Meet Waves | DJ, sound curator, and event producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Waves and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Waves, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I never really thought of myself as a risky person until I stopped recently to look back at what I’ve accomplished in my DJ career. It hit me that risk taking is essential to success (in whatever way you define that), because you have to think outside the box and operate different than the average person in order to really grow. Creatives and artists can’t sit around waiting for things to happen; we have to initiate it, and that often requires stepping into the unknown and being uncomfortable. It was a risk to quit my day job to be self-employed. It was a risk to move from Toronto to California and in a way, re-start my business to grow in a new market. But those risks allowed me to grow and have amazing experiences that could have only come from me betting on myself and taking chances. It’s still scary, but over time you get more comfortable with being uncomfortable and not always knowing how things will turn out okay-just that they will somehow.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve spent over a decade honing my craft as a DJ and settling into the live music and events world. I’ve been a resident DJ with Live Nation for most of my career so I quickly learned to be a fan of every genre in order to DJ pre + post show parties for concerts. Sometimes it’s a country artist, and sometimes it’s rap or rock n’ roll. Having the crowd and music change every night keeps me on my toes with music knowledge, and has really taught me how to read a crowd and get over my ego when it comes to playing stuff I’m not personally a fan of. I feel like that’s a major hurdle for DJs nowadays too; they play for themselves and don’t learn to craft a night based on the people in front of them. Before leaving Toronto, I was the official DJ for the Toronto Marlies Hockey Team (Toronto Maple Leafs AHL affiliate) and that also had me playing to crowds of thousands where I would only have short pockets of time in between plays to make an impact with my music choices. I have a lot of respect for DJs who are technically skilled (turntablism blows my mind), but before you can really get to that point you need to be an expert song selector. Knowing what to play to set the mood, lift it, or change it is truly electrifying, and it’s magical to see people reacting. Building off of that, I’ve started getting into music supervision for TV & film, so I’m excited to see where that takes me next in my journey.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
LA always has something happening everywhere you turn so there’s no shortage of things to do! The Los Feliz and Silver Lake neighbourhoods are my go-to when I have free time. Aimlessly walking around and going into book stores like Skylight, or getting coffee at Intelligensia while window shopping down Sunset Blvd. is the perfect day. For dinner, Italian food at Speranza is my favorite, and then hopping to Pinky’s for a cozy cocktail bar with groovy DJs, or to Cha Cha Lounge for a grittier vinyl night.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Kate McCabe out in Joshua Tree gave me my first gig in the USA and that opened so many doors for me, so I’m forever grateful to her for sharing her event with me as a guest DJ. Community is everything, and connecting with female DJs and musicians has been amazing because we can lean on, support, and inspire each other within the industry.

Website: www.djwaves.ca

Instagram: @dj.waves https://www.instagram.com/dj.waves/

Other: bookings@djwaves.ca
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/f85rmuc7nynakz899ilh0l6ka?si=8aa020ba7dba4b24