If you’re one of the many people who wish that campus parties had a bit more dancing and weren’t so lame, then you should get to know Harrison Schaff ’11. This frosh is making his way in the L.A. DJ-ing scene and, in fact, is coming to a WestCo Café near you this Friday. Read on and enter the musical mind of the man who could bring about the rebirth of the Wesleyan dance scene (if there ever was such a thing).
ANNALEE: So, I’ve been reading about your DJ-ing career, and apparently you’ve played at a lot of different places and are actually kind of established or up-and-coming. What inspired you to make your way into the DJ-ing world?
HARRISON: I started making electronic music in, like, 11th grade. It was really just like little machines…then I realized what I really wanted to be doing was using a computer to make music. So I got a bunch of programs and just started working with making music with my computer. At first it was hip-hop. I kind of went through a hip-hop phase and got like all kinds of different stuff and just experimenting with different production ideas, and now I do a lot of dance music.
A: I thought all DJs kind of just took other people’s tracks and mixed them, but I watched your MySpace video, and you played the drums and keyboard. Is that how it is, are all your tracks of you playing?
H: Absolutely…Yeah, I definitely took a lot of pride in being able to make a full song that I could call my own, but then it gets a little more complicated when I start doing things like the video that you saw, because I made all that music and I wrote out all that music, but I still have Fat Joe and Lil’ Wayne rapping over my music. It’s kind of like an interesting boundary, depending on what you want to call an original song or a remix.
A: How’d you get your first show?
H: Basically just like calling club owners and hassling them…I think I actually got my first show by just making a bunch of stuff up. Even though I had done shows before that, like at houses (that had gone really well), I still had to be like, “I can definitely get like 300 or 400 people into your club!” You know, it really started out in art galleries and stuff like that. That’s when I really started gaining my confidence and stuff as a live DJ just kind of throwing things together in real time.
A: So, besides DJ-ing, what do you do?
H: Uh, I really like traveling. I spend a lot of time in China. I had a job in Beijing last summer. That was really fun. I was working for kind of like a high-tech video rental company, and, in my spare time, I was out trying to find gigs at clubs.
A: So you speak Mandarin?
H: I’m working on it. I took it for a couple years in school, and some this summer. I’m working on learning it here, too.
A: Do you have any good China stories?
H: I have a great story. So I get off my plane in Beijing, and one of the airport officials is like, “Where do you need to go? Can I help you?” I was just like, “I need a transfer.” He takes me to some desks and runs me all over the place. I’m getting a little suspicious, then he’s like, “You don’t have a ticket. If you want to get on your flight, you need to pay $160 because you haven’t paid for your ticket yet.” I’m looking at this guy and am just like, “Am I being totally scammed or is this legit?” He’s got my passport and my boarding pass. I could tackle him, but I don’t want to get arrested.
A: Oh no.
H: Then he starts walking me to security and is like, “Okay, have a good trip!” And I was like, “Hold on man, you just took my money, you better give it back.” And he’s like, “Oh, I’m sorry. Hold on one second. Really there’s been a misunderstanding.” And he just takes off running. [Laughs] I drop my duffle bags and start chasing him through the airport, literally knocking people over, and I hear someone from behind me. I turn around and someone’s holding [my wallet] up, saying, “Hey, you dropped this!” Meanwhile, the dude was just gone in a sea of people. It was just like “Bourne Identity” type stuff. [Laughs] I just got hustled so bad.
A: So, now I have a little random part of the interview, a la James Lipton from Inside the Actors Studio: If you could have any super power, what would it be?
H: [Without a moment’s hesitation] Oh, flying. For sure. No doubt. Or, like, maybe telekinesis, so I could make beats with my mind—and never have to touch the mouse.
A: If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you bring with you?
H: I feel like it would be sad if I brought my computer…Okay, let’s see. I should’ve thought of this before. I should have expected this. Probably…a mask and a snorkel…and a beach towel, minus the computer, though. Yeah, a mask and a snorkel and…some nice shoes and, uh…wait, let me think about this. I’m thinking a mask and a snorkel, oh wait, that’s two things…suntan lotion.
A: Describe yourself in two words.
H: Um…ideally I would say acquisitive…and, uh, caricature.
A: Lindsay or Paris? And I mean this as in who do you think is the better “musician”?
H: I don’t know, I’m gonna have to go with Paris because I like what DANGERDOOM and Banksy did with her album, in terms of remixing it and doing the album art.
A: [Laughs] So it’s not her talent, but other people’s…
H: [Laughs] Yeah, it’s like the fact that her lack of talent has allowed two other really amazing people to make something really cool. I think I’m gonna have to [remix a Paris song] some day, put that on the big list.
A: Yeah, that’d be a good thing. So, if your life were a film, who would play you and what would be the name of the film?
H: Um…“Blue Streak,” Martin Lawrence. [Laughs]
A: Okay, now the final question. When you graduate from here in three and a half years, what do you want your Wesleyan legacy to be? So, imagine someone donates a building to you, what would it say?
H: I really want to have planned some awesome event by the time I leave Wesleyan. Not just limited to music, but all kinds of things. So [the plaque would say], “For excellence and dedication in planning really baller events.”
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