Mikiwar: Everyone wants to know what head phones you're wearing?
Enferno: These are Ultimate Ear Brands. We got these on the tour. They do a custom mold to your ear so it blocks out the sound. I'm listening to everything nice and loud but not too loud to where its going to kill my ears.
Dainjazone: Let's say I'm the average Joe (get it), how much would it cost to get those?
Enferno: I got it for free dog!
Dainjazone: Of course you did! Why would I even ask? It doesn't matter.
Enferno: Actually, I really don't know. When I got these, I was the last person on the tour to get them. Everybody else on the tour (this is the Madonna Tour by the way) had them from some other major tour. I was the only one who didn't have them...
Mikiwar: "What's up rook?"
Dainjazone: "Who's the new guy?"
Enferno: Someone gave them to me and it was like Christmas. They came in a box and had my name on them and everything.
Dainjazone: Explain to everybody what you got going on; Obviously you have the turntable set up. Where are you creating your beats from?
Enferno: Ok I'll try to keep this short. I've got two laptops. Everything is being pieced together on one laptop. The laptop is running Ableton Live and all it has is drum loops. There's nothing else in there. It's all the keyboard sounds and stuff. I can hit buttons and record myself playing certain things. If I don't like it, I can undo it, then layer it on top. The turntable is another thing I can sample as well as blend. It's a traditional two turntable setup, just a little more complicated to navigate.
Mikiwar: I wanted to touch on a crew (pause) I've known about since I touched turntables...
Enferno: Trooperz Crew: Quixotic, Geometrix, Oz, Sneek, and of course, I-Dee.
Mikiwar: How did you guys get started? You're all from this area right?
Enferno: Yes all from this area. I met Quix at a gig. He comes up to me after the gig and says, "Hey man! Let me show you something. It's a crab scratch." He starts scratching real fast and I think, "Damn! That guy goes faster then me!". I had been djing for 8 or 9 years at the time. We battled each other for a little bit, then we kind of practiced together. He introduced me to Geometrix. It's a really dope crew and really good people.
Dainjazone: You said you don't know anybody from the turntablist world that can do the live remixing and you don't know anyone from the house side that can do the cuts. No one comes close to it?
Enferno: I'm not saying no one is doing it, but I haven't seen anybody mix the two. I know a lot of names in the turntable would just from being in the scene. There's a couple guys that can do the looping. That's been around forever though. I don't know anybody that can do it quite like this... marrying the musical aspect with the turntable side. Who knows?
Dainjazone: You're coming from a turntablist background and usually turntablists end up rocking clubs or sticking to underground hip-hop. So what made you think of all this?
Enferno: Shout out to Spryte! The battle djs have this fascination with getting up in front of a crowd and performing something as opposed to just being in the background. What dj wants to be spinning in a corner or a closet without some sort of connection with the crowd? That's the underlying part of it, but I saw guys like Q-Bert--who's one of my idols--touring the world using the turntable as an instrument. I can't quite do it like that, but I wanted THAT feeling. I wanted to do something like that, but make it my own. I have a musical background; I took piano classes when I was a kid. Everything is coming together with this project. I had to use my nerd side to program all my stuff.
Mikiwar: And this did expose you to the opportunity of touring with Madonna?
Enferno: The short story is... I was down in Orlando at this club called Blue Martini doing this type of set. It was from 11-12 so it wasn't a primetime spot. The music director for the Madonna tour was there. The next morning, I was at the airport surrounded by a bunch of loud kids cuz it's Orlando and Disneyworld and all, and got a call. I didn't recognize the number so I didn't pick up. So I heard the voicemail and all I could hear is Madonna and Justin Timberlake. I'm thinking, "I must be hearing this wrong because of all these loud kids". So as soon as I hang up, I get a text message that says as plain as day, "I'm the music director for Madonna and Justin Timberlake. I saw you do your show last night." It was as simple as that. So I gave him a call. Of course we needed to get her to approval because she signs off on everything.
Mikiwar: Hanging out with Madonna, did you get a chance to pick her brain?
Enferno: I didn't need to because I was around it everyday. It was so apparent. It wasn't apparent at first, but when you work together for six days a week for three months straight before the actual show starts. Especially with all the creative input I got to have as far as musical arrangements. I got to help out with that. We would get music suggestions from her. She would say some stuff that would never occur to me. She's a genius. She's such a perfectionist. You can't help but be the same way.
Dainjazone: What is the voice sampler you are using?
Enferno: It's called Artillery and I have it hooked up to a track on my session. I can hit a key and make it stutter, add a delay, make it reverb, talk backwards...
Dainjazone: Greatest moment on the tour?
Enferno: It was our first show. Nothing like the first time right? I didn't know how I would react to getting in front of 50,000 people because I've never been in front of that many people before doing anything. I don't think I've been around that many people period! It was a really, really crazy adrenaline rush. "Like A Prayer" was a big part of the show. I had a large part in that. And I started working on this arrangement for that show and after months and months of anxiety, it came down to that moment. To see the crowd man... jumping up and down... that moment was one of the biggest highlights.
Mikiwar: "Hey Mickey" or "Highway To The Danger Zone"?
Enferno: "Highway To The Danger Zone"
Dainjazone: 2-0
THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW CAN BE SEEN ON THE USTREAM SHOW.
60 Minute mp3 version of DJ Enferno on the MikiDz Show courtesy of Beezo.net
http://www.beezo.net/djs/mikidzshow
VIDEO DOWNLOAD
All full recorded videos for past guests can be accessed from the MikiDz page here:
http://www.djcity.com/mikidz
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