detroit.dance - Detroit-dance-live-vol-032-dj-seoul

ROAD TO MOVEMENT SERIES

Welcome back 🙂

This week’s mix by DJ Seoul kicks off the Road to Movement 4-part series – it is my pleasure to have him on as a guest and I hope you enjoy his feature! Monday he mentioned some ways he was preparing for his Movement 2022 set, some tips for first-time festival attendees, memorable Movement moments, and some other details – check it out!

DJ Seoul is a super kind soul and extremely genuine – known for his involvement in the two super-collectives Detroit Techno Militia & Bang Tech 12. (Make sure you check out the Bang Tech 12 party on Friday May 27th at Bookies! It’s free!) We had a nice chat about his long history in the music industry, some memorable moments and “oops” moments during overseas gigs, what drives him to keep going, Twitch, bringing techno to Mars, how working with a collective of people has helped him grow, and more.

I hope you enjoy his mix and features this week.

Each mix will exclusively premiere on Deep Space Radio at noon on Wednesday – and then be available on the detroit.dance SoundCloud at 3:13pm EST.

detroit.dance: Describe “techno” in one sentence.

DJ Seoul: Techno has no rules, it can be and sound like anything. That’s what I love about it.

detroit.dance: For the people that don’t know you, talk about how you started and how you got to where you are now.

DJ Seoul: I started in like ‘95/’96 playing house music in Ann Arbor, Michigan and immediately fell in love with Detroit techno. I’d say within a few years I was already touring the country and then that turned into touring the world with the Detroit Techno Militia. I started putting out records in 2005 or so. Then everything really took off to where we were traveling a lot and doing a lot of big tours and here we are getting ready for Movement Festival 2022.

detroit.dance: Where did the name “DJ Seoul” come from?

DJ Seoul: It’s funny because DJ names aren’t really that cool anymore, but back in ‘96 they were. I struggled with it for quite a while but being ½ Korean and playing house music at the time, the double entendre “Seoul” and soul music spoke to me. It wasn’t that cheesy. And then it stuck. It’s only one syllable, not anything super extravagant, not anything trendy at one time because then it passes and you’re already outdated. I think I got lucky.

detroit.dance: What drives you both personally and musically?

DJ Seoul: I get a lot of work ethic from my parents, I really can’t stop moving, and multitasking…trying to get as much done as possible. We’re only on this world for a few milliseconds, really. So there’s not a lot of time to be wasted. It’s really, really important for me to be moving and hustling as much as possible. With music I love that you can be so creative and expressive, but at the same time there’s a business side of it too where you have to be working and calling and hustling and moving. So the combination of those things really drives me to do all that I can do all the time. I want to see how far I can go and what I can do.

detroit.dance: Bang Tech 12 – Talk about your involvement and what the future holds for you all?

DJ Seoul: Bang Tech 12 started right around when I started DJing in 1996. It was myself, Greg Montgomery (Rest in Peace), Scott Coleman and Brandon Watkins. We were a really talented and young group that wanted to do some things together. It’s been 26 years now. We put out a record and a few CDs… it was more like a talent agency at first, doing some bookings and managing some contracts for all of our crew. That grew until we were at the point of being in about eight different countries at once. Since 1996, we’ve had over 100 members.

Right now we’re in a pretty comfortable spot. We throw a few events a year that are always free. We do our big one the Friday of Movement Festival weekend – This year it’s Friday May 27th. It’s at Bookie’s – four floors, lots of musicians. We will also be doing some free pop-up parties on Belle Isle this year and some other pop ups as well. We are also on Twitch now, we actually have a guest from the UK playing as we are doing this interview. We do a show every Tuesday from 7-11pm. This Friday on Good Friday we are doing a big 13-hour event from 12pm-1am EST. We have a lot of fun stuff in the works and are really excited about what the future holds.

detroit.dance: Why do you keep the events free?

DJ Seoul: It makes it so much easier logistically when it’s free. Plus, we’ve all made plenty of money doing this and I’m not trying to charge $5 door at a party to see 100 people. Why not have a free party and see 600 people? We do a lot of fundraising through our online streaming and through donations, so it’s not like we’re losing money. We’re not trying to turn it into $1000s. Why not make your money playing elsewhere? A lot of us travel out of state or overseas for gigs. We like to have a lot of fun in our hometown. The people here have supported us this whole time.

detroit.dance: What’s the streaming schedule on Twitch for you and for Bang Tech 12?

DJ Seoul: I play on my page @Seoul313 every Wednesday 7pm-11pm & every Sunday 8pm-10pm EST unless I’m on tour.

My page is blowing up way more than I expected it to. I do a lot of styles there. I play a lot of techno, classic electro, house, and old school… I’m having a lot of fun with it. It’s a different audience, a looser feel, and a different kind of performance. There’s a lot more technology involved than just a regular DJ set.

The Bang Tech 12 page @bangtech_12 is on every Tuesday from 7pm-11pm EST. We also do a couple on holidays and special events.

detroit.dance: Can you talk about your involvement with Detroit Techno Militia?

DJ Seoul: I joined DTM in 2007. I had always been a big fan of Tom & Angie Linder – If you don’t know them, they are two very important people in the Detroit Techno scene. We did a show together in Lansing with Juan Atkins and I told Angie that she should put me in Detroit Techno Militia. I was half joking but also not really. About a week later, I got a call from Tom asking me to be a part of it and the rest is history. That’s when I solidified my team of people I surrounded myself with. We’ve been able to go so far together… We’ve seen the entire world through music and there’s no stopping it.

detroit.dance: With playing gigs around the world comes good tour stories, what are some of your favorite tour moments?

DJ Seoul: Italy is my favorite place to go play – from Rome south. They love hard techno so Tom and I fit in there really well. They don’t speak a lick of English but we go anyway. The food is amazing, the people are beautiful, and their passion for techno is so awesome. The same goes for Australia, but they can speak English of course. In Europe you will meet a lot of people that are obsessed with Detroit and Detroit Techno and they may know more about it than you do. But you learn so much from people abroad, you absorb so much culture and it’s great.

detroit.dance: I heard something about the King’s Day Event – what happened there?

DJ Seoul: It was about 2010 in Holland. The biggest holiday of the year was called Queen’s Day for her birthday, but now it’s called King’s Day because the Queen retired. We got invited by our buddy Ziggy to play the huge festival and we had no idea what to expect. We get there, and the city is filled with people. There’s about 50 stages all across the city, it was like 10 different Movements all at the same time. To get to our stage we had to walk through roughly 12,000 people. We start playing and the crowd is going crazy…but then the mayor of the town comes up to introduce himself and ask if we can stop playing. Apparently they had gotten word from the police that the Soccer Hooligans were on their way to the city so they were shutting down all the trains and essentially the entire city and festival. So that was my introduction to playing in Holland. Google who they are if you want to know exactly who we were going to be dealing with – they fuck shit up and play happy hardcore the whole time. At least I have a cool story.

detroit.dance: Can you recall an “oops” moment you ever had while touring overseas?

DJ Seoul: Oh, here’s a good one. Tom and I were in Paris, France about six or seven years ago and had a gig in Muenster, Germany to go to. So we went to the train station to purchase two tickets to Munster, Germany. It seemed like no problem at all. We got our tickets. We get on the train and I’m looking at the GPS on my phone. And I’m like, “Dude, this train is going in completely the wrong direction.” And nobody spoke English. We got off the next exit, which was Bern, Switzerland, to find out that we were heading to Muenster, France. Way on the other side of France. Way wrong. We would have failed the Amazing Race that day. Luckily, that’s why we always prepare ahead of time and we had an extra day to get to the gig that time. So we were able to work it out. And I remember when it was happening, I looked at Tom and he was like, “Hey man, that’s showbiz.” He was so right. But we made it to the show.

detroit.dance: How has surrounding yourself with several collectives of people helped you grow professionally and personally?

DJ Seoul: Working with others is what I prefer. I’ve always been interested in helping and mentoring the people around me to be better. I’ve learned from other’s mistakes and when you’re with a group you have so many people that can have your back. Sometimes you need a little bit of encouragement or sometimes you need a little bit of criticism. That doesn’t happen when you’re sitting in an echo chamber. It only happens when you’re working with groups. I’m very, very fortunate to be working with two very successful groups and get to be the cog that’s in between the two of them. There’s so many young people that are coming up in the scene now that haven’t paid their dues and could benefit from a few of these stories. I’d love to be right there to help them because I’m not going anywhere.

detroit.dance: What are your general hobbies?

DJ Seoul: Music! I’m into a lot of cool stuff. I love playing video games like Call of Duty and various fantasy/RPGs, hanging out with my friends, traveling for music and personally. I love hanging out with my girlfriend, going on road trips and stuff. Those are my hobbies, but it all starts with music.

detroit.dance: What do you do for work?

DJ Seoul: I am a Creative Pro at Apple. I’m the teacher that teaches all the old people how to use their phones and iPads and computers for the first time, and who teaches young kids how to draw on iPads and do all kinds of cool stuff at the Apple store.

detroit.dance: Wow, how did you fall into that role?

DJ Seoul: I got a job at Apple as a technician, and became a Genius Technician there for five years and then because of my easygoing nature and knack for being in front of people, they said I’d be perfect to be one of their teachers. So I did it. It’s worked out pretty well for me.

detroit.dance: What’s your favorite color?

DJ Seoul: Blue, but also Black and Purple and anything with prints.

detroit.dance: Would you wear a purple cheetah print suit?

DJ Seoul: *laughs* No, but that’s a good visual. Maybe a shirt that’s under another shirt.

detroit.dance: What’s your favorite animal?

DJ Seoul: Dogs. I have a Boston Terrier.

detroit.dance: If you were offered a place on Mars or whatever planet with a couple friends of yours, would you go?

DJ Seoul: Fuck yeah why not. You have to work for everything you have, so if someone offered you some free shit like that then fuck yeah. Even if you get there and it looks like some horror movie.

detroit.dance: Would you be the one to bring techno to Mars?

DJ Seoul: Fuuuuck yeah. Of course, let’s go! I’d spend all my resources making a bumping sound system and then eventually die because I’m playing music all the time instead of farming. But why not? Let’s be adventurous. It’s so easy to say no and not do anything. It’s so easy to say “I’m tired” and not leave the house. We need to start bringing more “Yeah, let’s do it.” energy.

Keep up with DJ Seoul on his socials:

Keep up with Bang Tech 12 on their socials:

Keep up with Detroit Techno Militia on their socials: