HTF were fortunate enough to catch up with DJ legend, DJ Day (aka Damien Beebe)
Hailing from sunny Palm Springs, California, DJ Day has toured the world, shared the stage with everyone from Amy Winehouse to Eminem and been pleasing our ears for well over a decade now.
With the release of his latest album ‘Land Of 1000 Chances’ we spoke to the man himself to find out a bit more about the man behind the beats. As well as learning about the new album we discuss his live performance plans, his Palm Spring parties, Jazzy Jeff and find out who, if anyone, he could listen to on repeat in a broken lift situation!
Check out our exclusive interview below and check out more from DJ Day at – http://www.facebook.com/IAmDJDay
HTF: 

So firstly, your new album ‘Land Of 1000 Chances’. Have to ask, with myself being a skater this album instantly bought images of black and white slow mo skate edits into my head! Being from Palm Springs are you much of a skater yourself?
DD:Yeah there’s definite skate vibes in there. I did skate back in the day, but was never really good at it. I think ollie’s were the pinnacle of my skate career. I was more into BMX. GT, Diamond Back’s and all that stuff.
HTF: There is such a fusion of sounds on the album. How did you go about selecting what beats and samples you use? Did you have an idea of what sound you wanted from the album or did it just come organically?
DD: I think it was a mix of both. I spent a lot time in between ‘The Day Before’ and ‘Land of 1000 Chances’ and there’s probably 100+ beat sketches lying around from that time. I just wanted to create a vibe the whole way through. I didn’t try to put too much thought into what I was doing and just go with the flow. If it resonated with me on a deeper level I just went with it. Sources didn’t matter at all as long as the feeling was there.
HTF: You stated ‘Had I known what I was getting us into, I would have never set foot in the studio’. I take it the recording process was maybe not as easy planned?
DD: Man…there’s a lot of bullshit that went on both during and after the making of the album. Most of it was my own doing. But yeah, I’ll be here all day if I had to lay out the whole story. Let’s just say it was an emotionally taxing experience all the way around. Even after we were done recording the album, the stress of mixing it down for over a month and my almost self-sabotage of the whole process led to a lot of drunken nights and borderline insanity for both Thes and myself. It’s a miracle we made it through to be honest.
DD: This has been a reoccurring question in interviews and I have yet to give an answer. I don’t know if I ever will. It means something to me that I’m not sure I want to share with the world just yet. I’ll leave it up to the public to make their own definition of what it means to them.
HTF: You used a lot of live session musicians on the album. Is this something you bring into your live shows?Are us fans in the UK expecting a visit anytime soon?
DD: I haven’t quite worked out how to translate this record to a live setting yet. I would have to get musicians to play for sure. There’s a few things I’ve been fleshing out during my sets from the record, but it’s gonna be a process to work through for a whole tour. The next record I make will have that thought in mind. I’d like to be able to do it all myself at some point.
HTF: So you started out around 1989 listening to Jazzy Jeff scratch. You ever manage in that time to catch up with him for a session?
DD: Nah! Hopefully one day though. To this day I’m a huge fan and consider him to be one of the biggest influences on me as a DJ.
HTF: We hear you throw regular parties at The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. Any chance of getting an invite? What can we expect from a typical night with DJ Day?
DD: Yo you’re always welcome out here mate. What I do at the Ace could be considered ‘open format’. Meaning I play what I like to play, haha. Everything from classic hip hop, disco, funk/soul, to Tame Impala, SBTRK and UZ. It’s all across the board.
HTF: So your in a lift and it breaks and your told your gonna have to be in there for probably 48 hours while they work out a way to cut the roof open or summin cus it’s stuck between floors and it’s just a pretty tricky situation. If you could have any hip-hop track in history as the lift music (note it would be in the lift music style) what would it be and why?
DD: Holy fuck, 48 hours of one track? I don’t care what it is, that sounds like Gitmo torture to me. I’ll smash the speakers and take silence over anything.
HTF: DJ Day, thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us. Is there any last messages you would like to send out?
DD: Big thanks to Hit The Floor and a huge shout out to Piecelock 70, Dirty Science and all the folks out there who’ve supported me over the years. PSP por vida.
Interviewer: Chris Hines
