lot of career paths.
00:07:55
Speaker
You don't make money doing gymnastics right ever. You dedicate 15 years and all you get is arthritis. Honestly, um you go to the Olympics, you can go to college gymnastics, but the only thing you can do is what, be a coach or maybe something in that. But then you're also really, really confined. So if you're going to be there coaching at a gym, you have to be there every single day or you know, six days a week, you maybe travel for competition. And that was just not really something I wanted to do. Right. Yeah.
00:08:23
Speaker
So I'm like, do I really want to take this toll on my body? um When a lot of my friends also had hip replacements, knee replacements, ACL, shoulder, and you name it, hundreds of concussions. like And i you know all I did was break my foot, but I was like, that's enough for me. like i My arthritis now,
00:08:43
Speaker
Right. You know, I'm like, I'm lucky I got in and out without any crazy, crazy major injuries. So i'm I'm pretty lucky with that. What did you end up transitioning to during that time? Did you end up? Oh, well, transitioning to music full time? Kind of.
00:09:00
Speaker
ah Well, I started getting in the creator space. I actually had a fashion blog for a while, um not really realizing what I was doing. Had a big email list. my doing that. And I was also um ended up being a what do you call it? A product specialist and narrator for the auto show.
00:09:19
Speaker
So I would tour around for that. I did that for like five years um and that was seasonal. And I would like present the cars. Like I helped launch the Dodge ah SRT Challenger, the Charger, or for the Hellcat. Mm-hmm.
00:09:35
Speaker
and the viper yeah back i think that was like 2015. wow so so i did that ah but people don't realize all those events are flying fly out so at the time you know i was doing that making good money and then i could do video games and all that when i was home and i was doing brand deals back in the day for like workout brands for my fashion blog and stuff um and then it transitioned to social media you're kind of hustling all these times you're basically ahead of the gig economy then Yeah, honestly, like I'm like maybe 2017, 16, 17 or 18, probably 16 or 17. I ended up deleting my website thinking it was so cringe, not realizing the value in an email list. And I never should have done it.
00:10:19
Speaker
Oh, yeah. But, you know, here I am. I just was like typing. Oh, I like this outfit here. ah Here's how I styled this. Um. Or whatnot. And people liked it because I was also going to concerts with friends. i was doing like music stuff. So I had like a different point of view or like different ah things i was able to go to and like experience that people like to learn about.
00:10:41
Speaker
Sounds like you were in the creative space and just trying to explore different things and... um So then what happened? Like what what ended up happening after that? Is that when music kind of just took on and took over your life?
00:10:57
Speaker
Kind of. ah The car shows were cool because they allowed me to travel. um and with that traveling, all my friends were doing shows. So when I toured exclusively with SRT, when I was 21, they sent me to Vegas like 10 times in one summer.
00:11:13
Speaker
Who's in Vegas? All my friends who are headlining all the venues in Vegas with residencies. every They're like, I'll see you on Thursday for dinner. you know And I was still there working for my car shows. When I get off my shift, I'll come chat with you, have dinner.
00:11:27
Speaker
We'll go to the show. And so like I got really... in networked i got really connected in the network of music through like that and through other friends and after doing that for a while you know i was still traveling doing the gigs doing social media because my social media started booming because i was doing cool stuff And come 2019, I ended up, I was living in England for a bit and I came back and then I went on a trip to LA to visit some friends who had moved there from Michigan. And- Hold on a second. So how'd you get to England? Like, how's your path just going to England somehow come back LA? was just traveling. all Music friends.
00:12:05
Speaker
Okay. Music friends everywhere. Wow. Okay. so i'm Just curious. Yeah. Just traveling. I like the traveling. So the auto shows allowed me to do this. I was getting per diem, saving the per diem, traveling to other stuff.
00:12:18
Speaker
And was Europe... I like Europe. Was it... Were there specific events that you were planning ahead for? Is that how you were connected? Well, I just wanted to experience it because Europe, the music is...
00:12:32
Speaker
my opinion so much better ah but the the culture and stuff uh just experiencing that first like also like opened my eyes to a lot more stuff with like culture and music and just creative and arts um they just have access to so much more since it's all so close you know you you can well not just england but in europe like drive four hours you could be in what five countries right um So that gave me a lot of like, I want more, I want to see more, I want to learn more, I want to do more. And then when I visited my friends in LA, was like, everyone just said, come visit me when you're in LA, come to the show when you're in LA. And I was like, okay, I'm in LA now.
00:13:14
Speaker
um I stayed there for like three weeks, you know just visiting friends, doing this, doing that, seeing everyone. And i ended up getting my first apartment at like 25. I know i didn't move out.
00:13:27
Speaker
for a long time because I was just traveling so much, much it didn't make sense. not sorry So i ended up, called my mom. was like, I'm going to Coachella.
00:13:39
Speaker
it was like the day before someone invited me to Coachella. I like, I have, you know, like, let's go. Like, I've never been there. Like, I have free tickets. You'll be taken care of. You don't have to pay for anything. i was like, okay.
00:13:50
Speaker
ended up signing... to like get an apartment. The day before I didn't even tell my mom, didn't even plan to live in LA. It just kind of happened. A friend of a friend was like, this friend of mine needs a roommate, like it'll work out. You know, like I was like, wow, like I could probably afford this. Like, let's try it.
00:14:07
Speaker
And then we got approved. And then I'm like, I'm going to Coachella. And in between Coachella, I'm going to fly home for two days. And somehow pack my life and then fly back to Coachella for weekend two and then go to L.A. It was cheaper for me to do that than to fly from Michigan to L.A. for like two weeks.
00:14:25
Speaker
It was like 300 to Palm Springs. Right. Then to fly back to 1200 to fly to L.A. but they like just They're like, we're still at Coachella. Like, you want to come back? i'm like, OK. And I met so many people there.
00:14:38
Speaker
I got known for this neon beanie. I was DJing a party in this green neon beanie. It was like, you know, i it's just some open decks. And like all these people thought I was so crazy because I was just like, I don't know, you know, like I'm going to dance, get down, like see all my friends, you know, like in this neon beanie. Once I moved back to L.A., I was like, oh, it got me noticed.
00:14:57
Speaker
It was a beacon. It was. So then they're like, are you that girl who DJed from Coachella? but what was like an after party, a house party. They're like, are you that girl? like, yeah. They're like, who are you? I'm like, i ended up changing my name to T-Slay's just before. I'm like, I'm T-Slay's.
00:15:13
Speaker
They're like, sick, T-Sleys, come DJ this house party. And so I ended up getting in the house party circuit um in LA, and I started for DJing for like the gaming house FaZe Clan. And used to DJ events for like Nyjah Houston, the skateboarder, and a bunch of stuff like that.
00:15:31
Speaker
ah All from this neon beanie.
The Art of DJing
00:15:34
Speaker
Well, any beanie companies right now can sponsor this episode so we can make some money and help them get some business for their beanies. It's so funny. It's yeah funny how these things work, I tell you. So then take us to like the process of actually DJing a show, like the work you have to do to set up and do all this, because i think most folks just see, mean, look the most people will ever know is just someone standing in front of a console yeah playing music play and that's it. think Yeah, people don't think of the back end work. you know Right, yes. Where do you guys think we get our music?
00:16:03
Speaker
Do you think it just like poof for the peers in our libraries? Right. Or do you think we have to like, well, me, I go in a black hole of searching when I'm gaming. I'm just like, oh, artists like this, artists like this, typing and like thinking of things and finding things that no one's listened to, things with 200 plays or something from like, I play a lot of pre-2013 tracks that no one's ever heard of, um stuff like that. So first, just finding music.
00:16:28
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And me, I'm not ripping my music off YouTube with... to why don't even know, you know, the the YouTube rippers to get your tracks. I'm buying my music also. Oh, okay.
00:16:40
Speaker
So yes, I buy all my tracks. that common practice then to steal me like music that way? Well, yeah. Yeah, some people do that. They actually take the music And you want to know what? It so sacrifices the quality of your music. Some might not know, but once you get in the club, you'll know this sounds, you can hear it sounding so much better and clearer than maybe a rip of off YouTube or something. Right, like a lossless audio versus a rip. Yeah.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, compressed, yeah. So I do buy my tracks. I buy them from like Beatport or they have Bandcamp, like different stuff like that. But also once you start doing it and you have more friends who are in the DJ space,
00:17:17
Speaker
you get blessed by them saying, hey, here's my new promos. Here's my new this. So you get a lot of that, too. And it's also a lot of digging, too, because there's smaller artists who, like, have tracks that might be free download on, like, SoundCloud and stuff. But, like...
00:17:33
Speaker
but you also wanna be different. So just take your time to like find cool sounds that people aren't doing. i'm not just going to the Beatport top hundred and playing it all top to bottom.
00:17:45
Speaker
But that's gotta be the challenge, right? You gotta, you know, people have to like what you're doing, but you gotta know what they like, but then you also wanna surprise them too. Yes. I like to i like to think about it. I'm gonna play what you didn't know that you wanted to hear.
00:17:58
Speaker
Oh, cool. Cool way of putting it. So like that's kind of you know my motto. You didn't know you want to hear it yet, but when you hear it, it's what you wanted to hear. Cool.
00:18:10
Speaker
that's That's a great motto. i was I have so many things coming up for me. One of the things is there was this DJ violinist on social media recently who was combining an Andrea Bocelli track with his violin and some techno music in the background. Mm-hmm.
00:18:28
Speaker
And the longest time in my 20s, my pre-party song was Andrea Bocelli. Like my friends would think I was crazy. And now on social media, you find that Andrea Bocelli is being mixed in. Mm-hmm.
00:18:44
Speaker
into these like really cool techno mixes in europe and i'm like what is going on i know i i love finding weird stuff like that one of my guilty pleasures is actually frank sinatra oh see same thing i love it i'm cooking I'm doing this. and And if you watched my streams versus just knowing me as a DJ, you'll be like, oh, ah Taylor's on one again. She's listen listening to Frank Sinatra or Taylor's listening to who knows what. Like, yeah happy hardcore Eurodance.
00:19:16
Speaker
Like, it's just my spectrum when I'm streaming goes all over the place. And then when I'm DJing. When you work with like gamers, and and I don't know if it's music for gaming too, and please forgive me if I'm you're saying this all incorrectly, but Donkey Kong, okay? Back in the day, Donkey Kong.
00:19:40
Speaker
had really good music. Okay. So would be doing... I'm trying remember it. Would you be... there was There were these... It was like... My dad had the arcade game in his bar. They had like a ah billiards room with the Donkey Kong machine and a Pac-Man machine for my mom.
00:19:56
Speaker
And i remember the Donkey Kong one because he was good at it, but I cannot think of the audio right now. This is Donkey Kong on Super Nintendo. Okay. it was like this... I mean, there are beautiful songs in the background that you'd be like, where are these, meet where are these coming coming from? So is that the kind of.
00:20:16
Speaker
That's not what I'm doing yet. But one of the, one of the things that I am wanting to do is I want to have tracks in like a video game, whether it be when I play or even. You know, which might be tough because I play pretty big games.
00:20:29
Speaker
um But any kind of game I want to have music in. And another one I want to do is maybe have a track in an anime. Oh, yeah. So just very cool two kind of cool, yeah different things.
00:20:42
Speaker
ah Both have very good music compositions are huge in those. but We saw the Mario Orchestra performance at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. They're playing all Nintendo music and video game music. I didn't even know that.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah, they do that. You have tours just of playing that music and and the crowd goes crazy. They all dress up and like they hear the song. Also, you hear the first couple notes, Joy. It's a big thing. no So the first part of DJing is getting your music, right?
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah, getting the music, organizing it. Right. organizing people don't think about like music keys like what key is this track and i'm not just putting random tracks together and making them sound good most of the time each key like if you mix in key you know like each key has a few different minor other keys that work yeah yeah there's a whole dj chart um i can't memorize them by like the actual note keys but it's like um they have an a circle and a b circle and you know how to dj amongst the the chart of that
00:21:39
Speaker
ah like one through one through 12B. And you there's certain ways that you can move up and down and like across. That all sounds good.
00:21:52
Speaker
Not to say that you can't mix out of key, it's just a lot harder, but people don't think about that either. so Yeah, I didn't know about that all. So organizing stuff like that and then different BPMs, like you're not going to want to change a BPM 100 BPM because it's not going to sound good. Sure. So like you got to find stuff that kind of like works with each other. So organizing all that.
00:22:13
Speaker
um Making sure your USB works. Make sure you export and it doesn't fail. Every DJ's nightmare is plugging in your USB and it's saying emergency loop.
00:22:25
Speaker
And an emergency loop is when it loops four bars, but it's not on grid for four bars. It's like off. So it just keeps going and going. and Oh, no. Every DJ's nightmare. i It's happened to me. It happens to everyone.
00:22:37
Speaker
um So make sure you export good. um And then I don't know you I i get ready. i go to the show. i like to drink yerba mates. I'm not a big fan.
00:22:50
Speaker
I don't like energy drinks too much, but, um, Girobe Mate is my go-to before a show or a very long stream. And then DJ, like, I don't, I don't really get nervous anymore. You know, maybe the first track or two, like I'm a little bit, like I'm not dancing as much, but like once I mix out of track one, it's like from like zero to a hundred. And then one once I hit the hour mark, I'm like, okay, I'm really in the groove in the dance and the dancing, like at the hour mark, it just keeps going more.
00:23:19
Speaker
Now, are you, so that's another question too, is like, because some folks will think that like, okay, a DJ, like when I used to DJ my fraternity parties in college, I have a tape and all these songs, I put the tape in and it just plays. So how much are you responding to the audience when you're performing, where you're actually having all these songs? Are you, it's just one list of playlists that you're going with that and you're, and you just work it? Or do you have to like, are you switching it up? It depends event for event. Like if I'm playing, like I did Lollapalooza Festival After Party in Chicago this year with Alice in Wonderland.
00:23:52
Speaker
Like that wasn't like as, she did do a techno set, but it wasn't as like hard year, hard techno. So like I kind of took a mixture of both worlds, like played some like festival-y techno and some stuff that was still true to me, but stuff also that was true to me that I thought that that audience would like.
00:24:09
Speaker
But it wasn't everything that I would um get to play like if I just did my own headline show. like I kind of like change it a little bit. I tweak it. ah But normally for those things, I like make kind of like a set list of like maybe...
00:24:26
Speaker
50 60 songs that like i might want to play tonight and then i have like every month or so i go in you know stockpile a bunch of new music and i'll have like those are my new tracks that i just downloaded and then like if i can't find something i want in the 50 however many i chose for that you know maybe wanting to play then i go to my new stuff or you know back to my old favorites like i have everything sorted on that kind of stuff or like even like to energy level like things that like make me feel like let's let's dance or like something groovy or something i have um a playlist that has like kind of ah maybe not just remixes or like would have samples from like old songs that people would know or like kind of be able to sing along maybe like a 90s track or early 2000s or something where like there's a few words that they would know so they can get into the track
00:25:20
Speaker
So I kind of like to jump across the board with those different kind of things in mind. Now, DJs are entertainers. Right. Like you have to entertain crowd.
00:25:34
Speaker
How do you keep yourself like in the zone if you don't know what the feel of the the people around you is going to be? Like, how do you keep yourself positive? How do you keep going?
00:25:47
Speaker
Honestly, the yerba mate helps a lot. And just the music and my adrenaline. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I'm the one having the most fun there. But honestly, that, rate you know, like I just go to like, most of the time I'm playing like tracks I want to hear because I'm like, in ah in America, um there's not as many shows playing the stuff I want to hear.
00:26:08
Speaker
And so I'm like, I'm going to play this. I want to hear this song. I haven't heard anyone else play it here in America. I'm going to play it. And then I'm i'm vibing out because I'm like, this is what I want to hear. And then they see my energy and it just radiates.
00:26:21
Speaker
to the crowd or the people are ah around them. So like they see one person like really, really getting down to on music and they're like, dang, okay, okay, I see how this goes. And then everyone starts getting into it.
00:26:34
Speaker
Amazing. And so do you have to like practice your um endurance for these shows? Like, do you jump up and down at home? Like, do you go on a treadmill? Is there anything that you're doing to keep your energy up other than things that you might? Okay, so the music. The music gives it to me. I don't even know how it does it, but it does it.
00:26:56
Speaker
I did a show in September. I was on a back-to-back show, like little tour with Cloud. He's a big, hard techno DJ right now. And I got to play like a two-hour set. And I was dancing so hard, not to mention I was like deathly ill, like both the days I was traveling.
00:27:14
Speaker
I was on some new meds and, you know, it it didn't work out too good in my favor. I had to stop them. They got me really sick. And I played, i had one day, i was getting sick the whole day. the next day I had to DJ in Minneapolis.
00:27:26
Speaker
I somehow got through it. And the next day I had to DJ in Detroit. That Detroit show was like me finally feeling a little bit better, but I had to, they're like, can we extend your set to like two hours? I was like, I thought I like...
00:27:37
Speaker
An hour is a little bit short for a techno DJ. Usually it's like an hour and a half. to like, can we extend it to two or maybe two and a half hours? And I'm like, okay. And and I just went full out. Despite me being so sick and feeling drained and have no energy, i like danced so hard. i really performed. I played really hard tracks.
00:27:55
Speaker
And I was like, after I was like, I feel like I'm a pass out. Mm-hmm. I was like, and it was really hot in there and like sweaty and I'm like, that was like the first, yeah, that was the first day I was like able to eat after, like properly eat after theyre being sick those few days. And I was just like sitting in front of the fan ah and my friends were like, get her a fan, get her a fan, finding the people. i ended up DJing. No one knew that that was happening, but like my mom, my brother, my couple friends, they're like we don't know how she's doing this.
00:28:24
Speaker
Right now. um but But it was, I killed the performance and and no one even knew that that had happened except for like my immediate family. And they're just like, and the headliner was like sneaking in the crowd. He's like masked. So no one knows who he was, but ah he was like, ah he asked someone, does she always have this much energy?
00:28:45
Speaker
wow And I was like, but i found that out after the fact that I was like, I was literally dying this day. oh my God. You need a whole medical team there to carry you afterwards.
00:28:59
Speaker
Yeah, honestly. So physically, mean, there's demands of performing like that, but for hours at a time, it's got to be pretty rough. So have you had any physical issues with your DJ career?
Physical Challenges for DJs
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah, so some of the things that people don't think of, well, on the DJ side is like... One, wearing headphones. Some of them are actually pretty heavy. And once you're bobbing your head and your neck, your neck gets sore.
00:29:23
Speaker
Or even like um the the height of the table where your decks are. If it's so low, you're hunching over and your head and your neck are down. And when you're doing that over and over and over, like your neck hurts, your back hurts, your head hurts.
00:29:38
Speaker
um So stuff like that. Not to mention also your ears. Yeah. um I wear um custom earplugs every time I go to a show. um Some people even wear the earplugs under their headphones when they DJ. I've not done that yet, but I'm planning to try that soon.
00:29:55
Speaker
um If the music's really loud, which sometimes you need to have it loud to be able to hear like what's actually going on, depending on the room of the space and how the speakers are faced and do you have reference monitors? There's a lot of... like um different factors and stuff like that on like being able to like actually hear like what's playing out to them and what you're queuing up for the next song um but if your ears are ringing like I've had it where my ears have rung for a week and a half and at this point in time i
00:30:28
Speaker
really treasure my hearing and I want to be able to hear techno music 10, 20, 30 years from now. So that's something I take ah into account when doing shows, DJing shows and attending.
00:30:41
Speaker
Even if it's just for a little bit, i always have my earplugs. your headphones protect you? I think headphones like you're wearing right now, they protect you a little bit or that's why other folks are wearing more? Yeah, but you have them, but you're also using them for other music. you have all the external audio and the audio from the new stuff on the inside. So you're just hearing a lot of things at once.
00:31:00
Speaker
um oh And you have be very, very cautious with your hearing. Now, we talk about that with athletes in the arts. We have a whole bunch of resources on noise-induced hearing injury. And that's a great point we bring up with performers all the time and and dancers who are always rehearsing in front loudspeakers and musicians who are always having, like, instruments blasting in their ears. So it's ah it's, again, that's something that most folks would never think about. But I guess it does make sense because yourre play you're blasting music into the audience. But you've got be able to hear what you're playing and and listen to what you're going to play next. And, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Mm-hmm.
00:31:34
Speaker
And it's like ah there's people or even sometimes you're like, I can't hear it. So you turn it up a little bit and then it like you're like, I can't hear it still. So you turn it up a little bit more. And by the end of the night when you're trying to go to bed, your ears are just ringing. Yeah. And then then when I'm what I come back to video games, I can't hear there where I need to hear like footsteps in a game or different things like that to have awareness of like where the enemies are and things. And you know It's very important for me to have
Women’s Safety & Empowerment in Music
00:32:01
Speaker
my hearing.
00:32:01
Speaker
So before this um recording, Steve had told me that you're very passionate about protecting women in the the music space. And I'm curious to know, when you first got into dejaying your own sets, you know you've talked a little bit about having to prove yourself and and what not to do because then people might not take you seriously. is there I mean, any advice you'd give to women who are looking to get into this space or tips you provide or or ways that you find that protect you as a female artist? Yeah.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, this is definitely ah a tough conversation to have. I wouldn't say just for me, but it's like a tough topic in the industry. ah It's definitely like I have morals with things, you know, like I want to be happy with the things I do and I'm going to do and have done.
00:32:55
Speaker
And I don't want to go 10 years from now and look back and be like, oh, my God, I hate that I did that. I wish I never did that. um A lot of things in the industry, that you know, drinking, drugs.
00:33:09
Speaker
things that I don't necessarily like. You know, women need to always wash their drinks. That's why i always bring one of those scrunchies. um have it somewhere. It has like a little opening where you can like take it out and it's got an elastaban with a cup cover.
00:33:25
Speaker
So it goes over and you can put your straw on it and then people can't put stuff in your drink. So that's like one thing and it's just disguised as a scrunchie. um Always have friends around. Make sure your phone battery's charged. Don't put yourself in like Sketchy scenarios, you know, like it's kind of for me, it feels like common knowledge, but a lot of people necessarily don't think or they're intoxicated and don't make the best decisions. But like in this time and age, it's like so important. That's one of the reasons like I don't really drink and I don't do drugs is because there's so many other factors like going on that I have to deal with that if I was intoxicated, i couldn't deal with or, would you know, like wouldn't feel safe.
00:34:08
Speaker
doing ah what other tips would I have don't do anything you don't want to do because you don't have to do it and a lot of people have like will like promise you you know we'll book you for this or we'll do you for that and they'll be for like people have asked for like sexual favors people have asked for drugs yeah drugs for you know what i mean like this is that's the industry we're in yeah it's more around how female like performers keep themselves safe. Like I can only imagine that.
00:34:42
Speaker
It's like if I tap into it, then, you know, it could go positive or negative, even though it is an important talk of topic to talk about. i mean, do you find yourself by having like people that I don't know if you have mentors in the industry, you know, or that some people. Yeah. Yeah. yeah That have guided you. I think that's something that's important. Like, yeah. Mentorship. I think the scrunchie tip is so important, not just for someone who's watching and attending. That's smart.
00:35:13
Speaker
um But someone who's performing and entertaining. Yeah. Especially in another country. Like there's so much. Yeah. And I don't know if you need to have like security around you. Like, I mean, I'm not that big, but I'm like, but still, i mean, that that's one of the things ah people don't think about as a small, like smaller touring DJ, you know, we're not making tens of thousands of dollars where we can have a tour manager, a security guard, the fight like we can't have a whole team tour with us. It's like literally me and or when I can commission my brother to join me. Yeah. As a tour manager, he's learning all the the roots and how to deal with people or, you know, how to keep me safe. And he didn't even realize like how many other extracurricular things are like happening. Yeah.
00:36:01
Speaker
in the in the side, or what should I say, in the works at the same time as like, I'm trying to do stuff. He just was like, oh, you're DJing. I was like, but there's 10 million things else happening at the same time that we have to deal with. And I need you to deal with those for me. um But other good tips. um I found kind of a mentor here or there.
00:36:22
Speaker
um i have a friend named Shelby Aniva, and she's really, really good. She gave me some inspirational talks a year or two ago, and that really put me in a good mindset and positive. She's actually part of Context, which is Charlotte DeWitt's label.
00:36:38
Speaker
And there's a lot of women on that. And I love that Charlotte DeWitt. um she's a forefront uh woman in tech or women in techno along with like an amelie lens but uh everyone pretty much women i mean there's men too but everyone's like very pro women every positive safe and i really love what she's doing with that and has it been historically tough for women in the techno world and just in music in general yes Music in general, yeah. Because both music and gaming are a male-dominated field. So one, to be taken seriously. and two, to like actually like show your worth tough.
00:37:19
Speaker
tough I feel like you have to work probably. I mean, it's already hard to be yeah headlining something or being the main performer.
00:37:30
Speaker
It's like the amount of time and like the amount of time and effort I've had to do to even get those gigs. I could be miles and miles ahead of what I am now if I took opportunities or like offers I was given that I would not have been proud of or, you know, like I don't think are morally okay. Yeah.
00:37:48
Speaker
ah But I'm very, very content and happy where I am now and how I'm growing because I've done everything myself and every decision has been mine. And, you know, like nothing I look back on and regret anywhere.
00:38:03
Speaker
um So that's very important to me. Very awesome. Where do you where do you hope your career goes moving forward? like What do you see 10 years? I wonder 10 years online. I still want to be doing music. Yeah. ah Do I want to be touring 300 days a year? Like definitely not. my man I want to be like, don't know, play a few times, like a little tour here or there in Europe.
00:38:29
Speaker
Yeah. be doing my gaming. Hopefully i have a home by then. I know in the gaming and content space, I want to transition into more home tech by then. um Possibly even do like a a small vegan cookbook.
00:38:45
Speaker
Like that's all also something I've done. I've already been like stockpiling recipes I've loved or like things I've made from like the past 10 years ah and been doing that. um Because when I travel, one of the things that I really, really love is trying all these really cool vegan restaurants in the cities I go to.
00:39:03
Speaker
um So I've kind of been doing stuff with that. ah Even though I started a YouTube channel recently, it's it's not very big, but I've been touching on the touring life, like what it's like behind the scenes of me, I don't know, getting ready, working on the music, going to these different vegan restaurants, testing them out, as well as just like showing different things people don't see behind the scenes because everyone thinks DJing is so glamorous.
00:39:30
Speaker
You're rich. You get girls or boys and shopping and, you know, drinking and partying nonstop private jets. Like that's what everyone just thinks of this. You know what mean?
00:39:42
Speaker
ah But it's not a lot of the time. You're just like, I'm ah alone in a hotel room. I'm traveling for eight hours to this show. Like I'm stuck in traffic again.
00:39:54
Speaker
to get to show. Or maybe something's not working. yeah, yeah. girl The CDJ is broken. oh, my luggage isn't here. Like, yeah, just, yeah you know. Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, I, the only, I've just gone to a lot of events, like weddings and concerts. And so there was one wedding where one of my friends, you know,
00:40:16
Speaker
had the DJ come to this really random city, but it's a beautiful city, but a really random city. And I know that the fact that he got his set up in this...
00:40:28
Speaker
little town, I was just like, you know, good job. You know, that takes a lot and not everyone sees that and getting good night's rest the night before and being able to find an Uber no matter where you're at So there's all these things.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yeah. People don't think about that. And for me, like, yes, I want to like grow and tour more as a DJ, but also like the health and sustainability of
Health & Sustainability in DJing
00:40:52
Speaker
that. Like I cannot tour 200 days a year. I get extreme motion sickness and like, you know, I'll cry.
00:40:58
Speaker
I'll crash and burn. Like maybe, you know, a few shows a month, like I'm happy with that. And, you know, like maybe like two weeks in Europe, once, twice a year, or two, three weeks in Europe, get all the shows done, come back here, do some more, you know what I But not like, some people are jet setting Asia to Europe, to here, to here, to here, to here, to here, and your body is just not even an on a time zone anymore.
00:41:25
Speaker
So like your health and wellness is just out the door. ah can imagine. despise um and despite like being on stage and everything being so like hype and you get like um like a boost an adrenaline boost from all of those things in the concerts and the events and the stages and the photos and then you're just in the room alone and doing nothing you know and it just goes from like Feeling so crazy and surreal to crash.
00:41:54
Speaker
Yes. um So a lot of people end up getting depressed or sad or like that when you do it for like a long stint or they don't have the adrenaline rush. So they don't feel like themselves or what, you know what I mean?
00:42:07
Speaker
hu Maybe not themselves, but like they just don't feel that anymore. So it's tough to like find your peace in in some of this. and stay happy and even just like a um like a routine like a daily routine like even just to like what do you call it like a a baseline of living right so after these shows when you need to have your cool down you know a lot of people go to music for calming themselves and they'll listen like instrumentals maybe
00:42:41
Speaker
I would assume, actually, I don't know because I'm not sure what you do, but I would feel like I don't want to listen to anything. Like, I want it to be pure silence after.
00:42:53
Speaker
Is that what happens for you after a show? Yeah, honestly. Like, I don't, like, I love listening to music. Of course. I don't find myself, now that I've been doing shows more, I don't find myself, like, casually just listening, like, when I'm cleaning or working or, like,
00:43:11
Speaker
Doing that. Like when I'm streaming, I'm listening to music or when I'm driving, I'm listening to music, but I don't find myself unless I'm working on a set or finding new tracks for like the stuff I have coming up.
00:43:23
Speaker
I don't find myself casually listening as much anymore. It's not that I don't like it, but It's just a lot. And for like the younger generation who hopes to get into this industry, do you have any tips? It sounds like YouTube's still working. Like YouTube's a good platform.
Social Media & Gaming Community Engagement
00:43:40
Speaker
YouTube's good um in a sense that it's stable. It's there. it's It's been there. It's still there. And I... can see it there for the foreseeable future.
00:43:51
Speaker
TikTok feels like, yeah, it was great for growth and being discovered, but like, who knows, is it going to be here? Is it not going to be here? You know, like what's the next step going to be? Um, You know, MySpace was huge and then it disappeared. um ah Quick.
00:44:07
Speaker
So it's just stuff like that. ah For me, the superior streaming platform is Twitch. YouTube, I think, is great for long form ah videos and now short form. They're really pushing reels right now. Or, wait, not reels. They're really pushing YouTube shorts right now. Make sure that we do the right one or else I'm going to get blasted. Right.
00:44:28
Speaker
um Yeah, so YouTube really good for YouTube shorts and then Instagram right now they're really pushing reels to, you know, be close to what Tick Tock was and you know, everything's kind of moving to that short form video.
00:44:43
Speaker
But streaming Twitch, long form and kind of short form, I'd say YouTube and then Instagram short form and your pictures. that So you've talked before about gaming and also your gaming community and the work you do there. So can you take us a little bit through that world? Because I know that's a whole large segment of what you do.
00:45:02
Speaker
ah Gaming's fun, yeah. I love streaming. I stream about 100 hours a month, maybe the 120, and you know... You're streaming, you playing? or you will Yeah. A lot of ranked gameplay, like intense gameplay. i'm I'm not playing any, like, chill games. I'm like, grind it.
00:45:20
Speaker
ah i I have a community from that. I'm pretty good at Halo. I like to think that, at least. um But I am pretty good at Halo. I like playing Apex ah Legends and League of Legends. Mm-hmm.
00:45:31
Speaker
um i have a community around all of those games recently i had uh someone at the new year's eve show i just played bring me a master chief figurine then i about died ah from halo i was like oh my god very cool uh and he was from the music community not the gaming community he's like i saw you play halo and i thought i needed to bring you this and i'm like oh Very cool.
00:45:55
Speaker
Very cool. Yeah. So by the time I'm done doing shows and stuff, because I can't stream or like play the video games I play without like my home PC because I need to be on like a real computer with a graphics card and like have my real setup.
00:46:09
Speaker
I'm like, it's time to game. I'm ready to game. So that's a lot of fun. I built up a Discord community called the Slayers Club. Okay. You know, from TSlayers Club. It's like bridging music and gaming.
00:46:23
Speaker
All my fan base, well, my fan base from both sides of the spectrum and... You know, everyone's talking in there from going to festivals or shows or even like the gaming community doesn't even know anything about techno.
00:46:36
Speaker
But they find me from gaming. They're like, what? You're touring as a DJ? Techno? I don't know anything about this. I've never listened to it. But I want to come. they They're invested in me. So they want to come see the shows in these cities. And so I've exposed so many more people to the genre.
00:46:51
Speaker
or to just going to a show, um which I think is really cool. And then the music people are like, gaming, like, what is this? we have a Or like maybe they played a game and didn't have friends in the community. Or maybe they're just learn it wanting to like start watching this stuff or learn about setting up a stream or the equipment. like All of that they can do there or even ask me in chat.
00:47:14
Speaker
And the thing that's so cool about me having this kind of thing um With Discord and streaming and stuff, people can watch me for hours and like ask questions and like learn about me or like even stuff that you know maybe they want to know what I use to DJ or like what i you know different what headphones do I use, stuff like that. So they can like connect with me differently than connecting with just if you're only a DJ.
00:47:40
Speaker
Like, if you're a DJ and you go to the concert, you might get a picture with your favorite DJ and a handshake or a hug. But, like, how much, you know, you saw them play a set and it was cool. But, like, how much do you actually get to know? Did you get any... if you Did you have a question for them? Because they probably didn't answer it. Like, what do you actually know?
00:47:58
Speaker
So, um they... get to know me more and like the things I like and like that the people in the gaming industry hear me play like these wild tracks and see how excited I get about them. I'm like, I can't wait to play this on the stage. And then they see me play it on the stage and they're like, oh my God, this is so cool. I understand that now.
00:48:18
Speaker
Oh, wow. So a lot of stuff like that. um So I think me developing that kind of community is very different than most DJs and fan bases of artists.
00:48:30
Speaker
So I was just at the Super Mag Fest in Maryland past weekend. i was texting you about that. and And they had, like they referred to it music and gaming festival. They had DJs performing sets and like techno stuff going to two in the morning.
00:48:43
Speaker
So do you ever, or do you ever, have you ever done that before? Or are you looking maybe to do that in the future? Because it sounds like a perfect marriage of what you do with your different communities. um I would like to do something like that. I've DJed a party for a TwitchCon event, which was kind of cool, um a few years ago in San Diego. And then um as far as the gaming side for an event, um I work with a charity based um that started in Michigan called Gamers Outreach.
00:49:12
Speaker
and My friend Zach um started it, I don't know how many years ago, a long time ago, but they host an event, a LAN event every year in at Eastern Michigan.
00:49:23
Speaker
And it sells out. And I was an official streamer on it last year and their charity builds these, they call them, why am I blinking? Okay.
00:49:34
Speaker
They call them go-karts and they're mobile gaming stations that they make for hospitalized children. um very cool. um and they've been loving them. Hospitals throughout the whole world. Last year, I think we raised 1.5 million over three days. um Wow. what so So there's a whole line of streamers streaming for three days or like, you know, a whole weekend, Friday through Monday. And the coolest thing about this LAN event is you can purchase passes to build your own setup.
00:50:05
Speaker
So they have the streamer area and then... um all these lines of just giant tables in the middle of this indoor stadium at Eastern. And everyone, you can get a single or a double ticket and have all of your friends bring your gaming setups from home, your computers, your Xboxes, your Playstations, and everyone can play there live.
00:50:26
Speaker
They got food trucks outside. um They have different gaming sponsors. Some of the big streamers, maybe they're fans of, but everyone can game there 24 seven. for the weekend and do it for charity.
00:50:38
Speaker
So it's so fun when you game with your friends and maybe you're just at home gaming by yourself. But when you get to all game in the same room and everyone, it'll be like 11 p.m. I was there and they're like, who wants to play a 1v1 rock, paper, scissors?
00:50:51
Speaker
And everyone's like, beep. And everyone's like, me, hear it in 20 minutes. And you hear everyone, you know, everyone's coming up. and We're talking like three, 400 people.
00:51:02
Speaker
Like all weekend long, it's just a huge gaming streaming, like nonstop kind of thing. And it's so, so fun. And so they just announced the one for this year. It's April 11th through the 13th. And I will be a streamer there again.
00:51:16
Speaker
and i'm I'm really excited. Yeah. For these kids going through a hard time, whether it be like cancer or they're in the hospital for long, long periods of time. Right. ah You know, they can't just keep watching VHS tapes, you know.
00:51:30
Speaker
ah So they build the mobile gaming cards to help them get their mind off things or, you know, give a little positive feedback. Reinforcement throughout like their treatment or day and then there's these other things they have are these like vending type machines and when they hit different um parts in their treatment They actually get like loot or different, you know how like in gaming you get different gaming loot ah So they get different things through that too. So it gives them things to look forward to you have anything you want to plug that that's coming up for you next?
Conclusion & Upcoming Shows
00:52:02
Speaker
Okay, so February, I have two big shows coming up. The first, I'm playing for Inverroof. Okay, so I have two big shows coming up in February, and I am very, very excited about this one. i have four four label groups Inverroof coming to Michigan, and I'm going to be direct support for him on February 15th. And then I'm on the Techno Playground Tour with Gesture at the Magic Stick in Detroit on February 22nd, and I'm really, really excited for that, too.
00:52:31
Speaker
Um, And then for streaming, I'm really excited to be part of Gamers Outreach event, the LAN event at Eastern Michigan University, April 13th or April 11th through April 13th. So you guys can find me there streaming for charity.
00:52:48
Speaker
Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. amazing Well, Taylor, I tell you, i am I'm going to go take a nap now after this episode. So this has been a wonderful show and helping us ah navigate through the DJ and gaming world. It's been amazing. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you for for sharing with us and we'll talk to you very soon.
00:53:06
Speaker
Sounds good. Thank you guys so much for having me. Thank you. Good night. And that brings us to the end of another episode. Remember, if you like what you hear, please feel free to leave a review and tell your friends as well.
00:53:19
Speaker
For Yasi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas, and this has been the Athletes and the Arts Podcast.