Love Maine Radio #307: DJ Jon + Sean McCarthy and Max Davis

Sean McCarthy:

It was fun. I think that's why it worked so well because we got to experience growing up what we were brought up with and we kind of integrated the other families. Like, I learned about the Beatles from Max's family and I learned about Led Zeppelin from Griffin and it just kind of culminated into this.

DJ Jon:

Lee LaRue handed me a playlist and said, here, mix these songs together. This is what we're playing. I like, you know, did the wig flip because I had no clue. I was like, none of these are at all similar. How do you put them together? And then finally when I figured it out, figured it out, the radio audience, it's like, okay, you just have to, to relax and just figure it out and see, you know, some of it is like, about what's serious and what's not that serious.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine radio show number 307. Today's guests include Sean McCarthy and Max Davis of the band Ghosts of Paul Revere and also DJ John of Events Mix dj. Thank you for joining us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and Max Davis, who are the bass and banjo players for the Ghost of Paul Revere, a non traditional folk band that has won multiple awards including Best in maine at the 2014 New England Music Awards. Thanks so much for coming in.

Sean McCarthy:

Thanks for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you guys are pretty great. I really enjoy your music.

Sean McCarthy:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Like, there's a little bit of a star struckedness, I think because I recently saw you play at the Kenny Monkport Festival and you're very talented. Actually, Spencer Albee, who also played at the Kenny Bunkport Festival, I consider equally talented. So like the whole room right now is just filled with talented musicians.

Sean McCarthy:

Pretty good company.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. You're from Buxton.

Sean McCarthy:

Max is from Buxton. I'm actually from Hollis. I'm on the other side of the river.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Oh, okay. All right.

Sean McCarthy:

Used to be a part of Buxton. So that still. That still counts, I think.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Okay. All right, so tell me how you got to know each other.

Max Davis:

Just growing up. I met Griffin first. He and I both had sisters that were four years older than us, and they kind of met at school, and then Griffin and I were just, you know, whenever the girls were over at each other's house, we were kind of with each other and then just became fast friends. And then we met. Griffin had met Sean a little bit before I had. But it all just kind of connected. And then we were running around in the backyards. Before.

Sean McCarthy:

Yeah, before we knew it. Good old preschool days.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you've really known each other a long time?

Sean McCarthy:

Oh, yeah. Yep. 20. Like, 26 out of the 29 years so far.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Wow. Crazy. And you still like each other?

Max Davis:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, Griffin's not here today, so you can't really speak to this in one way or another, but I guess we

Max Davis:

could really let it all out right now.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So if one lives in Buxton or Hollis, where. Where does one go to high school,

Sean McCarthy:

for example, Bonnie Eagle graduated 06. We had a good time out there. I think it kind of had a little bit of a rural reputation, but we had fun.

Max Davis:

Yeah, it was a good school. I mean, it's funny because it's so spread out. I think it's four different towns in the area that all come to Bonne Eagle. So it's interesting because up until high school, you still haven't met, like, half of the people that you're gonna be graduating school with, which makes for an interesting dynamic because I made some really great friends kind of in the later high school years, but also had this really strong staple crew that we grew up with in elementary school. And it was unlike a lot of people that we've talked to. Kind of had a very strong core group of friends that stayed together forever and haven't really been able to shake them. And now we're all kind of living in Portland again. So it's kind of funny. Can't really get away from each other.

Sean McCarthy:

Yeah, we're stuck.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How about the music? Does Bonnie Eagle have a particularly strong music program? Or how did you all. All the three of you get involved with this?

Sean McCarthy:

There was a period of time, I think it was before we came through the school, that Bonnieagle had a really, really great band teacher. I think his name was Chris Humphries and a really kind of prolific drama teacher as well. So there was. There was definitely some artsy stuff happening there, but when we came through, it slowed down a little bit. Football was kind of the king then. But I think it was just the love of music in general that we had. We used to listen to music all the time, going on car trips and field trips and stuff like that with our parents. It was all sorts of different stuff. And I think that specifically our parents and the teachers who we had a real kind of connection with, kind of fostered that sense of, you don't have to go on the football team if you don't want, like, play guitar, join drama club.

Max Davis:

Yeah, that's one of the things I was thinking of when you were saying that is we had just a lot of teachers and kind of like drama kind of teachers or educators from a young age up that just. We all kind of had a natural creative bend and they all really wanted to push any kind of creativity that they could. And we kind of fell in love with that aspect of education and they fostered it in a big way. So we had a lot of really strong teachers that just kind of said, you know, do whatever you want, especially if it's creative, because we'll kind of. We'll try and help you as much as possible. Which always seemed. It seemed like the goal. So it was always kind of fun because you could excel in that way.

Sean McCarthy:

I think the actual physical location too, helped a lot. Like a lot of places in Maine, there's a lot of inspiring stuff in just the countryside and just growing up in that kind of semi rural area where you're close enough to see what you're missing out on a lot of the nights, but you're kind of content with where you're at. I think that that had a lot of influence on it too. Just what we ended up playing and how we end up playing it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me more about that. I mean, how. How does being content with where you are lend itself to a musical style?

Sean McCarthy:

I think it's just kind of. I wish I could remember. We've got a good friend, Ben Cosgrove, who actually writes music based on the landscapes that he's experiencing at the time. And he has a certain term for it, I can't remember, but it's just, I think, trying to. You feel. You feel the energy of the place and it's just. It's not necessary to find an outlet for it, but it definitely. You want to bring that sense of roots and where you're from to other people when you're trying to express what you're trying to express. Because it gives them a little more of a feel of who you are.

Max Davis:

Kind of along the lines of what you were saying. I also felt like. Like you were saying how we were about a half an hour from Portland and, you know, our parents were definitely all active in the community. Either theater or kind of going to see shows and, you know, coming to see the movies at where the movies used to be here in Portland. But it was always kind of like a special occasion or like a maybe once a weekend kind of trip. The rest of the time, you know, we had everything that we kind of needed at home and records. It's kind of funny to come back older and kind of readdress where our influences came from. Because, you know, we were all listening to similar things in our households, like the Beatles and like Bob Dylan. But we also had much, much more diverse, kind of different little pockets within each household. Like Sean had way more Bruce Springsteen when he was growing up. Griffin had a little bit more probably Led Zeppelin, I'd probably say. But you know, it's kind of funny to come back and to see what was getting swapped around between us kind of subconsciously to kind of, you know, get excited by something else that maybe we didn't have access to. And I don't know, we never really planned on playing music. But I think all those things definitely lended itself to where we were drawing from and how we were all kind of attracted to similar sounds that were kind of across the board.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what would you say was in your household?

Max Davis:

A lot of the Beatles, a lot of Bob Dylan. My mom's a huge Rolling Stones fan, so he had a lot of Rolling Stones kind of everything. My dad was also a jazz guy, so he had, you know, a lot of different jazz records on a lot of times that I didn't like they were there and I was listening to them, but never really was asking about it until later. But yeah, kind of all over the. I think the things that I really held onto were probably the Beatles and Bob Dylan from those earlier times. The things I really remember getting stuck with me.

Sean McCarthy:

It's funny, you can remember each parent had like two or three go to's musically that they go for. Right? Like, I know, definitely. I remember in middle school we worked on a project for chorus together and it was. We went to your house and it was up between the Beatles Good Morning or it was the Beatles Long and Winding Road, I think. And then we'd go over to Griffin's house and his dad would want to listen to Ani DiFranco and Griffin would want to listen to Black Sabbath. And then at my house it was Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bruce Springsteen on my dad's side. And mom was pretty much all classical, some show tunes. It was fun. I think that's why it worked so well. Because we got to experience growing up what we were brought up with. And we kind of integrated the other families. Like I learned about the Beatles from Max's family and I learned about Led Zeppelin from Griffin. And it just kind of culminated into this.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about the first time that you came together as a trio and actually sang and played music.

Max Davis:

Oh, that's high school. And we never. We don't really talk about it a lot because it was definitely done to get attraction from girls was probably the primary reason in high school.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you don't talk about it because you're embarrassed or.

Max Davis:

No, it was definitely different at the time, for sure. It was funny. We were talking. We actually played a Guster song for one of our first big shows. We were asked to play our high school graduation, which was probably still one of the biggest grads we've ever played too. But very kind of silly, like two acoustic guitars, bongos. But still we're working on the three part harmony then, which was definitely the exciting part.

Sean McCarthy:

I think our first show was the senior year Christmas assembly where we played the general from Dispatch Classic,

Max Davis:

which is hard because we were just talking about all of our really stronger inspirations and we went for that one as a cover.

Sean McCarthy:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how did that decision get made?

Max Davis:

I think we were just able to sing it and figured it would go well.

Sean McCarthy:

Yeah.

Max Davis:

In the current.

Sean McCarthy:

That was the. That was kind of the cool thing back then.

DJ Jon:

Back then.

Sean McCarthy:

Jesus.

Max Davis:

It was only 10 years ago,

Sean McCarthy:

those last years in high school, it was like Dave Matthews Band and Dispatch and Guster. That type of acoustic rock was coming up.

[Unidentified voice]:

And

Sean McCarthy:

they. Yeah, it was. It was fun.

Max Davis:

Yeah. And it was popularizing the kind of acoustic guitars role back in a little bit more of the singer songwriter kind of phase that started to come up and the popularity that came back for that because everything had gone really big sound. I feel like recording Wise and Electric Wise and. And for our generation. It felt like at that point, like as much as it's hard to really like Dave Matthews, he did kind of. He was really kind of paving another door open into that kind of music. It definitely just. It made you start to like other types of music in that And I think we kind of fell in love with it. We liked hearing where the sound was coming from. We liked seeing the physical playing of an instrument and how that was translating and kind of, like, without any kind of amplification, which was always kind of interesting for us because, I mean, we liked to have campfires and play around campfires.

Sean McCarthy:

And

Max Davis:

it also worked well because we could record in my dad's bathroom when he was sleeping so it wouldn't be too loud.

DJ Jon:

So it's, like,

Max Davis:

had its reasons, I think.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So wait, your dad's bathroom had particularly good acoustics as opposed to Sean's dad's bathroom? I don't know.

Max Davis:

I think maybe we just.

Sean McCarthy:

I'm not sure if we tried to

Max Davis:

fit in my bathroom. We didn't do too much sound research into the different bathrooms. I think it was just one of the late nights that we were there.

Sean McCarthy:

Yeah, we were just kind of figuring it out as we went along. And we had. No. I didn't personally, anyway. I'm not sure about the other guys, but no real aspirations to become a musician for a job. Like, that was not a realistic expectation. So we just have fun. There's something to do. And like Max was saying, we're creative people, so we like to have projects and figure stuff out on our own and stuff. But I guess it actually worked out to our advantage in the end.

Max Davis:

Yeah, for sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what did you aspire to be, or what did you think your path was going to look like?

Sean McCarthy:

Oh, Lord. I thought that by now I would have probably children and a wife and a mortgage.

DJ Jon:

And

Sean McCarthy:

I kind of switched back and forth in high school whether I wanted to do culinary arts or if I wanted to act or if I wanted to be a teacher.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And

Sean McCarthy:

being a teacher seemed to provide the most stable lifestyle. So I went for that and then found all about standardized testing and whatnot, and wasn't that thrilled. So. Changed my mind pretty hard and quickly at that point. And then I know Griffin and Max, they both went to art school.

Max Davis:

Yeah, Griffin and I went to a small art school out in western New York and kind of accidentally both decided we were gonna go. We both knew we were gonna apply and both knew that each other had gotten in. But we had a couple other schools up on our list. And, you know, I remember the day when I. He was like, where are you going? Where'd you choose for school? And I was like, alfred? He was like, no way. I just sent my confirmation, too. So it was really kind of funny because it's. We joke about not Being able to shake each other, but that going right out of high school into college with a guy that you've known since you were two is kind of a crazy situation. So. But it was actually kind of wonderful at school. We had different roommates, and that kind of brought two different groups from different dorms together, and it kind of created a really cool community. And he and I played a little bit of music in school, but I thought I was going to be a painter, a fine artist. But yeah, no, it was. It just. We got back here and everyone was kind of starting to pursue different things, but everyone was kind of moving back into Portland after college and traveling. And we got back and just to see everybody, we used to go out and Griffin was doing kind of like a open mic night thing at Dogfish. He had a kind of like a one one night a week, one night a month, sorry, showcase where he would have to play for like three hours. And in order to film material, he'd bring a bunch of different people up. And so we had just moved back and just kind of turned 21. So a lot of our friends were coming out. He'd offer us a free beer if we came up and sang with him. So it was a sweet kind of situation. We were all kind of working on different things at the time, but it really just started to snowball. And it seemed like every month the show kept on getting bigger and, I don't know, our sound was starting to kind of congeal and kind of move into something that was really kind of interesting. So it just seemed like it was impossible to fight. So we all kind of just sunk our teeth in at that point and met some really great people and got a show outside the Dogfish. And then it kind of just kept on going.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How would you describe your sound for people who haven't heard it before?

Max Davis:

It's a combination of bluegrass, folk, Americana, singer, songwriter esque. I mean, it's really hinged on a three part harmony. And we have kind of three different, pretty dynamically different voices. There's a banjo, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass. So we have this. It's not rigid bluegrass. It's not very strongly technical, but it has bluegrass instrumentation. And it draws a lot from that kind of bluegrass kind of school thought and very kind of succinct. We're definitely songwriters. We like to have a start, beginning, middle and end. We're not really into the more kind of jam style. Everything's kind of written out to a certain extent with room for improvisation. But it also draws from, you know, the roots that we were talking about from being inspired from young kind of children like the Beatles or like the Rolling Stones or like Led Zeppelin, that, you know, whatever we want to hear dynamically, sound wise, we have to figure out how to make it with that instrumentation. And so whatever happens in that is kind of what our sound is, I guess. I don't know if that helps anybody really kind of hear it in their heads, but.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it's easy enough for people to find you and listen.

Max Davis:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Decide for themselves. Why the ghosts of Paul Revere.

Max Davis:

Ooh, that's when. That's why we wish Griffin was here.

Sean McCarthy:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You'll have to channel him and help us understand.

Sean McCarthy:

There's no proof, no notarized proof, but he said he had dream where the ghost of Paul Revere came to him or he just had, like that phrase. When he woke up, he had that phrase stuck in his head. So when he used to go out and play solo, he called himself Griffin Cherry and the ghost of Paul Revere to try and explain that type of feeling. When you're. When you're on stage performing, you kind of turn into somebody else a little bit, do things you might not be comfortable with or you'd be embarrassed about if you weren't performing. And then when we joined up, we. We liked the idea of that. I think pretty specifically, we like the idea of that being not possessed, but just kind of moved by what was happening at the moment. So you felt different than who you were. So we just kind of picked up that portion of it, became Ghost of Paul Revere.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

One of the things that I've been impressed by is that you. You can work well within this community, the Maine community of musicians, but you also have translated outside of the Maine community. Why do you think that is?

Sean McCarthy:

Honesty? I think we try to convey a lot of honesty in the music, and I think that's why we're drawn to that type of folk and bluegrass originally, because it's really kind of bared down to the acoustics. The songwriting may not be the most intense in those cases or verbose, but it's. They say a lot with just repeating the same thing over three chords.

Max Davis:

Yeah, I think honesty and kind of just the sense of community that we got here where it was. We were given a lot of really strong support at a young, kind of like baby band age here in town from older bands like bands like Dark Hollow Bottle and Company that helped us out with our first show, and Travis Cyr, who helped also to just kind of. Who believed in what we were Doing almost as much as they believed, they believed what they were doing. And that kind of feeling in the community is really supportive. It's really. I mean, it makes you feel like maybe you have something that's really working. And so we've tried to foster that everywhere we go with other musicians, whether they're at a stage kind of higher above us, or haven't really worked up to the kind of touring level where we're at right now or, you know, it's. It just seems like to keep that community alive and to be excited about other bands and not to have a little bit of that competitive nature, but at the same time to not let it get in the way of friendships. And I mean, we've been so fortunate with friends that we've made from other bands. And sometimes it's hard, sometimes you're really tired after shows. And it takes a lot to kind of reach out and to really make someone feel like you're excited to be in their company and to kind of have that kind of honesty. But I think when it does work out, I think you build some really, really strong relationships. And I think just transferring that from what we learned here into other communities around the country. We've started to develop similar pockets in other areas that are different, obviously, but they really. It works because then the next time you're in town, you have maybe a floor to crash on or you know, a friend of theirs has got a show that's opening up and they need an opener slot or. But that worked out really well for us in the beginning and it's continued to kind of work out with us, especially as we were starting to be support for the bigger bands, which is always nerve wracking. It's hard to be, you know, make a good impression musically and, you know, really have a strong craft. But then at the same time be someone that those people want to hang out with because they. I mean, at that point you're hanging out with so many people all the time. But we've been fortunate to build some of those relationships as well. Like the String Dusters and Jamestown Revival recently, which is just. It's a nice feeling. You can kind of build those.

Sean McCarthy:

Gotta have fun, right? If you have fun on stage, then that translate to the people in the audience and they see if the performer is having fun, they should be having fun. And then it's just kind of like a back and forth of fun. It makes people feel more comfortable and less, less, less like they. Like they have to keep us at arm's reach or Something like that. We like to come off the stage and talk to people, and we have pretty awkward banter on stage sometimes because of that, but that's just because that's who we are. And we're letting other people see that, I think.

Max Davis:

Right.

Sean McCarthy:

I think that's why it works.

Max Davis:

It's not scripted.

Sean McCarthy:

No. Nope.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

My son was talking to you during the Kennebunk Poor Festival, Sean. And he was saying that he felt a little starstruck because when they were driving back from Colorado, they were actually listening to your music in their car, driving cross country. And he's 23, he and his girlfriend. And you were talking about being starstruck, that you were meeting some of these bigger names, like maybe James Taylor, I think was a name. And that must be a really interesting place for you, that you're like, whoa, here's some of these influences, that they're actually alive and they're standing in front of us. What's that like?

Sean McCarthy:

Oh, boy. It's a lot. You see these people who are. Because it's not only just like a personal idol or even somebody you admire and respect now. It's also somebody who's almost at the forefront of your industry as well. And going through what we've gone through to get at this point with the band, we realized how hard the work can be at times, and to actually have progressed to the point that some of these people are at, it's very impressive. But then it's also just straight fanboy status. Some of the songs that they've written, like the moments that their music has carried you through in your life, it's unbelievable.

Max Davis:

Yeah, we don't hide it very well. A lot of times when we played Newport Folk Festival, that was probably one of the worst ones because they have such a big community, like VIP area, and, you know, they bring in a bunch of artists just in that area that aren't even playing that weekend, but might hop up on stage and, you know, just us being in there kind of eating hummus and just looking around at all of these incredible musicians that you've either grown up listening to or within the last couple of years have become obsessed with, or it's really hard because you have to kind of shake that. Because no one really. I mean. I mean, I'm always flattered when people say that, you know, we've had a really big impact on them. But it's also. I don't know, I like having just. It's so hard. I always like to get past the kind of, like, normal, small Talk conversation. To get into an actual conversation with that person, if possible. And it goes on both sides, whether it's someone else talking to me or if I'm reaching out to someone else. I'd rather have get to the meat of a conversation quicker, I guess, but it's much easier said than done.

Sean McCarthy:

Yeah. She don't know what to really start with, I think, is a lot of the time. A lot of the times with those people, you have the opportunity to go up and say hi and talk to them and say, well, technically, whatever you want, I guess, but that actually just kind of bridging that three feet or making eye contact or sticking a hand out to shake just because. More often than not, I think it's just because you. You don't want to bother them because, you know, they might like their space. But also there's the fear that once you go up and you start talking, you'll just ramble and ramble on and on.

DJ Jon:

Yeah.

Max Davis:

Horrified at what you might say. Yeah, I'm super nervous about it. We're gonna be doing a mountain jam coming up next weekend, and the stage that we're playing on in literally two sets after ours, this band, Shovels and Rope, who have just been. Since I found out about them, have been one of. I've been obsessed with them and I love, you know, they're a husband and wife duo and incredibly prolific, but write these incredible songs with a lot of energy, similar to the type of music that we try and make. And I've never seen them live before, but I've heard they're both incredible people. But they're playing two sets after us on the same stage, and I'm already nervous about kind of what I'm going to say because I'm not going to have to say something. I'm going to have to at least say hi. But. Afraid it might just bomb the Wayne's World thing.

Sean McCarthy:

Exactly.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I very much appreciate your taking time out of your schedule. I know you guys were touring for a big part of the spring, actually, and now you're kind of heading back out again, but a little more local.

DJ Jon:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I know you've been pretty busy, and the fact that you and Spencer Albee were able to share a stage together during the Kennebunkport Festival, it was amazing. We're really lucky to have talented musicians in Maine, and I'm really glad that you guys came in and had this conversation with me.

Sean McCarthy:

Likewise.

Max Davis:

Thank you so much for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Sean McCarthy and Max Davis. Who are two of the members of the Ghost of Paul Revere. And you can see them out and about in Maine and also across the country, so make sure you check them out.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

My next guest is DJ John. He has been consistently voted Portland's number one DJ for over two decades. He often works events at numerous Portland clubs, and soon he'll start working at Aura, where he'll play throwback music on Thursdays. Recently, he also formed Eventmix dj, a company that provides quality DJ services for events, weddings, and birthdays. Thanks for coming in.

DJ Jon:

Thank you, doctor.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I have danced to a lot of your.

DJ Jon:

You have?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. I want to say a lot of your music. I guess it's your me playing music. You're playing music. Exactly. Yeah. It's kind of interesting. I mean, you're very good at what you do. I enjoy. Actually, I think that I've decided that maybe sometimes having a DJ to dance to can be even better than having a band sometimes.

DJ Jon:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. No offense to people who have bands. You know, Spencer Albee is our. Spence is like, he's our audio producer and also a musician, so.

Sean McCarthy:

But they're also leaving.

DJ Jon:

Oh, he's leaving. He's had enough of this.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's right. He's not gonna listen to the interview anymore. But I'm interested as to how you got into this field.

DJ Jon:

Well, it was cause of hip hop. When I was 11, in 1981, I saw breakdancing and I saw hip hop and I saw people spinning on their head. And then I saw some guy go like this with a record and I was like, how does that. How did he do that? And I was a little kid, so I was like, it was perfect age for that to kind of captivate me. And then I heard people rhyming words in an interesting way and just so cool. And I was like, this is. And then I was with the music. I was like, how did they get the drums to sound that good? You know, how did they get the snare drum to sound that loud? That kind of thing. And then I just started watching some of the DJs playing the music, and I really like the music. So then I was like, how do they mix the records? How do they make it sound like there's two things playing at once, but it works. Did they put the record on top of each other? And then you put the needle on top and you can hear both of them? I had no idea, so. And then I just started figuring it out on my own because there was no Internet. So it's like, once I did that, I was like, that was it. You know, My uncle had to buy me a horrible mixer, and I stole my sister's turntable that had the cassette and the radio in the front, and it skipped if you look at it. So, like, I had to figure out how to do stuff with that and a couple of cassette decks. And then when I got actual real gear, I felt like Superman. So, you know. Yeah, that's how I got into it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, I think you and I are contemporaries, so I remember that ancient gear. I remember all the mixtapes and how, you know, painstaking it was to actually pull stuff off the radio. You had to wait for the song off the radio. You had to, you know, splice it in with the next song. I mean, all the stuff that's possible today is crazy compared to what we were doing back then.

DJ Jon:

I know. It's so futuristic right now. It's awesome. I really love it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Where did you grow up?

DJ Jon:

Well, I'm originally from Tokyo, Japan, so I grew up there till I was 10. And I moved to D.C. when I was. When, you know, that year and graduated high school in 89. So I spent the 80s in D.C. during a lot of that D.C. hardcore stuff. So Henry Rollins and all that. Except I didn't like any of that at the time because I was into hip hop. So it's like, you know, Bad Brains and a lot of those bands, you know, friends of friends, you know, but they're all in books now. It's like I kind of should have stayed in touch with those people a little bit more. I'm still in touch with some, but it was interesting growing up at that time and being the only kid that was into hip hop, so. That's funny.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, that wasn't really.

DJ Jon:

It wasn't really popular except, like, the Beastie Boys. And like Run DMC, people knew. And then like in the late 80s when it went really global with Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer, that just like, broke it through and they got so commercial that there was that big backlash. And a lot of underground hip hop guys came out and they were just like, yeah. So most of the DJ style is. Is hip hop that I do. And so it kind of brings me to the. The sensibilities that I bring to the, you know, to the job is I use the mixing skills that I learned with hip hop to play other genres of music. So, you know, a lot of the stuff is about blending, about, like, finding interesting transitions, paying attention to key. I mean, you know, Most of the DJs that I know don't do any of that because they, you know, they don't really understand the pentatonic scale or, I don't know, I don't know, they just don't pay attention. They just match the beat and they think that's good enough. But, you know, you got to listen and go, hey, this sounds really good with this. You know, this transition's really good with this one. I don't know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Did you have musical training?

DJ Jon:

Slight, not a lot. I played the piano a little bit when I was a kid, but I can count to four. I think that's my advantage.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when you talk about the pentatonic scale, this is largely stuff that you have taught yourself?

DJ Jon:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just like just listening to stuff by ear and, you know, understanding some key. You know, I was one of those kids that could like, place something if I heard it on the radio, I could play it on the piano despite listening to it or whatever, and, you know, musicians know what that's about. But, you know, I just kind of naturally like, you know, listening to music and combining things and, you know, so

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

what a lot of people think of when they think of DJs is play a song, the song ends, start another song. But you actually, you do blend. You. You bring one song in while your song is still on.

DJ Jon:

Yeah, I mean, you know, everybody understands the concept of a medley. So, you know, in Broadway, it's like, you know, you do the entire play and then at the very end or something, you just do a medley of all the songs. You know, you hear bits and pieces of like, a different song come in and they'll. They maybe will change the key and just like put a phrase in here. And that's kind of how I dj. That's how a lot of the big boys do it in New York and, you know, Vegas, they just mash everything up and make it sound good. So people kind of get hints of different things. I mean, usually the guys that can really do what's called time hopping and genre hopping, they, you know, they're young. There's a lot of young DJs out there. So, like, their playlist stops at about 1993, and they don't really know anything before that. They might know some big records like, Like A Virgin or, you know, Celebration or something, but they won't know who, like, Lee Michaels is or something. You know, it's like just things where, like, I would, like, mix in just because it's funny. And they just don't know the ins and outs of all that because they're really focused on, you know, either this year or something post 2000. So 2004 is like oldies now. So. But. But usually with crowds that are like, you know, my age, I'm 40, I'll be 47 in July. It's like they, you know, they, you know, we all remember stuff that was in the 80s and some 70s and, you know, music, American music, anyway, it hasn't really been well recorded. American music hasn't really been around that long. So it's like, it's not too much to learn. I don't think

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you developed quite a following over the years doing work specific to different decades. So 80s night, right? 90s or everything night. And your. Everything was really. Well, I guess it's everything from, I

DJ Jon:

guess the 80s up till now, the 70s and 60s. I mean, I'll throw Elvis Presley in and then mix it with Taylor Swift. You know, that's. That's the whole thing. It's like, it brings everybody together. So it's like if the whole thing is about getting, you know, your grandma to dance to Big Sean or like Jay Z, like that. That's my goal. If I can do that or if I can get, like, young kids to dance to the Police or something, that's cool, you know, like, I always.

Max Davis:

Or.

DJ Jon:

Or like people that think they're too hip to dance to something that is really corny. That's my. That's one of my favorite things to do, too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Give me an example.

DJ Jon:

I don't know, like, I've got a. You know, I got a routine where I'll blend like, Metallica into Don't Stop Believin'. So it's just music that, like, you really wouldn't be caught dead listening to. But if the transition's good enough, you're kind of like that was cool. And you got me. You know, that's the whole goal of it. Does that make sense?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It makes a lot of sense. I mean, I've never been a huge fan of hair bands, but if I'm listening to something else that I'm more familiar with, then if something comes on, I'll stay out there.

DJ Jon:

Well, I mean, like, my favorite DJs are the ones that are able to, like, pull out something that I didn't understand about a song and maybe dismiss the song. But like Mickey by Tony Basil or Basil, whatever. The drums in that are so crazy. And if you, you know, if you just think of it like a cheer record, it's like, yeah, yeah, whatever. But if you just listen to the drums and how good the drums sound, it's like, that song's incredible, you know, so just. Just things like that where I wouldn't have noticed, you know, a guitar line in a song, but somebody pointed it out by transitioning it from a different guitar line and a different song and saying, this is the same, you know. You know,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've had conversations with my children who are 20ish, and I'll say, do you know this person thinking, well, this person was such a long time ago that of course they're not going to end. Like, of course, Mom, I have itunes, right? And it's. I think that this ability to listen to really whoever we want at any given time has really shifted the way that people are able to have conversations across generations.

DJ Jon:

I think that's true. And I think that the generation, you know, after generation acts. I feel like people are really familiar with mixing with records, you know, DJing and people that can mix records and, and understanding that, you know, you don't have to be tied to one genre or be cool, you know. You know, in the 90s and the 80s, there were like, the guys that listened to hip hop, there were the guys that listened to death metal, and there were the, you know, there were the goth, you know, and I feel like it's not as secular anymore because it's like the Internet and artists like Kanye west who have brought together so many big, you know, different genres, glaringly different genres together and change, like, how people view music. They're just like, oh, you know, you don't have to fall into one or the other category anymore.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It does seem like it was at one point more easy to call it part of your identity. And now people are able to say, oh, well, you know, it just depends upon the song. Maybe I like this song from this person or this song from this person and that kind of makes it. I would think that would make it very interesting for musicians.

DJ Jon:

Yeah, I think so. Like, artists like Pharrell, you know, he has hard rock albums and then he's got, like, hip hop albums and then he has pop albums and he's got R B albums or songs. Sometimes they're all on the same album. So Spencer's like, yeah, he knows all about it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you think people are more accepting of that now?

DJ Jon:

Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's strange, but. Yeah, I think music is the one thing that hits people on an emotional level first, so it cuts through all of everything else. You know, any small talk, it just hits you emotionally first. So it'll change the mood of a room. You can just play a song and now the mood's this way. Yeah. And if you can find, you know, some people don't connect with it immediately or the same way as other people, but generally, you know, I found that it's like, you know, if you go into a room and you play something funny or interesting or both, you know, that's how you can change the whole course of how the evening is going to go. You know, especially if you're dj, there's

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

a lot of pressure on. Well, both musicians who do events, but also DJs who do events. I mean, a musician, and I'm guessing that you also consider yourself a musician, but just of a different.

DJ Jon:

I consider myself an artist.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

An artist. So artists across the musical spectrum, there's a lot of pressure to make these events good.

DJ Jon:

Yeah, well, I think that at first I felt a lot of pressure, and then once you get more experience and then you kind of like, figure out how people normally react to things, it gets easier. I used to drink a lot before, like, I went like, you know, if I was DJing, it's like, you know, 300 people in a room, I have to make them all dance. That's that. I did feel it. And then. And then I just decided not to drink once. Let's see if I could do it without drinking. And it was. It actually was just more about me being comfortable in the room. Had nothing to do with the amount of alcohol that was in me. And so now it's just like whatever I can do, you know, I'll go do a stadium and it's fun, you know, so.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So are you able to, I guess simultaneously can try to connect with the crowd but also let go of the outcome?

DJ Jon:

No, I mean, like, I definitely am there to rock the house. So it's like, you know, I don't really take it personally if everybody, like, leaves the dance floor because it's like, yeah, sure, you know, it depends on the size of the crowd. And, you know, if there are 50 people there and then you play a song and it just so happens to be everyone doesn't like the song or whatever, or they don't know it or something and it doesn't work, that'll clear the floor. But, you know, if you got a thousand people, people don't clear the floor, there's more inertia. So, you know, you can play stuff as long as you're broad and you do bold, big things, and you just play with music that, you know everybody knows, and then just combine it in interesting ways. Then, you know, people are there for the party, you know, and they'll dance to whatever.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when you're doing an event, I'm assuming that you must have some communication with whomever you're working with about their preferences.

DJ Jon:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is there also a little bit of, as you're going along, seeing what is working for everybody else?

DJ Jon:

Yeah, I mean, depending on, like, if it's a wedding or something. If a bride gives me a do not playlist that's like 40 songs deep, I'm kind of like, you're taking, like. It's like taking bullets out of my gun here. Like, just because, you know, I was like, I usually say, I'll give you one or two. Like, if you really cannot stand Don't Stop Believing by sometimes, like, they'll say, I really don't want to hear Don't Stop Believing at my wedding because it's so cliche. And then I'll say, so, okay, no Journey. And they go, no, I love Journey. I just don't want that song played at my wedding. And then I'm just like, I'm not psychic. So if you have one song that you really can't stand, I'll take it out. But if it starts to turn into a laundry list, it's like, you know, sorry, you don't like that song, but if all your guests are requesting it, it's kind of like, what are you doing? You know, and. Sure, you know, like, if I. If it was left up to me, I'd just be playing, like, underground hip hop and classical. You know, I said to the receptionist, like, I would just be sitting there playing Rachmaninoff's third, but no one's gonna dance to that. It's a good piece of music, but it's like, it doesn't make sense. I have to play stuff like I have to play Bruno Mars, and I gotta play what's popular and then just play with how I mix it and where I place songs, you know? But that's about as much as I'll work with somebody in terms of, like, theme or, you know, I'll throw away, like, if it's a country theme or something, I'll throw in some country records. But most people want to hear the hits. They want to hear, like, stuff that they're familiar with and they can dance to and sing along to, so you got to do that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's interesting you're talking about a Do not playlist, because I was thinking about things that people wanted you to play, and you're saying things that people don't

DJ Jon:

want you to play. Sometimes they will do the do not playlist, and then it takes a lot out of my arsenal, and it's like, that's no fun. I guess it's that. That's why I started talking about that, because it's like I got angry. You know, it's like, I don't like it when people say, hey, you can't play this or you can't play that. I do like it when people say, please play this or please play that. Unless it's like Stairway to Heaven or something. You know, it's like, that doesn't make sense unless you're trying to be funny. If it's a Wayne's World party, okay, I'll play Stairway to Heaven, no problem, you know?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, there is something about what you're describing which I think is about the artistry that. The understanding of what you're doing in its totality and your ability to work within that genre, which it does. I mean, as a writer, it's very difficult when somebody says, you can't say this. You can't say this. You need to change the sentence. You need to do this. Because then the whole thing that you're putting out there is a piece of.

DJ Jon:

It doesn't flow as well, and that's, you know, and also, I'm. I'm on the radio, so it's like as soon as, like, Lila Rue handed me a playlist and said, here, mix these songs together. This is what we're playing. I like, you know, did the wig flip, because I had no clue. I was like, none of these are at all similar. How do. How do you put them together? And then finally, when I figured it out, figured out the radio audience, it's like, okay, you just have to relax and just figure it out and see, you know, some of it is like about what's serious and what's not that serious. You know. The average radio listener listens to the radio about five minutes a week, you know, for, you know, the station that I'm on. But it's kind of like, you know, there really isn't a lot of time spent listening. So you just got to keep jumbling it up and then you have to be a little bit more lax on your principles of. You know. Sometimes when I'm mixing, it's like I pay attention to key, I'll pay attention to juxtaposition, irony, extensive humor mostly sense of humor, you know, and the drums. But you know, if I have to mix records that don't at all go together for the radio, I just relax. All of those, you know, values or whatever, that structure that I have because it's just for radio and it's a different animal. So it's, it's, I guess like I could equate it to making an art film, to making a TV show or something like that or, or writing for like creative, like writing poetry and then having to write a script for TV or something or radio or something like that. You know, it's just different, different audiences, different thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

From what I'm understanding, you're, you are largely self taught. This is something that you started when you were young and you've kind of taught yourself as you've got and pre Internet.

DJ Jon:

Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I mean is, is there, I mean I know that there are. There seem to be educational opportunities in almost every field now. Are there DJ educational opportunities?

DJ Jon:

Yeah, there are DJ academies. They teach DJing. I think there's a class on DJing or at least like electronic music or something like that at Berkeley. And I don't know, I've been approached a lot about teaching DJ classes and it's kind of like, yeah, I guess so I could teach something. But some things you can't teach like taste. So it's like you're kind of on your own. I feel like if you got bad taste in music and it's like you don't have a sense of humor too, that's not a fun thing at the party, you know, you got to have like pretty good taste. So when you play stuff that is in bad taste, it's okay, you know. Do you understand what I mean? It's like if you, if you let the audience know that you actually do have good taste in music, but you're going to play the Macarena because it's Funny, you know, like I have a routine where I go, I play everyone's favorite Justin Bieber song, sorry, which is Moombatone. You know, it's got that rhythm, but it's exactly the Macarena. So I mix it in the Macarena and I go. And you know, people start laughing and then if they're drunk enough, they just start doing the dance. So that's kind of the thing. And I don't know how I'd be able to teach that, just other than just giving examples like that. But most of the guys that I know in New York, that dj, the big clubs, they just tell me weird things. Like, you know, one of my friends goes, try playing Semi charmed life by third eye blind. And this was like 10 years ago. And I go, what? He goes, it works, don't worry. And so like, I was like, how? How am I gonna mix what? And so I figured out how to kind of place it. And I played it one night and it blew the lid off the place. And I was like, gee, thanks, give me another one. And he goes, ace of bass, all that she wants. And I was like, what? And then I tried it and it worked. And then, you know, it went on from there. So, you know, some people just have a knack for the songs that are gonna get through to people. I don't. I don't know how. Sometimes I get an idea. My buddy Nate Shoup had. He said that he was playing it, you know, one of the club nights, and he said that, that he got the idea for a bunch of 20 somethings to play respect by Aretha Franklin right in the middle of playing like a bunch of new stuff. And he played it and it worked and everyone went crazy, you know, so stuff like that. But it's kind of. I don't know how I'd teach that. You just kind of have to have a knack, you know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you are on the radio and you have formed this company called Eventmix dj.

DJ Jon:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You're working on doing events, just bigger events, but also weddings, birthdays. How many events is an ideal number

DJ Jon:

for you a year, you mean? I don't know, I feel like if I can be working all year, that's good, you know. You know, Club Residences are also good to kind of keep sharp on things and test out material on younger and older audiences, depending on who's coming to your club. I try to have an eclectic mix anyway. So I have people that are, you know, in their 20s and then people that are. And then I'm on the radio. And most of the people that listen to us are like 8 years old to, like, 20. And then there are people that are older that listen to it too. But, you know, we're playing, like. We're playing, like, hip hop. And then, like, our throwbacks are like the Kanye west and Jay Z songs. So it's a younger demographic. So that keeps me sharp on, like, what's happening there. Kind of kids are into some stuff these days, and I, like, I don't know, like, DJ Grooves came out and did something, a show, and he was playing songs that I'd never heard, and every kid from Portland and whatever, they were singing along. He was, you know, swiping the record out, and they were singing along, like, the words. They knew the words to everything. And I was like, what are these songs? And Grooves was like, dude, there are songs that I don't know. I just know this because I've been in clubs and I'm around this age group, and it's just Internet songs, random Internet songs that are really popular that I don't know anything about. So, yeah, it's interesting.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, I would think. I mean, we've gone from basically having no source of information, that is no Internet, which we all now rely on heavily, to so many different sources of information. There's not really one place you can go and study up and be like, okay, I'm good. I got it. I know what's going on.

DJ Jon:

And there's also no standard. Like, you know, especially, like, I would think in your field, it would be, like, really difficult to say what is legit. Where is this coming from? This is not tested scientifically or how, you know, whatever, where. What is the source? So there's no way to judge. But then what if something starts working and you're late to the party, you're like, oh, they were doing this in, you know, Guatemala, like, and this miracle thing happened and everybody's all over it. Where were you? You know, it's like, well, you know, yeah, there should be certain standards. And it's like, no, that's all gone. That's all out the way window. It's just what works and what doesn't work now, I guess. I don't know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Interesting times.

DJ Jon:

Yeah, I know. I love it, though. I love living in the future. You know, you can get an answer to everything. You can ask arbitrary questions to Google and it'll answer you. So that's pretty cool.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you still break dance?

DJ Jon:

No, I got bad hip. I can't do it. If I tried doing it now I'd be like, I would hurt myself.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I guess that is what happens. I guess as you get a little older.

DJ Jon:

Yeah, you get older and then the things start. If I try to do a swipe right now, I probably hurt my foot. Not good. I can do the weight, I can stand up and I can do the robot maybe. And that's about it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I guess we'll have to leave the moves to the younger generation.

DJ Jon:

Yeah, they can do it. They can do it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've been speaking with DJ John, who has been consistently voted Portland's number one DJ for over two decades. Recently, he formed Eventmix dj, a company that provides quality DJ services for events, weddings and birthdays. It's been fun talking to you. I thank you for coming in.

DJ Jon:

Thank you very much.

Max Davis:

Dr.

DJ Jon:

This has been fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And Spencer, you have been listening to Love Maine Radio. Our guests have included Sean McCarthy and Max Davis and DJ John. We'd love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Bellio. Thank you for allowing me to be

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

a part of your day.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

May you have a bountiful life.

[Unidentified voice]:

All is quiet on the western prom I hear the ground beneath my feet scrape and crackle as I move along There ain't nobody here but me but in a couple days they'll open its way of the gates and the streets of love With a thousand weights of evil victory Some helpless on their knees Some wander aimlessly throughout their days. For now it's quiet as I walk around over the hill into the East. They drink the coffee, sharing what went down. I shake my head.