Yo: I’m excited as ever to present the first profile of a DJ in Porch of the Mystics history. It just so happens to be a friend, Joey Liechty aka Yeahdef. You can find him most likely wearing a tan Carhartt jacket in these wintry months, roaming the streets of Denton looking for a fix. Which in his case would be a dancefloor. On that subject, he’s got a message for all of you who may have fallen victim to his prowl, “To the owners of houses that I wrecked in the past – sorry for the mess – I miss you guys there will be more house parties I promise.” From what I can tell, he keeps it real and loose. Download his remix linked up below and it will single songedly pull you through the winter and into warmth.
MP3: Seals and Crofts – Summer Breeze (Yeahdef Bahaibrid Remix)
Questions & Answers just a click away!
JD: Tell me about your DJ alias. When did you come up with it? What does it mean to you?
YD: I picked “Yeahdef” out for a few reasons. I was branded “DJ Highlife” years back because of my fondness for the champagne of beers. I never really dug the name aside from the fact that I didn’t choose it – which was kind of cool. After dropping my vinyl setup in favor of midi controllers – I wanted to drop the DJ, since I’m not officially jockeying discs anymore – and it seems kinda antiquated anyhow. After a few googles to see if anyone was using the name, “Yeahdef” had the least number of hits. I wanted something original so if somebody googled it – they would only find me (well, me or Def Leppard’s “YEAH!” album). It’s also a kind of play off “yeah definitely” cause it’s a somewhat commonly used phrase and I wanted my name to come up in conversation unexpectedly – like when i was rapping, i had the name “Produce” so like if you are at the grocery store, you think about me when there is a spill for someone to clean up. Just kind of wanted it to be an offbeat-cognizance in people’s heads.
JD: Why do you DJ? How did you get started? What made you want to start?
YD: First off, its really just a blast. Like – I DJ alone in my apartment. It’s a pretty good puzzle game – beatmatching different time signatures and filtering cool transitions correctly. That’s probably the main reason why it hasn’t phased out of my life in the past 5 years. As for how i started – I was driving home from my job in Oak Cliff in the summer of ’03 and stopped off at American Pawn. I picked up this Gemini belt-driven POS table and an American DJ rack-mount mixer for about 150 bucks. I just always wanted to see what this “scratching” thing was all about. After a few minutes i was hooked. Back at school we were always getting shithoused on B-Street at the time and it was just like “Well, I have a turntable and some records – I’ll play some music while you guys get crunk.”
JD: Describe your music influences and what kind of tunes folks can expect when they step on the dancefloor.
YD: Ideally – I don’t want any influences from other DJs. Never want to sound redundant – my sets now are vastly different than i sounded a year or two ago. I do take things from other DJs but I’m going to always flip it a little differently. Expectations? Everything basically – I mean if i can feed my ego a minute here…I can play any style. I have the resources. Just give me a few days to prep a set and I’ll play any style you want. The most popular weekly im doing now is 90′s night – but I’m still going to play some oddball stuff in there too. For instance, I usually will soften the blow of a heavy bpm change with the Kenan and Kel theme song – or like some old commercial from the 90′s – something that shows the freaks on the floor that i did homework.
JD: What are your DJing aspirations?
YD: Make a living off living it up. So far so good.
JD: Complete this phrase:
YD: When I look on the dancefloor and see people dancing I feel like pushing stars in the evacuation chamber and always pressing eject when I flash with a rash / gimme my cash / flickin’ my ash / runnin’ with the money set ‘em up with the blast and I love diet coke and also everyone ever born.
what a dreamboat.