DJ Riddell talks to RAW about how he got into the art in the first place, how he feels about it now, and where he hopes to be. See him spin at the next RAW showcase! 

How did you first get started. 
I’ve always been a huge hip hop fan. And since I’ve always been this sort of nerdy white kid, I knew that being a rapper was out of the question. I remember seeing Funkmaster Flex cutting and scratching on one of those MTV Spring Break shows when I was pretty young, and I thought that he had the coolest job in the world. I mean, everybody – everybody—wants to try and scratch on a turntable, so that was attractive in and of itself, but when I found out about the internet, I was able to research the history of hip hop and its culture, and found out that the DJ is the backbone of hip hop. I was also about 15 at this point, and by that time I had finally saved up enough money to buy some of the cheapest and worst turntables ever made. So with two turntables, a mixer, and my mom’s copy of Rick Springfield’s album Working Class Dog (featuring the smash hit “Jessie’s Girl”), I set out to be the world’s greatest DJ … and I was terrible. I had no idea what I was supposed to do besides make noise and trash my parents’ records. Luckily, my sister worked with a guy that went by the name of DJ Game, and he was nice enough to come over and teach me the fundamentals of DJing. After learning the basic fundamentals, I was able to build-up my skills and come into my own as a DJ. So a big “thank you” goes out to DJ Game. 

How would you describe your sound?
I would describe my sound as my own. The more and more that I listen to other DJs play, the more I realize that I don’t really sound anything like them. It’s a balancing act, though. I know I have to play to the crowd, so I adjust accordingly. I do slip in a lot of songs that other DJs might shy away from, though, and usually it’s those songs that people dig the most. I’m also really big on hip hop classics: A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Black Sheep, etc, that’s what I like to think of as my bread and butter, but I can switch it up whenever I need to. If I’m asked to do a Top 40 set, I’ll play whatever songs are popular at the time, but the more and more I get the crowd on my side, I’ll start to throw in some of my favorite classics. There’s just something special about a room full of people singing along to Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.”

From where do you draw inspiration for music?
For me, I just like to go with whatever sounds good. I wish I could give you some deep answer, but it’s the truth. Whenever I’m working on doing a live remix of a song, I just make sure that it sounds good. I mean, I can take the instrumental of one song and the lyrics of another song and blend them together live in front of a crowd, but if they don’t compliment each other, it doesn’t really mean much. If I’m lucky, when I blend two songs together live, it not only will sound good, but it will add another dimension to the song, maybe making it a little more soulful, a little more funky.

Do you engage in, or draw inspiration from, any other forms of art?
I might just be the least artistic person in the world.  And there is definitely an art to DJing, and to reading the crowds, but I can never think of myself as an artist.  I’m just a guy that likes to play records. I guess I draw a lot of inspiration from graffiti art, though. By no means am I an expert on graffiti, but with really good graffiti, there is a lot of energy and flow to the art. If you look at a lot of graffiti work, there are usually a lot of arrows that convey motion to the work that makes the beginning of the piece flow to the end of the piece, and when you’re DJing, there needs to be a flow to your set. I like to think that when you’re DJing, you build up to a sort of crescendo that (hopefully) energizes the party to a next level. That’s why you mix songs together; you don’t want to break the flow. You constantly build until you get that one song that sends the crowd into a frenzy.

What do you love most about what you do?
The thing I love most about what I do is that it’s just fun. I also get to surprise a lot of people. Being the nerdy, unassuming white kid, people often are surprised that I’m actually pretty good at this. It is kind of weird, though, having a number of people that I grew up with finally see me play, and have them come up to me afterwards and say, “Wow, you’re really good! I thought you were going to suck!” It’s such a weird almost back-handed compliment, but it’s appreciated nonetheless. 

What sort of techniques (styles) do you most like working with?
I’ve always seen myself as a party-rocking” djing. If I don’t have loud, energetic music to play, I get really bored and look for ways to entertain myself. The first time  I did a wedding, I got so bored just playing the records instead of doing my normal mixing and scratching stuff, that I ended up making more announcements about the Laker game that was going on than the actual wedding. But as far style goes, I like to be really involved in the music that I’m playing, and let the crowd know that there is somebody live playing the music and not just a prerecorded mix or something. I’ll throw a little bit of scratching to hopefully add some flavor to a song, but keep it to a minimal, so that it doesn’t overpower the actual music.

Are there any musicians, past or present, that strongly inform and influence your work? 
I’d have to say that all musicians that I play strongly inform and influence my work simply because I’m playing their  music. Even the artists that I’m not particularly fond of have a pretty big influence because I have to play to a crowd, and sometimes the crowd wants to hear music that I’m not a fan of (I’m looking at you, LMFAO). I do have to say that DJ Z-Trip is probably the biggest influence on my as a DJ, though. Even though, he was recently voted America’s Best DJ and has a residency at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, I don’t think people recognize how good this guy is. I’m not even sure it’s an opinion anymore, he’s simply the best all-around DJ in the world. I’ve had the chance to meet the guy, and he’s easily one of the nicest cats around. I can easily go on for days about how much respect I have for Z-Trip, so I’m going to stop here before it gets too awkward.

Favorite album of all time?
I wish I had something to make me seem deep like DJ Shadow’s Entroducing (which is actually a really great album) or something super artsy, but the truth is "Illmatic" by Nas is my favorite album of all time. It’s a super short album that clocks in around 30 minutes or something ridiculously short like that, but every song is a classic. And seeing as how he’s rapping about Queensbridge and I’m from a small desert town in Southern California, I can’t really relate to everything he’s saying, but he just sucks you in with his cadence and storytelling. I’ve had so many good arguments with so many good people debating the best album of all time, and all these people – all of which are much, much smarter than I am – fail to recognize the genius of this album.

Why showcase at RAW?
RAW is just a place where great artists from myriad backgrounds can get together and showoff their work. What’s not to like about that? I’ve had a chance to look at some of the artwork from the others and I can say that I am easily the least talented of the group. There’s so much collective talent from this group. It’s insane.

When not making music, anything you enjoy doing?
I’m a huge Laker fan, so at the time I’m giving these answers, I’m stressing out over their Finals match up with the Celtics. Hopefully, by the time of this showcase, the Lakers have put away the Celtics and we’ll be celebrating another championship. I also recently graduated with a degree in English Literature, so reading is pretty high up on my list. I’m currently re-reading Dave Egger’s A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and highly recommend it to any and everybody that will listen to a recommendation from a fool like me.

Any previous albums/shows/collaborations that you are most proud of?
The thing I’m most proud of is the few minutes that I got to have a jam session with Z-Trip. The guy is amazing at building sets, but I was blown away with ability to work on the fly. You throw him a curveball musically, and he just knocks it out of the park. I might be a huge fan of the guy, but I also hate him because he’s just too good.

Any current rising stars within music that you would recommend we look out for?
It’s kind of embarrassing to say because I think it’s in the job description that I’m supposed to be up on the newest, hippest music, but the truth is that I’m way behind on the current stuff.  So I’m going to go with Post Trauma who is also doing the RAW showcase. Anybody reading this that hasn’t heard Post Trauma’s music, stop what you’re doing now and go listen to Post Trauma!