Meet Gzus | Mobile DJ

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

Hi Gzus, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My own business started when I attended a party and had the thought that I can do a much better job than the hired DJ. Hearing the DJ throughout the night and just thinking to myself “If he can get paid to do this, I can definitely get paid” was the thought that pretty much started it all for me as far as starting a DJing business.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art as a DJ comes from my love for music. The countless hours I have done researching equipment, researching music, listening to other DJs and drawing inspiration from them have helped separate me from others. Being around music my entire life and knowing how to count and maintain a rhythm has also played a big part. I’m proud of the product and experience I’m able to provide to my clients. I’m proud that I have yet to have a complaint on my craft from the people hiring me and I’m proud that I’m still going after almost 10 years.

I would say the hardest part about this entire journey, is figuring out what price to charge. I’m constantly asking myself “How much do you think your product is worth” and that is a very difficult thing to answer. I overcome these challenges by keeping track of the cost of all my equipment and comparing my skill level and experience to those around me and how much they charge.

Some lessons I’ve learned along the way is you can’t make everyone happy. If you have 90% of the crowd dancing to a song, and you have 1 person come up and request a song that you know these 90% won’t vibe to, you need to make the choice to make that person happy (who COULD be the one who hired you) or ignoring that person’s request and keeping the crowd happy.

I want the world to know that I take my craft very seriously and I constantly strive to get better and better gig after gig. I want them to know that even though my name is ‘Gzus’ I am in no way comparing myself to Jesus Christ lol

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

a week long trip… the best time ever?? That’s a lot of pressure and it really depends which friend it is, but let’s go with my good friend Kevin who doesn’t live in Cali anymore.

If he came for a week, I’d definitely take him to Zankou Chicken since he owes me a meal from a bet haha but let’s see… Tip Top Hamburgers for sure. It really doesn’t get more local than that. I might have to treat him to some Prime Pizza or AYCE Gogi and that should take care of lunch spots.

If he wanted to eat and drink? I’m definitely taking him to Georgio’s Pizzeria/Sports Bar for the cool jukebox, good food, and inexpensive drinks. You gotta love inexpensive drinks.

Hoping that Kev is up for it, I’d take him to Blind Barber in Highland Park because I think that is hands down one of the coolest nightlife experiences I’ve had recently. Hopefully he can go home with some cool memories.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

Wow. There are a lot of people who deserve credit and recognition and let’s go in order…

First I would like to shoutout my pop for always having me around music growing up. He taught me how to count and made sure I could keep a steady tempo, which helped big time. He also took me to the NAMM Show every year which showed me the art of DJing and had the coolest lights that immediately drew me in as a kid. Having DJs at their show scratching records just blew my mind and drew me in to the DJ world, so shoutout to NAMM.

Second I gotta shout out Christian Hernandez for inviting me to that party and having a DJ who wasn’t great, allowing me to build the confidence in myself to start it on my own.

Next I want to shoutout Cristian Cardenas for providing the home studio space that gave birth to my stage name ‘Gzus’

A shoutout to Matthew Canales for being my equipment manager/security once my equipment started getting pricy and a little too heavy to handle on my own.

I also need to shoutout DJ Laggz for not only allowing me to get on a stage for the first time, without even hearing me DJ, but for introducing me to record pools and even gifting thousands of songs to my hard drive to expand my library. Many opportunities have come from me meeting him and his MC Cynthia with the help of wingman Jacob Centeno

Lastly I obviously need to shoutout my amazing girlfriend Marissa for giving me an enormous amount of support from day 1, for all the gigs she’s been to and input she’s given, for the will to learn the craft and be taught, for subbing in on my restroom breaks, for coming together and forming the DJ Duo ‘Table for Two’, and for recommending me to get interviewed by y’all and creating this opportunity.

Instagram: @gzusnotjesus

Other: SoundCloud.com/gzusnotjesus

Image Credits
Photographer: Marissa Bañuelos