..my freshman year college roommate came home one day with a pair of brand new Technics 1200 turntables & a Numark mixer. Around the same time, I had met a talented DJ, through a local online bulletin board system, who was weaving together an emerging distinct funky sound. She was very generous with her craft & started coming over to teach us a technical brand of mixing vinyl. I’d say that DJ’ing went from a hobby to an obsession very quickly as I started religiously practicing.
I needed a stage name for my mixtapes.
Honestly, I hated the concept of the iconic God-like DJ persona which was how many artists were beginning to market themselves at the time. So I decided to call myself “DJ Clueless”. A self deprecating rebuff to the cliche superstar image. I wanted the music to speak for itself and if you knew me then you’d see the irony in the name.
After mixing and distributing a few mixtapes I started getting local gigs and decided to mix & manufacture a signature CD at the beginning of 1996. I called it “Rise Up” and had large quantities professionally duplicated in Canada. At the time, only tapes were available at record stores, so my CD got to be featured next to a small handful of international artists who actually had a CD out at the time. This helped me get my name & sound out there and served as a great launching point to my college career. I proceeded over the next few years to support myself through school mostly by playing at events, principally in Florida, and selling mixtapes/CDs out of the trunk after gigs.
My moniker of DJ Clueless was truly active during the years 1995-2000. During this time period I was regularly playing at house parties or at events (325+ paid gigs, particularly at clubs/raves, during that stretch). Some of my most memorable sets were playing alongside the likes of Autechre, DJ Craze, Frankie Bones, Robbie Hardkiss, Uberzone, Dynamix II, Bad Boy Bill, Simply Jeff, DJ Monk, and many more incredible artists. There were also a handful of Florida artists who I had the most fun sharing the decks with, namely James Wolfe, DJ Icey, Stylus, Storm, Johnny Dangerously, Dakoowan and Huda Hudia. The genres I was most notable for was Electro, Progressive Breaks & Nu School Bass, but in the late 90s I began gravitating more towards Trance & Tech House. I even went through a turntablism phase, after playing at Salvation in Miami with DJ Craze, where I spent endless hours in my apartment practicing how to flare, crab, chirp, juggle, transform and slice up records (you will find influences of that throughout the music downloads section).
Towards the end of that time period, I became good friends with a talented producer/DJ named Seth Vogt and we ended up starting M-Toxin Recordings together in 2000 which is still a successful label today.
While some of my original music is still sold online, I decided to make this web page in order to give DJ Clueless a place to live on the internet too since the hay-day was essentially before the world wide web boom. On this site are DJ mixes I recorded live along with a handful of original songs.
If you’re interested in receiving new mixes, or ones I dig up, sign-up here and I’ll make sure you get a download link. You’ll receive something infrequently.
Although I don’t miss the horrendous sleeping schedule of that era (heck, prime time was at 4:00am+ in the 90s), I will always fondly remember the entrepreneurial lessons that I learned. Many of which helped me in college, during my MBA & in the business world. The essential lessons of networking, presentation, promotion & customer engagement. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me throughout the years sending me a positive message about a memorable night we shared at one of these events, this site is dedicated to you.
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Special thanks to the following people (my apologies ahead of time as I surely have missed someone who made a big impact on me): Juan, Suzie (RIP), Carlos & Robert of the original Culture productions, Roar for the good times & throwdowns, Geebo for believing in the funk with me, Corey for the 1st UV gig, Brian & Vinny @ Basscore for the awesome parties, Glyn for the amazing support, Jose for the awesome parties along with Sean V, Phil MoFlo & Wes for the Headlights shenanigans, Sontag for the late night explorations into sound & 24hour diners, Carli, Jenny, Dunnie, Lauderdale Rich, Jamie & of course Mike Groove – for amazing friendship & being there from the start, Dave, X-Press, Steve, Stretch, Zdanis brothers & Def Jeff at Sol-Rays for the great run, Fever for the bookings & great parties, Wendell & Merlyn & R-Fresh for playing the proper funk in S. Florida, Markie & Jason & Trancelot for the amazing times in Daytona, Orlando and online, Floorkilla, Tony, Lauderdale, Dunnie, Seb & early at The Edge Ft Lauderdale formative days (especially those in the back room! You know who you are), Versastyle & Davie D for showing me fresh cuts, Ray (RIP) for the bookings & support, Chillz (RIP) for the friendship & Fox Hole fun times, Artist Kevin & my personal jedi DJ Michelle for the mentorship, The UCF Family of friendship and support: Cuz & Lanie, along with The Crouch Twins, GMill, Druid, Schaefer, Barbs, Matt, Liv, Sarah, Justin, Jesse, Jeremy, Jim, Britt, Ingrid, Kelly, The other Dean, The Schreiners, Schaefer, DRock, Kenny (RIP), The Haucks, Bates, Mo, Jodie, Heather, Lindsay – and the whole Buckminster & Ft. Myers Crews who I couldn’t possibly fit all here, Paulie & Christian (RIP) for the late nights on the decks, Steve & Askew & Mot & Fuze & the rest of the Hillside era legendary Y2K times, Christine & Kevin for the fun house parties at their apartment, Lake Claire Crew; Jen, Nikki, Heather, Nicole & Corbett – I’ll never forget the legendary trips to Simons, Tamara & Kimber & Chinkara & Laurie & Annie & Maria & Jason & Keith & The entire Hoochie House crew for the memorable parties & amazing hospitality (shoes off! where are my shoes?), The Pyroglyphics crew pioneers: Jamey, Zon, Jay, Frank for inspiring me to become a marketer, Hiratzka, Justin, Hodak, G, Mike D and Damon for hosting and/or participating endless sessions at the pads, Ant Koora, Mason, Clemens, Stefan, Manny & Jorge – many good times and memories (why is there no ice in the ice machine?), Dig Doug, Smuv Tim & the UCF area crew, Rainbow Bridge & Force of Habit for the solid tracks, Christian & Leo & Michelle & Christina & Steve for being at many of my gigs and the Fontana/Park residents who had to listen to thousands of hours of practicing, Becky & Nick & Carrie & Paul & the whole ‘family’, Jen & Karen for the endless nights dancing, FL artists who inspired so many: D-Xtreme, Icey, Baby Anne, Q-Burns, Chris Fortier, Jimmy Van M, Daisy, Robbie Clark, Rabbit in the Moon, Andy Hughes, Bruce Wilcox (RIP), Dave Cannalte, Joe C, Soul Oddity, AK1200, Sharpe, Stryke & Dru. Kimball Collins & Doc Martin for releasing their United DJs of America mixes which served as a huge inspiration; truly the house & trance soundtrack for the mid-90s for me, DJ Icey for validating breakbeats & producing many of the first records I purchased. Alex, Jason, Cliff and everyone at the staple record stores of the era which procured most of the records I bought: Underground Record Source, The Drop Shop, In-House Style & Vinyl Frontier.
DJ Clueless Archive 