UNPHAIR Biography
Language: EnglishComing from a very creative family, I have always been in love with music. The parental influences included classical, jazz and rock from the likes of the Beatles to Billy Joel. Then growing up in the 80s & 90s with an older sister, I was introduced to ?alternative? electronic music and rock such as Depeche Mode, The Cure, Pixies and Nine Inch Nails. I was very much into ?alternative? music and the goth-industrial scene for a few years. Then towards the end of high school and into college I started hearing more and more about electronic music and ?rave? music by catching shows like Amp on MTV, and reading about it in various underground music magazines. Discovering artists like Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Roni Size and DJ Shadow only piqued my interest even more. From that point I started going to parties & massives and I was officially hooked!
Culture in Arizona can be limited at times, so as an art student & music lover, I decided it would behoove me to visit family and friends in San Diego, and I did so often throughout my college career. I spent most evenings there at a chill little urban coffee joint downtown called the Gas Haus. I?ve been fortunate to have always been surrounded by the most amazing, creative minds. This place was like a den of sheer inspiration with all of its patrons constantly drawing, writing, reading and philosophizing to the soundtrack of anything from hip hop like Digable Planets & Tribe Called Quest, to trip hop like Portishead and Massive Attack, to jazz, to drum & bass. All of these experiences have helped form the library of musical interests that I call upon today.
After completing my Bachelor?s in drawing and painting, I moved from Phoenix to San Diego in 2000, and had my first set of decks by 2002. I jumped right into drum & bass and jungle as I had just grown bored with other simpler forms of electronic music over time and aimed to focus on drum & bass completely from the start. In 2003, I started a monthly called ?Madness Method? at Kadan which was a showcase for art, jungle/drum and bass, and other art forms, and was coordinated with other art-related events in the Adams Avenue area. I scheduled and promoted the night entirely on my own and played there as a resident for about 10 months. During my residency at Kadan I was taking courses in audio engineering and computer music in order to prepare myself for getting into music production. A trendy new club opened up across the street and I decided it was time to bring Madness Method to an end. Since then I?ve been on hiatus and working on my Master’s in Mathematics. I finally got my Technics in 2005 and I?ve been playing and buying records since then in anticipation of an eventual return to playing out.
In December of last year I was talked into entering the DNB Championships here on musicv2.com, where I just made out as a Semi Finalist in the final four! The mixes posted here are my entries for varying rounds of the competition as well as the culmination of all of my hard work as a DJ and musician. In the future, I plan to begin producing and also have fantasies about incorporating more live instruments into my mixes such as the trumpet, and possibly my own vocals. BIG TINGS IN 08?!
