Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Culberson.
Hi Trevor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always been surrounded by music and its the one thing that I’ve always been able to fall back on. My parents both gave me their love for music and my sister and I both have found our avenues with it. I started DJing in High School, fell in love with it, and picked up a job at my local skating rink as a DJ to chase the high it gave me. From there, I gained my ability to read a crowd and understand what I should play. With influences like DJ AM, DJ Craze, Fourcolorzack, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Skratch Bastid, and way too many more to mention. my eyes were really opened to what the possibilities of DJing were. After spending around 5 years tearing my way through south Florida, I decided that I wanted to push myself further and I relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I always say tell myself, I don’t do this because its easy.
I’ve had equipment failure, I’ve had to DJ in mindsets that were detrimental to my sets, I’ve been boo’d once, but I don’t really sweat that one because it was from a group of fans of the Dave Matthews Band.
I’ve also been stubborn on having help in private gigs, doing entire weddings by myself, working 3 gigs a day, djing 10+ hours straight. But none of it really feels like work when its something you love.
The last challenge I’ll mention is that it isn’t enough to just be a DJ anymore. I’ve had to learn to work with cameras, edit down to the highlights, operate as my own SEO to try and understand the algorithms of social media, post regularly to try and remain in the zeitgeist. It’s a lot to keep up with but you can either adapt to the game that you’re playing, or get left behind. It’s been long established that talent as a DJ doesn’t cut it anymore.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in open-format DJing, which can be a word that means different things to everybody. There are way too many different genres of music I like to really limit myself to one. I like hip hop, r&b, soul, funk, edm, latin. My Spotify really seems to struggle to get a hold on what it thinks I want to listen to. I also have a strong appreciation for turntablism. I scratch and cut at home for fun a lot of the times. It is its own instrument, honestly.
I’d say my selection is what sets me apart. I dig a lot for music. With the rise of things like Spotify where you can have just about any song on demand, instantly, I feel it provides another challenge to DJs. Now we have to compete with that and the way I do that, is by putting a spin on the songs people know and love. What is the point in going out to a party if you’re going to hear the same songs you heard on the way there? I gotta challenge the crowd to either hear songs they don’t know, or songs they know in a way thats fresh and feels new.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Anyone can DJ, but I was lucky in the sense that I grew up with music. Its always been as familiar as a life long best friend to me. There are things I could’ve looked at as bad luck, but I’d rather look at it as a challenge to learn from.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Thedjmoose.com
- Instagram: @thedjmoose
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@thedjmoose.?si=K-zzPwTHfPDwa2OZ
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/PCEDTC7AIy8uYBY0cw
