Adam Gow 0:00

Welcome back to once a DJ. And this week I'm here with Phil Lembke, aka Sticky Dojah Germany born and raised, and now based in New York with a range of gigs across bars, clubs, galleries, and corporates. He's also a remixer, curator and journalist and a graduate of the inaugural Red Bull Music Academy. Today we're going to discuss his early years and the experiences that shaped him into the DJ that we see today. Phil, thanks for coming on the show. How are you doing?

Sticky Dojah 0:26

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

Adam Gow 0:28

You're more than welcome. So yeah, I'm really excited to get into your story and understand it, because it's going to be quite different to a lot of the other guests that we've got in terms of your geographical journey and probably your cultural exposure growing up. So you want to start from I mean, start from wherever's best for you really?

Sticky Dojah 0:49

Yeah, I mean, I obviously listened to a lot of the podcasts you've done, I love the series, and I'm happy to be a part of it. And I guess I'm the first one that's kind of from the German area. But a lot of my upbringing and socialisation with music and DJ culture, maybe mirrors a lot of the things that other people already talked about. But then because well, where I'm from, there's a you know, lots of different things happen as well. So I, I tried to keep it as exciting as possible. Yeah, I think the first let's start, like in the early 80s, I was born in East Germany. But then we move to West Germany before the wall came down. It's a long story that's for another podcast, won't go into that. But like it was like I was basically living in West Germany with my parents in asylum houses for refugees. Because I was basically we were a refugee family from East Germany to West Germany, we only spoke the same language, but I came from a completely different political system. And then we had the chance to visit West Berlin for the first time, which was November 83. So because we never made it to the west, and West Berlin was even though it was still located in East Germany, like West Berlin was, you know, part of, of the Western world. And I will never forget, like walking with my parents through coup dam, which was one of the most famous streets and seeing these boys just moving like robots and seeing this boombox. And I was like, What is this and that was my, my first when I, I always say, like, I caught the first wave of hip hop. That's, you know, when all of this came to Europe, it was Turkish boys. And then they went around with a hat and collected money. And I'm like, What is this? So that's why I kind of was already intrigued. Okay, what is the sound and then living with my parents? In these asylums, we had a black and white television. And then, you know, the early music shows in Germany started there was one, it was called Formula One. You would I would see like Phil Collins against all odds, like doing it live and, or like the I remember the thriller, Michael Jackson video premiere, and I was like, too young to watch it. And our parents were like, you might want to look away. And then that year, I went to a record store in Auckland, when we finally moved to Auckland, in West Germany, where I basically grew up and have spent a considerable amount of time of my life. I remember like, it was probably 84 By then, when we went to a record store for the first time with my parents. And there were two albums on the wall. One had these white gloves was like breakdance music compilations, and the other one was West Street mob on Sugar Hill records. And that was kind of my first record, and I was just okay, and now put two and two together. And I got really into breakdancing as a, you know, tiny young kid, and that was my first love.

Adam Gow 4:00

So it was in, in East Germany then was Was it very much kind of Russian sort of cultural influence.

Sticky Dojah 4:12

Adam Gow 7:27

Can I just ask, sorry? Moving from east to west, yeah, how difficult or easy? Was it to make friends and interact with the with the Western kids? Was it? Was there any sort of difficulties there?

Sticky Dojah 7:43

While I can, I can quickly tell the story of like, I basically went to a socialist kindergarten in East Germany where everything was, it was like, everything was given order was given an order for so now you sleep now you brush your teeth. And it was like, it was really strict. It was all kind of military. And I remember then we lived in Heidelberg, which has a big that was big gi bases army bases from from the States. And a lot of the kids were actually American army kids. And I remember the first days I was in kindergarten, I was just sitting around and doing nothing. And then the kindergarten teacher just went to my parents was like, something is wrong with your son. Like, he doesn't interact, he doesn't play and my parents are like, No, you. He's waiting for orders. That's how brainwashed I was from the socialist candidate. And then once they were like, you're free to go, you're free to touch everything. Like you're you can do whatever you want here, basically, then I was good. But it was definitely a change in the political system. For sure. That must be

Adam Gow 8:50

a big thing for a kid to readjust to a whole different set of societal rules.

Sticky Dojah 8:57

Yes. And it also, like this whole thing of like, leaving a country kind of moving, like became a thing for my family. Like we were always moving even within our can we moved, I don't know, like 15 times or something crazy. Like I never really had a home for forever. It was always just couple years here, three years here, five years there, maybe, you know,

Adam Gow 9:23

so did music become something that you kind of depended on as a constant then given that amount of variety and change that word? Is instability? A fair word to say?

Sticky Dojah 9:36

Yeah, I mean, my my parents always, were looking out for me, and I wouldn't say that my childhood was in stable or anything like that. It was there was a lot of love in the house, especially because of what we went through. But music was always there. And just, I was just intrigued by music just constantly and especially this like hip hop and soul music, because that's what I've resonated most with. I remember like, you know, talking about cable television like this, there was this show about, there was a TV show about Vietnam about like, some series. I think it was called Nam or something. And I will never forget, like hearing they played a Marvin Gaye's What's going on in the in one of the shows, and I will, I will never forget, like rushing to the stereo boombox that was in the kitchen and trying to tape that song off the television. And, yeah, just just memories like that, you know, just, that would be something that I would just hold on to forever and just like, wow, what is this and I wanted to know more about that. And then it by the late 80s. You know, it was also like the radio became really important, just like classic sitting under the bedsheet with the with the radio on and switching to am and hearing the BBC for the first time. And then they had or they had a German radio station Radio One kind of similar to the BBC, and there was a radio show called graffiti. And then this must have been like 889 I will never forget, like, all of a sudden I hear these beats, and it was tough crew from Philly. So in that radio show, they would play like the newest us rap that came out like underground rap, but also like death metal. And then the next song was like death by Dawn by the side or something crazy. And, and but I remember I only had like, like the last 15 seconds of that tough crew song. And it took me years to actually find out what it was and find the record in a record store.

Did you find the almost like the game sort of nature of our system and need to try and find out about did you find that almost that kind of challenge a lot of fun. Because I think it can be quite satisfying, can't it when you find that the satisfaction you get when you realise something like that.

I was actually I think now thinking back or maybe I just make that up now in my mind. I was more frustrated that I didn't have more access because I was still I was still young was like 12 years old. And I remember like going to a skate shop and then the clerk he had tapes and he was like Okay, listen to this and it was like EPMD you got to chill and I heard a talk box for the first time I will have that that zap sample that just blew me away but I was too young and then these older kids were like, hey, you know, Public Enemies performing in Cologne next next month, are you you want to come with us and I'm like, I'm kind of still too young. I don't know I can't I was still 12 And then by the next year I was I was I was still too young but then by the by the next year I think in 91 with a friend from school, I convinced my parents Okay, I want to go to a rap show and it was actually Gangstar and Dream Warriors and some other acts from Canada. And that was obviously huge for me like I remember like getting stepped in the arena for my 30th birthday from a friend of mine. That kind of cemented it. At the same time I think early 91 was when I got into massive attack. And just understanding that there was also like this the UK as a you know something that also makes hip hop or on the trip to Paris with my mom. I went to the HMV store and bought the first anti M Nikita Mayer album automatique which is now obviously like a French classic mean they had was one of the biggest crews and just that kind of became aware okay in every country this is happening rap music is happening in a rapping in their own language. And it was still a time when there was a little bit of German rap already happening. Also at a pop level at a major label lab level but the quality was just not there. There was still a lot of people rapping in English in Germany

and we seen that MTM programme and Netflix the really good

Yeah, yeah, it's it's, I mean, the whole thing, there's the cinematography and how they like I mean French rap was always ahead of the German rap scene, I'd say by three to five years at least. And but yeah, then like early 90s is when this whole thing like really blew up for me just going to the record stores by myself and then same time you know, doing kids parties in someone's parents basement and like Mosh pitting to like police so lonely big As we heard from the older brothers and sisters and like still rock was still there, like I remember like finding out about Jimi Hendrix voodoo child and friend of mine who's like bringing Led Zeppelin and that kind of stuff also was still around.

With the people that were around, did they all tend to be quite sort of wide ranging with their with the music tastes, because I know when I was growing up people to people around where I am tended to be quite siloed. And I'm into this or I'm into this, you didn't get as many people that would kind of cross genres. Was it quite an open minded society?

Yes, because because of the fact that we grew up, like in a, like small town, there wasn't much there was scenes like the older brothers, they weren't and they got into like front to four to the whole EBM thing. But for us, like we would literally just sit down like I remember, like a 93, just go to a friend's house and listen to DJ crystal like Drum and Bass then became big for us too. And we're just blown away by the production and the break beats and everything. And then while at the same time, we would listen to Roger Waters, music for the body and laugh at the fart noises on the record. And, like just being kids, you know, like, it wasn't that serious, we kind of developed this understanding of, hey, this is something that we want. And but there's this whole thing of like being in a scene and just being like, this is hip hop, this is not hip hop board. This is this, this is that that came much later. In the beginning, it was like everything, which I came back in my DJing. Later on back to that kind of mindset of having a just an open mind. And anything goes,

I suppose if you're if you're somewhere that's away from a bigger city, it's harder to engage in the tribalism of music in a way because it's harder to dress a certain way in the kind of uniform of that type of music, for example,

The superstars, reissues they wrap,

the Adidas, no, I mean, the shoe Oh, sorry. So so it was, you know, there was a time when, yeah, some people in Berlin, they had specialist shops, and they had people like flying to New York or Paris and then buying stuff in bulk and bringing it back. But we didn't have access to that, you know, and I can, I can, as is. It's really the heart of Europe, which was also good for travelling. It's, it's right at the border to Netherlands and Belgium. So I literally grew up walking distance from the Dutch and Belgian border, I could walk across the border, and I was in another culture. So that was really a huge bonus of living there. That's why we were also really more drawn to the Netherlands, Belgium and even England, because London geographically is almost It's closer than Berlin to us. Growing up is Western Germany. Yeah. So going to London at the time was I mean, maybe four or five hours with the with the ferry and bus and everything. Now it's there's a direct train and so they could fire Brussels is like, I don't know, two and a half, three hours. And going to Berlin is like seven and a half, eight. So yeah, we were always drawn to that. And then we also because of the British forces that were stationed around Arkin and Monchengladbach. In that area, we had access to British radio. There was actually a show in the early 90s by a guy called Steve Mason, the Steve Mason experience. I don't know, if he was actually famous in the UK as a DJ, I've not heard of him. Yeah, he was with the British forces, and he was travelling around the world. And whenever he was, you know, station, he would do a radio show. And he was stationed in Germany at the time, and he would play early, hardcore, and break beats and jungle. So we had access to that. And then the other really important person that was on that radio station was David rodigan. He had his his radio show. So yeah, by that time, like 93 that was we were just always religiously listening to that, and just getting all this input. And, and then the other important radio show came actually from Amsterdam, was called Dutch masters. A Hip Hop show that I discovered in 93. I think the firt like, just being on the radio dialling in and then I think the first song was like, only when I'm drunk by the alcoholics. And wow, and that was the the direct gateway to New York for us. And it was, it was once again, it was terrestrial radio. So if you were in Cologne, if you were like 70 kilometres east, you couldn't get that station. But because we were so close to the border. It opened us up for for what was to come because they had all the imports. All the new records make a week after they came out in New York. That's crazy. And

Did you find that kind of moving round? Develop your social skills in the way that you were good luck with dealing with promoters and things like that? Did it give you like that sort of confidence?

Not really. I mean, I was more. It was a very small scene. And I got to know all the people and trying to find my way. And, I mean, in the beginning, I remember like, my phone, my first party, the guy who's like, in a movie, like he was like, wearing sunglasses, like, I invite you to dinner and you're gonna, you're gonna have this great party, you're gonna have this crazy Korean was like 18 years old, and he's telling me all these things, and I'm like, okay, but I fairly early on, realise that, you know, it's, it's that whole promotion game, I never was really too good at it. And it's, I don't know, like, if, if that if my social skills developed through that or anything, but I was always trying to just make a good, good set, and have, you know, people come back. And sometimes that was difficult, you know, because you have this idea of what you want to present to people and then they're somewhere else with with what they expect. But at the same time, I think a lot of the people were in our town, which is thankful that something was going on. Yeah.

So we very much pure Hip Hop when you were DJing. At that point, are we throwing in bits of bits of other stuff as well?

So that trip to New York was the intention just to soak up as much hip hop as possible.

While I was kind of like, you know, I've been to New York and then my father, he he had a he was doing work in the US and he was like, why don't you come with me and we'll spend some time in New York in between, and I'll make it work. And for me, yeah, that was like just soaking it all up just running around and listening to the radio. I mean, I remember like taping, we were living in Jersey and always taking the train into New York and I was taping the stretch and Bobbito show. Yeah, and just just I was just blown away by everything

that I carry when they were doing when they had all the incredible freestyles on

Yeah, and just like the shit talking also, like I remember taping one where an LP was there, and they were talking about this was this, this this movie with Kevin Costner Waterworld. And they were like, Oh, can you imagine if it was if it would be like pork world and everything wouldn't be made out of pork. And now you know that that humour, but then also like, just being in record stores in in New York was just phenomenal. And I remember this, like, I spent all my money on fat beats and went down to West Fourth Street. There was another small record shop, I forgot what it was. But I walked in, and I clearly had no money, no idea what I'm doing. But I was like, Okay, I got it. I gotta ask a good question. I'm like, Hey, do you have Incredible Bongo band Apache. And the guy was like, Yeah, we got it. And, but I wanted it on 12 inch, I wanted the 12 inch bootleg that everybody was talking about. And they didn't have that. But then a girl rode by on roller skates and was asking for Marvin Gaye, sexual healing and he just gave her the 45 and she just rolled off to the streets was like, I'm like, What is this here? I need to and I made that trip that energy really helped me for years that coming back to Germany and being like, wow, this is this is it?

Head Head you got a plan. After school, then when you head you got an intention of I'm gonna go to New York and come back and do a certain thing. And if so, did that change through the experience of that trip? No, it was

How much of the performance was that your skill level wasn't as good as theirs? And how much of it was that the nerves just get here? Because I know what it's like when you do a battle and you you're shaking, trying to put your needle on and you're queuing up and it doesn't quite go over there that you did take marker in the right way and stuff like that if it's going wrong.

Well, it was. I remember. So going back to that New York trip on that Rocksteady anniversary, I met Christie Pabon, who was who was doing DMC us at the time, and I actually gave her a demo of like little beads that I made, and which a year later resulted in me and another friend, we produce the remix for j where the damage that came out in the UK actually on DMC UK in 98. But she was at the time she had these. I forgot the name of the DJ was also like he was he was kind of like a rock guy. He was I think he was the the US DMC champion in 96. Swamp Yeah. And swamp had the skip proof scratch tools. Yeah. And she would send them to me like I would buy them from her. And with practice with those numb, I was thinking that the turntable is better. Okay, at least the needle won't skip because after the skip plus. And I remember actually the other guys making fun of me that I was using that because they weren't and it was me it was pretty, you know, the lot of ego and like, insecurity, you know how these battles were back then it was like Is it was gruesome?

Well, I mean, it's like when I talked to Dee and she was on about guys. sabotaging her needles and stuff. It was mind blown. But yeah, like you say, I mean, in that world, there was a lot of braggadocio and bravado and stuff like that wasn't there. So I guess it comes with that sort of territory.

Yeah. And then I think a year later, I enrolled again, and then by then I was more comfortable. And there's actually also video footage of that. And I remember I was, I got applause after my set. And I was I felt really great. I did well. And I think I had, I was at the same level of points as another Dutch guy, but because it was German, I think they picked the Dutch guy to go to the next round, which I was fine with. It was just more for the experience. But that was like my short left battle Korea, but it made me practice and get more into that. And that year 98 When I did my first battles, was also the year I went to the very first Red Bull Music Academy in Berlin. What was that? Like? That was just incredible. It was so you had to so they they send out application forms to all the record stores. In Germany, it was it was national only for the first one. It's kind of like a test balloon to do it internationally. And I remember you had to apply it to like, fill out all these questions. And I got a yes. And it was like, Okay, you're going to Berlin for two weeks. And there's going to be this house filled with turntables. And just like it was just like a, you know, a playground for DJs. And pretty much the first thing that happened was was sitting in a room and the first interview that they did was Jeff Mills. And then there was one Atkins, and then it was the execution is swinging by and then it was some reggae sound system, then someone would came and talk about how labels work. And it was just and then you would go into the house and just find a room with turntables and just practice and, and jam together with other people and outfits for two weeks. And then I actually think I even came back for another two weeks, they had a second set where I just made it work somehow, with my civil services at the time that I was doing, kind of got all of that. And then just, yeah, that was a huge game changer for me to obviously meeting all these people. That's also when I started to write for music magazines, because one of the founders of Red Bull Music Academy was a chief editor of one of the biggest music magazines at the time. And he asked me to start writing about music and doing interviews.

What was that based on them? Was it based on your music knowledge, Id Jain skill? Or was it something in terms of the quality of application that you'd done?

yeah, because I asked that just because, I mean, I applied for the Red Bull Music Academy one year. And I just remember, it was an absolute beast of an application form when I did it.

Yeah, it was pretty, uh, took me a couple of nights. And then like, really, like, dude, like this half hour mix. I remember I worked on it for weeks. And just like, I wanted to do it right. And it worked out. But then obviously, it became, you know, I think when you applied it was already on such a level that was just, I mean, look at look at who came out of this. And who was part of it, like, who's an alum? What's the word? Alumini? Alumni. Yeah. Just incredible talent that was featured over the years, you know,

who is there? I mean, I can't think off the top of my head. Oh, I

think like, like, Flying Lotus was there, I think DJ day from Palm Springs. Just, and then lots of people that I forgot to probably don't know, but who are doing amazing things right now.

There are a couple of pretty incredible ones, though there that you've mentioned. Yeah.

But yeah, I mean, it was, it was great to have that. Just being a part of that. And, and obviously, like seeing all these shows, and Berlin going to the ultra resort and seeing who's their company flow. And then, you know, just all this music just as an input. And then by then, you know, coming back to I still resided in Aachen going to uni, and just doing parties in in clubs in Aachen and doing my own parties. And then we started also doing open air parties, because there was this hill where the three countries meet. And I had friends that were living in Belgium at the time, and we just got a sound system together. And we started our party in Belgium. And then the Belgian cops came. So funny story, actually, how specific that that area is. And we were just, they were just like, you can't do this here. And we're like, Well, how about we go 50 metres left to the German side. And they were like, well, that's not our jurisdiction. So. So we took the whole thing over to the German side and set up again, and we're just putting in the fields. And then the Dutch cops came, actually, on the German side, they were like, We got complaints from the Dutch side. But it's, again, it's not our jurisdiction where we're just telling you, we don't want to call our German colleagues. So maybe turn it down a little bit. And it was just, you know, like, just funny parties like that, where you just toy around with the cops in that area. You just, you can literally jump from country to country up there on that mountain. It's funny.

Did they find it amusing office straight in? Both,

there were there were parties where I remember I was DJing. And a cop would always almost handcuffed me, because it was not turning down the music immediately. And they were very aggressive. And there were other times where, you know, because it's borderline so they were just searching for for drug smugglers or human trafficking. And then I was DJing. And I turned down the music because I saw the cops approaching and they were just like, Well, did we tell you to turn the music down? And I'm like, no, why did why do you do it? Like they would do almost like one with us. It's funny, so it went both ways. And obviously I think nowadays I don't know if that's still possible. So same as an England with the with the with this. I mean, I don't want to compare what we had to what was happening with illegal raves in England but just similar, like cops crashing down on it eventually.

Was there ever any sort of temptation to move to Berlin?

I suppose that time in comes with when when downloads were starting to emerge as well and physical music purchasing was slowing down. I guess.

Was it like Did you listen to it the first time and just go? This is gonna be huge.

When you made that decision, did you have enough regular gigs coming in to keep you afloat? Or were you at a certain percentage of what you would have needed because that's always a challenge with with going full time as a freelance and not just with DJing. But say, if you work as a designer or anything like that is like,

So how did that come about? Then how was that decision made?

So, common idea coming out, we went with our, like him and his family and friends. We went on a tourist trip to New York, just like, Okay, I want to experience this again. And at the same time, friends of mine were in town, from London, actually, from a crew called Living Proof. Yeah. So, DJ Khalil from living proof, as a long, long time friend of mine, we actually linked up at hip hop cam in the Czech Republic. And they were in town, and they introduced me to the New York friends, and all of a sudden was like this thing where I meet people. I'm intrigued. And I just, I remember coming back, and I called my dad and was like, I'm gonna make the move like, This is it? I, I was kind of ready. I was, I had a, I had these parties in arc. And I had a weekly at a student party where I could also play my stuff and like play in a small room, not in the main room. But it was, you know, people were already asking me like, What are you still doing here like you were destined to for other things, and I didn't want to go to Berlin was like either New York or London. By that time, I already had played Living Proof a couple of times, I was playing in London a few times with Khalil, and so had a bit of, you know, seen like just this international vibe, and just having a city where people come from all aspects of life. And I wanted to be a part of that again. And that made the decision fairly easy to to make it in New York,

did you have a set amount of time that you thought I'm gonna give it this amount of time? If it doesn't work? I'll go back? Or did you not even have that sort of doubt in your mind?

Do you think anything from your degree helped with just how you how you approach things?

Not necessarily Maybe what really helped was okay I am, I know I'm able to converse, I know how to use the English language, and I can make myself be understood. And I think the language really helped and I was quick and it was like, Okay, I get the humour I can, I can be funny. And it's always something that interests me like pawns and like, they really liked the English language. I like languages a lot. So that helped. And then obviously, having this, this background of hip hop definitely helped. And which, in turn was funny because I then once you're here, I was always an I call myself an ambassador of the culture in Europe, and you know, writing about music, hip hop music, interviewing artists, making shorter, what I thought rap is presented in the right way, or whatever that was, I mean, it's, I see it a bit more relaxed now. But then coming here, and it's like, they don't really need me here as a white guy from Germany, representing hip hop. So I got also got into other things again, and started opening up to other forms of music like funk, soul, disco, just house and establishing that for myself.

I think from what I've, from what I've heard of you mixes as well, it's, it's all I think some people have a really good sense of just like the right side of house, that's kind of really accessible, but isn't too mainstream.

That was always my sweet spot. In the sense, I never had a problem with pop music, I always loved the deepest underground. So my Spectrum is is really wide. I mean, I've DJ for jazz bands, I've played in electronic jam sessions, where was like really abstract where people would do scat sounds and like some weird dancing would happen, you know, just trying out different things. And being not being shy of taking your craft into like, out of your comfort zone really helped me to to also find what I'm comfortable at. And, obviously, when you when you go full time, you know, I mean, I did weddings, I did. Things that might not have been this cool. Or were even like the guys in Aachen back then I remember they were like, looking down on me, like all the cats from the scene, they didn't understand that I was DJing, the student party and like, this is not cool. And I'm like, I have to pay rent. And this is what I do. So there's only so much you can do with DJing in this small area. So I was doing all of it. Yeah. So I encourage everyone to you know, if, if you really want to do this and you love it, then don't be shy to to also step out of your comfort zone and do things that might seem strange a bit, or might seem like, Oh, this is not the right fit for me. You never know what comes out of it. Yeah,

I mean, I had a phase of doing did quite a few weddings. And if you'd said to me, at a certain point, you're gonna start doing weddings, I'd have probably thought no, not, why would I do that. And then when you do them, and you can just let go a little bit, there can be really good fun and really satisfying. In the times when you can get the seven year olds dancing to Tribe Called Quest and things like that. It's, there's a lot of fun in that, because you're kind of you're playing their game, but you're winning a little bit because you you can kind of help it to be a little bit on your terms, which is quite good fun. Yeah.

And it's you have to be a certain type of person, I guess there's it's not for everyone. If you're more of an artist driven DJ, then you want to do yourself and want to have people actually come to see you then that's what you need to strive for. I'm always kind of in the middle of that. So it makes it more difficult to present yourself or establish yourself but I want to do this all my life in some sort of form. So your podcast also has opened up myself to to have other thoughts or like see it a little less stressed. It's funny, because I was talking to a friend of mine who just got out of DJing a little bit and he's like, Yeah, I started my own company. And I'm like, Yeah, but you know, and he was kind of sad a little bit that he got out of the DJ game for it. And then like probably you can always come back like there's no I think we're at a point in our lives in our society where these clear driven careers are not happening anymore anyway or less and less. If you want you can have it but it's also note there's no shame in coming back to DJing after 10 years, it just, it's like if you're really good at it and you love it. You're gonna get back into it. It's like riding a bike and need some practice again. Yes, but if you have it and you still have I have this blog, like, why not? You know, yeah, like

I like that I spent some time away from DJing. Because in the time I spent away from DJing, I kind of developed a career and kind of used a lot from DJ and from the thing of doing your own website, doing your own graphics now covers and again, bits of nowhere near as much as you will a little bit of writing and kind of use these skills to and experiences to change my career path. And then with the career path kind of started coming back to DJ in, I've come back to it on my own terms in a very different way. And because with the DJ, and before I stopped, I got pulled into, I'd go out with a Serato crate and play this, this, this, this and this. And I got very samey with what I was doing. And now I'm back, I do battle with whether I should get a controller and start doing doing some Serato stuff. But then I'm like, if I do that, it just it opens up a lot of complications. And I think having just records having limitations, it's fine. I don't DJ that much. And if I can just stick to that. I'm still, you know, I'm still gonna get enough gigs to keep me going.

Yeah, and you need, obviously you need a structure, or something where the stuff that you want to play you actually able to play. I mean, I'm I'm very lucky and happy that I have residencies now here in New York, where I can do what I want. And people book me for that. And it's not like the whole requesting, for example, is not really a big thing in my world anymore. It's more like people coming up and be like, Hey, that was really like, that was something and I appreciate you playing this stuff that I didn't know. It's also the audience, you have to find this type of audience. Yeah. That being said, you know, for anyone that starts I think you were just mentioning a controller. Like I had someone asking me the other night, like, yeah, I want to get into DJing. And I just bought this controller MC fine. Like, that's cool. Like I, I liked. As I said, I liked the limitations of having only vinyl and having only this, but I think you should be open to anything and just whatever fits. I mean, right now, for example, I do a lot of video content as well, that's purely based on vinyl. Just vinyl mixers and quick mixes and just 40 fives and just playing with it. People seem to like it. And it's something where the limitation actually helps me to focus more and get get other stuff done. At the same time, I was talking to a friend and he's like, why, you know, don't limit yourself, maybe add up add a CDJ next time, why not? And see where where this can go? Yeah. So it's wherever you want to take it. And you just have to. It's so cliche, but you have to just be yourself and play with it. And, you know, take whatever comes out of it, and be yourself. Yeah,

that's amazing. Is there anything that we've not touched on? I mean, I know you've done some additional musical curation as well, some sort of corporate work, haven't you? Added us and some of those?

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, I've done that. Unfortunately, that kind of took a hit with the whole pandemic thing because all these locations kind of had to close down and but I did, for example, I did some music supervision work music direction work for a company called spin here in New York. They're a ping pong social club. They have locations all over the US and I was also DJing to all that grand openings whenever they had an opening in Seattle and Philadelphia. Actually, dream come true. They when we did the thing in Philly. The the guy that booked me and I worked with mature, he he pulled me to the side and he was like, Alright, so we have an MC coming right now. And I'm like, he didn't tell me before like it was like okay, and then someone showed him was like, here's the USB here are the instruments. I'm like, well we in Philly, who is it? And then I'll let you know in a second it was school Ed. Oh, wow. So So I actually DJ paid for school Ed and like it was all impromptu. I just pull pull the instrumentals he let me know what and we actually had a good flow going and hung out later on. It was like a hip hop dream come true. Nice. Yeah, DJ but yeah, the whole curation thing. It's already I did a lot more before the pandemic, but then during the pandemic picked up the DJing again, the craft and a lot of videos and Twitch streams and stuff like that. and that kind of got me back into more of DJing. Again, which I'm not mad at, you know, it's ebbs and flows. And but this is, as I said, this is really something I'm, I've been doing my whole life almost like, since I was a young kid. And so in one shape or form, it's always going to be in my life.

Yeah. And it looks like you're saying you've managed to do that thing. And I think it's really interesting what you mentioned about kind of artists driven DJs. Versus I don't know what you'd call it, that sort of non artists do. And I think that is a really a really interesting way to kind of separate the two. Because it's something where you can go down, it's like Santero, said about with the having, having the Calabar work, and then having like the Ministry of Sound residency and having to choose one path to go down.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's sometimes it's hard. But at the same time, you know, the, you can come back to anything you want, if you really pursue it, and if it fulfils you, and if you make it work, it's possible for anyone, there's always going to be obstacles, and it's going to be harder at a certain point and other points in life. But if you really want it, you can make it work. I was just talking to my friend, teacher, comma, and he's like, Man, I'm really he's doing more graphic work these days. But he's like, at the end of the year, I'm planning to go back into production and DJing more, and there's always ways and yeah, I think, you know, for me right now, I'm really happy with where I'm at right now. But there's still as breakbeat lucid, you know, you're always a student. So it never stops,

I think is well, it's, it's something that's really good. I can't remember if it was on here, I was talking to someone and saying about going to like, a mindfulness retreat that was all about death and impermanence. And it really made me think about how we can get caught up in being a certain thing. And we can let that definition of as guide where we end up and we don't always step away and think, do I want to be doing this thing all the time. And, and it's, it's fine to understand that you can step away from doing a certain thing to focus on another thing, and that other thing isn't going anywhere. And if you want to come back to it, you might find that you can get back to where you were quicker than it took you to get there the first time.

Yep, yep. Exactly that.

I think that's been a really good bit of insight. And yeah, loads to take in there. Is there any other sort of key piece of advice that you want to give our listeners about if they were taking up DJing, or just considering on their journey as a DJ,

like, like I mentioned before, you have to start somewhere. And a lot of people ask me that, especially now through my videos, again, like lots of like, hey, I want to DJ, what can I do, and you just start somewhere and then just start your journey, the starting is, is just probably the most important thing, and it's never going to be right, you know, you're never going to have that ideal equipment, you're never going to have that ideal situation. I started with a tape deck and a belt driven turntable to make a mix. Today, you can easily start with a controller, and then in a month, you can be once you separate your left and your right brain, if you don't even have to do that anymore, you can just use the sync button. But still, you can still rock a party with that I'm not against the sync button. That's another discussion. But if if you really want to pursue it, there's so many ways the the cost of starting has dropped considerably, considerably in the last decades, I'd say. So, that's my advice. Just start somewhere with whatever you can find whatever you feel comfortable with and practice, practice, practice, it's that that doesn't go away. I mean, even the most successful one deejays in this in their fields, they they still practice a lot. And that never goes away. And that's part of it. That's essentially my advice, like, like, start somewhere and then practice and find your journey. And, obviously, also know what you don't want to do. Like if you've if you really feel really uncomfortable, sometimes it's good to get out of your comfort zone. But if it like if it wears on you emotionally and physically, like you maybe should go in another direction.

Yeah. And final question then is, is there anyone in in particular that you'd like to hear on this podcast talking about their journey?

I mean, I mentioned him a couple of times already in this but I really think that Boogie mind would be someone that because it kind of becomes from that wellness just such an incredible human being like a Harlem Renaissance man and still doing his thing and obviously he would have a lot to say I don't know if he he's he would be able to do it but maybe you can get him on here that that'll be sweet.

Certainly give it a try. And just waking anyone find you online. Who isn't following you already.

Probably the best is still Instagram. Sticky dolger Sticky D O J H with an H in the end. You can find me there and also on Bandcamp I think everything is just sticky. dolger So yeah, easy to find.

Thanks ever so much for your time today.

Thanks, Adam. Thanks for having me.