How did you get started playing music?
How did you get started playing music?
I started on Violin in the elementary school Orchestra in 5th grade in South Carolina. Since we lived at the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, classical and bluegrass were taught in the schools. I moved to Texas in 7th grade and started playing Saxophone in Band. My sophomore year, I got a guitar, and Sonic Youth was my absolute favorite band (an obsession that led to playing three times in Branca's 100 guitar symphonies decades later). I got into a punk band, and after we graduated, we moved to Denton. After a few great years of noise punkin that started with opening for No Means No and ended with opening for Drive Like Jehu I went pedal crazy and spent the rest of the 90s trying to be Kevin Shields from MBV. In the late 90s I started classes at UNT studying electro-acoustic studies (computer music) and multi-media performance art. I started DJ'ing in 2000. at first indie music, but then I found Techno a few years later, and that started my two decades in that world.
Influences?
as musician: Can, Tony Allen/Fela Kuti, My Bloody Valentine, Seefeel, Scott Walker, Glenn Branca, Steve Reich, Nick Cave and the whole Bad Seeds Family Tree, Silver Apples, Joy Division, The Pop Group/Mark Stewart, Einsturzende Neubaten, Funkadelic, Sun Ra, James Brown, John and Alice Coltrane, The Fall, Velvet Underground, Pulp, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Spacemen 3.
as techno/electro musician: DJ Stingray 313, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, Blawan, Underground Resistance, Kraftwerk, Drexciya, Shed, Substance & Vainqueur, Aphex Twin, Surgeon, Regis, Planetary assault Systems, Mark Van Hoen. Basic Channel, Mala, Deadbeat, Convextion/ERP, Plant43, Sterac, Ellen Allien, Anthony Rother, Claude Young, Donato Dozzy,
as DJ: For the most part Detroit. I've been going up for the festival since 2010 and my experiences there have shaped me from the many DJ's I've seen to the countlesss hours cratedigging in the Detroit. Outside of Detroit John Peel and Mary Anne Hobbs for their constant thirst for new music. Locally Robert Taylor, Gabriel Mendoza, and Ricky Simpson have all had significant impact on me over the years. and of course Sharon Jones who is the single reason I became a funk and soul DJ. I miss her dearly.
What are you listening to right now?
I start most days with Blue Note/Impulse Jazz in the mornings and go to sleep with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Steve Roach at night. That is a constant. Otherwise, Nick Cave and Scott Walker are in my ears on the reg. As far as newer releases Steffi - The Red Hunter, Skee Mask - B, Black Rave Culture Vol. 2, Jarvis Cocker - This is Going to Hurt, Anna Von Hauswolff - Live at Montreux jazz festival, Black Midi - Hellfire, Loop - Sonancy, Deadbeat and Sa Pa - The Mountain, and a lot of releases on the Bristol, UK label Livity Sound.
Visit Wanz for more music and his performance info
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