|
 |
 |
|
Home |
DJS |
Submit Your Profile
| DJ Kemp |
DJ Kemp came onto the scene like countless other budding artistes: from the basement. The quintessential early musical outlet, Kemp literally entered the underground scene in New Jersey in a friend’s basement, playing ’til all hours of the night and pissing off plenty of parents.
Included in this early ensemble was Dan King who, with Kemp, was perpetually in search of a new sound to overlay the sounds that were already firmly entrenched in the mainstream. The pair logged countless hours underground trying to make new, crazy sounds using whatever instruments surrounded them: old keyboards, guitars and really old tape decks, whatever might transcend the current and take them to the next level of aural experience.
Ultimately, King and Kemp parted ways to pursue their individual creative leanings, and Kemp set off to expanded his mind, in more ways than one, and learn everything he could about music. This journey led him to what some consider the most exciting development in music to-date: techno.
Kemp obsessively researched the genre, emerging from the basement to partake in the burgeoning underground scene. Here he met David Eun, who introduced him to the rave scene and those who would eventually become his contemporaries.
“The crazy mad man is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to music. He turned me onto techno, and other genres of electronica,” says Kemp. “I met many cool people who taught me things about the philosophy the rave scene is so seldom referred to as being built on. I learned what it was like to just let go, be yourself, have a great fucking time, and dance.”
Kemp not only wanted to have a good time, but to provide the sounds for the scene he was, at this point, totally immersed in, having turned from drugs to inundating his senses with the music.
In the summer of 1997, Scottie B of Dankfunk Productions returned from college with turntables and a crate of records, and thanks to the mentorship of Scottie and Eun, Kemp was soon back in the basement, honing his spinning skills. “I matched my first beat in his basement,” Kemp says.
By now his taste in trance was fully formed, and Kemp met Dave (DJ-Depth) and Chelle, two of the most important people in his life, both musically and otherwise. Unfortunately, by this time many in the rave scene watched as the movement and what it once represented began to die, overrun by kids looking to get high and law enforcement looking to arrest.
\"The pureness of it was going out the window as more commercialized companies started to get involved. Gangs started plaguing the scene in NYC, stealing money, backpacks, and basically anything else they could get the hands on. It was a shitty feeling, I had always felt safe at a party, never had any worries in my head that someone would try and do me harm, however this was no longer the case.”
Around this time Kemp received a flyer at a party, which he has to this day, that preached about the scene as it was, where it was going, and what would happen to it if it stayed the course.
“This sparked an idea inside me,” he says. “One of the blocks the scene was built on was unity, and when had there been a better time to get people together and be unified?”
The idea was to start a company devoted not to just throwing parties, but to aiding other crews in spreading the word that there was still life in the scene. “I wanted to let them know there are still people out there fighting to grab onto the rave scene before it was out of our reach.”
After conversing with his cohorts — Eun, who suggested adding Depth and Chelle — the group made a decision to start a company built on friendship, vowing to see it to the end, wherever that might be. The result: EclecTech Productions.
Starting by vending and promoting events for other production companies through the EclecTech Web site, they began making connections with promotion crews in the area, slowly building a network. The idea to throw an event portraying the group’s core message was tossed around, but a lack of disposable cash kept it on the back burner.
In the meantime, events were coming down fast and furious, while the group found itself dealing more and more with the types of shady promoters it had vowed to avoid in the first place. Everything was happening in a whirlwind until the proverbial monkey threw a wrench into the works: Dave and Chelle announced they were moving to upstate New York. The company was going to have to be put on hold for the time being, if not indefinitely.
It seemed like curtain call until, three months later, Kemp got a call from the duo, who’d scored a venue and wanted to start a weekly gig, spawning EclecTech Fridays, the building block of the company’s future, which ran for eight months straight thanks in part to new member, D.A. (who is, well, The Man).
The trio did the bulk of the work, while the Jersey crew, Kemp included, were only able to come up once a month, putting a strain on the N.Y. crew and resulting in the eventual decision to stop the weekly event. Aiming to end with a bang, the crew threw its first one off, Blur, and headed into major downtime: Depth and Chelle got hitched, and Kemp moved himself to upstate New York, where he started to book more gigs.
After about two years, with an ever-growing crew composed of great friends, DJs, and plenty of non-blood extended family, EclecTech launched the final two of the Visual Series: Illusion, Focus & The bug parties: NiteCrawler, Dragonfly, and Grasshopper. Each continuing to bring forth the message we stood so strongly on.
In November 2004 Kemp met Sean Place of VinylBeat Productions, an amazing up and coming DJ who ran a small production company called VinylBeat, based in Syracuse. Sean was also in charge of a weekly at Trexx Night club called Urban Underground. The pair clicked right off the bat, both had drive and the same beliefs.
In January 2005, after playing at Trexx a couple of times, and receiving multiple gigs hooked up by Sean, he asked Kemp to be a DJ on his roster. At about the same time Urban Underground changed names to Digital Fusion and a new life spawned from the weekly, which was rapidly growing in attendance.
In June 2005 Kemp’s help with VinylBeat and the weekly brought discussion of bringing him on as co-director of the company. At the same time, Kemp, Depth and Chelle felt they were all traveling in different directions, leading to the mutual decision to shut down EclecTech. Depth, D.A. and Chelle decided to continue on under the new name FUZE, and Depth and D.A. joined the VinylBeat roster as DJs.
Nowadays, Kemp concentrates more on being a DJ than on the promotion end of things, and his musical style continues to evolve.
“I’m spinning mostly hard dirty techno, but I’m also very wrapped up in house, tech-house, tribal. Every now and again you can also see me sneaking in some of the old school trance tunes to help people remember the old times,” he says.
Of course, some things never change, and most of time he can be found behind his computer. Right now he’s busy composing tracks that will hopefully be released later in 2006 — check back here for updates!
“I still hold a great love for throwing party’s and events. I know things will never be like they were, but we can\'t dwell on the past. We need to take the old school logic, mix it with the new school feel, and combine it with eclectic ideas to keep us moving forward.”
Peace and Love,
Kempy
DJ-Kemp.
Vinylbeat Productions
Vonkemp.com
|
|
| MAILTO: kempy@vonkemp.com |
| ADDRESS: Syracuse Ny |
|
|
|
Subscribe to our free
weekly newsletter for news
and exclusive contests: |
|
|
|
|
