Ryan Auhl - Building Relentless Beats, Event Safety, and Global Expansion on the Virtual Sessions 9/3/25

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Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions Presents the Virtual Sessions.
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I'm your host, Darran, and right now I'm sitting here in the virtual studios while I have Ryan Auhl coming in.
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I'm gonna guess Phoenix, Arizona?
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It is Phoenix, yeah.
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We're in Midtown if you're familiar.
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No, I always love saying Phoenix, Arizona because it sounds like I'm saying like Krypton, you know, something out of a sci-fi movie.
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I'm a sci-fi buff, so I remember it was the movie Lost Boys, and then one of the main characters, the kid, he's like in the comic book shop talking to one of the one of the Corys, and he's like, where'd you come from?
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He's like, we came from Phoenix, but luckily we moved here to Santa Carla.
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He's like, sounds like something out of a comic book, man.
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Yeah, I came from Phoenix.
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Oh no, I'm from Phoenix, actually, or something like that, you know?
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I think whoever named this, this place is hot.
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Maybe it's hot like a Phoenix, but it makes for like a cool city logo and stuff.
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I'm all about it.
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Yeah, you know, what is the temperature down there, like 118 or something?
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We're in the 100s still, but like any true Phoenician, it is a real dry heat, so if you have a pool, you get used to it.
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Everyone has a pool.
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Usually everyone has a pool, but enough about Phoenix, the weather, and all that stuff.
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Ryan from Relentless Beats here with us today.
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Super, super fun time, super awesome events.
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Been to a couple of those a few years back, looking to come to more.
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Want to give a shout out to Chad for setting up this interview and talking with you today.
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We're here to talk about one of the premiere events that Relentless Beats puts on down in Phoenix, Arizona.
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I'm assuming it's still at the Raceway out there in Goodyear, right?
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No, it actually moved back to Rawhide, which I can talk more about.
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It's honestly great because the whole show is conceived around the Western town that's at Rawhide, so I think fans are getting the real experience again now that we're back over there.
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Well, now I got to come down and see it.
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I got used to the racetrack.
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Much better now.
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Awesome.
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I never totally felt that Rawhide, that country, Western kind of vibe to it, but you're right.
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The racetrack probably isn't going to have, like you said, wow.
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I don't even know where that town is.
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I'm not familiar with the Phoenix landscape out there, but I know it's vast.
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Yes, it's big, it's flat.
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Technically, the show's actually in Chandler on the Gila River Reservation, but we call it all Phoenix if you're from here.
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Yeah, when I was finding out that Phoenix is like 100 miles long.
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Basically.
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Like 50 miles long or something like that.
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But you started with Relentless back in 2010, you mentioned pre-show, and you went from 50 events a year to 500 events a year.
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I mean, 500 events a year.
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Yeah.
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That's like technically 10 events a week.
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It is probably more than that.
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I don't know what the timeframe is squishing it all in.
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The first question is, when do you ever get time to sleep?
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Thankfully, we have a great team.
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So look, a lot of my role is focused around our largest events like Old Rush and Decadence, but you're right.
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I mean, we've got a big team.
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We've got a lot of shows.
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We're in multiple markets now, whether it's here, Albuquerque, Honolulu, even some shows in New York.
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But at the end of the day, what's wild about dance music is they're all clustered around the weekend.
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So even though we have Monday through Thursday or Sunday, all the shows are on Friday and Saturday, basically.
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It's been great growing with the team.
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My partner Tom's booked dance music for a long time, as far back as the 90s, so we always had good momentum.
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But the reality is in 2010, dance music was only so popular.
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So to do 100 shows a year or 50 shows a year was a lot.
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And now we've just continued to meet that demand here in the Valley.
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And your partner companies that you work with when you put on these shows, I mean, obviously, there's the industry.
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A lot of people don't know.
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This is what I love about us opening our doors and our microphones, our live streams to people behind the scenes, not so much in front of the scenes.
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It takes a lot to put these on, but it takes a lot of awesome partnerships as well to make these events happen.
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Who are some of the top people that you work with in the industry to make these events happen?
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I mean, now that I know you're in Honolulu, I'm knocking on the door for those ones.
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And definitely experts only out in New York, looking at possibly covering that here.
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It's going to be awesome.
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But these shows are 500 events in Phoenix.
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If somebody heard that, they'd be like, whoa, what's going on here?
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But branching out, putting it together takes a vast team.
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I mean, people understand there's lighting, there's audio, there's engineering, there's maintenance, all this stuff.
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I mean, is everything centered out of Arizona or do you have teams out in different regions as well, on-site teams there to help facilitate all this?
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It's a mix of both.
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Here in Arizona, our Phoenix office basically runs these shows.
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So if you're going to a show in Tucson Flagstaff or Phoenix, it's ran by our Phoenix office.
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If you're going to show in Honolulu, it's mostly run by our partner out there, Meta, which is head up by Brandon and Matt.
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If you're going to show in Albuquerque, that's ran by Viva ABQ, which is led by Steven.
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And if you're going to one of our EMW shows in New York, that's ran mostly by Max and Kevin, who are our local partners over there.
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Now, that's to say, as promoters, we only do just the planning and the promotion of the event.
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We rely on so many people to make these shows happen.
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And in fact, every single time we host a big event like Gold Rush or even one of our large concerts at Rawhide, I'm always telling the team in our pre-show brief, thank you to everyone who makes these possible.
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Because believe it or not, yes, there's tens of thousands of fans in some of these shows, but there's also a thousand people working.
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And the amount of time it takes to plan these things and then get everybody in the same place to actually execute it is mind-boggling when you think about it.
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These really are traveling circuses that come together for eight to 10 hours at a time.
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Yeah.
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And you have obviously an awesome relationship after working with Relentless Beats for so long.
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How did you get started in this industry?
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Total accident.
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I mean, I graduated college in 2011.
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My class was kind of at the height of the recession still, so a lot of people in my class didn't have offers.
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I met Tom Turner just through some mutual friends and started to do some freelance work for him.
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Even back then, Relentless Beats was like a hobby for him.
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He was a dance fan for many years, but couldn't make a good career out of it.
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But look, I just ended up at a point where I didn't have a job offer, and I knew he needed help, but he probably didn't know how to convey it the right way at the time.
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So I just said, hey, if I help you make this work, can I turn this into a job?
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And that's been our relationship ever since.
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I mean, obviously, the company is a lot more complicated now.
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We have a ton of employees.
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We have lots of events.
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But we've always been partners in that way.
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My goal is just help grow the company, make the shows better every year.
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How many partners are there with Relentless Beats?
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That's your actual official title you put down there in the corner there.
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Is it a partner that controls each market, or you're the partner at the office?
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Like Jeff Bezos is number 13, and then Tom's number 13, and you're 12, and you have a 0012 or whatever.
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How does the hierarchy work?
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Is that non-NDA information you can't get?
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No, no, no.
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Look, I mean, Tom and I are partners here.
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We're partners in Relentless Beats.
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But the people that I listed in the other markets, they're actually separate entities.
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And so we're co-promoting those shows with each of those respective markets.
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But here, in terms of all the booking, all the buying, all the advertising we're doing here, Tom and I are partners here in this market.
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And not just trying to get a job in the marketplace, and coming out of a recession in 2011, I know how that was.
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It hit my company pretty hard as well, being in advertising, and then there being no money for advertising, trying to launch a business during a recession to small businesses, and nobody's getting credit, and nobody's spending any money.
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Yeah, I was an awesome brainchild there with two business degrees under my belt.
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But what was your strongest motivation to pursue a career in event production?
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Was there something that, rather than using just your skills maybe you learned in college, was there some other aspect of it that said, I like doing this?
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Honestly, I just thought events were cool.
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I hate to say it so simply like that, but I first started doing some contract work with Tom, and I made a revision of the logo.
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And then when that logo came out, it needed a website.
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And over time, that just snowballed into more work.
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It was not until 2011, 2012 that I was like, hey, I think we can make something out of this.
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But I didn't even know what a promoter was until probably 2013.
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And that's when we realized, oh, we're just not in clubs anymore.
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We're doing concerts.
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We're doing tours.
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We're doing large shows.
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And that really changed our perspective on what this business was.
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Because prior to that, if I'm being totally honest, I just like going out and having fun.
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I met my wife at one of our shows.
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So many of my friends I've met through the shows.
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For a long time, it was like my social life and my identity.
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So it's cool to have that as a foundation of my career, because I think it's honestly a dream when you get to say it out loud like that.
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I'm wondering if you might have the same one tough thing that I have when I go out to events and shows.
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I know my friend who's a lighting designer has done some big shows in Vegas and is really great at what he does.
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He's climbed up the ladder in that realm.
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But is it hard for you to go to a show that's not a Relentless Beats show and not look at it and say, I know what's going on there.
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I know what's going on there.
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I know what's going on here.
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And I, oh, gosh, I can't believe they did that.
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Or do you actually go on site to maybe other shows?
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That was really cool.
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That was really cool.
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That was really cool.
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Let's bring that into our show.
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I mean, first of all, did you talk to my wife?
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Because that's exactly what the experience is.
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And I feel bad for her sometimes because she has to listen through that.
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But I think in some way, she does appreciate it because she's seeing how the company has grown too.
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I will say actually, my favorite experiences aren't going to dance shows that I know is the DJ theme show.
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I love house music.
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I'll say that just to preface this.
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But at the end of the day, like we're all doing entertainment and any idea I can get from any good show, any tour, whether it's Taylor Swift or Madonna or anybody in between is valuable.
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And those are things that I always want to be bringing back to our shows to improve them.
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Yeah.
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It's hard for me to be at an event and be like, why am I not filming this?
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Why did I not set up interviews?
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Why did I not be backstage?
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It's not about me going backstage and I'm getting a hobnob.
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I'm thinking I'm missing an opportunity to get content for my show right now.
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It's never off.
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You just can't turn that off.
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And it's like, why isn't somebody streaming?
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That's what started me in kind of all this.
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I'd go to the nightclubs and realize everyone would talk about, wasn't that a great show?
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Wasn't that a great show?
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Or you missed it.
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You missed it.
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Nobody was recording this.
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Well, we didn't have YouTube.
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I started this.
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You know, even when I was in broadcast television, I might be able to make a 28 minute, 30 minute segment to put on broadcast television.
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So it was a lot of B roll clips of what you see now and some interviews late night at one 30 in the morning when most nightclub people are up anyways, right?
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But it's like, how come nobody's bringing a camera into the club?
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Or why don't they have an onsite production team doing something that's highlighting the event and talking to the artists?
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So we came in and kind of facilitated that need here locally in Seattle, but then later branched out and did more interviews.
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Had our mobile studio that we created so we could drive up to events.
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Actually, one of the events here in Seattle was the first launch of our mobile studio in 2010.
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You probably know the company that did it, but it was called Freak Night and we pulled our truck up inside the Walnut Theater and parked it inside.
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People were walking by and they're like, what is this big glass box truck with DJs playing in it and everything?
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And learned really quickly there that streaming live when there's nobody around in an event center is easy to do.
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When there's 30,000 people hitting the cell phone tower, not so easy to do.
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It's a whole other problem.
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Now we got a special backpack that connects us to satellites and all that fun stuff.
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But that being aside, yeah, it's always something that you see that's new or pushing the envelope or doing something better.
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It's hard to turn off when you're in...
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When I'm in the seat, when you're in the seat, I'm sure it's the same.
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But out of all this, over the past 10 years, what's the best piece of advice that you've ever been given?
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If you can recall something that says, I learned this, I practiced this, somebody told me do this.
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It can be anything, but what is it for you?
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Honestly, it has nothing to do with this business in particular, but I would say always be asking questions because I'm just the kind of person, I always want to be improving things.
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I'm obsessed with making our products better, our shows better.
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If we can't do more shows, that's great.
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But for me, everything starts with just asking questions all the time.
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And I was definitely that annoying kid that would not stop asking questions.
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So it's basically just persisted into adulthood for me.
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Yeah.
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I've always been the inquisitive one in the room or the one who talks a lot.
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But I try...
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I don't want to say...
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I don't want to use the word neurodivergent, but there's times when people will sit back and go, Darran, you're being really quiet.
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And it's like, yeah, because I'm listening to everything that's going on so I can sit back here and process it.
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And then two, I have friends of mine that have known me for 30 years in the business, and they'll be like, okay, give me the Darran Dump.
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And it's...
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I'm already calculating year upon year, two five-year-old statistic numbers in my head.
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And they're like, how are you multiplying that so fast in your head?
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Do you have a calculator built in you or something?
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I'm like, no, it's really easy.
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You just move the zero here and multiply it by this and put it like this and then times it by 10 and then add two times months.
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And they're like, whoa, dude, what are you doing?
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Did you get all that?
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That's why this can be done.
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The other thing I'll say is there's a million ways to be in this business.
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I think at the end of the day, anybody who's involved has a true love for the music and the shows.
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But whether you're working in media, or you're working in the production, or you're working on the talent side, there's so many businesses that come together that provide opportunities for people to get involved.
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And at the end of the day, those are the best people to work with because there's nothing worse than talking to somebody who doesn't know what dance music is or doesn't care or hates it or is going to be miserable at night.
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But the other day of like, we're all fans, we're excited to produce good shows that makes for a good product.
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And I think the fans feel that at the end of the day.
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Definitely.
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And you know, one of the biggest things that I've seen come up over the years, time and time again is safety at events.
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Yeah.
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Who do you have an internal relentless safety team?
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Or do you work with an outside company for safety at the events?
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I mean, obviously in Phoenix, but I'm sure the other events have different teams that are called different names around.
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But how important is safety at your events?
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And what what measures do you take to imply imply?
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That's what I'm looking for there.
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And I just I just had three words pop into my mouth in one time and to implement Thank you implement safety at Relentless Beats events.
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Yeah, look, I mean, we welcome nearly half a million fans through our gates every year across all the shows.
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And so you know, the second thing that gets said at every single one of these brief brief meetings is let's sure makes everybody makes it home safe tonight.
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And as a result, within our company, like we really do treat safety like a multi pronged approach.
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This isn't unique, like all major producers look at it this way.
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But you know, our person who helps coordinate the public safety, that's with PD and fire and medical, it's the same person who helps coordinate the security.
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And it's the same person who helps coordinate our safety team, which is our Rangers.
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And all those different groups work together to help us produce a safe event.
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I mean, at the end of the day, it all comes from good planning, right?
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So a poorly designed site will end up being dangerous, no matter how few or how many people are there.
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But in a, in a well designed site that we've worked on for a long time with many different professionals and consultants, those five groups all working together, the goal is everybody gets home safe every single time.
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You know, and sometimes people complain, they like, Oh, my gosh, the ticket price for this is so much, but they don't understand it takes a almost a small town to put these things together, you know, and people do have to earn a wage to do this, you know, and people just go in and they're like, well, it's so pretty and awesome.
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And then they like, Oh, but it cost me 200 bucks to go.
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It's like, yeah, you know, it's, it's a major production that's being put on this isn't just going out into a renegade in the woods, you know, not that I don't knock renegades in the woods, have fun people doing that.
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Be safe, safety first.
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But yeah, I'll say, you know, I always tell people that don't like really understand what I do, like, just think of it as a people business.
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You know, we don't actually make something we don't we don't tell something physical, right?
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So everything you see in the show is like something that's been rented or purchased, but like really being put up by a bunch of people, you know, the people that run the bars, the people that are in the technical production, all the teams that are behind the artists at the end of the day, when you're looking at that ticket price, like what you're paying is for a lot of people to participate.
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And yeah, the way the business is structured, like talent gets a lot of money, but the talents, the creative part, like the reality is none of us would have good jobs if there wasn't talented people out there making music.
247
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So I look at it like, you know, when you when you see a three or $400 ticket, or even a $20 ticket, like just know that that's going to real people.
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And they made the music you're going to listen to they help put on the show you're going to go to and like, that's where it's going.
249
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The margins for all these businesses is not great.
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Like, maybe I would love a margin like Apple or Google or one of these tech companies.
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But the reality is like, you know, we've got to sell food and beverage and merch and programs and parking and all those things to sort of like just make a little bit of money at the end of the day, like most of your ticket, like always goes into the show.
252
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And it's people at the end of the day.
253
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Exactly, you know, and you probably, it would be scary if companies like Relentless, I'm not sure if you are or not.
254
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Maybe I should look into that because you're seeming to be growing and would be a great investment.
255
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But they're not publicly traded companies.
256
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So you're not really disclosing what exactly the profit margin is off of these tickets.
257
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You know, it's like, people know McDonald's makes pennies on the burgers and stuff, but they're selling so much in volume that that's how they make their money.
258
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You know, they're not selling filet mignons with five star Michelin chefs, you know, stuff like that.
259
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But, you know, great experiences, great times.
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You know, if you could host your own event and have without any limitations, like budget is, you don't have to worry about budget.
261
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It's all going to be there.
262
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What five things would you want to have at that event?
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And maybe it's nothing that isn't there, or maybe something you already do have, or you want to improve upon that as well.
264
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Yeah, I always think of events as like, it's a combination of music.
265
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So the talent, it's like the most important part of any show, I don't care what anybody says, at the end of the day, we're selling a performance.
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And that's something that you got to go to.
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But in order to have that performance, like you need a good site, right?
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That site has to not be money and not be dirty, not be gross, you know, so like, not all sites are perfect and ideal world, you've got perfect grass and perfect weather and all that stuff.
269
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Or you're in a like huge building with unlimited capacity, right?
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After that, you've got great technical production, like the technical production is like what people remember from the show, you know, if you're Metallica or something, right, they're actually up there and performing, but for the DJs, like the show has become like literally everything else.
271
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So that technical production with the lasers, the pyro, the LED, all that stuff coming together, I think just makes for such a memorable experience.
272
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But then you got things like food and drink, like that stuff is so important.
273
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I think it gets overlooked all the time, the business is doing much better overall at like, just identifying that we need better food options inside of our shows, like it used to be, we used to sell no food, right, like nobody would want to eat at 10pm or something like that.
274
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But improving the food options in our own shows, but across the whole industry, I think has made a different experience for going out, you know, now you're not dreading even if you go to a ballpark, right, the food's much better than it used to be.
275
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And that was only four, I think the fifth one's like parking and transport, like just getting in and out.
276
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I still like my hot dogs, peanuts and cheesy nachos.
277
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I mean, but I mean, let's be real, that's food such trash, like the reality is we want people to come to our shows and like have good food there.
278
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So improving that across the whole industry, I think has been such a big win for everybody as a whole.
279
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Yeah, you know, one of the things that I enjoyed seeing, and I'm a huge fan of, at your events, a couple times is the silent disco portion of your event.
280
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I think that's still a very untapped medium, industry wide.
281
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I'm only going
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to say that because I'm a purveyor of silent disco headsets here and looking to buy, you know,
283
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get up to about 2000 headsets here and start doing, we want to move away a little bit from
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the silent disco moniker and go to more silent events and be able to do multiple activations on
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site and not have to worry about noise complaints and be able to do some really awesome stuff with
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that.
287
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That's come up a lot.
288
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I don't mean to cut you off, but that's come up a lot.
289
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But the hardest thing we have with that is like, it's really difficult to get touring acts like the acts that people want to see to play.
290
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And so I've always looked at it's like a great feature of our big shows, right?
291
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Like I love having them because it's just one more thing to go explore and do.
292
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But the second part of that, that I absolutely love is it just gives us an opportunity to spotlight a lot of local talent in the market.
293
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And, you know, we always make a point of like, every stage opens up with local talent, and then we also produce our local stages.
294
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But, you know, just that one silent disco will book like 30 or 40 local acts all in a couple days.
295
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That's exactly one of the reasons I got into it was to basically give our show, The DJ Sessions, was founded as a show to start out by showing the local Seattle talent to the world.
296
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And in 2009, nobody, I mean, there were people here and there in small pockets of DJs that were doing this live streaming thing, but not far and found.
297
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And we were made a feature, we were featured on iTunes as a podcast in 2005, ran off that and broadcast television.
298
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But when we got into live streaming, we were instantly onboarded as a featured partner with Ustream and Livestream.
299
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And in 2018, jumped in and was became a featured partner with Twitch.
300
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And the goal of the show is to feature unknown, when I say unknown DJs, I mean, not touring, not national, not international DJs, was the beginning, the premise of the show and giving them an opportunity to walk away with a video capture of their set.
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I don't even think SoundCloud was maybe around, maybe it was around in 2009, but not very limited outlets for people to share their mixes online, let alone a video mix online and let alone know how to do those video mixes.
302
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So having open table, open door policy has always been the core foundation of the DJ Sessions.
303
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And being able to do silent disco, like what you do at your events and giving them the opportunity.
304
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I mean, that's a huge, to me, that's a huge career boost, or at least a resume builder, because they're able to be on site at a major event.
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Whereas when you go look at a local nightclub scene, the opportunities are so limited.
306
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If there's only so many clubs in a market, and then how they get to play and the politics and all that fun stuff to get in, you know, and then something like with your event, I'm sure there's a huge networking opportunity there for them to meet other DJs they may or may not know about because you're doing these region wide events with 30, 40, 50,000.
307
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I don't know what your capacities are now.
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I wish.
309
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Not quite that high.
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Something like that.
311
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But I mean, if you do two days, that's still 17, 15,000 people a day or whatnot.
312
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Yeah, for 30,000 total.
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But you know, it's kind of like, that to me is another opportunity that I can think is underlooking.
314
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You're right.
315
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I think it's gonna be hard to convince the bigger name DJs to headline that because my idea would be to do all channels and we have seven channel headsets.
316
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And then finally, at the end, when the headliner comes on, it just goes down to one channel and they're the only one on, you know, and that's you're, you're coming to see the headliner and, you know, maybe doing some AR activations with that and stuff when the glasses do come out finally, and you can have this whole stage so you don't have to have the drones like EDC has and all that stuff.
317
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You can have actually different shows that people could tune into and have a whole AR experience.
318
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You know, they're at the stage, I think that's gonna be some awesome stuff to look into for the future.
319
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But yeah, and then obviously, when us being a streaming brand, streaming each of those stages live as well, doing like an independent, well, I guess it's easy for me to do, because I've been doing it for 30 years, in a sense of things.
320
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But, you know, being able to put that out there and give people something to walk away with saying, I played the show, here's the video on my set, that's on my resume, check out how I drop the beats, you know, and they're like, Whoa, okay, maybe I can hire you from that or get them some work, something of what our foundation was.
321
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So congratulations on looking out for the little, I would say the little guys, but they're, they're pretty cool.
322
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You know, the local DJs, I think, put in a lot of the hard work.
323
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You know, the other big guys, they got PR, they got booking, they got accounts, they got, you know, they got fans, you know, they got money.
324
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The little guys don't.
325
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So, you know, and speaking of the bigger names in the industry, I know you've been doing this for 10 years, maybe you've been asked this question a lot.
326
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But who's the most inspiring, inspirational person you've ever met, backstage?
327
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And why was that person such an inspiration to you?
328
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And maybe, you know, maybe in your position, this is usually, like I said, the pre show, these are more geared for the artists and the DJs and the producers.
329
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Right?
330
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From your perspective, right?
331
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Who's the most inspiring person you've ever met backstage or behind the scenes in the industry and say, I really wanted to meet that maybe a fanboyed over or like, Oh, my God, I can't believe it.
332
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Or who's the most inspiring person you've ever met?
333
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I would say I can name a couple.
334
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I'm like the talent side.
335
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I think I was most impressed by Zedd the first time I met him only because, you know, like in talking to him, and like one of the early shows we booked him on this before he was huge, right?
336
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I learned like, oh, this guy's like classically piano trained.
337
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And like, he learned music in his words, like in the in a forest in Germany before he came over to the United States, right?
338
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But it sort of like was this click moment for me where I realized like, oh, it's not just like some people making noises on a computer.
339
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Like there's some people actually like really talented, that are musicians.
340
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And that was just like me being naive at like 21 or whatever thinking that but it was cool to have that moment to realize like this really cool music that I like is made by real musicians too.
341
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On the business side, there's a handful.
342
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I don't know if I should name them by name.
343
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But like meeting somebody like Lee Anderson was just, it's cool because like that guy, you know, is now the president of Wasserman.
344
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He had a really good roster 10 plus years ago.
345
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And, you know, we were working with him earlier in my career.
346
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But now those people who are like, on some of these hot dance acts back then are now leading these big agencies.
347
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Now.
348
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The other guy was Paul Morris, who led AM only for a long time before eventually sold it and got it out.
349
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Now he's just Tiesto's agent.
350
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But it's cool to sort of meet these people that I think were the beginnings of dance music here in the United States.
351
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You know, really popular in Europe for a long time, sort of gets popular here for a bit, but then kind of goes away.
352
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But these last 10-15 years have been like this good path of dance music becoming more and more popular in the United States.
353
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And it's cool to meet those people that have made this possible at the end of the day.
354
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:43,420
Yeah, you know, it's interesting having seen the rise of going out and nightclubbing.
355
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:48,020
I've been nightclubbing for, oh gosh, 16 years, 26 years now.
356
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Gosh, I just turned 51, you know, and still get out there, still have fun and try to travel around the world and see a lot more of what's happening around the world and in other markets.
357
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:12,280
And, you know, starting back and watching electronic music be that literally underground, the first club I ever went to for electronic music, all 100% electronic music, was called The Underground here in Seattle.
358
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And, you know, you probably know Donald Glaude.
359
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You probably have heard that name before.
360
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That was the longest DJ I've ever seen play.
361
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And totally hometown hero here in Seattle.
362
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I love him whenever he gets on.
363
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But that just blew me away.
364
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:30,040
And I was hooked into electronic, into the DJ music culture at that time.
365
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That was just when like, rave culture was really coming about in the, you know, early 90s, mid 90s.
366
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And that started, you know, in late 90s, it did start to see, you started seeing more trance DJs, DJs, DJs, DJ clubs.
367
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And coming from a city like Seattle, where we were grunge capital of the world, you know, at that time in high school, it was Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam.
368
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And then you had rap music making its way up in the sense of things as well.
369
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This electronic music thing was way over here, you know, in 1990s.
370
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It was like in the corner, right?
371
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It was like counterculture at first.
372
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Yeah.
373
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And I mean, I was working in a music store at 18 years old at Warehouse Records.
374
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And you had all the rock section, you had all the rap section.
375
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And the electronic music section was one slider bin of CDs.
376
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And they're usually compilation CDs.
377
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I remember seeing Superstar Kyoki.
378
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And I think Tiesto had a compilation DJ set in there, mix in there.
379
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But that's what it was.
380
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They didn't know where to and they didn't even know where to classify electronic music at.
381
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Nobody had albums.
382
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They were usually all compilation stuff unless you were like, you know, Underworld.
383
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I don't even know if they were producing like that, but something like that, you know, where did that go in the music section of the store?
384
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So seeing that just rising up, electronic music, electronic dance music is just so huge, so worldwide.
385
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:56,360
And I think I just saw a report recently that it's now electronic music artists have replaced rock music as the top number one genre that's being requested for major festivals and events.
386
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Now, you know all about that.
387
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No thanks to Relentless Beats.
388
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Yeah, exactly.
389
00:30:02,500 --> 00:30:08,640
So, you know, that's really awesome that, you know, people sometimes say in this television business that I got into or wanted to get into.
390
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:13,060
Because most people, when they pick up a camera, they want to be George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino.
391
00:30:13,300 --> 00:30:17,800
And I'm like, I want to be Aaron Spelling and I want to be Lorne Michaels.
392
00:30:17,860 --> 00:30:19,180
And they're like, who are those guys?
393
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,340
Like, have you ever heard of 90210 or Saturday Night Live?
394
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:24,020
Yeah, there you go.
395
00:30:24,540 --> 00:30:26,140
Like, wait, you want to be in television?
396
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:27,840
That's all we have.
397
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,460
You know, I mean, you want to be a, you don't even want to be an actor.
398
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:31,860
I'm like, no, I want to be a producer.
399
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:33,600
I want to executive produce my own shows.
400
00:30:33,940 --> 00:30:35,040
Do this really cool stuff.
401
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:38,660
And they're like, okay, you live in Seattle.
402
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:40,460
Why don't you live in LA here?
403
00:30:40,660 --> 00:30:42,360
I'm like, cuz you can do it right here.
404
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:48,220
You know, but that being said, you know, it's always interesting who people's inspirations are to hear that from behind the scenes and stuff.
405
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:50,320
You know, what, what?
406
00:30:50,440 --> 00:31:02,120
And it's probably I'm gonna kind of assume here, this list might be long, which D-Day's producers, artists from the electronic music scene have become your personal friends?
407
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:03,640
Personal friend?
408
00:31:03,740 --> 00:31:07,420
Oh, man, I am the kind of guy that like, hates going backstage.
409
00:31:07,860 --> 00:31:10,860
Like, all the occasional, like, hey, thanks for playing.
410
00:31:11,020 --> 00:31:13,940
Really appreciate you taking the show, all that sort of stuff.
411
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:21,620
But like, very few acts that like, I've actually got to know on a personal level, you know, like, always like to thank people, you know, especially when they've got their crew there and everything.
412
00:31:21,900 --> 00:31:24,300
But no, I haven't really made any friends in that regard.
413
00:31:24,580 --> 00:31:28,340
I mean, Bijou's from the valley and like, become friends with him over the years.
414
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:30,800
But I knew him before, like, he started touring.
415
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,420
So it wasn't like, you know, met him after the fact or something like that.
416
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:35,640
That's always a tough question.
417
00:31:35,660 --> 00:31:39,040
Because everybody always assumes like, who do you love the most backstage?
418
00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:40,640
Or who's the coolest?
419
00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,940
And like, honestly, I don't get to interact with them that much.
420
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,540
I mean, like, I could tell you like, Shaq's awesome.
421
00:31:46,780 --> 00:31:50,720
Like that guy will take pictures with as many people that are standing there as possible.
422
00:31:51,500 --> 00:31:53,000
I think Tiesto's cool.
423
00:31:53,460 --> 00:32:00,300
But like, most of them, I don't get a lot of time to hang out with, you know, the ones that we really like, it's kind of obvious in our schedule.
424
00:32:00,300 --> 00:32:02,240
Like, if we really like them, they play a lot.
425
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:03,080
It's at the end of the day.
426
00:32:03,540 --> 00:32:09,320
I can only assume that you're on a walkie and you got nine channels going and something's being put out somewhere.
427
00:32:10,540 --> 00:32:11,660
There's always something going on.
428
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:12,780
There's always something going on.
429
00:32:13,260 --> 00:32:19,740
You know, which other than, you know, Gold Rush, Decadence, obviously, your babies kind of that you work on there.
430
00:32:20,180 --> 00:32:24,560
What is your favorite genre of event or music that you like?
431
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:26,360
I mean, you mentioned house music earlier.
432
00:32:27,860 --> 00:32:31,060
But what event do you look forward to the most every year?
433
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:35,260
Like, this is coming toward, like we said, I think pre show, this event just ended.
434
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:41,660
Yeah, two weeks, we're planning next year's event, which one of those the most is like your baby or that you look forward to the most?
435
00:32:42,260 --> 00:32:43,000
I think it's New Year's.
436
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:44,480
Honestly, it's a decadent show.
437
00:32:44,660 --> 00:32:49,360
And as much as I love Gold Rush and the rest of the calendar, the reality is like, I'm a big holiday guy.
438
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:53,500
Like I love being together with all my friends and family and stuff on those on those big days.
439
00:32:53,800 --> 00:33:00,700
And so there's nothing cooler than to say, like, on, you know, the end of the year, a big holiday, we produce like the biggest show in the state.
440
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:06,400
And as many people that I know that are close to me, like are always there, and it's always a good time.
441
00:33:06,540 --> 00:33:13,540
That show is like improved so much over the last decade, like it's nowhere, it looks nowhere, like nothing like it used to, you know, 10 years ago.
442
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:18,580
So it's cool to watch that whole production improve it to be where it's at.
443
00:33:18,740 --> 00:33:22,880
You know, last year, we we celebrated 10 year anniversary, not last year, a couple years ago.
444
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,900
But that show, like, hands down, it's my favorite thing to work on all year.
445
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,340
It's centered around the holiday, it's right after Christmas, it's just a great time of year.
446
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,900
Now, do you and Tom take the team out?
447
00:33:35,020 --> 00:33:40,460
Is there a core team, like retreat or decompression that you get to go to or anything?
448
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:45,060
Like, I always wanted to do this with my team and say, Hey, we busted our ass for a year.
449
00:33:45,420 --> 00:33:46,340
We're out there doing everything.
450
00:33:46,540 --> 00:33:47,780
It's a two week vacation.
451
00:33:47,900 --> 00:33:53,940
I'm renting a villa and XYZ place, paying for the tickets, paying for the food, come down, let's have a huge decompression.
452
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,220
We're out of the office, our ghost team is going to be running calls.
453
00:33:57,500 --> 00:34:00,800
Everyone knows we do this and just have some fun in the sun.
454
00:34:00,980 --> 00:34:02,380
And then let's get back to work.
455
00:34:02,460 --> 00:34:03,660
Anything like that happens?
456
00:34:04,420 --> 00:34:06,340
I wish we just had our annual retreat.
457
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:07,360
It was at Rocky Point.
458
00:34:08,179 --> 00:34:11,420
It was like, you know, Rocky Point's only a three and a half hour drive from here.
459
00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:12,040
So it's easy.
460
00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:12,540
Wait a second.
461
00:34:12,980 --> 00:34:14,260
I know, Rocky, but where'd you go?
462
00:34:14,820 --> 00:34:19,300
We, we stayed at what Paniasco, Seoul or something like that.
463
00:34:19,340 --> 00:34:20,960
Sorry, my assistant's off camera right now.
464
00:34:21,060 --> 00:34:21,699
No, it's all good.
465
00:34:21,699 --> 00:34:27,040
But yeah, we, one of those big condo buildings over there and we were down there for three days.
466
00:34:27,500 --> 00:34:30,739
I wish it could be two weeks, but it's honestly too much work to do.
467
00:34:31,580 --> 00:34:32,820
No, that's funny you bring that up.
468
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:34,480
I actually flew in.
469
00:34:34,620 --> 00:34:38,400
That's, that's, we've driven down from AZ, from Phoenix down to Rocky Point as well.
470
00:34:38,900 --> 00:34:39,900
Super easy drive.
471
00:34:40,260 --> 00:34:40,860
Yeah, it was.
472
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,100
Except don't speed through the town.
473
00:34:43,500 --> 00:34:44,380
No, don't.
474
00:34:44,699 --> 00:34:45,360
You'll get pulled over.
475
00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:48,480
We got pulled over like five seconds after going through the town.
476
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,940
Cause it goes like immediately from 40 to 25 really quick.
477
00:34:52,179 --> 00:34:54,500
Oh, and then it goes back up to like 85 or whatever.
478
00:34:54,900 --> 00:34:56,620
But they don't, they don't tell you this.
479
00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:58,780
And yeah, that was an interesting experience.
480
00:34:58,960 --> 00:34:59,320
Yeah.
481
00:34:59,540 --> 00:35:02,220
So quickly, like right after the board is like, bam, you're pulled over.
482
00:35:02,260 --> 00:35:03,420
You're like, what we do?
483
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:04,840
It's like through that town.
484
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,140
It's like, I think it's in kilometers.
485
00:35:07,380 --> 00:35:08,300
It's, you know, not miles.
486
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:09,560
Oh yeah, it's right after it switches.
487
00:35:10,020 --> 00:35:13,060
Like, you know, you're, you're trying to figure out how to change it on your car.
488
00:35:13,060 --> 00:35:15,600
They definitely try to get you right there.
489
00:35:15,860 --> 00:35:16,500
Yeah, exactly.
490
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,180
So, but yeah, still a fun time down there in Rocky Point.
491
00:35:19,300 --> 00:35:19,880
Love the place.
492
00:35:19,980 --> 00:35:21,180
Beautiful locations down there.
493
00:35:21,260 --> 00:35:22,140
Beach is phenomenal.
494
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,320
Would definitely go back there again and stay there.
495
00:35:26,780 --> 00:35:34,440
You know, going back to the event stuff though, is what's the weirdest moment you've ever had in 10 years of doing this?
496
00:35:34,540 --> 00:35:36,800
Something crazy has had to happen.
497
00:35:36,860 --> 00:35:41,720
Or maybe a call over the radio or something that you could think of that's happened at an event.
498
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:43,740
Weird, not life-threatening.
499
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:45,260
Maybe it was.
500
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,140
Maybe somebody climbed up in the lightning rafters and got up and I don't know.
501
00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:52,680
Anything that you can disclose or talk about the weirdest moment?
502
00:35:52,860 --> 00:35:56,840
Doesn't have to be incriminating in any way, shape or form.
503
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:03,780
So back in 2017, we're doing our second year of Phoenix Lights.
504
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:05,060
It's supposed to be in Hance Park.
505
00:36:06,020 --> 00:36:10,180
That year, we also hosted the Final Four in the Valley.
506
00:36:10,660 --> 00:36:14,320
And so to cap off the Final Four week, there was a big concert in the park.
507
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:18,060
There was a miscommunication with the city.
508
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:21,760
I don't want to get too far into it because I don't want anybody to think I'm talking bad about anybody.
509
00:36:22,020 --> 00:36:25,440
But at the end of the day, we had to move Phoenix Lights on like two days notice.
510
00:36:26,100 --> 00:36:27,280
And that's not even the crazy part.
511
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,940
What makes this weekend even more crazy is we've moved the show.
512
00:36:31,060 --> 00:36:31,640
It's happening.
513
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:32,860
It's down at Rawhide.
514
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:38,660
We had a plan B that we pulled together and the show is still being produced on time in its new location.
515
00:36:39,240 --> 00:36:45,860
But that weekend, there's this guy and the kids in the AzRay fam would know.
516
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:54,360
He was called the Naked Asian Man because he got butt naked and he was streaking all the way through the festival on Saturday.
517
00:36:55,020 --> 00:36:58,080
And eventually, it took like three guards to tackle him.
518
00:36:58,380 --> 00:37:00,000
But this is all coming over the radio.
519
00:37:00,380 --> 00:37:02,900
And I didn't even know what to think.
520
00:37:03,140 --> 00:37:04,200
They're like, there's a streaker.
521
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:05,100
I'm like, there's a streaker.
522
00:37:05,180 --> 00:37:06,080
We've never had a streaker.
523
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:06,620
This is new.
524
00:37:07,340 --> 00:37:11,020
But then as I found out more and more, it all turned out to be real.
525
00:37:11,140 --> 00:37:15,620
And eventually, they subdued the guy and we had to kick him out.
526
00:37:15,660 --> 00:37:17,340
He was clearly not okay.
527
00:37:17,780 --> 00:37:19,060
We made sure he got home okay.
528
00:37:19,140 --> 00:37:20,860
But then the next day, it gets even worse.
529
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:25,660
His mom made him come to apologize and pick up his clothes.
530
00:37:29,970 --> 00:37:34,690
So of everything that's ever happened- It's nice of you to hold on to his clothes for him.
531
00:37:35,250 --> 00:37:35,550
Yeah.
532
00:37:35,650 --> 00:37:36,750
Well, they weren't lost and found.
533
00:37:36,850 --> 00:37:38,130
They didn't know what else to do with them.
534
00:37:40,410 --> 00:37:41,490
That's pretty crazy.
535
00:37:41,670 --> 00:37:42,470
That's crazy.
536
00:37:42,630 --> 00:37:44,830
I've never heard of streakers at festivals.
537
00:37:47,870 --> 00:37:52,890
I go to festivals sometimes where clothing can be optional sometimes.
538
00:37:52,890 --> 00:37:54,310
Light clothing, sure.
539
00:37:54,590 --> 00:37:56,270
But no, he just kind of told me.
540
00:37:56,870 --> 00:37:56,970
Yeah.
541
00:37:57,190 --> 00:37:58,090
Things like that.
542
00:37:58,170 --> 00:38:00,490
But yeah, that sounds like a fun call to get over the radio.
543
00:38:00,590 --> 00:38:01,950
We've got a streaker in the field.
544
00:38:02,410 --> 00:38:02,930
Awesome.
545
00:38:03,750 --> 00:38:19,090
Kind of a very interesting topic that's taking place nowadays that I see, and I see clubs around the world, more stories coming out about this, is the use of cell phones in the audience and filming the shows and using them.
546
00:38:19,090 --> 00:38:22,730
I was in Berlin last year for Rave the Planet.
547
00:38:22,970 --> 00:38:24,710
Went to a nightclub first time.
548
00:38:24,910 --> 00:38:27,050
We had a small party here years back.
549
00:38:27,250 --> 00:38:28,430
Didn't ever really catch on.
550
00:38:28,510 --> 00:38:30,690
My cell phones were kept and held at the door.
551
00:38:31,110 --> 00:38:36,270
But I went to this club in Berlin, and they put stickers over the front and back of my phone.
552
00:38:36,910 --> 00:38:39,010
And I was like, this is cool.
553
00:38:39,890 --> 00:38:40,870
I didn't mind.
554
00:38:41,590 --> 00:38:42,790
I'm in video production.
555
00:38:42,930 --> 00:38:51,950
I'm not going to spend my time off trying to record a set of a show knowing that it's going to look like crap, knowing it's going to sound like crap, and then share it and go, this is from the DJ sessions.
556
00:38:52,030 --> 00:38:53,210
Isn't this awesome product?
557
00:38:53,530 --> 00:38:55,150
No, I'm not going to do that.
558
00:38:55,210 --> 00:38:56,810
Just it's my artistic integrity.
559
00:38:57,690 --> 00:38:59,890
And I also, I'm there to enjoy the music and have fun.
560
00:38:59,970 --> 00:39:06,070
But I'm seeing that clubs, like there's a club in Ibiza that basically came out and said, there's no cell phones allowed on the dance floor.
561
00:39:06,270 --> 00:39:07,890
Obviously, Bergane comes in and does this.
562
00:39:08,210 --> 00:39:11,230
Other nightclubs do this to protect the integrity of the people in the crowd.
563
00:39:11,750 --> 00:39:14,270
I saw a funny video last night.
564
00:39:14,990 --> 00:39:18,110
Girl was at the front of the DJ booth doing this.
565
00:39:18,250 --> 00:39:20,630
I mean, at the front of the DJ booth doing this with her phone.
566
00:39:20,970 --> 00:39:21,830
Click, click, click, click, click.
567
00:39:23,010 --> 00:39:24,070
DJ goes like this.
568
00:39:27,470 --> 00:39:32,290
She's like, no, don't come up to the front right here.
569
00:39:33,110 --> 00:39:35,010
And it was totally right in text message.
570
00:39:35,090 --> 00:39:36,750
She wasn't even shooting a video or anything.
571
00:39:37,210 --> 00:39:39,170
It's like, what are you doing here?
572
00:39:39,350 --> 00:39:55,390
So obviously bigger events, that's a little hard to do, but in other smaller intimate clubs, I'm wondering, I want to get your take on this a sec, but I'm wondering if we're going to start seeing, will it come from the nightclub level or the event venue level?
573
00:39:56,270 --> 00:40:07,950
Back in the day when I went and saw Prince, it said, I know on your no list, there's no cameras with removable lenses probably, no video production equipment gear.
574
00:40:08,450 --> 00:40:11,250
When I went to go see Prince, you weren't allowed to have recording devices.
575
00:40:11,730 --> 00:40:14,770
You weren't allowed to have cameras with a removable lens.
576
00:40:15,390 --> 00:40:17,390
Otherwise you'd be kicked out and ejected from the concert.
577
00:40:17,670 --> 00:40:22,710
And I know Apple back in the day was rumored to be working on an infrared system that would shoot infrared beams out.
578
00:40:22,770 --> 00:40:26,230
So when you put your camera up, it'd be like, can't record this.
579
00:40:26,750 --> 00:40:27,730
Gosh, I wish they'd make that.
580
00:40:28,390 --> 00:40:39,470
Not that I don't want people to share their memories and experiences or anti that, but it's like, I've heard musicians even say the entire vibe is now lost because everyone's doing this.
581
00:40:41,230 --> 00:40:46,690
And now I'm standing behind somebody and now their arms are up like this and I got a sea of arms up in front of me.
582
00:40:47,050 --> 00:40:59,960
What's your take on that and any thoughts on how to promote the, I'm not trying to get you busted here.
583
00:41:02,020 --> 00:41:13,360
How to promote the reason why people should enjoy the environment and a spectacle that you've worked so hard to put on rather than trying to capture it in their phone.
584
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:13,840
There we go.
585
00:41:13,860 --> 00:41:18,620
I mean, first I'll say I'm on, I'm definitely in the camp of like, I wish there were less phones in the shows.
586
00:41:19,340 --> 00:41:22,880
But at the end of the day, like, look, we all have them and they're become safety devices now.
587
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:31,620
So I do think it's like, well, unless we're absolutely forced to by an artist, like we won't take away a phone just because we don't want anybody to feel like, Oh, what if my kids didn't reach me?
588
00:41:31,660 --> 00:41:34,620
Or what if like my sister needs to reach me or my wife or something like that.
589
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:38,320
But I love the idea of putting stickers over the cameras.
590
00:41:38,620 --> 00:41:40,100
Like Laney does that for his shows.
591
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,160
And I just think that makes that experience better.
592
00:41:42,580 --> 00:41:50,420
There's nothing worse to me than millions of dollars of production being up on stage and everybody's watching it through their little cell phone screen.
593
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:55,600
I just think that's like so paradoxical to what's going on rather than enjoying the show, right?
594
00:41:55,620 --> 00:42:01,340
You're watching on a little screen and you could be watching it on a screen anywhere, but instead you paid to be here to watch it in person.
595
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:04,920
Ryan, I just came up with this and I do this for everyone.
596
00:42:05,020 --> 00:42:07,980
I give them a multi-million dollar idea and I just came up with it.
597
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:12,600
I want rights to this and Relentless Beats comes out and makes it or I want it sponsored by the DJ sessions.
598
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:25,920
We make a hat that everyone wears like those umbrella hats and it has a stick that goes on top and you put your phone on the stick and you hit record on your phone, put your phone in there and then you're watching the show, but you're not holding your hands up.
599
00:42:25,980 --> 00:42:28,240
I guess that you're watching the show, but your phone's still recording it.
600
00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:31,620
I can say brought to you by Relentless Beats and make them a walking billboard for us.
601
00:42:31,820 --> 00:42:35,080
I mean, maybe, but now your phone's still in the way of everybody else.
602
00:42:35,260 --> 00:42:39,240
The funniest pictures to me are when everybody has their cell phone up.
603
00:42:40,140 --> 00:42:42,540
Everybody could just be watching the show.
604
00:42:42,620 --> 00:42:43,500
You're all standing there.
605
00:42:44,380 --> 00:42:49,120
You'll remember it if you don't take a video and even if you took a video, are you ever going to watch this video again?
606
00:42:50,020 --> 00:42:55,500
Whoever watches the 4th of July fireworks, even if you post them online, the drone shows.
607
00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:55,980
Okay.
608
00:42:56,020 --> 00:42:57,200
I can understand that.
609
00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:04,660
That's kind of cool, but I got the fireworks show for, shouldn't you be enjoying the fireworks and from rockets, red glare, boom, boom, boom.
610
00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:06,220
Or the fireworks show for the events.
611
00:43:06,380 --> 00:43:07,580
He said, let me capture this.
612
00:43:07,620 --> 00:43:08,860
And Oh my God, that was so awesome.
613
00:43:09,340 --> 00:43:10,280
You know, I think you're right.
614
00:43:10,300 --> 00:43:11,040
Isn't missing that.
615
00:43:11,100 --> 00:43:12,140
And it's just become a norm.
616
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:18,720
And I was talking with a DJ the other day and they said, 15 year old kids, they don't know what it's like to not be in a nightclub.
617
00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:26,840
I mean, growing up, nightclubs, if you look at photos from nightclubs in the nineties where there's no phones, it is a totally different vibe than now.
618
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:28,180
Like everybody looks different.
619
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:30,520
Everybody's like in their own little element with their groups.
620
00:43:30,580 --> 00:43:32,960
And it's not like the environment that's out there now.
621
00:43:33,060 --> 00:43:50,380
And I've thought recently about in just even starting, not trying to make a national news story, but forming on like a 501 C three nonprofit to go around to local nightclubs and have them sign up, not an affidavit, a testimony, what's it called?
622
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:52,740
A pledge or something like that.
623
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:54,640
And says, Hey, we're all going to bond together.
624
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:56,880
We bound as a city, a nightlife community in Seattle.
625
00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:07,080
Because when you think about it, when you do the math, if somebody is on the phone, when I was clubbing, if we were standing around, if we weren't dancing, we were standing.
626
00:44:07,220 --> 00:44:09,880
If we were standing for like a few minutes and we're talking, okay.
627
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:12,540
But then the thing was, Hey, let's go get a drink.
628
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:16,680
And then while you're waiting in line, you're buying a drink and you're talking while you're waiting in line, getting the drink.
629
00:44:16,980 --> 00:44:19,760
But I'm sitting there and I'm watching a video.
630
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,200
I'm social networking.
631
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:22,260
I'm doing this.
632
00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:24,600
That's time that I'm not standing in line.
633
00:44:24,900 --> 00:44:27,160
That's time I'm not buying a drink.
634
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:31,140
And so maybe I might buy one drink and set that down.
635
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:32,600
And now I'm social, social, social.
636
00:44:32,700 --> 00:44:37,060
Whereas when that drink ran, whenever my drink ran out, uh, well, I'm not doing anything.
637
00:44:37,140 --> 00:44:38,660
Let's go wait and get another drink.
638
00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:40,220
So you see bar sales go up.
639
00:44:40,220 --> 00:44:44,880
Or I used to talk with nightclubs that would put on movies in the background as their visuals.
640
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:48,500
And you get the guy sitting there watching enter the dragon, like a wallflower.
641
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:53,180
And I'm like, turn the movie off, put some visuals up there.
642
00:44:53,220 --> 00:44:54,120
Don't put a movie on.
643
00:44:54,180 --> 00:44:55,720
People are going to sit there and watch the movie.
644
00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:59,480
And they said, yeah, when we took that down in the nightclub, we saw our drink sales.
645
00:45:00,060 --> 00:45:07,420
Like there was an effect because people just weren't sitting there watching that, you know, um, they were actively trying to participate and do something.
646
00:45:07,580 --> 00:45:12,820
So, you know, if we see it from the nightlife club level, the clubs could use the excuse.
647
00:45:13,220 --> 00:45:15,700
Hey, one, you don't have the rights to film on site.
648
00:45:16,180 --> 00:45:19,260
Um, two, this is music that you don't have the rights to record.
649
00:45:19,460 --> 00:45:21,500
They can go from a legal aspect and say, boom, boom.
650
00:45:21,780 --> 00:45:23,160
You're not allowed to record the performance yet.
651
00:45:23,500 --> 00:45:24,560
But can we see that?
652
00:45:24,620 --> 00:45:28,220
Like you said, lane eight's coming in saying he requires stickers on everyone's phone.
653
00:45:28,540 --> 00:45:28,900
Yeah.
654
00:45:28,900 --> 00:45:29,340
You know?
655
00:45:29,380 --> 00:45:31,740
And, and then I don't know what the policy is.
656
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:35,700
If somebody gets caught filling and caught without a sticker, is it a tickling?
657
00:45:36,180 --> 00:45:37,580
It's an automatic kick out.
658
00:45:37,580 --> 00:45:37,920
Yeah.
659
00:45:38,220 --> 00:45:38,320
Yeah.
660
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:39,260
On those shows in particular.
661
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:41,120
And we, I mean, look, it's in the show notes and everything.
662
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:47,560
Like people know in advance that people don't get kicked out, but you know, and we're up front with people about it.
663
00:45:47,980 --> 00:45:48,300
Yeah.
664
00:45:48,420 --> 00:45:50,160
So, I mean, that's just, I think a huge thing.
665
00:45:50,420 --> 00:46:03,240
How do you form that coalition or an ant, you know, boom, this city and let's make it, let's put it on the map or maybe a company like relentless beach puts us in a manifesto in there saying, Hey, we're going with this or every show and make cell phone zones.
666
00:46:03,620 --> 00:46:04,460
Like, here you go.
667
00:46:04,540 --> 00:46:05,520
This is where you want to use it.
668
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:06,200
Use it here.
669
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:08,600
I mean, I've heard about the magnetic bags they have.
670
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:09,920
You can drop your phone in, but you're right.
671
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:11,180
I want to be able to call my kids.
672
00:46:11,300 --> 00:46:14,740
I want to check out my, how do you do all that stuff?
673
00:46:15,020 --> 00:46:16,640
So I've always just thought it's interesting.
674
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:22,440
Like, you know, culturally it's taboo to be on your phone in a movie theater, but like a nightclub is another dark space.
675
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:27,300
And like, I just was culturally, like, we wouldn't have cell phones in the same way at a nightclub.
676
00:46:27,640 --> 00:46:36,340
Uh, you know, I've joked like maybe we should do like right before the headliner comes on, like one of those, you know, visit the concession stands, turn off your cell phone sort of messages.
677
00:46:36,340 --> 00:46:42,320
But obviously they'll probably, they'll probably record that and put that up online and try to let it go viral.
678
00:46:43,240 --> 00:46:44,700
I'm going to tell on them.
679
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:45,140
Wow.
680
00:46:45,260 --> 00:46:49,260
I can't believe they said that, you know, doing all these events, 500 events a year.
681
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,380
Do you get to go out on the road a lot with some of these events?
682
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:54,320
I mean, for our big shows, for sure.
683
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:55,680
Like I'll be at experts only.
684
00:46:55,700 --> 00:46:58,460
I'll be participating in the management of that with the larger team.
685
00:46:58,660 --> 00:47:00,980
Um, you know, I've gone out to the Honolulu shows.
686
00:47:00,980 --> 00:47:02,860
I'll go out to our bigger Albuquerque shows.
687
00:47:03,340 --> 00:47:09,600
Um, you know, at this point in my career, like my focus is on our bigger shows just because they, they represent a lot of revenue for the company.
688
00:47:09,700 --> 00:47:10,380
It's how we pay bills.
689
00:47:10,460 --> 00:47:11,340
It's how we pay everybody.
690
00:47:12,020 --> 00:47:16,000
Um, so like a lot of my time gets wrapped up in gold rush decadence and stuff like that.
691
00:47:16,260 --> 00:47:22,300
Do you get to like explore some of the cultures, city and food and nightlife when you get out there?
692
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:22,680
Yeah.
693
00:47:22,780 --> 00:47:23,980
My wife and I love to travel.
694
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:29,100
So like we'll spend an extra couple of days in New York, uh, after this show and enjoy the city together.
695
00:47:29,180 --> 00:47:34,680
We haven't been in the city in a couple of years together, but you know, we're the type of people that like, we always just want to try to go to somewhere new.
696
00:47:34,900 --> 00:47:39,400
So even if we're on vacation and you know, it's the goal is to like try a new city or try a new place.
697
00:47:40,340 --> 00:47:42,640
Favorite city you've been to in the last year.
698
00:47:43,420 --> 00:47:49,080
You know, we spent a couple of weeks in Tokyo this past year and absolutely loved it.
699
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:54,640
I know it's so popular with everybody, but honestly, it is such a cool culture and such a cool experience.
700
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:56,140
There's so many things to do.
701
00:47:56,180 --> 00:47:58,820
Like I can't even begin to list all the shit we did.
702
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:01,820
And you know, we're honestly really looking forward to going back.
703
00:48:01,940 --> 00:48:03,760
It's just, uh, it was super clean.
704
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:04,380
It was nice.
705
00:48:04,500 --> 00:48:05,220
The food was great.
706
00:48:05,340 --> 00:48:06,060
People are polite.
707
00:48:06,220 --> 00:48:10,720
Like it checks so many boxes, you know, that's right now I'm planning.
708
00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:19,500
Um, obviously working close with, with Chad and they're really letting us do nationwide stuff, planning a European tour as well in conjunction with that for 2026.
709
00:48:19,740 --> 00:48:25,280
Once I get that dialed in probably halfway through 2026, I'm starting to go looking to go east.
710
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:36,420
And, uh, now that I know Honolulu is a jumping off point of stopping there and going down to visit my friends in Melbourne and then getting up into Bangkok and going to Tokyo, you know, and then coming back.
711
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:41,200
Um, cause luckily through technology, I can do this show from anywhere in the world.
712
00:48:41,500 --> 00:48:42,160
It's awesome.
713
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:43,740
But I like to be on the ground and meet people.
714
00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:44,800
I'm a huge foodie.
715
00:48:44,860 --> 00:48:52,520
So getting into the foods, the actual authentic foods of the culture and getting, you know, not that American culture food is bad, but it's Americanized.
716
00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:59,480
You know that, you know, I want to get the real deal, real hardcore stuff like Anthony Bourdain on the site, except I will not eat anything that's alive.
717
00:49:00,220 --> 00:49:01,300
Yeah, not my thing.
718
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:13,020
You know, I can't see that squid around the stick and I'm just like, no, I'll eat sushi, but you know, except for sea urchin, unless it's in a really nice shooter, I'll eat sea urchin.
719
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,540
But other than that, sea urchin is not my thing.
720
00:49:15,940 --> 00:49:16,660
No, no.
721
00:49:17,020 --> 00:49:18,000
Here's a question for you.
722
00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:18,540
Kind of out of the blue.
723
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:21,100
I told you pre-show I saw this question I wanted to ask you.
724
00:49:21,100 --> 00:49:26,760
And I know there is kind of a little bit of a history of this in the Arizona area, Phoenix, Arizona area.
725
00:49:27,020 --> 00:49:28,540
Have you ever seen a UFO?
726
00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:30,560
I have not.
727
00:49:30,720 --> 00:49:38,360
We do have a, you know, an alien themed show called Phoenix Lights, which is named after the famous alien sighting from, I think it was the 80s or 90s.
728
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:40,140
But no, I have not.
729
00:49:41,660 --> 00:49:45,360
We'll make some fake ones for the show, you know, in theme, but that's about it.
730
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:52,220
You know, I know there's that mountain ridge there, they say they always see objects flying over top of or something.
731
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:53,440
South mountain, yeah.
732
00:49:53,580 --> 00:49:55,220
That's where people saw the original Phoenix Lights.
733
00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:56,560
Well, that's what it was.
734
00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:56,860
Okay.
735
00:49:56,860 --> 00:49:58,320
I didn't know the history on that.
736
00:49:58,380 --> 00:50:04,320
But yeah, it's interesting to know that there could be some stuff out there in the world.
737
00:50:04,500 --> 00:50:06,580
And now, you know, you have a show based on that.
738
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:07,100
It's awesome.
739
00:50:07,540 --> 00:50:17,200
You know, after all of this, gold rush, decadence, Phoenix Lights, traveling, working all the time, what do you prefer to do when you're taking a break?
740
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:19,780
Other traveling, we talked about eating food, traveling.
741
00:50:20,020 --> 00:50:24,060
Is there anything you really look forward to when it's downtime for Ryan?
742
00:50:24,380 --> 00:50:26,120
And like, oh, yeah, cool.
743
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:32,640
Honestly, hanging out with my wife and our friends and sometimes doing nothing, sometimes doing projects around the house.
744
00:50:32,860 --> 00:50:35,560
But you know, I'm a big foodie and travel guy.
745
00:50:35,740 --> 00:50:44,300
So you know, I'm always looking forward to like the next place we're going to like, you know, if my wife's listening, I've been trying to convince her like, hey, maybe we should go somewhere like Kenya next year.
746
00:50:44,340 --> 00:50:50,180
I don't know, just pick like a cool new place, learn about it, and sort of plan like a trip around it.
747
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:51,360
It's like my favorite stuff to do.
748
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:56,620
Best restaurant in Phoenix, if you top your list, number one, go there, check it out.
749
00:50:56,700 --> 00:50:57,320
Where's that at?
750
00:50:57,780 --> 00:51:00,000
We have a ton of steakhouses here.
751
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:03,660
So if you're not from here, you may be familiar with Mastro's.
752
00:51:03,740 --> 00:51:05,340
Mastro's is originally from here.
753
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:10,920
But the guy who started that restaurant also later after he sold it started Ocean 44 and Steak 44.
754
00:51:11,420 --> 00:51:15,040
I think they're among the best steak restaurants in the country, hands down.
755
00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:17,080
Those located in the downtown area?
756
00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:17,540
Are they?
757
00:51:17,820 --> 00:51:19,260
I mean, look them up online, I assume.
758
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:23,120
But yeah, so Ocean 44 is in Scottsdale.
759
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:24,200
That's near like Old Town.
760
00:51:24,460 --> 00:51:31,000
And then Steak 44 is 44th and Camelback, which is actually right next to Global Ambassador, which new excellent hotel in the valley.
761
00:51:31,700 --> 00:51:32,100
Awesome.
762
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:34,180
Well, I will definitely have to check out.
763
00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:35,840
I'm a huge steak fan myself.
764
00:51:35,980 --> 00:51:40,560
I got like 10 filet mignons and a couple ribeyes, a couple New York's in the fridge.
765
00:51:40,660 --> 00:51:42,560
I usually try to have a steak dinner once a week.
766
00:51:42,980 --> 00:51:44,860
But always nice when somebody else prepares it for you.
767
00:51:44,980 --> 00:51:46,280
I'm a huge Sous Vide fan too.
768
00:51:46,660 --> 00:51:47,440
I love my Sous Vide.
769
00:51:47,820 --> 00:51:49,980
That's how we started cooking our steaks.
770
00:51:50,100 --> 00:51:51,220
They just come out perfect.
771
00:51:51,620 --> 00:51:51,840
Perfect.
772
00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:54,640
Awesome.
773
00:51:55,140 --> 00:51:57,360
Well, Ryan, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
774
00:51:57,540 --> 00:51:58,680
I know we're super excited.
775
00:51:58,820 --> 00:52:00,500
You got to get running, get Gold Rush up.
776
00:52:00,740 --> 00:52:03,420
I'm sure it's already in production, already running because of the pre-planning and everything going.
777
00:52:03,900 --> 00:52:07,500
But is there anything else you want to let our DJ Sessions fans know before we let you go?
778
00:52:08,340 --> 00:52:11,660
I would say, I hope you're all coming to Gold Rush because it's going to be a great one.
779
00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:13,440
Like I said, we're back in that Western town.
780
00:52:13,540 --> 00:52:17,360
We're activating every single room up and down the town.
781
00:52:17,580 --> 00:52:18,840
You've got two main stages.
782
00:52:19,060 --> 00:52:21,920
We're bringing excisions, full laser setup.
783
00:52:22,260 --> 00:52:23,360
It's going to be a great show.
784
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:26,560
All that info and more at GoldRushFastAZ.com.
785
00:52:26,620 --> 00:52:29,860
And then of course, if you want to learn more about the rest of our shows, RelentlessBeats.com.
786
00:52:30,260 --> 00:52:30,620
Awesome.
787
00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:32,500
Right there, RelentlessBeats.com.
788
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:35,880
And as an at mention everything Relentless Beats.
789
00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:38,260
Oh yeah, everything at Relentless Beats.
790
00:52:38,660 --> 00:52:41,640
Got to make sure you get those domain names early on.
791
00:52:42,200 --> 00:52:43,420
Yes, we own so many of them.
792
00:52:44,460 --> 00:52:46,900
New platform comes out, grab the domain name for it.
793
00:52:47,020 --> 00:52:48,440
Literally the first thing we do.
794
00:52:48,800 --> 00:52:49,180
Awesome.
795
00:52:49,340 --> 00:52:51,100
Ryan, well, I'd love to follow up with you here in the future.
796
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:56,700
Hopefully, I'll see you on the ground at Experts Only, but definitely would love to make it down.
797
00:52:56,800 --> 00:53:00,020
If I can't make it to Gold Rush, be down there for Decadence as well.
798
00:53:00,140 --> 00:53:05,900
Because with 500 events going on and everything, you know you're going to have a fun time with Relentless Beats.
799
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:06,660
Definitely.
800
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:07,140
Awesome.
801
00:53:07,480 --> 00:53:08,920
Ryan, again, thank you for coming on the show.
802
00:53:09,540 --> 00:53:10,360
Thank you so much.
803
00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:11,060
It was great chatting.
804
00:53:11,580 --> 00:53:12,000
Absolutely.
805
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:16,540
On that note, don't forget to go to our website, TheDJSessions.com.
806
00:53:16,900 --> 00:53:23,000
Find out all of our news stories, over 700 news stories a month, 2,700 plus past episodes.
807
00:53:23,500 --> 00:53:31,560
Find out about our VR nightclub, our new music section, our radio player, our mobile app, all of that and more is at TheDJSessions.com.
808
00:53:31,620 --> 00:53:36,900
Oh, exclusive mixes and live interviews just like this one here at TheDJSessions.com.
809
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:40,920
I'm your host, Darran, coming to you from the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington.
810
00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:47,120
And that's Ryan coming in from the Relentless Beats offices in Phoenix, Arizona for The DJ Sessions.
811
00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:51,860
And remember, on The DJ Sessions, the music never stops.