Spinning at The Amigo Room in The Ace Hotel and Swim Club on August 3rd celebrating his newest record release.
By Buddy Benson
In 1996, a young, aspiring Ronald Keys Jr. entered the DMC US Championships for the first time as DJ Swamp. Up against the best in the nation, he defeated his foes, smashed the records he used to win and secured a reputation as one of the best. Since then he has gone on to work with numerous musicians such as Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto, Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, Crystal Method, and was a DJ for Beck for four years. He is known in the scratch community for pioneering many scratch tools (skip-proof scratch tools, endless beats, etc.), which are now commonplace for a lot of professional DJs. For his latest release, Swamp teamed with local Palm Springs based label, Ruined Vibes, to create another innovative record, For Medicinal Use Only, which dawns Anaglyphic 3D jacket artwork and features a Mini 3D Comic Book along with Glasses to view it.
Ruined Vibes is a local boutique imprint started by friends Jason Hall and Brent Z. Fresh off of retirement from the music industry, Brent was looking for a hobby project that was unique. Jason’s desire to start a label designed for collectors seemed like the perfect fit. They had a similar desire to hand pick the artists they loved and make a record that not only has unique music, but unique packaging too. With the addition of graphic designer, Robert Chance, the label was complete and was ready to take on the independent record label scene.
This is an amazing chance to see a world class turntablist for free at a great local, intimate venue. I spoke with DJ Swamp about the new release.
CVW: It has been a while since you’ve released any new music. Why the silence?
DJ Swamp: “I’ve been on a learning curve, reinventing how I make music. Trying to make music for the right reasons. I’ve also just been taking time to enjoy my life and have fun and well… time flies.”
CVW: You’ve been a fixture at Burning Man for some time now, can you talk about your experiences there?
DJ Swamp: “Yeah. I’ll be performing there for my ninth time this coming month. I’ve had a lot of adventures there, met a lot of people, and learned a lot about artistic expression. Back in 2010 I met a guy named James who passed away last year. James made toys that would disappear instantly in a flash when ignited. I asked him to make me some records that would disappear and after Burning Man, I went to his house in Reno. We made a bunch of them. I had to stop using them at my shows because people were getting really scared, like they got really scared. Before James passed, he showed me how to make them so I hope I can bring them back into my shows at some point. There are really dozens of stories like that.”
CVW: Can you tell us about your work in film and television?
DJ Swamp: “I’ve been in movies like Clockstoppers and Scratch, I was on a ton of TV shows when I used to DJ for Beck. I’ve also directed and edited a ton of my own music videos.”
CVW: You’ve been a DJ/turntablist through the vinyl recession. What do you think about the vinyl resurgence?
DJ Swamp: “It’s funny. You just never know what people are going to think is cool or when they will be over it. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.”
CVW: How were you approached by Ruined Vibes and what were your thoughts about their ideas?
DJ Swamp: “They contacted me on djswamp.com I think, and said they wanted to make a 3D 7 inch and I had already been experimenting with 3D for years, so it sounded great to me. Everything seemed to happen pretty fast after that.”
CVW: I’m sure you’ve had some epic finds digging through records, can you tell us about one of your favorites?
DJ Swamp: “The most epic find ever was this record store in Cleveland on the west side that just said “RECORDS” out front. It was a house that had tons and tons of every genre you could imagine. I still don’t know where it all came from. They had record players that you could just dig and listen to all day. I became friends with the owner, and old man named Larry (RIP) and he would let me bring records in to trade straight up even for whatever I found. It was the most insane deal ever. So I just started getting people’s junk records from everywhere and trading that bullshit for gems. I did it for years. It seemed as though no one else knew about that store and surely if they did, they didn’t have the deal I had. It’s really unbelievable how fortunate I was to have found that. I ended up with a collection of about 22,000 records, all for either sampling, scratching, or just music I like to listen to.”
