Iller Than Venom
After a long chase, Vegas Seven caught the DJ world’s favorite night-crawler, Hollywood’s audio re-mixer/video producer and Tryst’s weekly resident, DJ Spider.
You’ve had such a crazy month, it’s hard to keep up! Tell us about your itinerary.
It’s been nuts! I got to play the Famous Stars and Straps birthday [at XS] with Travis [Barker], Swizz Beatz, Lil B and Sam Ronson. I did Sean Kingston’s birthday at Tryst, and a tiny party for the Grammys with Rick Ross and an Oscar party last [week]. Every week there’s just crazy stuff.
You’ve been pulling high-profile gigs for about five years. Was it surreal in the beginning?
I don’t really get starstruck as far as celebrities. I grew up in L.A. and feel like everybody’s kind of the same person. [But] it’s crazy when it’s people that I look up to in a musical way.
Have you been able to cross paths with a lot of your idols?
Yeah, I definitely never dreamed what’s happening would be. I would be in college practicing, not thinking that this would be my life. Now I’ve been in different countries and on tour with the guys I used to pay money to see.
What have been the biggest jaw-droppers?
Z-Trip, Jazzy Jeff, Qbert, Shortcut—there’s a million. [DJ] AM even; he’s who inspired me to get into the Vegas clubs and mainstream world.
And then you got to tour with Mark Ronson.
I won this contest where he picked his favorite mix tape. I got to go to New York and DJ with him and Q-Tip, and he invited me to his studio. He told me, “Yeah, I met these girls Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen.” It was nuts to see him getting into that back then [producing] and on his way to working with Winehouse, and then all of the sudden he just blew the fuck up.
You must have had some monumental moments with him.
It was when I was coming up and I opened for [DJ] AM and Mark Ronson when they battled at a BPM party. It was the most insane night of my life. Everybody I’ve ever played, every rapper was there. There were more people in front of me than I’ve ever seen in my life and I was trying to do what I’d practiced and still look cool but I was freaking out. Of course AM and Mark were listening to me and I was like, “Shit, I hope they like it!” They’re both so dope in their own ways, I got to learn so much that night.
You were close friends with AM. How has his passing affected the DJ world?
He affected everyone while he was alive and blazed so many trails. He was the first to do so many things and made a lot happen. I just think what would be happening if he was [still] here? I’d open for him in 2004 and that was what helped me get in the door and in front of people, and then he’d just come on and kill it and shine. That was my introduction to this world.
Now that you are a fixture in that very world and making appearances all over it, how do you balance everything?
I just love what I do and never want to take it for granted. It’s hard for me to say no to it, and whatever level of success I reach I always wanna do more, I just can’t stop. It’s work, but it’s not totally work. And I’m, like, the best travel agent; I know every seat and every flight that you can take.