Party up, up in here! This Friday, Aaron Marquez takes to the gallows to dish on his life as DJ KEZ. Have you seen him behind the counter at 360 Vinyl, the shop on Couch that he owns? Spied him on the stage opening for the likes of De La Soul, Brand Nubian, Lyrics Born, Jean Grae, People Under the Stairs, Lifesavas and the Coup among others? Now you can find DJ KEZ on LocalCut, too, answering a battery of questions with extended insight. There’s talk of tape decks, comical request stories, an expanded playlist (ten songs as opposed to the usual five), two items of Diplo relatedness, and oh so much more…

How did you decide on your DJ name? What’s your real name?
My real name is Aaron Marquez. “KEZ” is just the last half of my last name, spelled phonetically and capitalized.

As the Rapture say, “People don’t dance no more, they just stand there like this” - how often do you encounter this?
Not very often.

Ideal crowd?
Lots of females. Open minded people that don’t have a problem with not hearing only music that they “know. ”

How do you feel about requests?
If I have it, and it fits in with what I’m doing, I will play it. But generally, I don’t like them, because I never have the song they heard on the radio right before they walked into the club! At The Fix, we spin on stage. There’s been people who’ve come up ON STAGE to make a request! I mean, you gotta have some nerve to walk your ass up on stage. So, at The Fix, I HATE requests.

Do you have a story about a particular request or requester?
I had one person threaten to tell on me to the club owner because I wouldn’t play their request. Another time, a girl asked me for Mary J. , while I was playing Mary J. ! I told her, “This is Mary J. !” She said, “Oh, not this song. ”! Recently, I played a wedding reception. The bride and groom didn’t not give me a list of music they wanted to be played. They said they’d seen me DJ before and trusted me. Right when I was about to start they said they wanted Stevie’s “Overjoyed” as the song for their first dance. Luckily I brought it!

But the top story has to be an incident at The Fix a little while back. Three girls climbed on stage and requested Soulja Boy. If you know anything about The Fix, you know that we do not cater to current Top 40 hits, not to mention that nothing that was played that night, or ever for that matter, sounds anything like ringtone rap. I politely told them that I do not have that song. They would not leave the stage and were being very disrespectful towards me. I finally just told them, “okay.” Once they stepped off-stage, I grabbed the mic and said something to the effect of “This is The Fix, we play GOOD MUSIC, for people who appreciate GOOD MUSIC. If you came here to hear some ol’ kiddie bulls**t, you’re in the wrong muthaf**kin’ place!” Those girls dipped out real quick. Shortly thereafter, our manager got an e-mail from some guy who works at some locally-based big corporation, basically callin’ me out, and threatening us with his “influence. ” Ha!

As a DJ, you put up with a lot of abuse from people. I generally don’t take the abuse any more. I always try to be polite first, but if that doesn’t work, and you are being a jackass, I will let you know that you’re a jackass. And, thankfully, I don’t spin in many situations where there are disrespectful people in the crowd. I had to deal with a lot of abuse when spinning in Top 40 leaning spots like XV. However, with all the gigs I’m doing now, a great majority of the crowd are cool, chill folks.

Do you DJ full time? / What do you do outside of DJing?
I do not DJ full-time, but I am surrounded by music and records at all times. I am the owner of 360 Vinyl, where we specialize in underground/indie classic hip hop, soul/jazz, electronic, dance music, and what we call “Party Joints”: stuff like Hollertronix, T records and the like, all on vinyl and CD.

Where can we find you?
Every Thursday at The Fix along with DunDiggy, Ohmega Watts Rev. Shines at Someday Lounge. Once a month at Rock Box Dance Party along with DunDiggy Mr. Matt Nelkin at Holocene. Every Sunday, 10PM to midnight on KBOO 90. 7 FM. And 360 Vinyl nearly every day.

How’d you get your current main gig?
With The Fix, I was having similar conversations with both Shines and Ohmega about the fact that there wasn’t really a spot to go to out and hear good music, from a variety of sources and genres, in a chill, cool, comfortable environment. Everything going on was either too much of “this”, or too much of “that. ” So we made it happen.

Rock Box was Matt Nelkin’s idea. He secured us a one-off, that went really well, and it grew to a monthly event. Since then, the night has been pretty successful. Our January date hit capacity!

On KBOO, I spent a couple years backing up Deena B in the Sunday night/Monday morning, midnight to 3 AM slot. She moved along to another day and time, and opted to not take me with her, which left the slot we were in open. I had to apply for the time slot, and I got it. After a total of roughly six years in the midnight to 3 slot, they just moved me to the Sundays 10 PM to midnight slot this past December. I get to sleep on Sunday nights again, yay!

How long have you been spinning?
I got my first pair of turntables in late ’93. I have been spinning “professionally” since ’99.

What drew you to DJing originally?
I was always a DJ, even before I had turntables. I’d make mixtapes from my cassette collection all the time. If you came to pick me up in your car, I always came out the house with a stack of tapes or CDs. Your tape would come right out the deck, haha! I was even buying records before I had turntables!

What are your thoughts on vinyl vs CDS vs laptops?
I spin strictly vinyl. I don’t really have any interest in anything else. This is what I’ve been doing for comin’ up on 15 years, I’m good. I think Serato is a good tool for a DJ who travels, or for a rap group’s live performances if they don’t have their music pressed to vinyl. That being said, there’s too many “DJs” who use laptops who have not earned the right to that technology. The first thing any DJ should have is a record collection. He or she should have spent a lot of time and money investing in the best collection they can build. That’s respect for the music and the art of DJ’ing. As a DJ, shouldn’t you WANT a record collection? Isn’t that something you should desire? If you just downloaded your friend’s collection off of their computer, and now you’re a “DJ”, you basically have no respect for this, and don’t deserve the title of DJ. You probably got into this for the fad and to meet girls and look cool. You probably won’t be DJing in a couple years anyways, so why don’t you just move out of the way of the DJs who are serious about this and truly love it?

What songs will we find ourselves dancing to with you?
Can I do 10? 5 won’t do and 10 is not enough for me, no. No particular order.

Vanity 6 “Makeup”
CX Kidtronik “Big Girl, Skinny Girl”
Ohmega Watts “The Platypus Strut”
Lucy Pearl “Without You” (Jay Dee Remix)
Little Brother “Step It Up”
Talib Kweli f/ Kanye West “In The Mood”
Erykah Badu “Honey”
Platinum Pied Pipers “The Look of Love”
DJ Spinna “Dilla Is The G. O. A. T”
Flying Lotus “Massage Situation”

How would you describe yourself in five words or less - complete sentence or not:
Work is never over.

How do you describe the genre you play?
Hip Hop/Soul/Beats/Head Nodders/Body Movers

What do mix-tapes mean to you?
A well thought out and presented mix (not song, fade, song, fade, song).

Who are your other favorite Portland DJs?
DunDiggy, Matt Nelkin, Ohmega, Shines. Also, gotta give props to Izm, Roane, Jyant and Rad! And, of course, every DJ that shops at 360!

Did you play sports in high school?
I played sports before high school. Then music and records took over.

Links:
DJ KEZSpace
360 Vinyl

Photo care of Flossy Gunderson.