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Interview | Questions & Answers With Kid Loose

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Kid Loose

Today I had the honor to interview Kid Loose, a veteran DJ from California who has many years of experience in the clubbing scene and has participated several times in radio shows. In the 90s he used to promote and play at underground parties. Consequently, he made a name for himself due to his energetic live sets. Time passed, and Ian Gottlieb (real name) makes a comeback in 2019 to shake any dance floor. Discover more below.

1 — Hello Kid Loose, can you describe your first show experience as a DJ?

Yeah, but it isn’t cute. I remember being very nervous and it was a massive rave that I had promoted in Oakland, CA. There was like eight or nine rooms of music and mine was the smallest, but still had a decent amount of folks in it… before I went on at least. I wanted to try and mix into the last track from the previous DJ as I was trying to demonstrate my medal as a DJ for several of my friends, who had recently filtered into the room for my set. Unfortunately, TRAINWRECK! Bad. Not a quick one either. I tried to get it back on beat repeatedly, but instead, I found myself overcorrecting one way and the other for what seemed like an eternity. It was a minimum of 45 seconds of “shoes in the dryer”. Funny thing, I didn’t clear the floor, yet. An awfully patient group at first, but by my third track, I was so rattled by the first mistake, that I had lost all sense of focus. It was like I didn’t know how to match a beat, at all. The dance floor was empty save for my few friends who just cheered me on like I was rocking the main room at midnight… bless them. Good thing I was a great promoter because I was given more opportunities which my talent hadn’t earned, but my hard work did.

2 — What do you miss from the 90s dance music scene?

So much. The general caring nature of partygoers as well as the number of entrepreneurs all in one place, hustling their asses off. Even the drug dealers had a hint of good nature and great business ethics. Example: getting a refund or replacement for your drugs if they didn’t “work” was as easy as asking the person you got it from. Usually a complete stranger you met upon arrival. Also, There was certain respect amongst other DJs and performers that you don’t see now. Back then, it was much harder to “fake” a performance. Ergo, anyone you were “competing with” for gigs, you knew that on some level, they had gone through what you had to, to get to that point. Had to spend $$$ on records and equipment. Had to learn to beat match which is a very long process to get dialed in enough to be in front of people trying it. I think I miss the opportunities the most. Back then, there were 2 or 3 or even 5 parties on any given Friday and Saturday night. All successful. Plenty of gigs for everyone. Not quite like that anymore.

3 — Is there any artist that inspired you to become a DJ?

Two actually. DJ King James (SF) and DJ Tosh (Sacramento). James’ older brother was a DJ and he let him play on it. That was when I was first introduced to mixing and scratching. Tosh was the first talented person to take me under his wing and breakdown the industry as a whole and where I saw myself in it. I was such a fan then… in fact, still,
am.

Kid Loose interview
4 — What’s the piece of gear you always need on the road?

Besides my headphones, I’m going to say a monitor (speaker). I don’t use the auto beat matching feature on most setups these days and still match beats the old way. To pull that off, I need a speaker right in my ear behind the decks.

5 — Please let us know more about your inspiration or track selection for your latest mixtape on Ghetto House Radio.

Radio mixing is different than club/event mixing. There are many levels of programming involved. It needs to be way more familiar than most House sets I would play because although it’s a niche audience, it’s still radio and people are tuning in to hear songs they already know and like. Also, there is a standard 1 male vocal, 1 female vocal rotation in radio that I tried to adhere to as well. That and remove any songs from being applicable, which could have been played in the last two hours and you can begin to see how your options get further and further narrowed down. Then I take into account the key of the various tracks to avoid key clashes and to have a harmonically sound mix. As it applies to this particular mix, I went with some slamming bootleg remixes of a couple of Pop hit tracks to stay away from other songs that were recently played and intertwined it with a couple of my own current favorites which I had recently acquired. Came out much better than I expected.

6 — Are you an active member of this radio station?

Not currently. This was a guest appearance hooked up by an old associate, Josser, who hosts the show. There are some really talented people (Nick G, Ron Reeser) that are in steady rotation as the GHR residents, along with the big names that play on that show weekly. So it could be a long wait for me to become a resident, however, I’ve been on this show several times before and can’t wait to do it again.

7 — What’s the name of the latest track you produced?

Still working on my first release. Kinda sad when you consider how long I’ve been doing this and moreover, that I had a full-time with benefits, producing job at one point. With that being said, I hope to have something out by the end of April! Where can we stream it? When I’m finished, it will be posted on SoundCloud and most of my social media.

kid loose dj
8 — Are you currently a resident DJ on any club in America?

I have a tentative residency set up at London in Sacramento California when that opens later this year. Other than that, no. I took a 9-year hiatus to work on my family life and now I’m trying to re-establish myself as someone who can still move a crowd.

9 — What’s one track that partygoers always lose their mind to?

Wow, that has changed over the years. I remember when tracks like “Children” from Robert Miles, “The Launch” by DJ Jean, and every Club Kids track had the same result back in the 90’s. Before a couple of weeks ago, any decent Michael Jackson remix would win the night easily. Nowadays, it’s not that simple. A great buildup combined with a slamming bassline re-entry will produce the same results that any hit song will… if played at the right time.

10 — Finally, do you think your music style still evolves?

Oh god yes. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have had the successes that I did. As musical artists, we all have a choice to evolve or become stagnant. Where do you see it going? Hard to say. The one consistent in my music selection is bass. I’m a bass head, plain and simple. I look to the history of genres like Hip-Hop for clues to where dance music is going as a whole and then adjust my course accordingly. I think with Hip-Hop, you had a unique sound that was expanded upon greatly when intermingled with other genres. Rock, Jazz and so on. Country seems like an obvious natural crossover to me, but for whatever reason, has rarely worked. I feel like dance can coexist with many other genres so I guess for me it’ll be finding the right combo, at the right time. I’m thinking a Folk, Hip-Hop and House combo is next.


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Hi, my name is Erick Ycaza. I have a BA in Advertising & Graphic Design. This blog is to provide you with daily music news and share my personal style.

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