Student DJs bring flavor to campus parties
Going by different aliases, student DJs play a crucial role in the Dartmouth social scene. From playing at fraternity and sorority formals to smaller charity events, these students are campus celebrities of sorts, at least under their DJ names.
Ryan Collins ’13 started DJing in high school, but didn’t get more serious until he arrived at Dartmouth. Collins, who goes by the name DJ RyCo, said that the name originated from high school through playing sports.
“It’s catchy, I’m pretty happy with it,” said Collins of his DJ name.
Matthew Stanton ’15, who goes by the name DJ Knightlite, got his name from the color of his hair.
“I’m red-headed, so in the basement it still shines like a night light,” said Stanton, who was given his moniker by friend, mentor and fellow DJ Fierce Brosnan, or Charlie Laud ’14.
Laud said he came up with his name from his experiences growing up.
“Pierce Brosnan’s portrayal of James Bond is essentially where I learned what it meant to be a man, and it’s good to be fierce sometimes,” he said.
Laud said he has been seriously DJing since his sophomore spring, when he was taught by the “late, great DJ Postman,” or Matthew Knight ’12, who had an impressive Dartmouth DJ career, including opening for Ke$ha in the fall of 2010.
DaVeon Smith ’15, who goes by the name DJ Cali Crisp, said he got his start when he “played around with a few Miniversity classes in the spring [of 2012].”
“I’ve always wanted to be not just the person at the party but the person controlling the music of the party,” Smith said.
Laud echoed Smith’s sentiment, and said his interest in becoming a DJ was to foremost play genuinely enjoyable music “for the people, not tasteless mash-ups to make fast cash.”
Other DJ’s careers also stemmed from an inherent love of music.
“I played percussion for 14 years and always had a fascination with music technology and audio engineering,” Collins said.
Stanton said he initially started to mess around with software because he “loved to dance and really enjoyed house music as it made [him] feel alive and energetic.”
When asked about DJ opportunities at their respective fraternities, the students gave various responses. Collins, a member of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, said his fraternity “tends to stay away from the whole dance party thing, [as they are] more mellow.” However, he said he usually DJs the occasional parties they host.
“We threw a concert earlier in the term and brought in a few producers from the greater New England area, so I opened and closed for that,” Collins said.
Stanton has started DJing seriously through events at his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. “I’ve done parties such as pop-punk,” said Stanton of Sig Ep’s termly 90’s-themed party.
The DJs are also happy to perform at other fraternities, with Collins citing Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity’s annual Green Key concert Gammapalooza, Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity’s ULTRA party and Alpha Delta fraternity’s white party as some of his favorite events of his Dartmouth career.
Smith has spun at hip-hop events at Cutter-Shabazz, and at NADness in the fall, a party hosted by the NAD (Native Americans at Dartmouth) house over homecoming weekend.
Laud mentions some of his career highlights as parties such as Sig Ep’s foam party, Beta [Alpha Omega fraternity’s annual Halloween party] House of Horrors and TDXmas.
Some of these DJs also showcase their work on various online platforms. Collins has an album-length collection of 18 remixes and mash-ups hosted on SoundCloud.
Laud also has “various projects in the works, [including] a digital synth ensemble with DJ Mashton Kutcher,” he said, referring to Akshay Kirtikar ’12. The two have formed a house collective known as Lake House Mafia.
While DJing is a huge part of these students’ lives at Dartmouth, whether it is a viable career path in the future seems uncertain.
“I have very little interest in being a standard resident club DJ but if the right opportunity arises I wouldn’t think twice about continuing,” said Collins. He will be working in Boston next year.
Smith is looking forward to DJing at home on his next off term, and Stanton hopes to get exposed to new software and get in to music production.
For now, these DJs are happy to be DJing and being a part of the music scene at Dartmouth.
“There’s a mutual feedback system with DJing,” Laud said. “The more excited a crowd is, the clearer the next choice of song is. They show up with a throbbing desire to get down and I melt their faces off with [my music].”