Digital Social Hour - From $200 Gigs to Global Tours: My DJ Success Story | Cedric Gervais DSH #1378

Starting point is 00:00:00 Once in a while, not boo the whole crowd, but you have those haters that come, I don't understand this thing, they come to your show and they just sit there, don't dance, look at you, give you the finger, or hey, push the phone, you suck, I'm like, why are you even on my show? That's crazy. You bought a ticket to come see me and you're insulting me, I mean it's like, it's... They're just hating no matter what. It is. No matter what song you put on, they're gonna be hating.

Starting point is 00:00:20 Well yeah, whatever. Hey, yeah. All right guys out here in Miami with Cedric, my man, how late were you out last night? Not that late. I was at 12 o'clock. Oh, that's not bad at all. Yeah, not bad. I know you live a pretty crazy lifestyle. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Usually you're out much later. Right? Usually I go to bed. I mean, when I don't work, I go to bed like nine o'clock at night. Yeah. So I try to live a very healthy lifestyle, but when I work, it's like, I don't work, I go to bed like nine o'clock at night. Yeah. So I try to live a very healthy lifestyle, but when I work, it's like, I don't get any sleep like on the weekend. I'll play until two and then I have a flight at 6 AM in the morning.

Starting point is 00:00:53 So I sleep like two hours to get to the next city. Does that ever take a toll on you? Like burnout? A little bit. I mean, I've been doing this for like close to 20 years now. So it's like, you know, the traveling takes a lot out of me. Yeah. Have you slowed down at all?

Starting point is 00:01:08 Do you think you'll keep doing another 20 more years? I don't know. I, the thing is I love doing what I do. You know what I mean? So it's like, I haven't thought about slowing down. It's just, it's just traveling gets harder and harder on me. Yeah. That's the only thing that that's happening.

Starting point is 00:01:24 You do a lot of international traveling. me. Yeah. That's the only thing that that's happening. You know, you do a lot of international traveling. Yeah. Yeah. International travel. But even in the United States, I mean, I compare it. When I tour in the summer in Europe, the countries are so close to each other. So it's an hour flight, two hour flight, three hour flight. When in America, when I'm in Miami, I got to go to Vegas six hours.

Starting point is 00:01:43 You know what I mean? I cross the country all the time. And sometimes I do Vegas and then I got to go to Vegas six hours. You know what I mean? I cross the country all the time. And sometimes I do Vegas and then I have to go to New York the next day. It's, it's, it's long flights. Yeah. That Vegas to Miami flight is brutal. Cause then you lose three hours to do it. And I do it twice a month.

Starting point is 00:01:55 I have my residency. So it's like, really, how's the Vegas market been lately? It's great. I mean, it's been, it's been amazing for me. It's been 15 years in Vegas. Yeah. You know, Resident of Tao group and I'm playing this incredible venues. Tao Beach, Omnia, Akasan, Marquee.

Starting point is 00:02:13 So, and I mean, I've seen Vegas. To be honest, the first show I ever done in Vegas was at Empire Ballroom. I don't know if you remember that club. I never heard of that club. It was a club off the strip. And at the time there was no house music. There was no DJs playing in Vegas.

Starting point is 00:02:29 It was sitting, John performing a bunch of promoters. So I remember I did the show on Powerball room. Gino, which is the owner of 11 now used to own Empire Ballroom. So they threw me over there and I'm playing there. Nobody else music, dance music was not big at the time. So I show up there and there was like 10 people in front of me. But the funny thing is Chuck Liddell was hanging out with me in the DJ booth with his girlfriend.

Starting point is 00:02:57 He was high as fuck behind me. I love that. And I was like, what am I doing here? This market sucks. It's like, what is this? And then you fast forward later, DJs on Billboard everywhere. I got my own Billboard in Vegas

Starting point is 00:03:11 and it's like DJs everywhere blowing up pool parties. And it's like, it's crazy. So I really seen Vegas going from massive performer, like Sid and Dion, being the headliners, then now Stevie Oakey, Fisher, you know, like Alesso, myself, like everybody headlining the big hotels. That's crazy. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:03:30 And you said earlier Omnia is like one of your favorite spots, right? To me is one Omnia is one of the best club in the world. I mean, the design that the chandelier that they have, the sound system, the crowd. I mean, I love that club. It's one of the best. Wow. Yeah. Damn.

Starting point is 00:03:42 I didn't know Vegas was dead like that 15 years ago. Yeah. Vegas is amazing. Holy crap. How's one of the best. Yeah. Damn. I didn't know Vegas was dead like that 15 years ago. Yeah. Vegas is amazing. Holy crap. How's Miami market been? Miami market is amazing. I mean, you know, I'm from here 25 years. I've seen it grow as well. When I came here, none of the building

Starting point is 00:03:55 that you see in downtown, the skyline of Miami existed. It was very dangerous to go cross the bridge from Miami beach. All the clubs were in Miami beach at the time that I got here. And they would tell you, if you cross the bridge from Miami beach. All the clubs were in Miami beach at the time that I got here. And they would tell you if you cross the bridge and go downtown, you're going to get shot. Damn. That's when I got to Miami.

Starting point is 00:04:12 Yeah. So, so what you see right now, Brickle, you know, Midtown Design District, nothing actually got robbed, almost got robbed in Design District. Damn. There was one plumbing store that was in the design district. And I went there and I parked my car and I start walking. Two guys with guns like start following me because I was wearing a Rolex at the time.

Starting point is 00:04:33 Yeah. And I called it right away, ran back to my car and left. And this is the design district now that you have Air Mass, Gucci and everybody's walking around. I almost got robbed over there like 15 years ago. Holy crap. Well, there's certain parts even today that are kind of dangerous out here, right? Yeah, but I mean, it's walking around. I almost got robbed over there like 15 years ago. Holy crap. Well, there's certain parts even today that are kind of dangerous out here, right?

Starting point is 00:04:48 Yeah, but I mean, it's safe. Miami is a safe city. I mean, if you play around, you know what I mean? And I don't think there's robbery everywhere, but it's pretty safe. I mean, our mayor's amazing. Francis Suarez is an amazing. If you're building something,

Starting point is 00:05:01 doesn't matter if it's a business, a brand, or just a better version of yourself, then you already know the work never really stops your brain is always on Ideas at 2 a.m. Problems at 3 plans at 4, but here's the truth If you never shut down you're going to crash fast. That's why I use Sambrosa. It's not hype. It's not some trendy sleep pack It's a legit syrup that helps you fall asleep when your brain won't let you. You take it and 20 to 30 minutes later, you're out. Not groggy, not drugged up just to sleep like you're supposed to be. Then you wake up clear with no brain fog, no dragging yourself out of bed, you get your hours in and

Starting point is 00:05:35 you actually feel like you slept. Sleep isn't optional. It's not self care. It's strategy. If you're not getting it right, you're leaving energy, focus and money on the table. Sambrosa helps me sleep. It helps me execute, that's the only reason I talk about it. If you want to get ahead, start by getting real rest. Check out the link below in their website, www.sambrosasambrosa.com. The cops here are like keeping the city safe. And I don't think there's any problem in the city.

Starting point is 00:06:06 I mean, there's problems everywhere, but it's a great city. Yeah, the energy out here is just amazing. Yeah, it's amazing. Everyone's in a good mood. Business out here is phenomenal. Business is phenomenal. Everybody's in a good mood. I mean, the weather, you can beat the weather all year long.

Starting point is 00:06:20 I mean, the summer gets very hot and humid, as everybody knows. But the weather, it's a very Elfy city. I mean, as you can see, everybody's into the gym. Everybody's like, uh, has a healthy lifestyle here. And, uh, it's, it's, it's, it's a party city. This thing going on all the time. And then, you know, our Basel Miami music week now F1 Miami. It's crazy.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Yeah. It's not you. You still performing in New York too? Yeah, I do. I perform in New York as well. Marquis, it's one of my residency in New York. I've been performing in New York. I love the city in New York.

Starting point is 00:06:56 Yeah. Really. Yeah. Actually two of my biggest song, I made them in Harlem in a studio there. In Harlem? Yeah, there. In Harlem? Yeah, Harlem, I swear to God. It was actually the studio, Mustard,

Starting point is 00:07:12 the guy that did the song. DJ Mustard? Yeah, DJ Mustard. It was his studio. I didn't know, I was working in that studio in Harlem and somebody told me, you know, this is like the DJ Mustard room. So I made Summertime Sandness and Molly in that studio. Wow. Yeah, I swear to God.ness and Marlee in that studio. Wow. Yeah. That's

Starting point is 00:07:26 nuts. The vibe, the whole vibe of Harlem was like, I love New York. I love the energy of New York. Yeah. That was your first Grammy, right? Summertime Sadness. Summertime Sadness was my first Grammy. Yeah. That's nuts. That must've been the craziest year of your life. That was crazy. Yeah. That was a crazy feeling. It was, um, like I explained to everybody when I did this song, it was like, I was actually on the way finishing it. I was on the way from Miami to Orlando to play EDC Orlando. And I just finished it, putting the final touch in the car was driving my tour manager to EDC Orlando and I played it that night and I was like, wow, like

Starting point is 00:08:01 the social media response of it was crazy, right? But I never thought I was like, okay, cool. So I'm going to get my friends, my DJ friends to play the record. That's that was my goal. I want all the big DJs to play the record. So I start sending it out, everything. So DJs start playing the record. Then gets released, goes on Beatport, which is a DJ website, goes number one on Beatport.

Starting point is 00:08:23 I'm like, that's it. I made it. That's that's great this is amazing right. Then radio stopped playing the record I'm like oh cool dance radios I'm like this is great man this is I never expected that and then Top 40 radio stopped playing the record I'm like oh god now we got something big and then fast-forward we sold 8.1 million single I don't know how many streams now we had and then again Grammy nomination for it. But it's not like, it's a record that was not planned. We did it with my friend Carlos Sid, which is the producer I produced it with. We did it in two hours. My manager got the vocals, said, hey, I got the vocals. I'm friends with the manager of Atlanta. Here's the vocals. What do

Starting point is 00:09:00 you think? I say, what? This is one of my favorite songs favorite songs I'm like I always wanted to do a bootleg of the song great two hours song is done I go to DC Orlando play it and see the reaction of the crowd that's crazy was nuts but you hear stories like that all the time or like the artist makes a song in like an hour and it's always the songs that you make in an hour or two hours that become to me and the experience of all my other friends that in the business it's always the song that gets done in two hours that become big. Songs that you keep coming back and working and working and trying to change it never go anywhere. I mean for me.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Yeah that's interesting I wonder what the reason like the I don't know I don't know it's crazy it's like maybe a magic that happened I don't know. Yeah I guess because you're just truly coming on the fly. You're not overthinking maybe. Yeah, I think that's what it is. And it's actually, I did another one recently and I told my manager, I did it in two hours and it's like, it sounds like a very big, big song. And I did in two hours. And he goes, maybe we should change. I said, listen, let's not overthink this. It's working. I tried it on the crowd.

Starting point is 00:10:05 Let's run with it. You know what I mean? Yeah, is that how you test out stuff? You play it in the crowd first? Yeah, so the luck that we have as DJs, right? It's like you produce something in the studio and then you're in front of a crowd, different crowds every weekend.

Starting point is 00:10:18 So you test out the record and you see the reaction of the people. You test out the record. So you play a record that knows that work. I'll give you an example, like a John Summett record, I play a David Guetta record that works, that you know is gonna get the crowd, and then you play your record right after, and you see the reaction of the crowd.

Starting point is 00:10:33 You see, and then you see the way, you know, when you do a record, there's a structure of the record. There's the intro, the breakdown, the build, you know, the first drop, second drop, whatever. So you see, and you see, okay, the structure is wrong. We've got to change that. People were not dancing here. I lost the crowd there.

Starting point is 00:10:51 Or it just sucks. It doesn't work. You know what I mean? So you see it, you know, as pop producers, big pop producers, they make songs. And then they put it out there and then, you know, and they see, okay, let's see what happened. That makes sense. Are you worried about AI at all? Because there's a lot of talk about that.

Starting point is 00:11:05 No, actually embrace AI. I think it's great. I mean, there's a lot of things that, uh, I don't think AI is never going to, you know, replace the, the soul of things. I don't think, you know what I mean? Like the human soul into the music, but it helps. I mean, I use AI to like, sometimes, you know, sometime you like, you want to try, you take a sample of a song and say, I want to redo this song.

Starting point is 00:11:30 So back in the days, you got to replay the sample or you got to call the label and say, give me the parts, separate parts. Now AI can take the sample and separate all the instruments for you and give it to you on the fly. That's crazy. So I want the guitar, I want the drums, I want give it to you on the fly. That's crazy. So I want the guitar, I want the drums, I want the snare, I want the vocal. Real quick in the studio, boom, separates everything. You take the vocals, you do the demo after obviously for legal reason, you got to re-sing

Starting point is 00:11:56 the song, you got to replay the instrument. You can use the original production, but you can start producing the song and see if it works. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. I didn't know it was out of business. I mean, AI can make...

Starting point is 00:12:09 You can actually... I was with David Guetta at one point and he was working with Google. I remember on something that they're working together and he was showing me like, there's an AI that you can say, hey, I would like a song that sounds like Avicii that talks about this and the thing will produce the song completely. But when he played me a track, I was like, no, you produce this track. He goes, no, man, it's AI.

Starting point is 00:12:37 Wow. I say, no way. It's like you did this record. Like this is like, you're trying to like, he goes, no, I swear to God. It's like I said, I want a song like Avicii that talks about this, that sounds maybe a little bit like Coldplay and the AI thing produced the whole thing. It's insane. That's not.

Starting point is 00:12:57 I mean, obviously you can hear that you have to fix some parts because it's very, it's a computer doing it. So you got to read, you because it's a computer doing it. So you got to read, you know, but the idea is there. This is what's crazy. Yeah. So it just makes your life easier. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:14 How has social media and specifically like TikTok changed the game for you? For me, not yet because I haven't connected with TikTok yet, but I mean, I see for artists. I'll give you an example. David Guetta, my best friend. Uh, the song they did, I'm good. Right. So he does this song with Bibi Aurexa long time ago in the studio. Right.

Starting point is 00:13:36 And he tries it out in the, in the festival and he's like, yeah, maybe one day we're going to release this song. Somebody recorded that song with video. Yeah. He takes the recording, put it on TikTok and does a dance video with it. And then all the influencers catch on, start doing the same thing. The song blows up on TikTok, like blows up, becomes the biggest song. But nobody, it doesn't say David Guetta, doesn't say anything.

Starting point is 00:14:03 They just as the audio blows up, David Guetta goes out. Oh, my God, we have to put out this song. But nobody, it doesn't say David Guetta, it doesn't say anything. It just, as the audio blows up, David Guetta goes out, oh my God, we have to put out this song. So they finished the song right away. They put it out. The song goes number one worldwide because of it. Damn. So it was not planned. It was not like, let's do a campaign, let's pay those influencers, let's do this. It's just some random fan recorded him in a festival goes, Oh, I like this song. He was testing it out. Like I was telling you, we're testing out the records on the thing. And blew up on TikTok. And then the song went number one.

Starting point is 00:14:36 I did a remix of that song that went number one on dance radio in America. And then is original when number one on Billboard chart in America. So it's crazy and all started from TikTok. That's chart in America. So it's great. And all started from Tik Tok. So, I mean, it's changing the game for a lot of people. You've heard that with a lot of artists too. One song on Tik Tok gets a billion views and then. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:53 And you can, and that's the thing is you can, even if you're trying to spend money and say, I'm going to pay those influencers to use the song, it's not guaranteed, you know what I mean? It happens if it needs to happen. It's just like, you can, there's no logic to it. There's no strategy. Yeah. There's no strategy.

Starting point is 00:15:11 There's no, I mean, I'm sure it helps if you pay the influencers. There's a lot of followers. So they hear the song, but it's, it's got to catch on fire. Yeah. It'll help like short term, but for short term, catch fire. It's like, I just gave you an example that just started like organically like, and then went crazy to the top. Yeah. 100%.

Starting point is 00:15:29 You still going to France a lot. I go to France a lot in the summer. I do a show, one show in the summer in a club called Amnesia. It's like the biggest club in the world in France. That's the only thing, but the French market is very difficult. Really? They support only French artists that are from France. And it's crazy because the French

Starting point is 00:15:52 crowd don't see me as a French artist. They see me as an American artist. Really? It's the craziest thing. And I'm French for must say. You grew up there, right? Yeah, I grew up there, must say. But since my career blew up in America, they don't see me as Bob Sinclair, David Guetta, Martin Solveig, they don't see me as those guys, or DJ Snake, or like I'm the guy from Miami.

Starting point is 00:16:12 Wow, that is interesting. They hold a grudge against you. Yeah, I don't know if they do, but it's weird. Damn, are you going to Cannes next week? No, no, I don't have time because the film festival always lands on, I think it lands the week before Memorial Day weekend, right? Yeah, it's May 18th or something. Yeah, I'm always busy.

Starting point is 00:16:37 It's such a big thing in America, so I never have time to go to Cannes film festival. Where do you do Memorial Day, usually Miami or Vegas? Memorial Day weekend I'll be in LA, Zouk. Normally I do Vegas or Miami. It's always like, you know. How has LA been? Because I saw an article come out saying the market is struggling there.

Starting point is 00:16:52 Is that true? Yeah, it's struggling. The clubs in LA, I mean, Insomniac, they have, you know, with Exchange and Academy, which I recently played there and sold it out. It's one of my favorite club in LA. And, uh, but it's hard. It's hard. There's so many things going on in LA and in LA, every time you perform in LA,

Starting point is 00:17:12 there's always like a thousand party going on. You know what I mean? Yeah. A lot of competition. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's tough. LA is a tough market, especially for the VIP market, I think in LA. I mean, you always hear like clubs that open in LA

Starting point is 00:17:26 or restaurants and they last three, four years and then they disappear. I don't know why it's always like it's hot for two years and then they go to something else. Well, a lot of people from LA moved to other cities too. Miami, Vegas, Texas. Yeah. Do you think it's something to do with blue states, red states?

Starting point is 00:17:46 I think that's part of it. I think the state tax is insane. Yeah, the state tax is a big thing. Yeah. I think the cost of living, crazy. Like, to get a house out there, you're spending five million. Yeah. You know?

Starting point is 00:17:57 And I think it has to do a lot with the way they run the cities. Oh yeah. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. I mean, I can tell you, I live in Aspen as well, and I live in Florida. So I live in the blue states and I live in the red states.

Starting point is 00:18:10 The difference between those two, it's crazy. Night and day? It's night and day. Damn. The way the cities are run, the way the, and I have a business, I have a restaurant and a club, very successful restaurant called Madam Mushi in Aspen, and a club.

Starting point is 00:18:24 And I can tell you that it's very, very difficult to do business in the blue States. And again, I'm not into politics. I'm just, I'm just telling you that I live in two different States and I see the difference people, the way the people, I feel like there's a lot more Karen's in Colorado that there is in Florida. You know what I mean? So that's what I'm going to say. Well, also Aspen is a baller town, so people expect a lot.

Starting point is 00:18:53 It's a baller thing with a lot of billionaires, which you think will be conservative, right? They're all conservative, but the city is run by liberals and the way they do things, it's really, there's no sense. It doesn't make any sense the way they run the stuff. When you see the city, the way they run things is common sense, you know what I mean? Doing stuff for people. It's just, it's very different. That's why Miami is blowing up though. Blowing up.

Starting point is 00:19:20 You guys can do whatever you want out here, you know? Yeah. You know? Shout out to Francis Suarez and the governor. You guys are killing it So you're doing a lot outside of music too. Then. Yeah, you got the restaurant. What else you got going? The restaurant of opening multiple restaurant. I'm opening Delray Beach Naples next I'm just growing this brand I started this restaurant with the chef of Nobu Miami

Starting point is 00:19:45 that was here for 15 years, Jake Ethan, incredible chef. The food is unbelievable. So I'm scaling this restaurant right now in different market. I don't want to touch the Miami market because it's too saturated right now. So I'm going on market that booming like Delray Beach, Naples, Tampa, like those kind of things in Florida. And then I have an opportunity in New York right now looking into New York, you know. So I'm growing that and I'm doing also some acting stuff.

Starting point is 00:20:13 Yeah. Yeah, you've been in some big movies. Yeah. So you want to go that route? No, no, especially. I like music. I just do it. To be honest, I'm friends with Michael Bay.

Starting point is 00:20:24 I'm friends with Peter Berg. I'm friends with Peter Berg. I've become very close friends with those guys and they put me in movies. I started by doing music for movies. The first thing that I've done was Pain and Gain for Michael Bay and I've done two songs in the movie. And he put me in a movie as a cameo. I was cool. I was like, whatever. And then it became a joke. And then Peter Berg put me and my friend, Dave Gretman in the first movie called, which one was it? It was, I forgot the name of it. Oh my God. Deep Water Horizon. And it was the movie about the explosion of the BP explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Yeah, I think I saw that one.

Starting point is 00:21:09 Yeah, it's a real story. Yeah. And it was Kurt Russell in the movie, Mark Warburg, John Markovich. I mean, incredible movie. So that was our first thing that we did. It was fun. And then I did mile 22 and picture day with Peter Berg.

Starting point is 00:21:26 I became very close to Peter Berg. He's a good friend of mine. And he just put me in movies. I just do those things. Like I'm not an actor. You know, I have no pressure. So I just do those things. But my thing is I want to do more music for movies.

Starting point is 00:21:40 I love to do them. Yeah, that's where the money is too. Yeah. And it's a different process to making like regular, like I learned when I was doing music for Deepwater Horizon, one of the scene that we did and it's a complete different you know, universe. Oh yeah? Yeah, it's completely different than making music for clubs.

Starting point is 00:22:01 It has nothing. It's very difficult. What's the biggest changes I I guess, from the club music? Well, it's very, you got to use a lot of real instruments, orchestrals, you know what I mean? Like, you got to build it, you got to, it's very, and then you have a music director that looks over you, that's in charge of the whole movie. So you got to be, it's just by the, by scene, by scene, you got to, it's very, very difficult.

Starting point is 00:22:30 I could see that because movies want to invoke a lot of emotion out of the viewers. Yeah. So you probably need those real instruments. Yeah. It's, you got to use real instruments for everything. And it's like, it's, it's just like, there's no, it's not telling us, it's just difficult. I don't know what to explain.

Starting point is 00:22:47 It's very hard. I don't think I mastered it yet. You know what I mean? And so I did it once and, uh, I'm, I'm trying to get more into it and I'm trying to learn. I don't think I'm there yet. Wow. So you're still a student of the game, even at your level. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:22:59 That's crazy, right? Very hard. Cause you're like one of the top DJs, but you're still having to learn. And yeah, well, that's what you have to do. You got to adapt to stay at the top. Yeah. You can't just keep doing the same thing, right? Because you're like one of the top DJs, but you're still having to learn and. Well, that's what you have to do. You got to adapt to stay at the top. You can't just keep doing the same thing, right? No, it's a tough space to penetrate. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:23:11 There's a lot of DJs. Yeah. When you first moved here, how long did it take to really get things going when you first moved to Miami? Uh, well, I started in a different way than everybody else started. I mean, a lot of DJ can, you know, exactly David Gara, Tiesto, those kind of DJs, you know, and they started like me. We started as local resident DJs, right? We had to make, when I started here, I started playing at a club called Bash and I was getting paid like $200 a night, right?

Starting point is 00:23:47 But I had to make people dance and I had to, basically, if I didn't make people dance, I would get fired. So I had to create my own following by the music I was playing. So people start liking me in Miami. Oh, I like this DJ is pretty good. Then I went to the bigger club and the bigger club. And then I ended up being the resident of club space, Miami on the terrace. So we started the terrace in Miami.

Starting point is 00:24:10 So I had to start creating my following and getting my name out there by DJing my sets and playing along hours and everything when now you have to make a song that blows up to become a successful DJ, right? It's a different thing. So I became Known as a DJ and Then I stopped producing music and then the music helped me get to the next level got it Now you gotta make a big song and then you got to figure it out on the fly how to do you know? I mean, so there's a lot There's a lot of DJ that can relate like David Guetta, Chiesto, you know,

Starting point is 00:24:50 some of the Swedish sauce mafia. They all started the way I started. Playing in clubs. Now it's a different game. It's a complete different game. You got to make music and you got to go to DJs. John Summit is explaining one of his podcasts. I was listening.

Starting point is 00:25:02 He was like, I was making a hundred songs. Now we'll go see my favorite artists and I will give them the music, give them the music, give them, you know what I mean? Yeah. At one point some of those DJs start playing his music and be like, God damn, this kid is very good, great producer. And then he blew the fuck up. Damn.

Starting point is 00:25:16 Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. These days you need social media, right? To make it. Yeah. I feel like without that it's impossible. It's impossible, yeah.

Starting point is 00:25:24 But it's also, I see a lot of influencers that are trying to be DJs. Also, that doesn't work well for them. They have massive amount of followers and they're like, okay, I'm going to be a DJ now. And there's a lot of them, I'm sure you see on things. Same with podcasters. And podcasters and stuff like that. You got to learn the business.

Starting point is 00:25:43 You got to learn how to make music. You got to learn how to make people dance and it's a tough business, man. It's just not because you have millions of followers. You know what I mean? There was this actress, I forgot who she was, like short hair, she was in, she was a hype for a long time.

Starting point is 00:26:02 I forgot her name and she stopped being a DJ and she had no idea what she was doing. And at one point she played, I remember she opened for the Swedish house mafia. They put her there in Ibiza and she, she ended up a set with the spice girls original song in Ibiza, what you want, what you really, really want. And the crowd stopped booing her and we're like what it like what I've never seen a DJ ever again but this is what I'm saying is like these people like oh I'm a massive movie star and I'm gonna DJ to make money now I'm gonna go out there but this is not you know what I mean yeah you got to fill the crowd out right

Starting point is 00:26:40 I forgot a name I don't even know a name anymore how's that happen to you where you got booed before? No, but I got people giving me the fingers on the crowd. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, like you suck, you this, you that. Yeah. Once in a while, not boo the whole crowd, but you have those haters that come. I don't understand this thing. They come to your show and they just sit there. Don't dance. Look at you, give you the finger. I'll say, oh, push the phone. You suck.

Starting point is 00:27:03 I'm like, why are you even on my show? You want a ticket to come see me, and you're insulting me. I mean, it's like, it's... They're just hating no matter what. No matter what song you put on, they're gonna be hating. Well, yeah, whatever. What's the most memorable spot you've DJ'd? Like the craziest, I guess, party or experience?

Starting point is 00:27:19 I think Coachella. Coachella? Yeah, yeah, Coachella, Sara's stage. I think Coachella. Coachella? Yeah, yeah. Coachella, Sara's stage, it was like the sunset set when the sun is setting and you had the sun setting at the end of the stage like this. It was crazy because it was at the time that I had summertime sadness blowing up and in

Starting point is 00:27:38 Coachella, I never done festival where you have a change time, right? 15 minutes set time when nobody, there's no music, they're just changing your stage. And the DJ before me, I don't remember who it was, but there was like 200 people in front of him. And I show up with my manager, I'm like, oh man, come on. I build up, you know, I prepare my set, I did this whole stage visual.

Starting point is 00:28:00 You know, you spend a lot of money when you go to Coachella. You don't make money at Coachella, you spend it on the stage. If you see the artist, the stage they're you spend a lot of money when you go to Coachella. You don't make money at Coachella. You spend it on the stage. If you see the artist, the stage they're putting costs a lot of money. Oh, I thought the venue paid for that. No, sir. You gotta pay for it. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:12 They give you a fee and then put on your show. So that's what I did. And I came in 200 people and I'm like, oh my God, this sucks. And my manager was like, listen, trust me. You got a big song right now. If people want to see you, they have the set time. They know what time you're playing. They're going to show up.

Starting point is 00:28:29 Change comes up, 200 people walks away. The stage is completely empty. I'm like, that's it. I'm going to play for nobody. So I'm backstage and I'm there. I'm stressing, I'm stressing, I'm stressing out. And then my manager is outside and he sees people like start running into the stage, running into the stage, running into the stage.

Starting point is 00:28:47 He doesn't say anything. It was you ready? I'm like, yeah, I'm ready. I'm going to play for nobody. I'm upstage and the stage was slammed packed. And I was like, Oh my God, that's, this is nuts. So basically if, if you're hard at the moment, I mean, if you play Coachella, it's like, you gotta be hot.

Starting point is 00:29:03 That's it. And I was just stressing out because I thought it was gonna be nobody, but people ran in, they knew this at time and they came for my show and I have a legendary picture or I'm just standing in the middle and there's a sea of people with the sunset at the end and I'm just in the middle by myself like this. I love that. It's crazy. Was that the biggest crowd you ever played for? No, I played for a big larger crowd, but I don't know what it is about Coachella. It's like for artists, Coachella is such a like a moment.

Starting point is 00:29:28 Yeah. Like it's such a big festival and it's so hard to get on it. Right. And it's like, I don't know why that was the biggest moment for me. It's like a staple. I feel like all the pop artists, Coachella. Yeah. I didn't know it was hard to get on that.

Starting point is 00:29:42 Is it like a... It's, it's, it's so you got a golden voice, which is the people that put the festival. It's like, you have to be... I remember I had to do a show for them and I had to sell a hot ticket in a venue in LA, which I did, to prove myself that I could done the show and I've done it. And they won't put you on it. Maybe they changed now a little bit because I see some artists playing the show that I haven't seen, but before it was very hard to get on this festival. That makes sense.

Starting point is 00:30:12 Do you play all your sets sober? Cause I know that's a... Yeah. Sometimes I have a shot of tequila just to like, you know what I mean? To get me going, but... Yeah, I'm always sober. Respect.

Starting point is 00:30:24 I went to one show, I won't call them out on the episode but the guys were hammered but yeah and they performed like three songs and dipped. Yeah you can't you can't you can't you can't have a career if you get fucked up all the time. Yeah there's no way. Yeah well dude it's been awesome anything else you want to close off with before we wrap up? No I'm good everything's good. We'll link all your tour dates below and everything and your clubs. Yep. Perfect. Thanks for watching guys. Check them out. See you next time.

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Digital Social Hour - From $200 Gigs to Global Tours: My DJ Success Story | Cedric Gervais DSH #1378

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