The Great Escape: Attitude, Delivered; Bitch, Served! A JustCircuit.mag exclusive interview with DJ Escape by Michael Richards and featured in the August/September 2009 issue of JustCircuit.mag
New York is a place of great talent and of course a great many people. Talent is easy to recognize in some although few develop this talent to a level that will set them apart from others. DJ Escape, who is known to some by his given name Jeff, is an example of pure talent, which has transcended the years, the evolution in music and the generations of party people filtering through the nightclubs. Escape recently had the time to speak with JustCircuit about what he truly desires from his career. His career is his passion and developing it is what he sees for the future. When asked if he ever considered another career away from the music industry, he revealed he had never even thought about another career. “Perhaps real estate?” he quipped, while still mentally pondering the surprising question that helps us to understand the real Escape. He had wanted to be a DJ as a hobby back at age thirteen, when he started “messing with things.” He is dedicated to his profession and puts every waking minute of his time and his thought into the music he loves and its production. Dance music, that is. It’s his passion.
Jeff met DJ Skribble in the early ‘90’s while working as a DJ and promoter at the Underground in Bayside Queens. The two clicked when they met at a “teen’s night” which later became other, bigger themes. Skribble recognized Jeff’s interest in Hip Hop and Reggae. From the early days with DJ Skribble to playing his work for today’s dance floors around the world, Escape has become entirely focused upon the dance music scene that is primarily composed of the gay male community. “After spending time in clubs such as the Tunnel and the legendary Palladium, I realized I had entered into a spectacle of sensory overload for the music lover in me. I was in awe of the venue, the sound, the lights, the shows and all the people gathered to enjoy the same things I enjoyed. The only difference was that I wanted to be the Maestro who commanded this audience.” His experiences at The Tunnel had already changed Skribble.
In fact, before that Thanksgiving eve in 1986 when Skribble finally got the hesitant and also under aged Jeff into the Palladium, Jeff was still playing local parties and events and was in also still in high school. His music was Hip Hop and Reggae that was fun and light back then. From there, he played a club in Queens, which changed names frequently, but was “Avante” when he was there. While at Avante, Skribble began introducing him to the influential industry people and helped mold him into today’s DJ Escape. During the early Palladium days Escape would watch the talents of Junior Vasquez, who would musically manipulate the crowd. Never much of a dancer, it was common to see Escape near Junior watching his every move. “My enjoyment in what I now do was developed from learning. I would watch Junior take sounds from other songs and loop them in as overlay into tracks that would not be played until hours later. Still, these tracks would help develop the overall theme of the night and might just be that track that everyone was waiting to hear. I developed this driving desire to want to create theses sounds in addition.”
“It was about a year later that Escape met Michael McDavid and Eddie Baez, who had just started the Saturday night Sound Factory event. I learned so much from hanging out watching at these events.” Escape was eventually offered his first big gig outside New York in Miami at Club Liquid during Halloween 1998. “I came in that room with everything I had learned to do this straight night. Promoters of the Gay night were there and approached me to try out on Sunday that next month. The Gay night sold me!” Eventually, Escape was playing all the big clubs and began experiencing the Circuit parties that would be next. On New Years Day at Salvation, promoters for the Bad Boys Club Montreal (BBCM, presenter of today’s Black and Blue Festival) recognized his talent and brought Escape to 2000’s Hot and Dry event. “It was one of the best gigs of my life!” states Escape. The Miami gig had opened many doors by this time and Escape was well on his way in the profession he loves.
Shortly after his launch into the world of the Circuit, his hit “Worship Me” became an overnight classic. Even the famed Power Infiniti performed to it. He continued to work in the studios of Eddie Baez and Razor & Guido when they weren’t using the studio themselves, creating his own tracks and the sound you are familiar with today. “I like a certain sound or groove still today. It’s recognizable today,” states Escape. “I love to collaborate with great people and make songs come to life. 95% of the time I only need the vocals to make it ‘big room’ in my sound.” In fact, Escape claims that his approach to a record is in two ways: the house-y, piano sound (similar to the recent Kelly Rowland track “When Love Takes Over”) or the hard, tribal, peak-hour, hands-in-the-air mix. “It involves both. I’m really into the remixing side of music, but I want to develop my production side even more.”
One of Escape’s rules is that he keeps his music under lock and key. “I won’t share until it’s allowed or until I’m ready. If I’m not moved, I’m not doing it. You’re only as good as your last record. I consider myself to be a perfectionist and will only work with others who are perfectionists.”
After all the years watching from the booth, it is now Escape who is manipulating the music to the awe of others. He has learned to provide a set that is not necessarily planned ahead. “Everything’s on the fly,” says Escape. “I take people on a journey. It won’t be one sound all night. We go lots of places! I also make it a point to end on a down, happy, fun, sing along note. I feed off the energy of my crowd and that drives my set.”
Is the day of the DJ residency in our nightclubs over? Escape thinks probably so. “They just aren’t as prominent, with the state of the clubs today. I think the days of the big room weekends are in the past. Everything leads to something else, however! My early introduction to Michael McDavid and working at Strictly Rhythm Records, I have my eyes on becoming an executive at a record label. Regardless of where I spin, where I go and what I do, I will always know that it is the Gay crowd that gets it. They get what I’m doing and what I’m all about. Whether it’s the West Coast sounds that are more anthem-y and vocally or the Miami sound that has a nice mix of house-y, prime time slots, the Gay crowds there recognize and command the dance music and its sought after familiarity from other genres. Some people THINK they get it. I remember at one event the producer of the night ran up into the DJ booth and expressed his worry that the music was inappropriate for the night. I told him ‘Listen, if everyone is not singing along with this next song, you don’t have to pay me tonight.’ Of course, everyone was. It takes a certain knowledge to know what’s going on present different classics and different mash-ups. I am an entertainer. I want to put on a show. I’m not so serious of a guy and believe it or not a fun and happy guy! I want you to walk out of my night and remember the night through my music.”
Escape recently had the opportunity to remix Beyonce’s whole album. He reveals there are still many unreleased remixes that he hopes will eventually be released to the public. Other projects currently in the works are, you guessed it, under “lock and key” currently. Anyone who might doubt the talents of the Great Escape won’t be a doubter when these projects are revealed. With his sights set still higher in the music industry and with the ambition to accomplish more, it is clear Escape can spin his magic on any artist. Some say he serves attitude. In fact, he delivers bitch!
The Great Escape: Attitude, Delivered; Bitch, Served!
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