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| Chillin... Chillin... Mindin' our bidness.... |
So, Jeff, how did you and Jason get started spinning?
We both got started in the mid-90s with beginnings in the underground raves and lost parties.
What is the best part about your job?
Definitely entertaining the people and being in front of a big crowd.
What is your favorite style of music to listen to?
Deep house. It’s a blend of old disco and new dance. It’s still kind of underground, but made specifically for the dance floor. That’s also what we like to play. If you had to pin us down, I’d do my best to muddy the waters by describing our musical style as everything from Sleazy Disco to Hazy House Music to Late-Night Techno. We hate to pigeonhole a musical style as we like to cross-genres as often as possible while we’re playing. You’ll hear us tease the crowd with sounds and songs your ears might be familiar with because we’re always working to entice people to the dance-floor when they least expect it. Our motto: “Quality – We Love To Make People Dance,” is the honest truth. We love this gig.
Do you have any “guilty pleasure” music that you listen to?
Haha. Mid 90s R&B and funk.
Ooh. Color You Badd! Who was your first concert?
The Bee Gees. I’m embarrassed to say what year though!
That’s okay, it could have been a reunion tour. If you could collaborate with any artist, who would you want to work with?
Musically we would love to collaborate with a slew of DJ’s and producers from all over the world. In the U.S. we have a stronghold for underground dance music in Detroit, New York, and Miami. Overseas there’s a stronghold of artists in Berlin and London that we’d jump at the chance to work with. In this case we’re excited to again collaborate with the wealth of local artists in the Short North and Columbus.
Between the stage performances and the fashion component, there is plenty of inspiration to go around at Highball alone. Musically, Columbus has tons of great talent. We have a bunch of young local DJ’s and producers working their way up as well as veteran DJ’s and producers continuing to work on projects local, international and everything in between
How would you describe your set for this year’s Highball?
We played last year and had a good reception. The format last year was more free form. This year we really want to work with John Angelo to transition from an early night street festival with music that progresses with each act or stage show. So, the DJ’s music becomes increasingly more energetic and tied in from stage act to stage act. We are there to knit the whole event together from fashion show to drag show to whatever is going on.
Do you think music influences fashion and vice versa?
I think it does. Everyone takes their own influences from different places. Fashion you can see often takes from punk rock or new wave and you also see a lot of music take form from things coming back. There is resurgence. For example, there is a trend called nu-disco, where you put this new, modern spin on disco. So, the answer is yes. We like to dabble in all of that.
What are you most excited to see at Highball?
Nina West did Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” last year and it was just fantastic so we are really excited to see what she does this year.
