Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Davis.
Hi Hunter, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I first started the art of DJing under the alias Haunter. It was in 2012 I had recently started frequenting a local nightclub in The Grove area of St. Louis, MO. As I was looking for a second job to my retail job and knew the staff at the nightclub, I asked what positions they had open, and the only thing they wanted was more DJs in rotation. Mind you, at this time, I was fairly fresh out of high school and had never touched any DJ equipment, but I told them I can buy whatever gear I need I would just need to learn the basics of mixing. The following week I found myself in their resident DJ, Charlie Buttons’ basement, just messing around with their DJ controller and picked it up pretty fast. Charlie greenlighted me to play opening sets after I felt comfortable with my mixing and song selection, so I would go on to be having a regular gig there as well as two other clubs picking me up to DJ for them and drag show events, thus sparking the name change to HolySparklez and reintroducing myself.
Fast forward a couple years in 2017, I ended up at the point of living out of my car, virtually homeless at the time, so I decided to join the military. My passion would come to a halt as I had to go through boot camp and training, and our living quarters through that time didn’t really give us the space to do things like that. 8 months later, the navy sent me over to Virginia Beach soon after I finished all my training. As soon as I arrived there, the first thing I bought was a Traktor S4 controller to continue my passion for music and DJing. After a couple weeks of promoting myself with the clubs and bars over there, I was able to land a few events, one of them including a 5K. I felt the music scene was a tad small over there and decided to start using my weekends to travel up and down the coast. Not even a month later, I’m doing shows in DC, Richmond, Raleigh, etc. Over the 9-10 months I was based in Virginia Beach, I ended up doing shows all along the east coast from NYC to Miami.
After Virginia Beach, I ended up getting based in San Diego; at first, I was skeptical because I didn’t know anyone, and I had never been to California. After a couple months of going out, I ended up finding a suitable friend group that would get rid of the fear of being lonely and in a big new city. I continued practicing and uploading new mixes to my Mixcloud, me still being new to the friend group, I knew I couldn’t ask for much and definitely couldn’t ask for anyone to vouch for me or network me into a show, so I mostly kept that side of things quiet. I started to get more and more confident and friendly with the friends I had made and started asking for favors and seeing if I could possibly network or collaborate with them on some new events or shows etc. At this point and time, I had no shows, no gigs, and after asking for their assistance it didn’t seem like they were supportive at all, so I kind of lost my love for dance music and DJing for a while.
After my 2020-2021 deployment, I decided to go to some music festivals (EDC, Dreamstate, Countdown, and Beyond Wonderland) and talk about a revival! I felt so replenished, so inspired, and motivated to get right back into what I always loved doing, so I came out with 4 new mix series on SoundCloud. Ended up basically reintroducing myself again but in a huge momentous way and really started to be confident in myself to be able to do this. After COVID started coming to an end, I invested money into my equipment, business cards, promotions, and branding. Not even a month later, I was doing regular shows all over Hillcrest, downtown, and even some LA gigs. The month before I left for my 2022-2023 deployment, I had about 15 shows that I performed at; it was almost addicting
In that same time frame, I had applied to perform at San Diego Pride Festival. As I left on deployment, I had no idea where I stood with the Pride Organizers. I remember the evening that I got the email & phone call where they told me that I am performing. Fast forward to the end of deployment, I had to act fast with all elements of this performance, working with local designer Oseas Villatoro for my looks and local artist Roamy to support our music producers. Pride festival came and I cannot express how much love and support for my craft and passion came from this; that night will forever play in my head on repeat. The pride that I have for bringing something new to the scene and the difference in the way we mix and bring people together through music was validated in that moment. All the hardships, sacrifice, and dedication I put forth had finally been recognized. I’ll be honest; I cried during and after the performance because that’s how much this all meant to me.
Today I am currently working on some remix projects and even learning the processes of music production to take my passion forward in an even bigger way.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My biggest challenges were my living situation prior to the navy, finding the confidence to continue even when I only had two people listening to my music, and the ability to buy some of the equipment. With a passion like this, you really have to love what you’re doing because most of the return on it doesn’t show up until later down the road.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
So, I’m most known for my DJing. I specialize in forms of various genres of EDM to include House, Techno, Electro, Tropical, and I’m experimenting with other subgenres to come. I am most proud of the energy/vibe that I bring to any of my performances. Whether there is a crowd or not, I will be happy playing the music that I love, and people see that. What sets me apart from others is song selection; I pride myself in having a remix that no one else has or being able to switch from genres that typically wouldn’t complement each other and being able to make it work.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I think what matters most is that you enjoy what you’re doing and what you’re bringing to the table.
Contact Info:
- Website: HolySparklez.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/HolySparklez
- Facebook: Facebook.com/HolySparklez
- SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/HolySparklez
Image Credits
Myles Alonzo
