Episode 62
Diggin' Deeper With Double Peas
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This week we talk to Double Peas, a DJ with a SERIOUS collection, based in Las Vegas, NV, to understand the difference between diggers and DIGGERS.
We discuss her roots and exile from Chile, the rave scene in LA, chicano/lowrider soul, record fairs, life in Vegas, and much more.
Mentioned in this episode:
Reissued classics from Be With Records
Get 10% off at bewithrecords.com using the code ONCEADJ
Transcript
Right, well, welcome back to Once A dj, everyone.
Speaker A:We're here today with another high level digger, the sort of digger that I listen to their mixes and I go, I'm never going to have a collection like this.
Speaker A:It gives me massive imposter syndrome.
Speaker A:But I think the stories around it are fascinating.
Speaker A:So, Paulo Puente, Double P's.
Speaker A:How are you doing today?
Speaker B:I'm great.
Speaker B:What up, what up, what up?
Speaker B:How are you doing today?
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm all right.
Speaker A:A little bit too hot, but, you know, it's.
Speaker A:It probably takes me about 24 hours of good weather to start moaning about it.
Speaker A:So, you know, I've got.
Speaker A:I've got as much of a tan as I usually get, so.
Speaker A:So there we go.
Speaker A:So, yeah, thanks for coming on the show and just really keen to get into your story as with everyone, especially around the sort of digging and the levels of knowledge that are involved.
Speaker A:So just really keen to find out sort of where you grew up and how you were exposed to music and what kind of lit that fire for you, really.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:I was born in Santiago, Chile, in South America.
Speaker B:I moved to the US with my family in the early 80s.
Speaker B:There was a lot of political turmoil going on at that time, so technically we came over as refugees.
Speaker B:We relocated to the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker B:It's a valley in Los Angeles County.
Speaker B:So I grew up in the LA area and as far as getting into music, I was surrounded by music my whole life.
Speaker B:Like most people, I was influenced by my parents.
Speaker B:My dad was into cumbias and Latin jazz because of my grandparents, but he was also a teen in the late 60s, going into the 70s, so he introduced like garage and psychedelic rock into his wheelhouse.
Speaker B:And then my mom was definitely trying to fit in with American culture, so she would play her Spanish songs to fit in with that culture, but she would also introduce English radio, so English music into our household and also television as a way to learn English.
Speaker B:So we're talking like Whitney Houston and Gloria Estefan.
Speaker B:But in that area, in that era, my dad was the one bringing home records and then so scoot into the 90s.
Speaker B:My biggest influence was definitely my older sister because this is what I'm early young teen now and she was my music resource.
Speaker B:She introduced me to DJs and mixtapes.
Speaker B:She was heavy into the Los Angeles rave scene, so by default I would end up going with her.
Speaker B:I was very young myself and she was a few years older than me and my mom wouldn't let her out of the house unless she took me along with her.
Speaker B:So I was just going along with her.
Speaker B:And I fell in love with being able to see, like, countless DJs play music all night, weekend after weekend.
Speaker B:And I didn't even know it.
Speaker B:I wasn't aware at the time that I was listening to who would become some of my favorite DJs and idols back then.
Speaker B:So I knew at the time, like, it was something special.
Speaker B:LA promoters were bringing out some of the best CJ's in the country, and then from all over the world, and then, not to mention the local pool of talent we had.
Speaker B:I feel really lucky that I was just at the right place at the right time, like in the right era.
Speaker B:And I did know it was very unique because I would go to school after the weekend and I knew that my classmates weren't at these odd places, dancing all night in a warehouse or went to some, like, overnight carnival.
Speaker B:The location of these parties, they were really, they were really unique.
Speaker B:They were very creative indoors and outdoors.
Speaker B:I remember going to abandoned water parks, mini golf courses, someone's private ranch in the middle of the forest.
Speaker B:But really the biggest draw for me was the music, right?
Speaker B:Like, it was a melting pot of genres and I was just ready to soak it all in.
Speaker B:And more than that, I wanted to own the music.
Speaker B:I wanted to hear it at home all the time, right?
Speaker B:So obviously my next step was finding the music.
Speaker B:And that's when I started hitting record stores.
Speaker B:So there was a famous block at a street called Melrose avenue in the 90s.
Speaker B:It was a culture hub.
Speaker B:It was lined with record stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, art studios, all catering to the underground.
Speaker B:And the owner was a very famous jungle DJ who back then went by Raw.
Speaker B:He's still an active dj, but I would bring him like mixed cassettes, house mix cassettes, and I would pause it on a song or a vocal, and he would help me identify it clearly before something like Shazam existed.
Speaker B:But he quickly understood I was asking for the samples.
Speaker B:So we realized together I wanted the Patrice Rushland, I wanted the James Brown I was hearing, and I wanted the disco, the soul and the funk.
Speaker B:So I'd go home with a little stack of whatever we figured out, plus some recommendations.
Speaker B:And soon after that, default.
Speaker B:Living in that area, I was introduced to hip hop and graffiti by a gentleman of the Name of Rob1.
Speaker B:Rest in peace.
Speaker B:He was a prolific graffiti artist, street artist, and he would also put out tapes chock full of underground and west coast hip hop.
Speaker B:And my life was never the same after that.
Speaker B:I would always be looking for records from that point on.
Speaker A:So you say the.
Speaker A:The raves.
Speaker A:It was a.
Speaker A:It was a lot of different genres then.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So the way they would do it is they'd have, you know, three or four different areas and you'd have something like trance music, you'd have house music, you'd have jungle music.
Speaker B:More people refer to it as drum and bass, but for whatever reason, in that era, we called it jungle music.
Speaker B:And then there was always like an area of like, hip hop and B boys.
Speaker B:And so it did encompass a wide array of music.
Speaker B:But the denominator being it was all underground music.
Speaker A:See, that's cool, because I can't imagine in the UK and I could be way off on this.
Speaker A:I can't imagine having trans and hip hop in the same club.
Speaker A:They just seem so sort of polar opposites.
Speaker B:That's true.
Speaker B:And so they would have to get creative with the venues they would pick.
Speaker B:They were large areas.
Speaker B:I also do remember in that time, music did really feel segregated, especially outside of a scene like that.
Speaker B:Like, there was definitely people that were into one or the other.
Speaker B:You weren't really catching the hip hop guys over at like, electronic music events.
Speaker B:But that seemed to be a place where everybody would come together for different reasons.
Speaker A:So just going back to the garage rock that your dad was bringing back, what can you tell me about that and.
Speaker A:And your impression of that?
Speaker A:Because that in my head, there's a certain aesthetic around that sort of garage in psychedelic rock of the late 60s, which, looking at some of the, like the toys in the turntable and things like that that you have, I get the impression that could have been quite an influential thing for you visually.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So you're talking about, like, garage rock is in the genre, the kind of music my dad was listening to.
Speaker B:Okay, so that's actually pretty interesting because I talked to my dad about this a lot.
Speaker B:So just like here in America, like, politics and music culture in that era were very intertwined, especially with, you know, teens of the era and college kids, because they felt some kind of way about the politics.
Speaker B:So in the 70s in Chile, where my dad was at, there was a decline in all rock music.
Speaker B:And that was a result of the military dictatorship at that time prohibiting the genre.
Speaker B:And that was actually imposed up until the 90s, so a long time.
Speaker B:And so because of that, you started to see more forms of underground rock emerge.
Speaker B:And that was what my dad was leaning into.
Speaker B:They coined this.
Speaker B:There's a term for it at the time they coined it la nueva hola, which literally translates into A new wave of music.
Speaker B:And the inspiration was American and British rock, fuzz, garage, psychedelic, Chilean folk music.
Speaker B:And the lyrics were focused on social and political issues, expressing descent of the time.
Speaker B:So that's what he was getting into.
Speaker B:It was just a very underground form of rock music, but it also, like, emulated, you know, led Zeppelin or 13th elevator, similar to that.
Speaker B:And there's loads of bands that came out in that time and lots of records at that time.
Speaker B:So I remember hearing that music, you know, via my dad.
Speaker B:And, like, I did connect with it, you know, just because I was like, oh, this is something that my dad was into.
Speaker B:But I don't really think I was understanding what the connection.
Speaker B:How deep it was until I started later on, being older, like, reading and learning about what happened politically in Chile and how it related to me and why we had to leave.
Speaker B:You know, it was like, all intertwined.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:It's kind of an interesting topic.
Speaker B:I mean, there's books I've read about it because it's that interesting and it's that heavy.
Speaker B:But, yeah, that's how that was introduced to me.
Speaker B:And so a lot of that music, it was sung in Spanish and in English, or there'd be like a lot of covers of, like, American, you know, rock music in Spanish, sung in Spanish.
Speaker B:And some of it's really quirky.
Speaker B:You know, I'm always looking for those kind of things, you know, like quirky covers or Spanish ones in particular, because I love to hear, like, their interpretation of that kind of music.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So did it have the sort of the brightly colored sort of artwork and things?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Very psychedelic.
Speaker B:Very interesting.
Speaker B:Very interesting fonts, colors.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All the packaging of that time.
Speaker B:I mean, it's kind of like when you look at records like this, and it blows my mind that they even had the.
Speaker B:It wasn't technology, but they.
Speaker B:They were able to put all that artwork together and make it.
Speaker B:And I honestly would like to look more into, like, how they were even able to do that at the time of this, you know, this military.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, how they were holding them down, like, how they were able to still get managed to press things.
Speaker B:I've seen it in other countries.
Speaker B:Like, I've seen, for example, I have like, Russian flexi disk.
Speaker B:And it looks like a picture of nature, you know, like a.
Speaker B:Like a tree or something.
Speaker B:And then you play it and it's something completely different from what the COVID is.
Speaker B:So they were trying to disguise it as whatever they were to get away with it.
Speaker B:So, yeah, all that is very.
Speaker B:It's very interesting to me.
Speaker A:Oh, wow.
Speaker A:So when you first sort of got hit then to samples and the digging and stuff, how easy was it to get hold of what you were after?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So at that point, I was getting into so many sides of music.
Speaker B:I even remember like one weird teenage year that I decided I hated lyrics.
Speaker B:Hip hop was kind of changing at this time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I started looking for records, like from Ninja Tune artists, Compost Records, DJ Crush from Japan, DJ Cam from France, Any weird, like Austrian production comps.
Speaker B:So I wasn't shopping at the mall like girls my age.
Speaker B:I was at record stores and I would go to stores.
Speaker B:Like back then it was like Aaron's records and Beat Nonstop.
Speaker B:And they did have imports.
Speaker B:Those were imports to us.
Speaker B:And even then they were pricey.
Speaker B:Although now it's cheap compared to what it be now.
Speaker B:But back then it was expensive and.
Speaker B:And I would spend all my money on records there.
Speaker B:And then I would run out to like hit the thrift stores and buy cheap 45s, because they cost half the price of LPs, sometimes quarters instead of dollars.
Speaker B:That's kind of how I started amassing some of my 45s.
Speaker B:I didn't know exactly what I was bringing home back then, to answer your question.
Speaker B:I was just kind of bringing stuff home that looked interesting.
Speaker B:And it was an easy gamble then because it was affordable.
Speaker B:But I started familiarizing myself with artists and labels and went down those rabbit holes.
Speaker B:And that's kind of how I started tuning my ear into like, different sounds.
Speaker B:And you start seeing a lot of, like, the more popular labels.
Speaker B:And then as you're going through those, you see something interesting that doesn't look like anything else.
Speaker B:And that's kind of what piqued my interest.
Speaker B:And so was it easy to find?
Speaker B:It wasn't.
Speaker B:It was probably a little easier then, but it's the same thing that it is then that it was now.
Speaker B:You just have to look a little deeper, as they say.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So were you kind of buying more sort of surface level stuff at first, but across a lot more genres?
Speaker B:Yes, I was buying things I was familiar with.
Speaker B:I was buying things that I would hear on the radio or I'd hear my parents play.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:More surface things.
Speaker B:But I also had the opportunity to go like out of the country, for example.
Speaker B:And those were things I didn't know anything about.
Speaker B:So again, it was just the discovery of finding, you know, this is.
Speaker B:It was a different time.
Speaker B:So it's not like you were going on the Internet looking For things.
Speaker B:But again you would just grab things that you.
Speaker B:You found interesting and you'd bring it home.
Speaker B:And it was easy or to do then because it would cost so much less to be able to find records that way.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:When did you start DJing?
Speaker B:So that didn't happen until a lot later.
Speaker B:So I eventually started connecting with like minded people, other diggers.
Speaker B:But it wasn't like now where people are eager to share their discoveries and not just was anyone.
Speaker B:It was a little rougher back then.
Speaker B:I definitely remember DJs using Dixie cups to hide the label.
Speaker B:It was not cool if you stood behind them trying to read the label.
Speaker B:They weren't persuaded to tell you what they were playing.
Speaker B:They were protecting their finds and no one wanted you to bite their style.
Speaker B:So it was a different mentality.
Speaker B:And records for the most of the population started phasing out too.
Speaker B:CDs were in, dabbling music was in.
Speaker B:But I kept buying records and other.
Speaker B:It was a format I was familiar with, not so much what I got into, but I never fell out of that habit.
Speaker B:But back then for me it was a very lonely process.
Speaker B:I wasn't really connecting with DJs and doing events or even being asked to do anything like that until later on.
Speaker B:I also never imagined that it would be the reason I knew so many of the people I know now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I had a small group of people I would check in with and there was a few like message boards.
Speaker B:I would socialize a bit online, but I kept very low key and I would play records at home daily.
Speaker B:And that didn't come playing out, didn't come until a lot later.
Speaker B:For me, I had to get over stereotypes aimed at women and get more confident before I got to that level for myself.
Speaker A:Were there many female DJs in the scene then prior to yourself?
Speaker B:There were.
Speaker B:There was definitely women that I looked up to or connected with.
Speaker B:Not too many that I was aware of at the time, but sprinkled in different genres and array of music there were.
Speaker B:And I always looked up to women because I knew it was not an easy.
Speaker B:It was not an easy accomplishment.
Speaker B:I definitely feel back then you had to work harder, improve yourself.
Speaker B:It was kind of just the mentality back then.
Speaker B:And as far as like looking for records and digging, like I didn't actually know many women.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Not very much at all.
Speaker B:Like I knew of women and I knew they were sprinkled around the country, sorry the world like in other countries.
Speaker B:So I'd had the opportunity to talk to some of them online.
Speaker B:But I would never really go out, even to record shops and see very many women, or especially not like record fairs or swap meets or anything like that.
Speaker B:It was very rare to see women out there at that time, and it was intimidating and it was something I had to get over.
Speaker A:Did you.
Speaker A:It sounds like, from what you're saying then, that the kind of collecting and digging was a very sort of personal thing for you.
Speaker A:Are you an introvert?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And did you kind of like that?
Speaker B:Yeah, it was actually.
Speaker B:It was a way basically to get out of the house.
Speaker B:And it was a.
Speaker B:It was a personal experience.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:I didn't have, like a very safe environment, I felt like at times.
Speaker B:And so for me, safety was the comfort of being somewhere that I eventually familiarized myself with.
Speaker B:And so I would be at these record stores and just get lost in the music.
Speaker B:And definitely an introvert.
Speaker B:To this day, I'm an introvert, except for records.
Speaker B:And, you know, DJing forces you to socialize with people.
Speaker B:It definitely forces you to come out of your shell.
Speaker B:So I have definitely learned to pivot that.
Speaker B:But yes, definitely an introvert.
Speaker B:Definitely a homebody.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think a lot of DJs, I think based on the people I've spoken to on this, I think probably about half of the people I've spoken to would be introverts.
Speaker A:And I think it's such a nice thing when you can understand that if you are one and you understand what you do and don't like.
Speaker A:I'm kind of getting my head around it at the moment that there's certain social things I'll get invited to.
Speaker A:And I'm like, rather than just going feeling uncomfortable and getting blind drunk, it's more like, yeah, I probably just won't really enjoy it, so I'll just not go, you know, And.
Speaker A:And I think when you're an introvert societally, over the years, it's kind of.
Speaker A:It's kind of been like, deemed a bit of a bad thing because it's like, you know, you're shy or you're awkward or this, that or the other, but it's just like, you just like smaller, more simple company.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker B:Yes, this is true also, as far as music, I've always felt like music is a personal experience.
Speaker B:You know, you listen to music when you're sad, you listen to music when you're happy.
Speaker B:So I don't think that you have to be out somewhere to enjoy music.
Speaker B:I mean, especially when you have a vast collection, you would never have to leave the house unless you Needed to.
Speaker B:You do enjoy going out and hearing how other people interpret their records?
Speaker B:I love hearing new music, so I do make it a point of going out, especially to go see people that either generally aren't out here much.
Speaker B:So I'd like to hear what they're discovering or what they're into currently.
Speaker B:And then also people that have made a name for showing people music and, you know, and so if somebody like that comes along, you know, I try to be supportive, but it is hard as an introvert to be going out to every kind of event.
Speaker B:So, yeah, now we do have the Internet and Spotify and being able to hear people's mixes, and I love that too.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's an interesting one with it, isn't it?
Speaker A:Because, you know, you kind of feel that music's such a personal thing, yet we all have this thing in us that we want to go out and share it with a big room of people at the same time.
Speaker A:So when I've seen footage of you DJing at various things, you tend to be quite sort of head down, steady, not very animated.
Speaker A:How do you feel in that situation?
Speaker A:Because for me, like, I'd rather not be seen in the music, just be the center of attention.
Speaker A:What's it like for you?
Speaker B:That's funny.
Speaker B:That's exactly how I feel about it, too.
Speaker B:I noticed that about myself too.
Speaker B:Like, I'm not.
Speaker B:I try to be more, you know, engaging with an audience, but I'm so invested in the music.
Speaker B:Like, I do feel like the music is the center of attention.
Speaker B:I do feel a creative fulfillment, though.
Speaker B:It is like another platform when I'm DJing, to connect with music lovers, and I embrace that and I do have fun with it.
Speaker B:And I'm honored when people want to come out and hear what I'm digging and they trust my taste, you know, and they want to hear something different.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I try.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:You know, if I had my way, yeah, I'd probably be the.
Speaker B:In the.
Speaker B:In the corner, you know, not on the main floor, being seen.
Speaker B:Some people are just really good at that.
Speaker B:But, you know, do I get nervous?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:I'm not sure if that ever goes away, but I believe it to be a totally healthy response.
Speaker B:When you are an introvert, right?
Speaker B:Like, that's.
Speaker B:That's just how you react to that.
Speaker B:But I do quickly find my groove, get comfortable, and from there, it's just a mission for me to set a vibe.
Speaker B:So I am all about.
Speaker B:The music comes first.
Speaker B:You come after that.
Speaker A:So alongside records, then there's a few Other things that you're quite deep into that you're very deep into collecting.
Speaker A:So you've got the portable turntables and the lunch boxes and sort of music T shirts as well.
Speaker A:Did all these collection habits start around the same time, or have you just picked up another one while you say you're at a thrift store looking for records, you're like, oh, that's a cool T shirt.
Speaker A:I'll get that.
Speaker A:Is that how these things build?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The T shirts I would more find that came about more when I'd go out to see somebody, like a band or a DJ perform and there was a merch booth.
Speaker B:I was always the one that I was like, I've got to get the shirt.
Speaker B:And I would laugh because a lot of times, especially back then, they weren't making like an array of sizes.
Speaker B:And I would take it personal.
Speaker B:I'd be like, oh, gosh, these guys would, you know, with their extra large shirts.
Speaker B:And I later found out that, well, you know, it costs money to make, you know, five different sizes.
Speaker B:And so it's like, here's the one.
Speaker B:But it didn't matter to me.
Speaker B:I was grabbing them just because a lot of times I'd wear them once or twice and, you know, and then they'd go in the collection.
Speaker B:And the shirts I kind of just amassed from when I was a teen into now.
Speaker B:And I more recently started letting go of some of that just because I realized how special they were now.
Speaker B:Like, you know, like defunct labels and bands that aren't together or people that I was checking then that were not as popular as they are now.
Speaker B:And it's like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:Like an example of one is, you know, I have the first Roots album when they toured.
Speaker B:I bought a shirt and I look at it now and it's.
Speaker B:It's amazing to.
Speaker B:To know that they.
Speaker B:How popular they got, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah, I bought a lot of the.
Speaker B:The original MF Doom shirts, for example, when that came out, just because I thought it was cool and I thought it was amazing.
Speaker B:And now it's like so iconic.
Speaker B:I see, you know, you see the mask, and everybody knows what.
Speaker B:Whether they're into music or not, it's almost like a brand now.
Speaker B:And then as far as other things I collect, like the toys and the firma and the players.
Speaker B:The game boards.
Speaker B:Yes, exactly.
Speaker B:That all came from the same places where I find the records you're going to find, especially at thrift stores, at flea markets and people's homes.
Speaker B:Like, these are all things from the Same era.
Speaker B:So, you know, inherently, people who collected one had the other.
Speaker B:And for me, like, I see it and the colors and the nostalgia of it, the fonts, you know, when you see the boxes, like, it's very hard for me to leave that behind.
Speaker B:Like, it's just.
Speaker B:I'm very visual, and it catches my eye and it blows my mind, like, how things from them from then retain their quality, like the color.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's very hard for me to leave that stuff behind.
Speaker B:So it all comes home with me somehow.
Speaker B:Like, I've literally been traveling across the world and have brought, like, portables home.
Speaker B:And in my carry on, I just.
Speaker B:I will make it happen because I want to have the stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Do you ever kind of look around and think this is taking up a lot of space?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, all the time.
Speaker B:I have multiple storage units.
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:It is like a.
Speaker B:It is a thing where it's.
Speaker B:It does come in and out.
Speaker B:I do grab things and hold on to them for a while, and then I will sell them off or, you know, give them away.
Speaker B:So I recently did a book with Dustin Grooves on the portables.
Speaker B:And the main motivator, actually, to that was that it's getting to the point where I do need to unload some of that.
Speaker B:But I did want it documented.
Speaker B:I wanted, you know, I wanted pictures of it.
Speaker B:And so when we talked about doing that book together, it was kind of the right timing because, you know, now I can let go of some of those pieces, but it's forever immortalized in this coffee table book.
Speaker B:So I was very happy about that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And from what I've seen of it, the shots in it are really nice as well, aren't they?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Alon Paz, he's a very great photographer, and he moves over at my place for.
Speaker B:We shot for three days.
Speaker B:We went through about 100 portables, and maybe half of them made it into the book.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And just on the T shirts as well.
Speaker A:Did you get many bootleg T shirts?
Speaker A:I'm sure I've seen things recently where some of the bootleg ones are worth more than some of the official merch.
Speaker B:That's so funny.
Speaker B:Yes, definitely.
Speaker B:Especially where I grew up, like, in the LA area, you would have, like, a concert and there definitely be guys pedaling bootleg shirts out there.
Speaker B:So I did.
Speaker B:And just for honesty and transparency's sake, when I was speaking about getting upset that they didn't make the shirts in my sizes, a lot of the times I would recreate the shirts in my size, and it wasn't something I was selling, they're just one offs.
Speaker B:And a lot of times I would, you know, if there were people I knew, I'd be like, hey, you didn't do it.
Speaker B:So is it okay?
Speaker B:Or here it is already.
Speaker B:And for the most part, everybody loved it because, you know, I'm like, why wouldn't you want to see your shirt?
Speaker B:I would always joke with my friends, why wouldn't you want to see your shirt on a woman?
Speaker B:You know, like, you want that promo, too?
Speaker B:So for the most part, I've never really had anybody come to me and say, hey, what are you doing?
Speaker B:You know, there are artists that I know personally that do feel some kind of way about that.
Speaker B:And interestingly enough, when MF Doom was alive, he did express to me that he was not happy with how people then were bootlegging his image.
Speaker B:And now you see that more.
Speaker B:And I stop and think about that a lot.
Speaker B:I'm very cautious and conscious of that and how people feel about that.
Speaker B:So I do, for the most part, try to okay it with whoever I can.
Speaker B:Unless it's like a label, like from the 60s that, you know, that's impossible.
Speaker A:But yeah, and I think it's like, it's very different doing it for yourself to express support versus just trying to monetize it.
Speaker A:There's the two very clear different sentiments, isn't there?
Speaker B:That's correct.
Speaker B:I mean, that's also something we read into with records.
Speaker B:That's a whole debate we can get into.
Speaker B:But, you know, people will bootleg records and then people will reissue them the right way.
Speaker B:And again, that's a whole debate on how you feel about that.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I think the best thing to do is do it respectfully, however that looks like for you and the artist.
Speaker A:So another sort of key thing I wanted to ask you about is.
Speaker A:And I think there's loads of different terms I will probably mangle up, but like the Chicano and like sort of low rider soul movement.
Speaker A:Because I think you're, from what I understand you're sort of quite heavily up on that side of things.
Speaker A:But also I think there's a lot culturally with it, with that movement.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So oldies culture.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was also pretty organic for me growing up in the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker B:In San Fernando, car clubs and gang subculture are synonymous with oldies.
Speaker B:There was a lot of cruising going on where I grew up.
Speaker B:So cruising in your lowrider car.
Speaker B:My mom, again, via the radio in our house, would listen to a station called K Earth 101.
Speaker B:And that's where you would hear all the soul classics and the voice of a very famous radio DJ named Art LeBeau and people calling in their dedications.
Speaker B:And at the same time I was discovering oldies in Seoul at places like the swap meet, the local swap meet.
Speaker B:There was guys there that would sell CD compilations.
Speaker B:They would make them themselves and they would put their lettering and, you know, artwork on there and they would burn them onto these CDs and they would pedal them at the swap meets and you know, they would be recordings of their rare soul 45s.
Speaker B:And later on I would see collectors my age making similar compilations.
Speaker B:Compilations like Soulful Things and Gangster Soul Harmony would be floating around in collector circles.
Speaker B:And that really caught my ear, that tempo, that raw emotion.
Speaker B:I still approach this sound with a hip hop ear to it because loads of great samples in these records.
Speaker B:And when I heard and I learned that guys like Madlip or messing with these records, it felt full circle to me.
Speaker B:I really connected with that sound.
Speaker B:There was a local crew too called the Southern Soul Spinners.
Speaker B:And they would play their rare soul records out.
Speaker B:That was a new concept because I only knew of those kind of records being played at house parties and barbecue kind of get togethers.
Speaker B:So at that time it was cool that it was being exposed to the public.
Speaker B:And that's kind of how I started delving into that sound.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So is, is there quite a lot of gatekeeping that goes along with that then?
Speaker B:I feel like every other genre as much as those genres.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:So those records are pretty hard to find.
Speaker B:Um, and a lot of them are like generational hand downs.
Speaker B:So I feel like that makes them a little more special maybe to people.
Speaker B:So I feel like nowadays not as much.
Speaker B:Same kind of concept where people are, are inclined to share music like they weren't before.
Speaker B:And they're also more obtainable.
Speaker B:I mean they're very expensive now if you're not going the route of looking for them out in the wild, as they say.
Speaker B:But it seems to be the sound that has kind of taken off in terms of value.
Speaker B:It's there.
Speaker B:They can get very expensive.
Speaker B:And so you, you know, and some of these like other like Ray records are not pressed.
Speaker B:They weren't pressed in high numbers.
Speaker B:So that also makes them valuable because they.
Speaker B:There's not as many of them.
Speaker B:And when they do come up now you will see them like on an auction or on a discog site and they're very expensive.
Speaker B:So I would say if you were getting into that now that's a very.
Speaker B:You've Picked a very expensive genre.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And gatekeeping.
Speaker B:Yes, to some extent.
Speaker B:But the people who have them, it seems like they do like to share or what they call like flossing their collection, you know.
Speaker B:But I wouldn't say more than other genres.
Speaker B:It's just a different kind of approach because they were less pressed records.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think for me, sometimes I don't really know where all these stops and doo wop starts.
Speaker A:The first sort of exposure I had that really sort of pricked my ears up to it was on Shadow Radio on DJ Shadow's site, Bob Abrahamian Mix.
Speaker A:And I know we've got a few people that we're going to talk about that are no longer with us, so I don't want to kind of dwell or anything, but I think you've been to his vaults, from what I understand.
Speaker A:Have you got any sort of insights around him and your experience of his music and stuff?
Speaker B:Yeah, so Bob Abrahamian was one of the most well rounded, intense collectors, especially of that sound.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He had a radio show based in Chicago, sitting in the park where he would share that music.
Speaker B:I knew that he had amassed an amazing collection.
Speaker B:And until I got to go to the Stax Museum where they currently keep his collection, and got invited into his personal boxes, I don't think I even knew the extent of how deep his collection was.
Speaker B:I mean, rare titles, acetates, doubles, triples, different pressings of records.
Speaker B:I have a friend there who is currently documenting and alphabetizing them.
Speaker B:So to see it, wow, organized in that sense, because I don't think he.
Speaker B:He organized it to that extent.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So to see it like that and to realize, you know, and I think it does happen to all of us if you're a heavy collector like that, where you don't even realize how many copies of something you have.
Speaker B:So to see them all together like that, it's pretty impressive and mind blowing.
Speaker B:Yeah, he definitely had a huge respect for that sound and it definitely shows in his collection.
Speaker A:I think there's still an archive of the old Sitting in the park radio show somewhere online as well, from what I remember.
Speaker B:There is.
Speaker B:And if that's the sound you're into, that's the perfect place to go.
Speaker B:And if that's something you're interested in getting in, I would definitely push people to dive into that.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:That's a great starting point.
Speaker B:It's also, if you're a collector, it also makes you feel like, wow, I don't have anything compared to what this.
Speaker A:Guy had, like, so you understand how I feel.
Speaker A:Listening to your mixes then.
Speaker A:That's the thing.
Speaker A:There's levels to all of this.
Speaker B:There's levels to this, yeah.
Speaker A:So when did you first start sort of getting to the point of going to the record fairs and going sort of that step deeper?
Speaker B:So record conventions and record fairs to me still feel like the wild.
Speaker B:They feel like the good old days of like going into record stores and still being able to pull out stuff.
Speaker B:I started going probably in probably when I moved here into town.
Speaker B:I was able to travel a bit more because they're kind of spread out around the country and around the world.
Speaker B:But I was more going to the ones here in the US and so that was back then.
Speaker B:But they still then and now feel much less sorted and curated.
Speaker B:You have to do more work, but deals can be had.
Speaker B:The scores are more fruitful.
Speaker B:You're more inclined to take chances on records.
Speaker B:You see a lot of random potential out there and they're truly my favorite places to look for records.
Speaker B:The other aspect of the conventions is the social aspect of it.
Speaker B:That's another draw.
Speaker B:It's usually the place where you'll see friends and people you know from all over the country and all over the world.
Speaker B:You know, Japanese dealers, European dealers, all under one roof for a few days.
Speaker B:And you're all there for the same reason to eat, sleep and breathe records.
Speaker B:So much fun to trade records.
Speaker B:Those truly is my favorite place to find records and get out there and socialize with people and.
Speaker B:And meet people.
Speaker B:Yeah, like minded people.
Speaker A:Does it get competitive?
Speaker A:Because I mean there's the stories of was it Kid Capri would always like check in a day early or something and make sure he got to clean up before everyone, Things like that.
Speaker B:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:So definitely the early bird gets the worms.
Speaker B:I mean, people show up days early.
Speaker B:It's very typical if you're in the know or the scene or you're like a regular of these events that you're gonna do deals way before the record show even starts.
Speaker B:You're gonna do them in hotel rooms, there's infamous stories.
Speaker B:Or you're gonna do them in the garage parking lot, you know, before the records even get into the show.
Speaker B:I mean, people buy booths that aren't even selling just to get in there early.
Speaker B:You do whatever you can to get your hands on things first.
Speaker B:So yes, it is competitive.
Speaker B:Yes, it is fun.
Speaker B:Yes, it is the thrill of the hunt, which is why most diggers like to go look for records.
Speaker B:A lot of the times it's like, great, you found something amazing, but it's like the stories of how you got these records in your hands.
Speaker B:That's what feels special about that.
Speaker A:Is there anyone that the audience will have heard of who you can say is particularly shrewd in the record fair world?
Speaker B:I am not going to name names.
Speaker B:I do have stories.
Speaker B:But yeah, there's a.
Speaker B:You know, it's funny because you will see like a mix of a demographic there.
Speaker B:You'll definitely see these older guys that, you know, the real OGs, the OGOGs, that have been doing this, you know, since the 60s.
Speaker B:And some of these record fairs are a lot older.
Speaker B:Like I'm going to one in a couple of days out in.
Speaker B:Out in Austin, Texas.
Speaker B:And that one's been going on since the 80s.
Speaker B:And you know, you're going to see the same older fellows and you're going to see the mix of the younger guys and sometimes these personalities clash because, you know, everybody's there looking for records.
Speaker B:But you'll have different reasons and, you know, just generationally, like, you know, how people interact with each other.
Speaker B:So you'll see the clash of personalities there.
Speaker B:And yeah, I've seen some gnarly things at record fairs and I've smelled some gnarly guys at record fairs and I've been hit by elbows.
Speaker B:And that just comes with the territory.
Speaker B:Like you, you, you kind of know what you're getting into and you can be light about it, but you could also join in on that.
Speaker B:So, I don't know, it's funny.
Speaker B:It's kind of like a mosh pit, I guess.
Speaker B:You can watch from behind or you can get in there.
Speaker B:It's just your comfort level.
Speaker A:Do you have to go in with a reasonably healthy amount of money to spend to get something out of a record fire?
Speaker A:Or can you get like that sort of event?
Speaker A:Or can you still get your $10 bargain things that aren't necessarily that rare, but just some sort of nice, cheaper records?
Speaker B:I think people are there for both.
Speaker B:There's definitely people who come with no money and they come with records to trade.
Speaker B:You know, there's a lot of bartering like that going on.
Speaker B:Yes, you can come in with a lot of money.
Speaker B:You can also go the route of selling and buying.
Speaker B:So I've done that a lot where you show up and, you know, you, you bring a stack of cash, but you know that you're going to ultimately sell records and that currency is going to go right into, you know, you buying more records.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's just your approach.
Speaker B:It also just depends on what you're looking for or what you're finding.
Speaker B:So you can come with the intent of buying a lot of things and then leave with two records.
Speaker B:But it could be the two records you were looking for.
Speaker B:It could be, you know, something expensive, it could be not.
Speaker B:That's why I was calling it the wild, because there's still deals to be had.
Speaker B:I mean, the very last day of record fairs usually is when people are giving the best deals out and they don't want to haul all those records home.
Speaker B:Like you're.
Speaker B:The purpose of bringing them out is to get rid of them.
Speaker B:And so the last day deal days when everybody goes crazy and is trying to unleash and kind of do the best deals, people will sometimes shop conservatively the first day just to see what, what can happen.
Speaker B:And some people just go hard because that's when the best records are there, you know.
Speaker B:And so it, it just depends on, you know, what, what you.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:What you decide to do with your money or what you decide to do with your records or.
Speaker B:So you can wild out or you can be conservative about it.
Speaker B:And yeah, there's something for everyone.
Speaker B:There's definitely cheap records there.
Speaker B:There's definitely rare, expensive records and there's definitely knowledgeable people.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:In that sort of collecting world, did you ever sort of have any interactions with biz?
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:So I have a couple of memories of him, but like he was the kind of person that wasn't above going anywhere regardless whether he was recognized or not.
Speaker B:Like I remember going to like a Salvation army with him.
Speaker B:So like he, you know, he's a large guy, larger than life personality.
Speaker B:You can really deny his presence anywhere.
Speaker B:I think a lot of people felt they had to give him the respect of looking at records first.
Speaker B:So nobody was going to jump in a crate that he was looking at, you know, and I'd be scared for the person who tried to do that anyways because he was so huge.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But yeah, you know, he was somebody who collected everything.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like he was, he was a master of.
Speaker B:Of all arts and that in that sense.
Speaker B:So yeah.
Speaker A:So what took you to Vegas?
Speaker A:Because that's where you are now, right?
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:So I've actually been here for half of my life now.
Speaker B:Just crazy to think because I told myself I was going to come out here for one summer.
Speaker B:I was visiting my dad, he lives out here and that was it.
Speaker B:I was going to go back home.
Speaker B:At the time I was 20, turning 21, I actually worked at a record store locally in the San Fernando Valley, where it was like half of a record store and half of a skate shop.
Speaker B:And you know, like you were not really at that.
Speaker B:Especially at that age, you're not really working to pay your bills.
Speaker B:I was working to get money to buy records and my check would just go straight back to the store.
Speaker B:So it was kind of like, all right, like you got to, you know, try something else or do something.
Speaker B:And at the time my dad called me up and was like, hey, yeah, just want to come spend the summer out here?
Speaker B:And I was like, yeah, I'll give it a shot.
Speaker B:So now it's been, yeah, 20 years.
Speaker B:It's kind of, it's kind of like a wild place to live.
Speaker B:It did get some time to get used to for me, the, you know, with the casinos and the tourism industry.
Speaker B:But it did eventually really grow on me.
Speaker B:One of the benefits of living out here is that it's really easy to travel from here.
Speaker B:You can catch a flight anywhere easily because it is a travel hub.
Speaker B:And that was something I enjoyed.
Speaker B:I was like, okay at the time, especially like the cost of living out here, the lifestyle, it was, it was very affordable so I could easily live here and leave.
Speaker B:And I constantly left a lot when I was younger and I still do now, although I've got more things that ground me here.
Speaker B:But so catching the flights or taking a road trip out like on Route 66, so loads of digging trips from here, that was a nice benefit of being out here.
Speaker B:And now, now it's, it's gone to the point where, you know, I started working as a DJ on the Strip and that that's an experience of its own.
Speaker B:Being able to play records on the Strip, like that hasn't been done for 20 years now because of the EDM, like digital DJ culture.
Speaker B:So to be able to like haul records through a casino to get to a venue, I never thought I would see the day.
Speaker B:And it's lucrative out here because it's like corporate money, you know, these big conglomerates of casinos and hotel industry.
Speaker B:So, so that's different about it.
Speaker B:And I've really just grown to like where DJ and record culture is headed here because I felt like it was non existent for a while and in the last couple years it's, it's become more prevalent.
Speaker B:We have listening rooms and all the sort like they're popping up everywhere in the United States so we definitely have our share here.
Speaker B:I do my own funk and soul events in the downtown area with like minded people that I've met.
Speaker B:Some deep collectors out Here.
Speaker B:So it's fun to be here now.
Speaker B:Whereas I, I definitely didn't feel, I didn't feel as appreciated.
Speaker B:I didn't feel like music or records were as appreciated back then.
Speaker B:Like, the culture was a little different, but it's definitely grow, growing.
Speaker B:So I am enjoying it a lot more now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I know we touched on it before, but what was your sort of journey into starting DJing then?
Speaker B:It was basically very organic for me.
Speaker B:I mean, after I got confident enough, I would have people constantly asking me, like, oh, I know you have these crazy records, like, do you want to come bring them out and play with us?
Speaker B:You know, guys like Scheme Richards and Supreme Laroque.
Speaker B:So guys like that I eventually started partnering up with, they would invite me out to parties and it's.
Speaker B:It's real easy to say no to people you don't know, but it's a lot harder to tell people, you know, like, your friends be like, nah, like, you know, you're more comfortable and, and you know, it's going to be a fun night.
Speaker B:And so it kind of just happened organically that way.
Speaker B:But it did take me a long time that the DJing outside of my house didn't come into play until, you know, like 15 years after.
Speaker B:I was just amassing records and, you know, I'd share some things online.
Speaker B:I don't feel like I was a gatekeeper myself, but I would definitely show maybe some of the surface things I had in my collection and people were very interested and curious.
Speaker B:And so I did have people requesting that of me.
Speaker B:And so finally I was like, well, you know, what's the point of having all these fun records that, you know, people want to hear and, and not playing them out?
Speaker B:And so I got into that and I got more comfortable.
Speaker B:And then it started just becoming fun and then it started becoming lucrative too.
Speaker B:And so it would, it would coincide with the trips I was already taking.
Speaker B:Like, if I was, you know, booked somewhere and I had to travel there, like, I'm definitely going to go digging in whatever city I was invited to play in.
Speaker B:So that, that made it like the most fun for me, knowing that I was going to do what I was already doing, plus being able to have fun and share records, like, why not?
Speaker A:So the record fares were the catalyst then for your DJ career?
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker B:Yeah, that was a draw for me.
Speaker B:It was hanging out with my friends, playing fun records, but definitely being able to travel to find more records.
Speaker B:It's always about more records.
Speaker B:It's always about discovering more music.
Speaker B:So that was Definitely a draw for me.
Speaker A:You mentioned earlier about having to overcome certain stereotypes when you started DJing.
Speaker A:Can you just tell me a bit about that?
Speaker B:So, yeah, I feel like that's sort of changed, you know, but when I did start, it was different.
Speaker B:I had to deal with men being dismissive of the idea of a woman being a dj or just being passionate about music or being as passionate as they are.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, if they are some kind of meter, like, they don't ever.
Speaker B:I don't ever think they took me as serious as they took other male, you know, counterparts.
Speaker B:People assuming that as a young woman, I didn't care about record collecting as much as, like, an older man did.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I got it from women, too.
Speaker B:Women not understanding why I'd want to spend hours looking through vinyl DJs, not understanding why I prefer to play vinyl, especially having to lug records around for my size.
Speaker B:Like, why is, you know, this girl want to show up with all these heavy records or travel with them.
Speaker B:So earlier on, I felt like people didn't understand how huge my passion was because for most people, vinyl records had phased out of their lives.
Speaker B:Buying records before the resurgence, people would say, oh, they still make those.
Speaker B:You don't really hear that anymore.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because vinyl has definitely made its presence known in current culture.
Speaker B:But so I'd say about like, you know, even 10, 12, 15 years ago, like, it was very different.
Speaker B:So people were still curious or they were just turned off by it.
Speaker B:They were like, why do you want that?
Speaker B:You know, why do you want to play records?
Speaker B:Why can't you just bring out your laptop?
Speaker B:You know, or as far as being a woman, like, you know, bring out your laptop, you know, in a bikini, like, that's kind of how some men perceived women.
Speaker B:I don't think they took them as serious.
Speaker B:So people's perception on the whole matter now has really changed.
Speaker B:If I've had even a small part in that, because of my early presence, I am proud of that.
Speaker B:I've had women over the years tell me I've helped them influence them or make the process more comfortable for.
Speaker B:Comfortable for them and feeling like they're not alone.
Speaker B:And the reality is they're not.
Speaker B:Because the balance has shifted slightly.
Speaker B:And you see More Female Vinyl DJs and Vinyl Female collectors out there now.
Speaker B:We have, like, a lot more representation.
Speaker B:So that has definitely shifted the way people think about female DJs.
Speaker A:Amazing.
Speaker A:Being someone that's been kind of known for being a serious record collector.
Speaker A:What's it like when you first step out to dj, do you feel a lot of pressure with that because you've kind of got this rep for your records?
Speaker A:Is it quite a nervous experience?
Speaker B:That's funny.
Speaker B:That's probably the thing I'm most comfortable with because I have such an array and because I know that I have some pieces in my collection that are very unique.
Speaker B:And so depending on who I'm playing with, it's not so much of a competition.
Speaker B:Although it is funny to look at it and think of it like that because I have talked to people that do feel that way and kind of like they're like, yeah, you should, you should, you know, you should lean into that.
Speaker B:You know, I look at it as like, here's a, here's a moment where I can show somebody, I believe that I can show somebody something different that they've not heard of that I feel like they would appreciate.
Speaker B:And so I do take that opportunity.
Speaker B:Depending on who I'm playing, like, read the room, like who, you know, if I can play this for somebody and you know I'm going to get some kind of response, I look for that.
Speaker B:Like I love sharing music in that sense and so that's something I'm very comfortable with.
Speaker B:I don't feel, I don't feel like I don't have or I don't keep up with, you know, finding pieces like that where I can't play them out and somebody's going to be, you know, in awe of something.
Speaker B:You know, it's, it's not, of course I have more common pieces and you know, you know, chase what other people do as well.
Speaker B:But I like to mix that all up together.
Speaker B:So I do feel confident in my ear and the things I'm looking for and the things I'm finding.
Speaker B:Yeah, and sharing those pieces of music.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you know, you're getting to play a lot of like amazing looking listening bars and also some of these sort of soul festivals and things like that.
Speaker B:Yeah, for me those are the kind of events that I like to play with.
Speaker B:Just like the fairs, it's like a couple of days, you know, it's a weekender.
Speaker B:And not only do you get to go play the sound that people are interested in, like a lot of times when I'll play locally or in the States, you know, I play music that people maybe sometimes aren't familiar with, but it's like the sound they like.
Speaker B:And so I can show the music and they'll appreciate that.
Speaker B:But this kind of weekender, like the Liverpool one, these are people that are already in the Rare like soul record collecting scene.
Speaker B:And so they're familiar with these kind of sounds already.
Speaker B:And it's cool to know that you're going to go play with other people that are going to show you new music or play rare things that you know of and you don't have in your own collection.
Speaker B:So those are people that I feel like appreciate music on another level.
Speaker B:And like I do.
Speaker B:So that's why I like connecting in those sort of events because I know that I'm going to hear something that's going to blow my mind.
Speaker B:And for me, that's the high, that's what I'm always chasing.
Speaker B:I want to hear something new to.
Speaker A:Me because I know with Toronto, I mean, you look at the DJs that were on at that.
Speaker A:Although it's first and foremost the record conference, the lineup looked insane.
Speaker B:Yeah, Live convention is a mashup of you're gonna have, you know, you're gonna be there for a great record fair.
Speaker B:But they also invite amazing DJs from around the world to come participate.
Speaker B:I look at that more of a have like a hip hop event which, like a hip hop weekender.
Speaker B:Like you don't really see that, you know, so like defined more in that sense.
Speaker B:And so, you know, it's these like guys, these amazing like turntableists type DJs coming out and bringing their rare samples and whatnot and whatever they're into.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They also have amazing taste and great ears and get to share that it's a.
Speaker B:It's a little bit different than the other fairs.
Speaker B:And so I appreciate it from that stance that you're gonna get like the skillful DJs as well, like, you know, Mr.
Speaker B:Thing and Edon and Coco was there one year.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, cream of the crop.
Speaker B:Cream of the crop.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker A:So if we can kind of have a bit of a chat about your day job, because I know we touched on that just before we started recording.
Speaker A:So you actually work in the casino as the day job, as it were.
Speaker B:Yeah, so the reason I ended up staying here for so long was because when I first moved out here, my dad was like, all right, well, you know, you're out here, do you want to try to make some money this summer?
Speaker B:And I was like, sure, you know, I'll give it a go.
Speaker B:And primarily the jobs out here are, you know, hospitality industry, casino jobs.
Speaker B:And so I didn't really know being young, what exactly I wanted to do.
Speaker B:And so culinary is like a big thing out here.
Speaker B:And you know, my dad's like, you can try whatever you want.
Speaker B:And I was like, okay, I'll try culinary.
Speaker B:So I went to like a, like a trade school, like a Cordon Bleu type of culinary school.
Speaker B:And, and then from there took an internship at one of the casinos at one of their bake shops.
Speaker B:So now instead of staying out till like 4 in the morning, I was getting up at 4 in the morning to go to work.
Speaker B:So that was a little different.
Speaker B:And I met a girl there who was doing the same thing, but she wanted to be a Japanese interpreter.
Speaker B:And so one day she comes to me and says, hey, they're hiring for a cocktail waitress.
Speaker B:You know, the girls that serve the drinks out in the casino.
Speaker B:And I was like, well, I don't know anything about that.
Speaker B:And she's like, just come to the interview.
Speaker B:So I did for moral support, but kind of like the researcher I am.
Speaker B:I remember I went and picked up a cocktail book and started reading through the drinks and I was not a drinker at all, I was just turning 21 and like, you know, the way I grew up at the raves and things like that, like people weren't drinking, they were doing other things, but we weren't really drinking.
Speaker B:So I didn't know I had, you know, had very little alcohol knowledge.
Speaker B:And so I grabbed the book, I just started familiarizing myself with things I read in the book.
Speaker B:And I went on the interview and funnily enough, like they offered me the job with no experience and they did not offer the girl the job.
Speaker B:And I never talked to this woman after that.
Speaker B:I hope she's doing great.
Speaker B:I hope she went on to be an interpreter and she's making loads of money.
Speaker B:But I got into that job and the jobs out here are union.
Speaker B:So you know, it's really good compensation and insurance and those are things you don't think of when you're that young.
Speaker B:And I remember meeting like older employees, my co workers, and then them explained to me how important that was and thinking, oh wow, if I stay here, like I get, you know, a decent paycheck, good tips and benefits and you know, as you get older those things are really important.
Speaker B:And I learned that working here and so that's kind of why I've been here for so long, kept that job.
Speaker B:But yeah, working in the casino you meet, you know, people from all walks of lives.
Speaker B:You, it's tourism based, so almost everybody there is a tourist and you hear everyone's opinions and you know, what, you know, what they do for a living or what they're about.
Speaker B:And so it's an interesting melting pot of different personalities.
Speaker A:So in that sort of job, then, do you do.
Speaker A:Are you giving the sort of time to have those conversations then with the clients?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So my job really does consist of socializing, which, again, we touched on how, you know, I'm an introvert.
Speaker B:So that was another.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was another way I was coming out of my shell and, like, being like, all right, well, I have to socialize with people.
Speaker B:And it got easier for me.
Speaker B:But, yeah, now I spend my day doing exactly that.
Speaker B:I feel like more of, like, a host in the sense that I'm just, you know, answering questions and directing people.
Speaker B:And, you know, I am a lot more knowledgeable about spirits and liquor and so wine and sharing that information with them.
Speaker B:But I've met some really interesting people in the casino.
Speaker B:I've met musicians, a lot of retired musicians that live out here now.
Speaker B:I've had the opportunity to meet people that, you know, whose records I own.
Speaker B:I never thought that was going to happen.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So as an introvert, that must be a pretty exhausting job.
Speaker A:On your days off, do you just, like, lock yourself in a room and just, like, organize records or something?
Speaker B:No, I am the worst at organizing records.
Speaker B:I will, you know, go on a gig and then come unpack my things, and they'll stay in those boxes for, you know, a couple of weeks sometimes.
Speaker B:Luckily, I have enough records that I don't have.
Speaker B:Like, I don't go to the same DJ bag, so I can start over.
Speaker B:But sometimes it does get overwhelming with the organizing.
Speaker B:I've tried different, like, methods of organizing.
Speaker B:Some people do it by bpm, genre label artists.
Speaker B:And I have never found anything that.
Speaker B:That I can stick with.
Speaker B:Like, it's constantly changing, but somehow it's like organized chaos.
Speaker B:Like, I make it work.
Speaker B:I figure it out.
Speaker B:I will funnily, like, sometimes I will recognize a record from the sleeve it's in.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I'm bad at the re.
Speaker B:Sleeving, too.
Speaker B:Some people are really good at that.
Speaker B:I'm learning to be more of that, but I'm.
Speaker B:I'm pretty bad at that right now.
Speaker B:I'll leave the original sleeve on, and sometimes I like it that way.
Speaker B:Some people don't like that.
Speaker B:Like, the writing and all that.
Speaker B:I love that because for me, it's part of the history that came with the record.
Speaker B:Part of that is whoever owned it before.
Speaker B:Part of that is whoever wrote whatever they wrote on their label or on the sleeve.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:But on my days off, I have a daughter so we spend time together.
Speaker B:But as far as the records, yeah, I'll be playing records all the time.
Speaker B:Or it is also just a way to decompress when I come back home.
Speaker B:The music they play in the casino, it's has gotten a lot better.
Speaker B:Like they will play things.
Speaker B:I know now there's like a sort of like Spotify type ish company that comes through.
Speaker B:And so they will cater it to whatever demographic is in the casino.
Speaker B:So sometimes, you know, early in the morning you'll be hearing like Frank Sinatra.
Speaker B:And I love hearing things like that, right.
Speaker B:And then they've gotten a lot better at maybe doing the research and seeing what people like.
Speaker B:Because now it's not just top 40 they're playing.
Speaker B:I hear things I recognize, like current music that I recognize people I know.
Speaker B:I will hear them singing over the speakers and I'm like, wow, I'll tell somebody, like, I know that person.
Speaker B:I mean, they can care less because they don't know what it is.
Speaker B:But like, I feel good about that.
Speaker B:I'm like, you know, I text a friend, I'm like, hey, I just heard your song on, you know, playing over the casino.
Speaker B:And it's like an indie artist.
Speaker B:So that's pretty cool.
Speaker A:So I just wanted to ask you as well, because in terms of what I've ever seen of Vegas or Red or anything, the things that I sort of see.
Speaker A:So this is a couple of questions.
Speaker A:It's either the ostentatiousness, if that's a word of the Strip and all the money that's being thrown about all the high profile sporting events, things like that, or it's hearing about the huge homelessness problem.
Speaker A:So what's sort of middle living like in Vegas?
Speaker A:Cause you never hear about the people that are just kind of doing the day job, going to work.
Speaker A:What's that side of life like there?
Speaker B:So it's funny because you have to fly over to get into Vegas and you see like the surrounding suburbs and neighborhoods around the actual Strip.
Speaker B:Of course, the Strip sticks out when you're flying over because it's so huge and massive and because the casinos stand out, the buildings themselves.
Speaker B:And to this day I still have people ask me, like, where do you live?
Speaker B:Do you live in the hotels?
Speaker B:You know, especially when I'm at work.
Speaker B:It's so funny to me.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:So we do have suburbs outside of the Strip.
Speaker B:We do have communities.
Speaker B:I feel like in the last 20 years since I've been here, that has definitely grown.
Speaker B:I feel like it's more.
Speaker B:It's More.
Speaker B:There's more families out here now, and so there's a lot more for families to do.
Speaker B:We have parks.
Speaker B:We actually have the most parks per capita where I live, which is really interesting.
Speaker B:There's parks all over the place.
Speaker B:It's very hot out here, so you're limited to what you could do in the summertime.
Speaker B:But there's, you know, beautiful neighborhoods out here.
Speaker B:There's people who do work outside of casinos because obviously we have a whole, you know, community that has to be upkept.
Speaker B:So can it be normal?
Speaker B:Could you never go to the Strip?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:You know, but everybody associates Vegas with that style of living out here.
Speaker B:I live in a pretty peaceful, quiet neighborhood.
Speaker B:My daughter goes to a school around the corner.
Speaker B:It's a well rated school.
Speaker B:So there is this normal life that people don't even think about because they're not here to come visit that they're here to go to the casinos and, you know, do all the fun stuff in the debauchery.
Speaker B:So they're not thinking about life outside of here.
Speaker B:But clearly there's many of us here.
Speaker B:And yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker B:It's definitely grown, and it's grown on me.
Speaker B:I always thought that it was more of a transitional town.
Speaker B:You'd meet people here and they're going back home.
Speaker B:But it seems like, like everywhere else, people have now made roots here and stayed here.
Speaker B:So I do have long term friendships and relationships out here.
Speaker B:My parents live out here.
Speaker B:So I still have my community here.
Speaker B:And I'm less inclined to want to leave all the time.
Speaker B:As I get older, you know, I'm just like, oh, well, I'd rather stay home.
Speaker B:My comfortable house and.
Speaker B:And yeah, when I'm not on the Strip, I'm not thinking about the Strip.
Speaker B:So I.
Speaker B:I'm thinking I just live in a normal neighborhood and have a normal life.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So how else has it changed over the sort of time?
Speaker A:Is it, what, about 20 years that you've been there?
Speaker B:Yes, 20 years.
Speaker B:More people staying, more people having children here.
Speaker B:It has also grown like the Strip itself.
Speaker B:I mean, we do have these like big sporting arenas now.
Speaker B:It is bringing in more people into town, people spending more money.
Speaker B:I mean, it's very expensive out here, and that's in general.
Speaker B:And I know it's like that across the country and the world, but here, historically it has risen, like in the last 10 years, like it.
Speaker B:A lot of people would come out here to live here because it was like, affordable at the time.
Speaker B:It was like, let's say, like Five, six years ago, it was still like affordable housing compared to the rest of the market in the States or in the country.
Speaker B:And that was a draw to come here.
Speaker B:And now it's kind of evened out and it's not as much anymore.
Speaker B:But also we have seen an incline in money being spent here.
Speaker B:So because of the sports that are coming into town, like, we're getting a different, like.
Speaker B:And even if you could even imagine even more money coming in, it is big business, big industry.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it's been interesting to watch Las Vegas grow overall.
Speaker A:Yeah, and I'm not, I can't remember, I need to double check if we got into this in the episode, but how are the audiences for DJing in Vegas versus other parts of say, L A, for example?
Speaker B:So historically in Vegas it has been a very EDM dominated town with these huge mega headlining DJs that get paid more than a band or an artist.
Speaker B:You know, they are now like the top ranking income grossing performers.
Speaker B:It's kind of surreal to see that happen.
Speaker B:I mean, would you ever guess that a DJ that wears a, you know, mouse costume over his head get paid more than like a, a politician or a CEO?
Speaker B:It's just, it's the, and the amount of money that comes through here for performing is, is really insane.
Speaker B:And I think because of that, because people are paying so much money and they're coming out here, their expectation, the bar is really high and they're wanting to see all the celebrity DJs that come here, all the reality TV star type DJs.
Speaker B:And so that's not something that calls to me.
Speaker B:And so that balance of like, you know, having to explain to somebody here that's coming into town for the first time the difference of what you do versus what a DJ like that does, you know, it's not the same setting.
Speaker B:We're not in like a huge nightclub with table service and like bottles and, you know, fireworks going off.
Speaker B:It's not that kind.
Speaker B:But that does exist out here.
Speaker B:So I guess my point to that is that there's something for everyone out here.
Speaker B:You could go downtown to the Div bar and watch somebody play vinyl.
Speaker B:You can watch somebody play vinyl, you know, in, in a bigger setting.
Speaker B:But you go onto the strip, into these nightclubs, that's not exactly what they're looking for.
Speaker B:So it's definitely EDM dominated, which is fine.
Speaker A:Steve Aoki and his cakes and his T shirt cannons.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's all a performance out here.
Speaker B:You know, people are out, are out here to see that, that's the draw for them, you know, and, and that's what they expect.
Speaker B:So they expect those top tiers, EDM type DJs and that's fine.
Speaker B:You know, it's bringing money into it's, it's, it's putting money into our economy.
Speaker B:So it's going to happen somewhere, you know, it's going to happen here.
Speaker A:And if it kind of spreads out and you know, that money goes into the things like the listening bars and that side of things and Happy days.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm also never one to judge somebody's music taste, so if they're just all about that.
Speaker B:We just recently had this huge festival that we have here every year in town last week called EDC, Electric Daisy Carnival.
Speaker B:Over three days, 500,000 people came out to this event.
Speaker B:I don't even know what that number looks like in my head.
Speaker B:It's a lot of people and they come out every year and that's the type of music they want to hear.
Speaker B:They want to hear this fast paced type of electronic music.
Speaker B:And I'm sure there's great music in there, you know, it's just not what I'm looking for.
Speaker B:But it's out there and if that's what makes them happy, hey, go for it.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker A:How do you find the digging locally then?
Speaker A:Do you manage to pick up a lot of pieces?
Speaker B:I do have a lot of people ask me like if I find all the records I have in Vegas.
Speaker B:I find that to be a silly question because completely the answer is no.
Speaker B:I travel a lot for records.
Speaker B:That'd be amazing if you live somewhere where all of the records from all over the world just magically existed.
Speaker B:But I don't think that exists, which is why I respect digging so much.
Speaker B:It's really important to me because I'm someone who wants to discover new to me, music, new to me, records all the time.
Speaker B:And I'm also a firm believer that I still have a chance at finding records I'm after.
Speaker B:There's still records out there to be found.
Speaker B:It seems like a lot of people struggle with the concept and have normalized accepting that rare records are unobtainable or unaffordable.
Speaker B:It does require you to get out of your comfort zone and more effort.
Speaker B:But I can't explain how it feels like the satisfaction over the instant gratification of buying online.
Speaker B:It's a completely different feeling.
Speaker B:And as collectors and DJs, we all have gone that route of buying online, you know, and spending money and whatnot.
Speaker B:But you Also know the profound difference of the two.
Speaker B:I also realize that digging is a term people use very loosely now.
Speaker B:But when you see the amount of work some people put into this, you understand that there's different levels to this.
Speaker B:For sure, it's a hustle.
Speaker B:I'm comfortably uncomfortable being at the level of going to people's homes, old radio stations, barns, churches, et cetera.
Speaker B:I can drive long distances and stay in these spaces for many hours, sweat and sacrifice sleep and food, all that.
Speaker B:But I also recognize there's people that can look through bug infested piles of records and end up in some very sketchy places.
Speaker B:And to that I just say, much respect.
Speaker B:So, yeah, like there's just levels to it.
Speaker A:Like, you know, so I.
Speaker A:I went to another city this weekend and I spent a lot of time in record shops.
Speaker A:I generally kind of look at LPs.
Speaker A:I get a lot more from the artwork and then the players and just how they're styled and things like that.
Speaker A:That's kind of what I go on.
Speaker A:Because I don't have deep knowledge.
Speaker A:Sometimes I'll buy things that aren't great, sometimes I come up with something really good.
Speaker A:And then I was going through the sort of collector's box of sevens at one of the shops and I was just thinking, I don't know anything about any of these.
Speaker A:So it got me to thinking about sort of digging and trading and things like that at the sort of level that you and your peers do.
Speaker A:And I was thinking, like, how much of digging and trading and stuff is about the soft skills, about communication and building these relationships with the people that you're buying from or selling to so that they can give you the recommendations.
Speaker B:So you do end up making a lot of connections when you go down this rabbit hole of obscure records.
Speaker B:There's first of all, yes, dealing with and speaking to other collectors and other DJs.
Speaker B:But there's also the aspect of how many times you've had to talk yourself into seeing a collection.
Speaker B:Like there's times when you're speaking to artists directly or to their families, Right.
Speaker B:If you're scouting records that way, which is my preferred method, right.
Speaker B:Like you're going to find more things going directly to the source.
Speaker B:So that's how I approach it.
Speaker B:Sometimes, for example, they're looking for guidance of what to do with their music or their deceased family members copies or reels, because they're just sitting on it and it's been years now and what do you do with that?
Speaker B:So a lot of communication is going on there Business talk, a lot of emotional dialogue.
Speaker B:You have to be very patient with these people.
Speaker B:You also do have to stay social with other collectors to stay in the loop like you're referring to.
Speaker B:So you can find yourself speaking to complete strangers, making transactions and trusting the process.
Speaker B:You can find yourself speaking to world renowned collectors, you know, trying to get some kind of info or help from them.
Speaker B:It is a very community, social sport.
Speaker B:Because obviously if you're just relying on looking up on the Internet, sure there's a lot of information on the Internet, but there's also a lot of information off the Internet.
Speaker B:And then there's also the people who put the information on the Internet.
Speaker B:That's what I consider the source.
Speaker B:So I try to scout out people like that.
Speaker B:And you do have to be in constant contact with these people and they stay in contact with you.
Speaker B:And, and that's how, you know, music spreads and knowledge spreads and you know, each one teach one.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Does having to sort of like you're saying about the artist and having to have the sensitive conversations and help people go through some emotional things, does that kind of run parallel to the day job?
Speaker A:If you're dealing with people that are gambling a lot of money and things like that, do you have to have a similar type of conversation with them?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I've picked up social cues from my day job of having to be social, interact with so many different personalities and backgrounds.
Speaker B:It does help facilitate that, you know, that discomfort or nervousness of, you know, like, what do I say to these people?
Speaker B:You know, but being at work and talking to so many different types of people, age range, you know, it does help you.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:I almost feel like it becomes an art form either having to, you know, talk yourself up or talk yourself down or, you know, to people because you just read their personality and then, you know, that's how you adjust yours.
Speaker B:There's different methods, I know, with other people, how they contact you.
Speaker B:Some people are more aggressive about it, I think, just as a woman in general and my nature, like I'm just softer when I speak to these people.
Speaker B:And sometimes that helps.
Speaker B:People are more inclined to speak to you and sometimes it doesn't because they don't take you serious.
Speaker B:So you kind of have to adjust according to their personalities depending on what you're looking for or what you're trying to do, or if you're trying to somehow attach yourself to their music in the sense that you're going to look for something that you want to like reissue or you want copies of.
Speaker B:So you Know, it is all a social game.
Speaker B:And yeah, it's something you don't.
Speaker B:It takes, at least for me, it took a while to develop that.
Speaker B:I was not very inclined to just reach out to strangers.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:The Internet did make it easier for me when I was younger because I could go like on Facebook, aol, type in an artist's name and be like, oh, how are you connected to them?
Speaker B:And some people are inclined to talk to you and some people are not at all.
Speaker B:And sometimes if you want something really bad, you're messaging that person two to three times a day and sometimes you're cold calling them.
Speaker B:And I've had friends, I have not done this myself, but I've had friends that just show up to their, you know, where they live.
Speaker B:And so, yes, it's definitely a social aspect and, and it's work, you know, and I think that's, that goes to the behind the scenes work that people don't really talk about.
Speaker A:So what I really wanted to get out of this conversation was understanding what differentiates your sort of level of collecting from, say, someone like me, aside from a massive collection.
Speaker A:But what is it in you that changed?
Speaker A:And it's the lengths that you'll go to for that passion.
Speaker A:So that's absolutely fascinating.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think when I try to sum up what I do to people, especially outsiders, I always lead with, you know, it is a passion.
Speaker B:Looking for music is a passion.
Speaker B:I'm inclined to look for music, but because I'm just obsessed with like listening and discovering new sounds and that just kind of keeps my interest and keeps it going.
Speaker B:And why some people care less than others, I don't know, because I look at music like it's the most beautiful thing.
Speaker B:So that keeps me connected to it.
Speaker B:And some people don't care about it as much.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But you know, why the media matters?
Speaker B:It matters to me because, you know, to me it has like a history connected to it.
Speaker B:It makes it feel more special to me when it's tangible.
Speaker B:So again, all that matters to me might not matter to somebody else.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's what I like about going out digging is I like to go and try and find things I don't know, not things that I do know.
Speaker A:That's the excitement because, you know, you never know.
Speaker A:Sometimes I'll find something.
Speaker A:I think it's really like, I'll be really excited about it and I'll play it to one of my friends and they'll go, oh, yeah, that's the sample of so and so or or he'll just like have loads of trivia about.
Speaker A:Oh, but then occasionally you get the one where it's like, what's that?
Speaker B:Exactly?
Speaker A:And you go, you go, I don't know, I just found it.
Speaker A:Sounds cool though, doesn't it?
Speaker A:And they're the ones where you're just like, yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, some people get it and some people don't.
Speaker B:Some people care more, some people care less.
Speaker B:You know, Like, I have people ask me all the time, well, you know, why don't you just buy the reissue?
Speaker B:You know, again, we can have a whole debate on that.
Speaker B:And reissues are fine.
Speaker B:I own some.
Speaker B:Especially when supporting reissue projects that people put together that take the time and effort to put together and they look really great and you know, they come with things that weren't part of the original record before.
Speaker B:Or you get the stories like the liner notes, you know, I love those kind of like really in depth kind of projects that reissue music and finding the artists and all that.
Speaker B:But if I have the original, like, I'm never gonna feel guilty about owning the original, especially when I found it before anyone repressed it.
Speaker B:I'm not going to sell it just to own it again on colored vinyl.
Speaker B:Maybe I'll keep both.
Speaker B:That's just a personal preference.
Speaker B:But if people aren't out there putting in the work and unearthing songs and finding older artists, you'd have nothing special to reissue.
Speaker B:And I think that deserves more respect.
Speaker B:People who introduce music are really important and I like to highlight that when I'm talking about reissues because I think sometimes people don't understand that.
Speaker B:It's not like they fall out of the sky.
Speaker B:People have to find these things.
Speaker B:And so let's just respect that a little more.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's a few things I'd quite like to be reissued because I think I'm never going to find them for a price that I can afford.
Speaker A:But then there's other things, like looking at the sort of record store day releases.
Speaker A:There was something, I can't think off the top of my head what it was this year, but it's like, I don't know, it's like Adam and the Ants or something.
Speaker A:And you're kind of looking through and it's like, have people never been to a charity shop?
Speaker A:Whatever it was is most charity shops and car boot sales that you ever go to.
Speaker A:And it's like, why does it need a reissue?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, again, that's a preference.
Speaker B:I feel the same way.
Speaker B:Like, we don't need another Reissue of the Whipped Cream album.
Speaker B:Maybe people don't.
Speaker B:Maybe like their only interaction with records is going out on a record store day and that's the level they're at and that's fine.
Speaker B:I think it bothers me more when people are just like, you know, we don't need the original.
Speaker B:Who cares about it?
Speaker B:You know, I care about it.
Speaker B:People care about it.
Speaker B:You know, finding like an original record to me is like finding like a historic relic.
Speaker B:It's not going to be the same as, like I said, that splattered vinyl, it's great that it's available but also like, let's just respect what, what it came from, where it came from.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think as well it's.
Speaker A:Some people just like new stuff generally.
Speaker A:Some people don't like second hand and used things.
Speaker A:I think people like ourselves, we really like second hand and old things and used things.
Speaker A:They've got a story to them.
Speaker A:You don't know what journey they've been on to end up with you and stuff.
Speaker A:There's this whole other thing.
Speaker A:But yeah, some people just want the thing in box fresh, condition sealed.
Speaker A:So I guess there's that to it as well.
Speaker B:That's true and that's a good point.
Speaker B:But I also feel like if you're picking up records, which is like a tangible item, I mean that shouldn't bother you as much because if you feel that way about it, if you're a germaphobe, you can download the songs I guess is how I feel about it.
Speaker B:But yeah, I do agree that, you know, some people just want it easily, readily available and maybe spoon fed or handed to them and there's a market for that and that's why we see those kind of reissues that we're like, ah, that's not really necessary.
Speaker B:You know, you could probably find it online like the original one for a couple of dollars.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Or there's I, you know, it's maybe it's the same excitement that I get when I see something weird that they just see something in person and like want to bring it home.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:That sounds fun to me too.
Speaker A:Have you found there's any particular cities that you've kind of always done well in compared to others?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So something like someplace like San Antonio, Texas, if you're looking for a certain sound, like we were talking about the Chicano sound, you're going to find more of that sound there.
Speaker B:I've had better luck going straight to the source.
Speaker B:So a lot of loads of cool Texas labels from out there.
Speaker B:I've had luck with out there.
Speaker B:So if I feel like I want to find that sound, like that's where I'm going to go for that.
Speaker B:If I'm looking for funk, I'm going to go to New Orleans.
Speaker B:So, yeah, you definitely categorize, like, what.
Speaker B:Where you think you'd find something.
Speaker B:But then.
Speaker B:But then there's the random finds that have you find records that you're just like, how the hell did this end up out here?
Speaker B:You know, but somebody brought it out here.
Speaker B:They were maybe in the military and just, you know, dispersed.
Speaker B:It got dispersed that way.
Speaker B:Or people move and they move the records.
Speaker B:And so it's.
Speaker B:It's good to know that also, because you just have to keep an open mind and you just never know you're going to find something.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, that was how a lot of the.
Speaker A:A lot of the music in the 60s were getting into the northwest of England.
Speaker A:That was all through air bases, a lot of the American stuff, apparently.
Speaker B:So, yeah, yeah, I'm excited to go look in Europe for American records.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, of course.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just one last person I wanted us to touch on, if it's okay, before we wrap up, is.
Speaker A:And we mentioned it, is Paul nice?
Speaker A:I spoke to Scheme about him, but when he passed, I saw you'd written some quite nice sort of words about him, I think while he was still alive, when he was sort of going through some troubles, that was the focus of any sort of publicly aired sentiment and opinion about him.
Speaker A:But I think there was so much more going on with the sort of good that he was doing.
Speaker A:And I was wondering if you could share a bit about your experience.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I met Paul through a mutual friend, Channing, AKA Big Chan from Seattle, who is into records and kung fu flicks.
Speaker B:Paul was an amazing producer, as we all know, and also a fellow collector.
Speaker B:When I reconnected with him, this is about 10 years ago now, and he wanted to revisit a lot of the projects he sort of left behind or had neglected.
Speaker B:At that time.
Speaker B:He was in a much better place.
Speaker B:He was making amends and trying to piece his collection back together.
Speaker B:So toys, memorabilia, records, and we were working together to reclaim some of those lost items.
Speaker B:He also got back into DJing, which is really cool to see because it had been a while for him.
Speaker B:He was doing some touring.
Speaker B:I remember he made a yacht rock mix sale on the Grill, and it was a play on his Soul on the Grill mix series.
Speaker B:So if you guys are fans or familiar with his work like that, that's something you should look into if you haven't already.
Speaker B:It was a very cool series and it was really incredible to witness his renewed zest for life.
Speaker B:He was also volunteering with kids at that time and he started writing children's books, which again, if had I not talked to him personally, I would have never known that about him.
Speaker B:Although he had his hand in everything.
Speaker B:I didn't know that.
Speaker B:And he was writing this book called Onions the Vampire Girl.
Speaker B:I actually have the transcript.
Speaker B:And of course she has kung fu superpowers and I don't know, but I would love to see that out one day, you know, however the powers may be.
Speaker B:But that, that would be really cool for the world to see, to, to read.
Speaker B:So Paul's legacy for me continues to live on.
Speaker B:There's always subtle reminders of him.
Speaker B:I have a daughter who's 14 now, and she introduced me to this new record.
Speaker B:As she does, she'll show me music and immediately when I played the song, I recognized it as a Paul Nice beat that had been chopped up Fists of the White Lotus.
Speaker B:And I, I was like, there he is, like, just making his presence known again.
Speaker B:And so he lives on through the music that he gifted us.
Speaker B:I can't say enough nice things about him, especially in this time in his life.
Speaker B:So rest in peace to Paul Nice.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He was a gift to us.
Speaker B:No matter, you know, how you saw him, your opinion of him, you know, at the end of the day, he did a lot more good for us.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker A:Thank you and thanks for sharing everything today.
Speaker A:I think something I've really taken from it is just the sort of sense of community that you get round digging and the sort of opportunities that that in itself, more so than even DJing specifically has kind of brought you.
Speaker A:So it's really cool to hear that.
Speaker A:And what have you got coming up in the near future then?
Speaker B:So let's see, in about less than a month's time now, I am flying out to Liverpool.
Speaker B:There's a weekender there that's going on for about four days, so that should be very fun.
Speaker B:And that's going to be with other rare soul DJs.
Speaker B:I'm very excited about that because anytime I can hear things I've not heard before, I get very excited for that.
Speaker B:I'm also excited to just go look for records out there, try some different food, and then from there I head to London for a week same.
Speaker B:Just want to look for some records and hang out with some good friends and then we'll be there for a week.
Speaker B:And when I say we, it's with my daughter and my fiance.
Speaker B:And from there we head to Paris.
Speaker B:And in Paris, I don't have anything set up simply because I.
Speaker B:That's more of a trip for my daughter.
Speaker B:So, you know, I'm taking my daughter with me and we're gonna spend a week there.
Speaker B:She's never been there before.
Speaker B:Just showing her the town.
Speaker B:She's not actually opposed to looking for records.
Speaker B:She's picked up some of what I have as far as music.
Speaker B:But she likes to look for like vintage clothing.
Speaker B:And so we know where there's vintage clothing, there's vintage records.
Speaker B:And so I'm excited to take her out to look for what she's looking for.
Speaker B:And hopefully she'll give me the same patience and come record hunting with me.
Speaker B:But she's also growing up with that around her, so she's pretty much used to that.
Speaker B:But I'm gonna try to shorten it this trip for her.
Speaker A:Do you think she's got a good instinct for sniffing out a bargain and things like that then?
Speaker B:She does.
Speaker B:She's definitely picked that up from me, maybe my parents, because they're the same way.
Speaker B:But we, we do a lot of thrifting.
Speaker B:She's been around it her whole life.
Speaker B:She doesn't really go to the mall to buy her clothes.
Speaker B:She enjoys buying secondhand clothes and she's got a good eye for it, you know, she.
Speaker B:Her style is kind of very reminiscent of what I felt like I was dressing like in the 90s.
Speaker B:It's kind of funny because that's definitely made a comeback.
Speaker B:But yeah, she's got a good eye for sure and she's got a good ear.
Speaker B:Yeah, she's got amazing taste in music.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Great.
Speaker A:Well, it's been a real pleasure to speak to you and get to know you a bit and just kind of find out about your journey and stuff.
Speaker A:I've learned a lot there.
Speaker A:So I'd just like to thank you for your time and hopefully speak to you soon.
Speaker A:And if I can, I'll get over to Liverpool and come see your play.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for consider me for this and taking the time to speak to me.
Speaker B:I'm generally not inclined to do interviews.
Speaker B:I do do them, you know, but it's.
Speaker B:It's a.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm not one to just talk about myself, so it is a good platform.
Speaker B:I do appreciate it because I do have things to say, you know.
Speaker B:So thank you for giving me the platform for expressing myself.
Speaker B:I appreciate that.
Speaker B:And yeah, thanks.
Speaker B:Thanks for your time.
Speaker B:And I know the time difference is huge, so I really appreciate that.
Speaker B:And yeah, if you come out to Liverpool, please let me know.
Speaker B:Would love to, you know, catch up in person.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:All right, great.
Speaker A:Oh, and one more question.
Speaker B:Yeah?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What needles do you use?
Speaker B:I use ortaphones.
Speaker B:I was using the Shure ones for a long time, but then they discontinued the ones that I like.
Speaker B:They do make different versions of it, but here in Vegas, because it is a DJ town, we have, like, a lot of DJ stores that are open late and they always seem to carry the club headphones.
Speaker B:Sorry, the club needles, which are generally the ortofone ones out here.
Speaker B:Also, I've had orderphone send me some, so I'm not opposed to free needles.
Speaker A:So there you go.
Speaker A:Neither am I.
Speaker A:If anyone's listening.
Speaker B:Yeah, we'll take it.
Speaker A:Yeah, too right.
Speaker A:Brilliant.
Speaker A:Right, Thanks a lot for your time.
Speaker B:Thanks, Adam.
Speaker B:Bye.
