23.12.2020
This week’s feature is by TekNoNo – you may also know him as Noah or DJ Nono. A passionate, hardworking human being who I have been looking forward to working with. This mix he has created is like a journey through his mind, and very different from the other high energy mixes he has put out so far.
He has his own mix series called Lockdown 2.0, releasing weekly on SoundCloud and featuring artists from all over the states. He was also recently on the large SUPR FRNZ livestream put on by PVRTY HVRD, collaborates with That’s Our Friend often, and he has an upcoming release on Phunk Junk Records out of Chicago for his first track “Work” in January.
Big things are on the horizon for TekNoNo. In his interview, we talk about things like his two aliases, how he keeps things organized and how he de-stresses, the story of how he started DJing, his track “Work“, one thing he wishes he could change about the world, a goal for 2021, his experience skydiving, and more.
Be sure to check out his mix, on SoundCloud now.
detroit.dance: How did you get into DJing? What’s your story?
TekNoNo: When I was growing up, I stated that I had some surgeries from hockey and stuff back to back to back. I also lost a couple of friends in high school and in college to heroin. So actually one of my last surgeries that I had, the doctor was like , “Alright here’s what we’re going to give you for the pain…”, and I shut him down. It was a couple months after one of my friends had died from a heroin overdose. This was somebody that was really gifted in sports, and it took over his life and I saw that – and I’ve had my own personal struggles with addiction and opiates and stuff from having all these surgeries – but when I had this last surgery, when he went to write me the script for a pretty powerful opiate, I told him no. Instead of it, I took a different route by utilizing CBD. Before that surgery my grandma passed away as well, and before she passed away, she told me she was leaving me some money. She wanted me to get something that I was going to be able to remember her by, and that’s where I took my love of music and I went and got some DJ equipment. Just a small mixer with one little speaker, and instead of taking pain medicine throughout that surgery experience, I taught myself how to DJ. I’ve always had a love for music ever since I was a young kid, my dad raised me on “the good music” so to speak, the music that’s really gonna last the centuries… and that’s where it was born. But overall, throughout that experience and going through that surgery and really diving into DJing I found a completely different love for music. Now every time I DJ I think of my grandma, my Nonni, because she was the one that got me that equipment. I mean, I don’t think it’s unknown that this equipment is expensive, and when I finally got that equipment every party that I ever DJ’d, every wedding, every event, she’s always there with me. Another thing too, my grandfather was Ferdinando and we always called him Nono. So whenever I DJ I feel like I always have my grandma with me, my grandpa, I feel my friends around me and some of the things that I escaped from, learning to mix at the time that I did. It’s just a super spiritual experience for me every time that I get behind the decks.
detroit.dance: You have two aliases: DJ Nono and TekNoNo. What is the difference between the two and why did you create two separate aliases?
TekNoNo: Initially when I started DJing, I was DJing weddings, birthday parties, college parties, all that stuff. The first name that I went with was DJ Nono. All of my friends that I grew up with and played hockey with, and throughout my childhood he called me big No. Then in seventh or eighth grade when I finally got an Xbox, my Xbox name was Nono Skizz, and that’s where the Nono portion came from. Basically from that point on, after I had that name on Xbox, all of my friends called me Nono. Whether it was at hockey, school, or the outside world, everybody called me Nono. That’s where DJ Nono was born, and throughout the beginning of the pandemic, I wanted to switch it up a little bit because my love of music stems from house music. I wanted to create a different name that focused on nothing but house music… that’s where TekNoNo was born. All of the music that I’m producing, and a lot of the efforts that I’m putting in now are going directly into TekNoNo because that’s what I really want to do. DJ Nono got me a very good following and I made a lot of solid relationships, but the Top 40 stuff is… fun, but my love is in house music. That’s why the name change happened, and why I’ve been pushing so hard with TekNoNo.
detroit.dance: What do you think the pros and cons are that come with having multiple aliases?
TekNoNo: My move to separate DJ Nono from TekNoNo stemmed from the feeling that I don’t want when I start getting deeper into producing music and coming out with music more frequently, my name and the music I’m producing to be attached to a club that’s Top 40. I want to be able to separate my house music and my production from the Top 40 venues, and that’s not because I don’t like Top 40, it’s not because hip-hop sucks, I just don’t want bigger labels to be looking at me and being like, “Well this dude spins here, he’s doing Top 40 stuff, why is he in house music?”. I didn’t want there to be any sort of friction when it came to going deeper into house music, so I separated them and kept one in one place, and now I’m creating a new avenue for myself with TekNoNo.
detroit.dance: What do you do outside of music?
TekNoNo: So what I do outside of work is I manage Loss Prevention for a large Fortune 500 company. And it’s one of the largest stores in Michigan Indiana and Ohio. I’ve been with this company for almost four years. I started at the bottom level, and I worked my way up, got promoted a few times… and I’m an adrenaline junkie so obviously I enjoy things that are going to speed my heart rate up a little bit – so I fell in love with loss prevention, and just kind of doing what I can to support the community and keep people safe especially in a time like right now, where safety is the number one priority anywhere you go. It’s definitely been pretty challenging, but it’s been very rewarding at the same time so I definitely enjoy what I do.
detroit.dance: What are your hobbies outside of music?
TekNoNo: My hobbies consist of working out – I workout on a daily basis and that came from playing hockey at a young age. I played hockey for around 13 or 14 years until my body in high school kind of took a poop on me and I had four surgeries back to back to back, and they pulled me out of hockey. So I found a new hobby in boxing. And I was a trainer for Title Boxing for a little bit until really popping off with DJing, I kind of pulled back out of that. A lot of my time outside of my day job was spent producing music, learning the production of music, getting better at mixing and building relationships within the DJing field.
detroit.dance: You started playing your first track out recently called “Work”, which is being released in January on Phunk Junk Records out of Chicago. Here’s a three part question : Why Phunk Junk Records, what was your inspiration for the track, and how long has this track been in the making?
TekNoNo: So this track initially started as an idea with a buddy of mine in Miami who’s a very well known DJ/Producer out in Miami who has also been a very inspirational person for myself – both with production and DJing and the overall networking aspect of being a DJ. I went to Miami in October, came back and for two weeks I had COVID. So I was sitting in my basement trapped with my thoughts trying to figure out going from being a social butterfly, to being trapped in isolation and fighting off demons in my head. For a couple days I struggled. It was difficult. The hardest thing for me with COVID was battling myself because of being isolated after being a social butterfly for so long, it was like a culture shock. And after a few days of that, that’s where this track really came to life. I had a lot of partners, a lot of feedback, but that’s really when the track was born. As for Phunk Junk, I did have a couple of labels interested – but after utilizing some of my peers to get feedback on some of the contracts that I saw and some of the things that were sent my way, Phunk Junk seemed to be the right decision at the time. I had never played any shows in Chicago, so I thought that Chicago would be a good idea because it has always had a really big tech-house scene, they’ve got a big following there for house music, and one of my boys spoke pretty highly of the owner of Phunk Junk. They were interested in the track and we got it all signed up and are super excited for the release. The release is going to be on January 22nd. The presave date is on the 8th. So super excited for that one to come out. PVRTY HVRD and I have been working on a track together and I do have some other tracks that I’ve been working on as well by myself for the next ones. I’m just super excited to see what the future holds. Not even just for myself, I think the city of Detroit as a whole when this stuff is over and we finally get back to a period in time where we can go out and go to venues and go to shows, the city of Detroit is going to shine and shine bright.
detroit.dance: For this track you recently announced on the PVRTY HVRD SUPR FRNZ livestream that all proceeds from it will be donated to local organization That’s Our Friend, why did you decide to do that?
TekNoNo: So obviously the track name is called “Work”. And initially, I’ve been working throughout this whole pandemic – I’m considered essential, I’ve never had to collect unemployment, I never lost my business. Obviously my DJing took a hit, but I still have a source of income, I’m still paying my bills. I’ve been working closely with Alexa (Raedy Lex), who is the organizer and the head of That’s Our Friend, and speaking with her and hearing about her vision and all she’s done for local artists in the area, it’s the least that I could do. I know there’s a lot of artists struggling and they’re raising money to help them out during this time. I just want to make sure that I set the bar high when it comes to helping each other out, because at the end of the day one of the things that Alexa preaches with That’s Our Friend stuff “We get by with a little help from our friends.”. We’re all on the same team, and I think we need to do a better job of realizing that we’re not competing with each other. We’re all working together and I just want to make sure that all the artists in the area that they’re raising money for know that they’re not alone. I know some days are darker than others, some days feel a little bit more normal than others, but at the end of the day, I want to make sure that I do my job to contribute to the artists in the industry within Detroit and do what I do. I really just wanted to help Alexa out and do what I could to help really push the vision, because this That’s Our Friend movement that she’s creating is a really powerful statement. The collaborativeness behind it, it’s just something super spiritual and it’s super awesome, especially in a day like today where we’re ever so connected but at the same time we’re so distant. It’s super powerful what she’s doing and I believe in it wholeheartedly, and I want to make sure that I’m doing my part to really support it because the future’s so bright.
detroit.dance: It seems like you’re always on the go and doing something, how do you stay organized?
TekNoNo: Oh boy. My dad is probably one of the most anal people ever, but he comes with purpose. He has a to do list, he does everything by the book, and he doesn’t skip a beat and that’s where I learned my organization skills. My mom is very organized too. When it comes to getting things completed, one of my favorite quotes of all time is “Fail to prepare, you’re preparing to fail”. If you don’t have your checklist every day, if you don’t have your routine every day, it’s gonna be a little bit harder to succeed. You don’t want to get too wrapped up in a routine because then it feels like you’re doing the same thing every single day, but as long as you’re preparing yourself for the day and for the week and for the month, and you set your goals – you’re gonna accomplish them in one way or another. It’s all about just being prepared.
detroit.dance: Going along with being organized, what do you do to de-stress?
TekNoNo: I know everybody has different ideas, but I sit with God. I’m a man of God, I don’t know if I would necessarily label myself a Christian or a Catholic, but I’ve always found peace in sitting alone with God. For some people it’s yoga, some people it’s meditation… there was a period of time after all my surgeries where I did yoga about three days a week, and it’s fantastic. Now I sit and I pray. I pray before bed and I pray in the morning. The biggest thing outside of all that is to just breathe. The power of three deep breaths is pretty wild. So I would start there. Other things I do is working out daily, running, lifting weights, going home after Title Boxing and pounding on a bag for an hour… You have to find something that you can level yourself with because it is a very stressful time. There’s a lot of external factors that we’re all working through that we’ve never necessarily had to work through. It’s important to find things that can ground you and understand that everyone’s different. Find what works for you and run with it and don’t let anybody tell you that what you’re doing isn’t right. If it works for you then who cares.
detroit.dance: You started your own mix series recently called “Lockdown 2.0” that you post on SoundCloud. Give us the rundown on why you started it, how you select your artists, and how often you release?
TekNoNo: To be honest with you, during my lockdown period outside of the production of the track “Work”, I needed an escape. I was starting to lose myself. The first couple mixes that I recorded, I didn’t record them necessarily to post them, but they were pretty decent, so I was like “You know what, I’m gonna keep this going here”. When it comes to artist selection, I’m trying to select artists that haven’t necessarily been selected for other mixes. What If, the one that just released this week, shout out to him – he’s 16 years old. He is still in high school and he managed to get a degree in sound production while still going to high school and working a job full time. I want to be able to give people like him an opportunity to really showcase themselves, especially because at 16 I was just discovering SoundCloud. he doesn’t have access to a lot. I want to make sure that the people that I’m bringing on for the series, it gives them an opportunity to hit a new market of listeners. I have had so much help along the way, I just want to do my part in helping others succeed in any way that I can. I want to try and change it up a little bit and bring different sounds that maybe Detroit hasn’t heard before, too. Shout out to my girl Mahrin (Not So Human) from Miami. That was one of her first public mixes she ever released and it’s actually one of the top listened to Lockdown 2.0 mixes on my page right now at almost 1000 listens. Not So Human is gonna be a big name. She just needed a kick in the butt, and now look at her flourish! I essentially want to build a following and have all of us work together, because if they have a sound and their people like my sound, well guess what – now their people are my people and my people are their people. It kind of ties back into the That’s Our Friend thing, the best way to make it is together. And in terms of when I release, I initially wanted to do it every Monday. I’m pretty sure I’ve been consistent besides for one Monday and it was right at the time where things started to pick up at my day job, you know, being in retail, so I wasn’t able to get a mix out that week. I’d like to do one every week but at the end of the day we’re all human, and if I don’t get one out one week it is what it is.
detroit.dance: That’s like what I’m trying to do with people in Detroit, people starting off where I like their sound or people that are popping off like you or Botez, people that are doing something in the community that have something to say. I have friends and DJ’s I like in other places of course, but I’m trying to focus it on Detroit to start off with.
TekNoNo: The only thing I’m picky about is the style of music in which they play. For the most part, you’re probably never gonna hear me have a dubstep artist on there, but what’s crazy is What If is a four channel dubstep mixer – he is really really good at four channel dubstep mixing, but that’s not my thing. That’s not necessarily what I want the Lockdown 2.0 mixes to be about, so he jumped out of his comfort zone and made this mix that was released this week, and it’s good man. It is GOOD. Especially for somebody that DJs dubstep to step into tech-house and be able to throw a little bass house in there too pretty effortlessly, it was really nice to watch him challenge himself and succeed. When it comes to who and what I select it’s definitely gonna be more of house music, tech-house, bass house, and that’ll probably be it. Maybe some progressive here and there, whatnot depending on who the artist is and where they’re from.
detroit.dance: What are you thoughts on livestreams vs. live shows?
TekNoNo: I think every DJ would venture to say shows are the best – there’s nothing like having a bunch of people screaming in your face, whether it’s 50 people, or 500 people. Some of the biggest crowds I’ve played for were probably around 1000 to 1200 people, and there is no feeling better than being on stage and controlling a crowd in front of you. However, I do really like the different aspects that live streaming brings – you don’t get the immediate gratification of having a crowd react to songs that you play but it makes you focus a little bit more on the technique of the mixing, and the visual production or aesthetic features that a DJ has to bring in order to really create a full circle experience. So 100% I prefer to play for crowds, but I don’t necessarily mind the live streaming. The ones that I’ve done so far have been really fun.
detroit.dance: Do you have any streams or anything else coming out that we should look out for?
TekNoNo: I do have some things that I can’t talk about. One thing I can talk about though is if you did tune in to the SUPR FRNZ stream, we may be doing a New Year’s one, so stay tuned for that. Shout out to Ryan (PVRTY HVRD). He did a phenomenal job putting the SUPR FRNZ stream together, we raised $600 for Toys for Tots in three days. Ryan really deserves a lot of credit. He put in all of the effort for the stream, he did all the overlays he made all the flyers, single flyers for each artist image, he really put a lot of work into that. It was a really good time to get together with all those artists and to be able to give people something to do and listen to in this time. Definitely count on another stream there and maybe some one offs with RN ISMO. There will be some tracks from me that are released after January on some other labels as well.
detroit.dance: Here’s a COVID-19 three part question: How has this situation positively and negatively affected you, and what has challenged you to adapt?
TekNoNo: I think much like everybody, this COVID experience pushed me to really figure out who the hell I am. Especially at the beginning, both my parents were at our Florida house and my younger brother was up at Central, and I was in a house by myself. I went to work five days a week and then I would come home to a house, completely empty. I wasn’t prepared for that. I wasn’t really prepared to be alone with myself, because like I said earlier, I went from being a social butterfly to being forced to isolate myself – and in those moments it was really difficult. It got dark and it forced me to look inside of myself in spots that I never thought I’d have to, but I’m almost kind of happy for it because after struggling for a little bit trying to accept where we were in life and watching the world around us reach the levels that it did, I learned about a different side of myself that I never really have, and I grew into into a completely different version of myself. Evolved, in a sense, and it was partially because I didn’t have a choice. If I didn’t do that spiritual work, really looking within myself, strengthening my relationship with God, and reading the Bible every day, I don’t necessarily know where I would be, to say the least. Now that I’ve reached a point where I don’t really know what’s coming my way but I don’t really care, because I have so much faith in the future and in God that I just want to make sure that I do right by others. Whether that’s in music, whether that’s with helping artists with their music or giving artists a platform to showcase themselves, I really just want to try and hold people together as much as possible. There are a lot of people that are struggling and there are not a lot of people that lean on God, and whether it’s pushing people to God or just being a friend or being here to listen, I think that’s one of the biggest things that I’ve learned in this is that I just want to be here for people. It’s a tough and a dark world out there and I want to do what I can to make sure that others feel like they have a friend that they can talk to and come to about anything in life, because I know what it’s like to feel alone. And I know what it’s like to struggle alone. Like I said earlier, the only way we make it is together.
detroit.dance: Who or what inspire you?
TekNoNo: I wish I could legit name every person that has helped me along the way, because there’s been so many amazing people that have assisted with this journey. First and foremost, God is my biggest influence. My family, immediate and extended, even over in Italy, are my fuel and my biggest supporters. The business side of the industry I learned from DJ Godfather and DJ Chrome amongst so many other things. The production side started with Salsa, more recently it’s been RN ISMO, Unomas, and a lot of time with PVRTY HVRD. The list is endless. Last but not least, all the people that come to the shows and tune into the streams, pre-pandemic and even during. The crowd completes the experience. But in fewer words, I’m influenced by everything and everyone around me.
detroit.dance: What is one goal that you have for 2021?
TekNoNo: I actually am staring at my whiteboard right now with a list of labels that I want to be released on and I have six labels written on this board. My goal is to get a release on at least three of them.
detroit.dance: Sunset on a beach or sunrise in a mountain cabin?
TekNoNo: Beach. I think it comes from my love of Miami. One of my best friends in the world lives in Miami and I love it. Shout out to my Skizz Brother! There’s nothing like being on the beach in Miami. I will add, there also is nothing like sitting up north in my cabin in Caseville on the ground on a blanket looking at the stars. I love the stars.
detroit.dance: You went skydiving this year – how was your experience?
TekNoNo: I went this year in May, it was right after I ended a relationship. Unfortunately, I had a girlfriend that lived in Toronto at the time. And obviously with the pandemic and not being able to travel back and forth to Canada it put a lot of unnecessary stressors in our relationship so we came to a mutual agreement. Then like two days later I went skydiving with my boy Josh Bruckner – shout out to him and the J80 fam. It was one of the most exhilarating and life changing moments that I’ve ever had. As soon as I jumped out of that plane, I felt so small and that all of my problems were so small. I felt so close with God being up there 10,000 feet in the air. That was the turning point that pulled me out of the funk that I was in. I recommend it to everybody that doesn’t hit the weight limit that they unfortunately have for skydiving. Go 100%, because it definitely changed my life.
detroit.dance: What’s one thing you wish you could change about the world?
TekNoNo: If I could change one thing about the world I would give everybody the ability to communicate through difficult subject matter absent emotion. What I think we’ve seen nowadays especially in the world of politics and all of the things that are flaring everyday in the world… I really wish that we could all develop the ability to communicate effectively through difficult subject matter, without the emotional piece. So we can all understand that we may be able to feel a little bit differently, but we don’t have to hate each other for that. If I feel one way about something and you feel one way about something that’s completely different. I still love you. You’re still my friend. I wish we could have more of that, because I think the ability to accept each other’s differences is important.
Make sure you check out TekNoNo’s Destination Detroit (Northern Lights Lounge), and his Recipes by Request that will be posted on Friday (Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs).
Keep up with TekNoNo on his socials: