Today we’d like to introduce you to Bolo the DJ.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Having been raised in a single parent household as a first generation American Citizen, life was always unpredictable. Constantly moving homes and switching schools, maintaining a job from an early age, and even sacrificing extracurricular activities to help care for my younger sister required me to “grow up” at an early age. But one thing was always constant throughout all my life, my love for my family and my love for music.
I spent most of my life living in the Bay Area, CA where music had a huge role within our culture. Always being fascinated by the D’s song selection and crowd engagement at family parties and school dances drove me to reach out a local DJ and ask to “intern” as a DJ. My excitement was answered by moving around heavy equipment and tedious hours of wrapping cables. After my mentor gave me my first chance to play in front of a large crowd, I absolutely botched it.
After being scarred by the rude crowd, I decided to take a break from wrapping cables and breaking my back as an assistant, and bought my first set of mini turntables to practice at home. It was a slow growth and I never really fully put myself in a position to play in front of.a large crowd besides my family, who gave me my childhood nick name “Boloncho” or “Bolo” for short.
But once I went off to University was when I was finally presented with the perfect opportunity to finally showcase my skills. Having been in charge of the music at most of our fraternity parties, I finally decided to dust off the old mixer and start playing music live at our parties. It went great. I soon started DJing other fraternity and sorority parties, school hosted events, and soon local bars and small venues. It was at this time where I started diving into producing my own music to create my own sounds and style to bring to my DJ sets.
Just as momentum was picking up, the dreadful pandemic of 2020 arrived and put a quick pause on all of my plans for the year. A couple of months into national quarantine and I finished up school, had just lost my job, and really had no idea what to do next.
But, I knew a lot of my friends from school were originally from San Diego and were all moving back after graduating. My dream was always to live in San Diego, but I wasn’t able to act on it sooner since i got denied from all universities in the area. I decided to take the leap of faith and relocate down in SD.
Being in the middle of the pandemic, there wasn’t much to do, so I spent this time strengthening my music production skills and uploading monthly DJ sets on youtube. From this, I was able to reach thousands of people online and finally started to grow what I saw as a small community of people that supported me as a DJ. Eventually, as things started to slowly open back up, I was able to connect with some amazing people locally, and finally start landing real life gigs again.
After each gig, I would always stick around to get people’s feedback and meet new friends. I began to really love the strong community in San Diego as I began to get more familiar with the city. I was fortunate enough to have worked with some amazing event groups, promoters and other music producers to land consistent gigs. And the more gigs I played, the more friends I would make and the closer I would feel to the community of SD
It was in late 2020 when I first began releasing my own music which seemed to be getting a fair amount of attention, which would result in more gigs and new connections. In late 2021 is when I started releasing my own remixes for other DJs to use in their sets, which really seemed to resonate well with people since I would also upload quick Tik Tok tutorials on how I made each remix.
Today, I am blessed to be able to do what I have always dreamed of doing, which is reaching new people and finally growing with a strong community through music. I still have a very long way to go and a lot more friends to meet, but I am super fortunate with all of the opportunities that have been presented here in San Diego. I do not see myself leaving for a long time and look forward for what’s to come in the future of our city and the strong community in it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The pandemic proved to be a big struggle. After first moving to San Diego, I felt like I didn’t meet anyone new for a very long time nor did I have the opportunity to go out and experience San Deigo in all its glory. The lack of gig opportunities required me to get creative while still pursuing and growing my career as a DJ and producer.
Given the circumstances, I began uploading video DJ sets on youtube which really kicked things off again, allowed for me to grow an online audience, and allowed for me to have physical evidence of my abilities and passion for DJing, which I would later leverage in order to land new gigs.
This experience ended up being a blessing in disguise and looking back, I wouldn’t have changed a thing
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an open format DJ and producer meaning I blend multiple genres of music to curate an exciting and energetic style that resonates very well with most crowds. I tend to focus more on an electronic style that still carries a lot of elements from my Latin and hip-hop roots.
Recently, I have been putting a lot of time into making my own remixes, mashups and bootlegs, which are all available for free download for other DJs to play or just for anyone to listen to. There’s an amazing yet indescribable feeling you get when you hear other people playing and enjoying your music.
I think what really sets me apart from other DJs might be my ability to read the crowd and bounce around from genre to genre to keep things exciting and engaging
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My advice to anyone just getting started is whether you are DJing at home just as a hobby or looking to make a career out of it, don’t compare yourself to others and focus on channeling the joy that got you into this art in the first place. Also, don’t be afraid of collaboration or reaching out to others.
I personally find a lot of inspiration and motivation from other DJs or producers who may have more experience DJing than I might or maybe playing at venues that I dream of playing one day. But instead of comparing or being jealous, use this energy as motivation to push yourself to reach farther and set clear goals for yourself so these things become easier to achieve.
Music is an art and is subjective, so as long as you know that you’re doing something you love for the joy of being able to do it and not necessarily for the money or make others happy, I think you will find it easier to continue DJing for a while
I’m obviously no expert, but this is something that I try to practice myself and truly think it has helped me enjoy the process of growing as a DJ and producer even more.
Contact Info:
- Email: bolothedj@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.bolothedj.com/
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/bolothedj
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bolothedj
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/bolothedj
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bolothedj
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4qaAcBXIagTIWYkJRlxYZ7?si=4Bi1hK4jSlK-yYUOr4PZzQ
Image Credits
Gabriella Stefano (Studio Pics only)
