My Bio
Credentials
This is the section where I am supposed to brag about all the places I have spun at, all the years I have spun for, and all the big name DJs I have opened for. However, I have two problems with this. First, I do not like to brag. Sorry, but I try to embrace humility even at my own expense. It does hurt my career, but at least I have my pride.
Second, all those things are pointless. Some of the worst DJs I know of just so happen to spin at all the venues. Some even manage to tour the country. I know DJs who have spun for over a decade and are horrible. Finally, unless a big name DJ personally hand picks you to spin for them, you have no right to brag. In most cases, the DJs were simply friends of the promoter (or were the promoter). Anybody can spin next to a famous DJ if they are friends with the person booking them.
All I ask is for you to stop falling for the hype. Trust your ears. If you want my credentials, then download one of my mixes and judge for yourself. Don't believe anyone, don't even believe me. Believe what you hear for yourself.
DJing Philosophy and Style
*** Written in 3rd person for flyer usage ***
Josiah's DJing philosophy and style is based upon 3 principles. Those principles incorporate phenomenal music across multiple genres and time periods, adaptive mixing to fit the different genres, and the ability to program a set that fits the crowd's emotional and physical needs.
Music: Josiah is a music junkie. He devours books and magazines that feed his passion. The knowledge he gains results in a collection of music that is more than just a few lucky finds. Expect to hear anything from seductive deep house to pounding techno, from soulful house to vocodered electro freestyle breaks, from screaming divas to squelching acid lines, from rave pianos to hard house hoovers, from hypnotic progressive to dark tribal, from mesmerizing minimal to driving tech trance, and a whole lot more! Josiah will remind you why you fell in love with this music.
Adaptive Mixing: Josiah does not rely on one style of mixing. He chooses the best style to squeeze the most life out of his collection. For some styles he relies on quick mixing to extract the best parts. For the more hypnotic styles of music he relies on long layered mixes that will seduce you onto the dance floor. If the mood is right and the venue is properly equipped, you may even be fortunate enough to see him spin 3 turntables. Josiah takes great pride in his timing with vocals, baselines, breakdowns, and huge riffs hitting you at the perfect moment. He does not rely on fancy dexterity, but focuses on the art of subtlety. Enjoy his ability to effortless melt one track into another.
Programming: Josiah has garnished a reputation for being a master programmer. He knows how to read the crowd and has been known to fill empty dance floors. He focuses on both the emotional and physical state of the crowd. If the crowd is tired, he chills them out. When he feels they have had proper time to rest, he slowly builds his set back up. He mixes dark music with light music allowing each track to shine as it was meant to. You won't just hear the music, you will feel it.
Of course, Josiah hopes you don't believe everything you read. Download his mixes and hear for yourself.
History
If by some odd chance you care to know what makes me tick, then feel free to read on.
Pre Scene
I have always had a love of electronics, of music, and of dancing. It was only natural that I would fall in love with electronic dance music. Growing up in America meant I wasn't exposed to electronic music. My knowledge of music consisted of what was played on the radio or television, whatever my friends listened to, and whatever my family listened to. I listened to commercial radio until I was a teen. At that point in my life I discovered college radio. I was able to tune into four colleges from where I lived; they included Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Princeton University, and East Stroudsburg University. Commercial radio played the same garbage over and over, and would never take a request that wasn't on the playlist. College radio was different. Each student had a time-slot and played whatever they felt like playing. You could hear rap, followed by metal, followed by gospel, followed by jazz, followed by electronic, followed by whatever. The students always honored requests, some would even play a track outside their genre. Often they were so desperate for listeners that my request would be the very next track.
On one such occasion a student was playing "techno". At this point in time I didn't know the different genres so referred to everything electronic as "techno", hence the use of quotes. I asked him what tracks he played and he admitted that much of the music was off the Cool World soundtrack. Prior to buying that, my first ever CD was the Mortal Kombat techno album (that should tell you something about me). I purchased the Cool World soundtrack and loved it. Two tracks that I particularly liked were by some guy named Moby. I asked around and no one had ever heard of him. A few weeks later there was an article in my local newspaper about Moby going on tour promoting his "Everything Is Wrong" album. There were a few tracks on that CD I liked, but I would later fall in love with his earlier works. It was at this point that I started purchasing electronic CDs. I bought the usual classics: The MTV Amp compilation, The Hackers soundtracks, and the Wipeout XL soundtrack. The Wipeout XL soundtrack introduced me to a group known as Daft Punk. The notes in the CD said to look out for their new album "Homework" which I bought as soon as it was released.
I didn't know genres at this time, but I know I liked it hard and fast. That was when I saw a CD that caught my attention. The CD was entitled "140+ BPM: The Sounds Of London Hardcore Techno". That was the sound I was looking for, and I listened to that CD constantly. That CD spawned a series and I began to purchase all the CDs in the series. However, something about volume two struck me as odd. All the tracks on volume one were very unique, but the tracks on volume two seemed too similar. Each track seemed to recycle the same sounds as if using the same drum machine. I would later discover this to be the "Amen break". The second volume was early jungle, and much of series would revolve around jungle (volume five being one of the best). One day I purchased a CD at the store simply entitled "Jungle". One track blew me away, "Original Nuttah". That was it, I was hooked. I considered myself a die-hard junglist. At this point in time I was considering myself a raver because I listened to rave music. However, I had never been to a rave.
I knew of no one else who loved this music the way I did. All of my friends and family listened to the more popular styles of music. I had friends who were into punk, into rap, into metal, and into alternative, but no one I knew was into electronic music. Electronic music became MY music. I grew a strong passion for it, a passion that continues to this day. I will admit I felt a bit isolated not having anyone to share this passion with. Some would even poke fun at me for listening to such unpopular music.
I grew up in a very religious family, and my parents would never have let me go to raves. It wouldn't have mattered anyway since I did't know of any in my hometown area. I had made up my mind to track down the rave scene once I graduated and lived on my own. I moved two hours away to central Pennsylvania to start fresh. At this point in my life I made no distinction between raves and clubs; I thought they were the same thing. I actually looked up all the clubs in the phone book and asked if they played "techno". None of the clubs played that kind of music. I was too broke and didn't have a reliable car to drive to the big cities. Besides, I still didn't know where to look.
It was around this time that I discovered Mixmag, Urb, and DJ magazines at a local bookstore. In time I would eventually buy Revolution (RIP), Mixer (RIP), Muzik (RIP), Ministry (RIP), M8, DJ International, ATM, and Knowledge magazines. My musical knowledge was growing phenomenally.
Then one day I was in a music store at my local mall and found a flyer for a party. That was where it all started…
Entering The Scene
The year was 1998 and the party was Romper Room 2. It was by a local promoter named JRave, and was located in a small club in Harrisburg, PA. DB was headlining, and since I was a hardcore junglist, I spent most of the entire night in the drum and bass room. I have horrible social skills, so I spent most of the night just dancing. At that party I picked up flyers for other parties. The next party I would attend was a big 4th of July rave in Philly called Bang 2 by Local 13.
It was around August that I learned about an underground warehouse club in York, PA called New Energy that had recently re-opened. I would go every weekend, and it would become my second home. Usually I was the first to arrive and the last to leave (excluding the staff). Initially I kept to myself at parties. I didn't do drugs, and I was not there to socialize. I just wanted to listen and dance.
I had been into this music alone for years, so it was a rush to finally meet others who loved this music the way I did. At least, I thought they loved it the way I did. It took a few weeks of being into the scene before I felt comfortable enough to start socializing. I would listen to these ravers, who had been into the scene long before me, tell me about all the amazing parties they had been to and the DJs they had seen. I was jealous of them, and upset that it took me so long to enter the scene. Yet, for all their rave experience, many were clueless when it came to the actual music. They knew their DJs, but they didn't know their producers nor the names of the tracks played.
Raves are parties, and you don't have to enjoy EDM to enjoy partying. Everyone claimed to be in it for the music, but I was skeptical. When a raver, who is messed up on drugs every weekend and can't name any tunes, claims to be in it for the music, I have a hard time believing that. I don't doubt they enjoy the music, you don't need to know the name of a track to enjoy it, I doubt their primary motivation for being in the scene.
I found it confusing then when these musically ignorant ravers told me they wanted to become DJs. There is a difference between loving something and actually being into it. I love lots of styles of music other than EDM, but I don't follow those genres. I love reggae, but I don't know anything about it. I would never become a reggae DJ because I have nothing to offer. What do these musically ignorant ravers plan to offer by becoming DJs?
I discovered that I was somewhat of an anomaly within the scene. Almost everyone I met was introduced to the scene by a friend, and fell in love with the music afterwards. I was different. I fell in love with the music before entering the scene, and I went looking for the scene on my own. I brought myself into the rave scene. This explains why I take the music so seriously, and why I have a different perception of the rave scene compared to others.
Musical Knowledge
As time went on, I became friends with many DJs. I was shocked to find many of them knew little about the music. Many couldn't even name the tracks they played. It soon made sense why their music was hit-or-miss. I now realized why there were only a few good tracks on their mixes. Before they became DJs, they didn't really take the time to learn about the music. As DJs, they still didn't take the time to learn about the music. They would go to music stores, and if they were lucky they would find a few good tracks.
This whole time I was devouring music magazines. I bought as many magazines as I could afford, and I would read them cover to cover. I would write down every track that interested me. I didn't focus on the reviews only, I also took note of tracks mentioned throughout. I would note the tracks that artists would mention in interviews, I would note what tracks were mentioned when parties were reviewed, and I would note what tracks were mentioned as legendary during historical reviews. I would then track down all these tracks online. If an artist interested me, I would search what else they produced or remixed. If a label interested me, I would search what else they put out. Labels would lead to new artists, and artists would lead to new labels. I would spend hours researching music. Every track that interested me, I recorded on a sheet of paper or in a text file on my computer. This was before music stores offered wishlists.
I love sharing music with others. Before I even knew what beatmatching was, I would make mixtapes of my favorite tracks for all my friends. As my knowledge of music increased, so did my standards of quality. I soon found that most DJs didn't meet my standards. I went to raves for the music, but I soon found that I had better music at home. I had always had an interest in DJing, but was perfectly fine letting someone else do it while I just enjoyed the music. My frustration with the quality of music offered by most DJs, combined with my desire to share music, eventually drove me to become a DJ. It should be apparent that my desire to DJ has nothing to do with image, nor any of the other special benefits. I would be perfectly happy DJing anonymously behind a curtain, but anonymity doesn't get you booked.