GrooveOut It’s Up to You by Chris Sill

Our resident GrooveOut DJ Chris Sill talks to superstar DJ Dan about the gay circuit, coming out, and how to keep it positive even in the face of tragedy

DJ Dan believes in choices. While many of today’s top gay DJs have found success and loyalty from the masses of gay boys who make up the "circuit," DJ Dan’s fan base consists mostly of the circuit boys straight counterparts. Yes he’s gay, and yes he’s one of America’s top DJs, but DJ Dan is not a name you hear often in the gay club scene. His choice.

DJ Dan found his significant success as a major contributor to the West Coast "rave" scene. In Stereo, his fifth mixed CD, has just been released on Kinetic Records. But even as he was making his ascent to the top, he met his share of almost impassable obstacles. Since he began his DJ career, Dan has lost his mother, father, stepfather, and a brother. Instead of losing himself in grief, DJ Dan continues to celebrate life through his music. His choice.

I remember meeting Dan back in the early ’90s when the Southern California rave scene was exploding. He came to San Diego to play Club Hedonism at Rich’s with DJ Jon Bishop and myself. He was already one of the top DJs in California then–now he’s known globally.

GrooveOut: We’re living in a time when DJs are superstars. Do you think it’s just a trend or will it last?

DJ Dan: I think it’s here to stay. With the computer age and the advancements in technology affecting the way the music is made, it only makes sense. The more kids get interested in computers and realize that they can incorporate their music with the computer, [then] the process just keeps building upon what we are already doing. So I think it’s here to stay, but it will grow. The more we [DJs/producers] continue to do it, the more opportunities we’ll get for having our music in commercials and movies and other things.

Your style of music is one that’s never been easily labeled. From breakbeat to techno to funky-disco house, you’re all over the place. How do you describe your sound?

I guess I would call it funk-fusion. I try to find the funkiest sounds in all the genres. I try to keep it open and varied to make a statement: that all music is important and all music is the same at the end of the day. It’s all rhythms inspired from different countries, whether it’s tribal or Latin or whatever. When I first got into the scene, there wasn’t [just] one established dance genre. There wasn’t just "house." There wasn’t just "techno." You had to pull influences from industrial and high energy, even hip-hop records playing at the wrong speed.

To me your attitude toward DJ-ing and your music have always been very positive, even though in your personal life you’ve had a lot of tragedy. How have you managed to keep such a positive attitude?

I have this strange belief [that] in some ways we pick the family we’re born into even before we come onto the planet. For whatever reason, I was put into this situation to grow from it. It’s the easiest thing and it’s the most complicated thing in life–but you have two choices. You can take the positive out of life and use it as a source to take the best and celebrate that. Or you can do the opposite and focus on the worst part of it and fall into a downward spiral.

For me, I decided to use it as a positive source and say, Hey, there is a good side of life and I’m going to celebrate it this way and hopefully people will follow me. If it’s my calling, then I’ll continue to be successful. For as many family members as I’ve lost, I look at it as one more guardian angel looking after me, and I cannot tell you how much that is true. I’m so blessed and well looked after. I think in some ways it’s my duty to share my story and send a positive message, and as long as I continue to do that and have faith in that, it’s been great.

That’s very inspirational.

I learned a lot that from my brothers and sisters. Most of them looked at it in a negative way and it has affected their lives that way. But I was able to learn from that by asking myself, "Can I turn this around, can I turn this into a challenge and break through these barriers and still succeed?"–I’ve found that I can.

You just mentioned breaking barriers, and another barrier that you’ve broken was coming out in URB magazine. Did you plan on coming out in that interview or was it a spontaneous decision?

I’ve known the woman for a long time that interviewed me. I told her originally that it [being gay] wasn’t something that I felt had anything to do with the message I was sending out musically. So it wasn’t something I wanted to focus on, but it certainly wasn’t something I was embarrassed about. I think if the [rave] scene claims to be about peace, love, and unity among everyone, which it did in the beginning, then it certainly would not be a big deal. I’ve found that for some people it was a big deal and they were a little shocked by it. But I wouldn’t be shocked if some DJs whose sexual preference I did not know came out and said they were straight. It’s like who cares? It doesn’t matter.

Do you think it’s had any effect on your career?

Not really. I’ll have people come up to me and say they appreciate what I did and that it helped them with their own coming out troubles. I was with Barry Weaver [well-known underground DJ] at this gig one day and he said, "Do you realize what a good thing you’ve done?–you’re a role model for some of these kids, ’cause when they read that, it let’s them know it’s okay."

That’s so true.

I think it’s hard being gay and growing up feeling okay about yourself in a society that’s generally straight. It was for me growing up in a small town. I had the option to use that interview as a platform to review my successes, but I didn’t want to do that. People know what I’ve done. Success is obvious, but here’s the shit I had to go through to get there. This is what I want. These are the obstacles in front of me. I can achieve it by trudging through it. That’s the message I wanted to send out.

You said in URB that you never connected with the gay club scene. Why is that?

When I first started going out, I did. I really felt the clubs were connected to something challenging and new. But once I started going more experimental, it seemed the gay clubs almost conformed to a sound they identified as their own–which is fine because a lot of clubs do that, whether it’s hip-hop or whatever. But for me, I have to continue to play for a crowd that wants to be diverse musically.

Sometimes it is frustrating playing in a gay club because you have to play a certain sound. The openness to new sounds has been lost, and in some ways I think the popularity of the gay circuit has something to do with it. What do you think of the whole circuit scene?

I think the fact that that many gay people can come together and do something like that is awesome. It’s a great opportunity to make a statement about how strong the gay scene is and to send out a message. The problem I have with [the circuit scene] is when I really take a look at it, they’re very self-abusive, which isn’t a very positive thing. It’s blatant drug use and overwhelming sexual energy. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the gay or straight scene using drugs, everyone does. But it’s sad when you think about how hard gay men have to fight to make a statement for themselves. I think they should try to respect themselves more.

Do you think it’s the equivalent of young kids coming together at a rave and doing drugs?

Absolutely. It’s really no different. I’ve made the same comments about those parties as well. I remember when I first got into the scene and my friends and I would go out. There was a certain "drug etiquette": You don’t act like an idiot, you don’t do too much, and you don’t lose control of yourself. A lot of that has really gone out the window, especially with the rave scene. It’s hard to get the police on the side of the partiers when they’re showing a blatant disrespect for what’s going to keep the scene going. I’m certainly not going to approve or disapprove of what people do, but I think that there’s a certain way to handle yourself and still have a good time. As producers and DJs we take the music very seriously and we want it to have a long future.