So unfortunately, my professional biographer is out sick, so this will be in the first person. Here's the story of my musical journey from DJing around the world, to producing & writing music, and having too much fun doing it all.
I started off like a lot of people. In high school, I was just the iPod guy at parties. Whenever the music got stale, I'd take over and turn the party around. I had all the hits, fun new music my friends hadn't heard, and anything that would get people dancing. I even bought a mixer that would let mix between two iPods with effects. It was an early passion of mine, and I noticed what a great reward it was to be able to elevate people's experiences from the songs you'd choose. You get immediate feedback from the smiles on their faces.
At the time in America, in the 2000s, hip-hop & rap were the main pop music on the radio. While I would enjoy playing that, I personally always loved electronic music, ever since I was eight years old and heard Alice DeeJay's 'Better Off Alone' on the radio on the way to a baseball game. I remember, my teammate said the song was stupid because it only had like three words. I thought "who cares?!" From then on, my ear was always attracted to electronic music, even if my friends would laugh and jeer when I'd throw on Darude or Benny Benassi (through they would eventually give in and dance). That is why, for me, the experience that most dramatically changed my life, was going to university in Europe.
I miraculously got into a top level school in the United Kingdom, the University of Edinburgh. Without ever being outside America, I took a risk, packed my bags, and for four years I lived and went to school in Scotland's bustling capital city. What I soon realized was that in Europe, it wasn't Eminem or Jay Z that got played, but David Guetta, Tiesto, & Calvin Harris. The club scene was THE scene, busy seven days a week, and electronic music was what pumped through the airwaves and sound systems. To my amazement, I realized that my first musical tastes had found their home.