By Morgan James
From Coachella Valley to Los Angeles, from backyard parties to big clubs and hotels, DJ crew The Deep Ones never disappoint with their powerfully entertaining stage presence and broad mix of musical genres which always hit the mark. The players hold an intriguing masked facade as they captivate their crowd using a fiercely energetic vibe. I spoke with Player 1 about the group’s impressive accomplishments over the last 2 years, their inspiration for their themed expression, and where they are bound from here.
MJ: How did the Deep Ones get started and what was the inspiration?
“We started doing house parties in April 2014, the first person to believe in us Celina, asked us to play her birthday party afterward. This would inevitably lead to us playing our first show at the Red Barn, followed by a show at The Hood later that same week. Originally we toyed with the names “The Button Mashers” and “The Koch Brothers” before finally settling on THE DEEP ONES. We are huge fans of the horror genre, and the names origin comes from visionary author H.P. Lovecraft’s 1936 novella, The Shadow over Innsmouth. We really enjoy the Deep House sound and our individual DJ names are Feckless D and Player 1, so the name only made sense… As for the suits and masks we were inspired by legendary electronic acts such as Aphex Twin, Daft Punk and Deadmau5, as well as shock rockers GWAR and Marilyn Manson. We wanted to bring a unique vibe to the Valley’s DJ scene, something different and provocative that equally represented arts, entertainment and of course music.”
MJ: Who all is involved in the team?
“We started as a core duo composed of Feckless D, and Player 1. Player 1 was working in La Quinta before getting a promotion to Beverly Hills, making the logistics of Desert Shows a bit trickier. Recently our producer, Wicked Sick, moved from Rhode Island to Los Angeles, and has become much more involved in our DJ performances. The trinity is finally assembled and The Deep Ones are now bigger, badder, and better than ever. Our extended D1 Family includes a number of talented DJ’s to the stable such as Intrikit, Lusk, and Falcon, and many, many more!”
MJ: Tell me about The Deep Ones accomplishments up until now?
“We came from humble beginnings and it’s always been about the music and not about the money. We been a launch pad for many local DJs, and we’ve reached out to almost every DJ in the Coachella Valley to play our events or theirs. This let to us forming our label, D1 entertainment, a DJ collective which now has both a Palm Desert and Los Angeles based arm, respectively. We are the resident DJs at the Red Barn, Plan B, and even Costas at one point. The Deep Ones have played grassroots sets at the Coachella and Stagecoach campgrounds, closing out the festivals even after the silent disco shuts down! We regularly play BB’s holiday Parties at the Hard Rock. We love to entertain, and although we aren’t regarded as the most skilled DJs by many veterans, we have an unparalleled spirit and stage presence, original productions, and track selection, and that in itself is our greatest accomplishment. We also recently celebrated our 2 year DJ anniversary this Memorial Day.”
MJ: Tell me about your goals moving forward?
“Our ultimate goal would be to play large festivals in some capacity with proper sound mixing and visuals. We have the showmanship, mystique and “occult following” to make this happen. We would also like to upgrade our signature metallic masks into the realm of Hollywood level special effects. Production goals would include a full length album and collaborations with DJs that we look up to (OWSLA… Call us!)”
MJ: What is up and coming that you’d like to promote?
“The Deep Ones have an extremely busy month in June. First off we are releasing our first EP at the start of the summer. We have shows spread across So Cal this month, first at our “Headroom” open DJ night June 3rd at Café Zeta in Los Angeles, followed by a June 9th show at the Red Barn, then a show at Plan B on the 23rd. We are also starting a new DJ event at the famous Airliner in L.A. on the 28th to close out the month.”
MJ: You seem to have a mixed genre of music that you play due to each individual DJ style- would you agree or how would you explain your style as a whole?
“Yes we would totally agree, we are very wide ranged open format with our musical style, often playing everything from opera to atmospheric movie scores in our sets! We of course passionately love our electronic music though!”
Feckless D loves his house music and brings Ibiza level vibes to the table all day!
Player 1 is all about that bass, coming with that Hollywood/L.A. sound long before he moved to the city!
Wicked Sick is a purveyor of the dubstep, U.K. garage and halftime tracks, consistently hand picking some of the dirtiest sounds available
For future D1 updates you should follow us on facebook:
www.facebook.com/thedeeponesofficial We love to hear from our fans!
For free downloads and original Deep Ones material/DJ sets check us out on soundcloud:
www.soundcloud.com/thedeepones
We would like to give a huge shout out to CV Weekly for everything they do for the local community, especially to Morgan James for all her support over the past 2 years not only to us but to all the local musicians and artists here in the Coachella Valley!
