“I’m not a glitch in the matrix, but when people see me they
should know I’m not a guy who’s a follower and I’m not afraid to be different.
When I moved out to L.A. from the East Coast to pursue my music, I didn’t chase
what other people were doing; I did my own thing. I started making bootlegs and
sampling everything and I stopped caring about what people thought about my
music. I just came up with my own brand of quirky,
bouncy house that blurred the lines between house, techno and electro. Then
people like Fatboy Slim and Chuckie started playing my records like ‘Booty
Move’ and my remixes of Tupac’s ‘California Love’ and Surecut Kids’ ‘Drunk In
This’, and things snowballed from there. Whenever people ask me about my style,
I just tell people I’m a product of the 90s because we grew up on all this
different shit being thrown at us. I’d be listening to the Beastie Boys, The
Doors, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Fiona Apple, Bob Marley. I was all over the place,
but it didn’t matter back then. The music I was into was honest; it had
substance. That’s the most important thing to me, and that’s what I try to
create with my music. A lot of my production is very diverse, at one end I have
people like Claude Vonstroke and Umek supporting me, and at the other end I
have people like Knife Party. ‘Funky Vodka’ is probably the track I’m most
proud of; it was pretty cool to see an old school sample-based house tune make
it to the overall No.1 spot on Beatport. Producing fulfills my creative side,
but DJing is my release. I’m almost snapping crossfaders off mixers because I’m
so amped up; I just want to get up there and destroy everything. I want people
to come away from my sets thinking that TJR brought something that we’re not
used to seeing anymore. Too many DJs and performers nowadays just stand up
there and stare into their laptops like a deer in headlights. For me, there
still needs to be a stage performance; you still need showmanship. I grew up
listening to mixtapes from Chicago house DJs like Badboy Bill and Terry Mullan,
these guys brought hip hop turntable techniques to house music and made it
acceptable. I do a lot of scratching, I throw a lot of samples in and work the
faders. I want people to see there’s actually something going on behind the
decks. For me, that always creates the best vibe and the most energy. I want
people to let loose. I want them to let out their inner freak. Be as weird as
you want—I’m going to be weirder than anyone up on stage.” - TJR,Listen song here:YouTube
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