DJ REN ROCK - Episode: 120

Special guest DJ REN ROCK joins us on the pod! We get to know about his life in Porterville, Ca and his rise to becoming a DJ, Radio Personality, Business Owner, Father, and how he juggles it all.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
This Could Get Me Fire podcasts?What Up? I'm Gizo? That is
John Magic, and we are back. We are continuing our routine of having
guests, which I love that We'regonna be having a lot of guests this
month for these episodes of This CouldGet Me Fired? And our next guest
is a DJ, a business ownerof a mobile DJ company, a nightclub.

(00:31):
He's getting into the realty game andprobably more important, he's a family
man, a good dad, ladiesand gentlemen. DJ Renrock the One and
Only What's So Fellas? I likethat intro Man, that was really good.
I feel we've known you for solong, but I feel like there's
a lot we don't know about you. Really, That's how I feel.

(00:52):
I feel. I feel like Iknow yeah. Well, I mean me
and Rin literally talk every day becausewe have the five o'clock mix that we
do together. So maybe I feellike I know Wrin better than you do.
So this will be a get toknow rent for you more than me.
I don't know out there and youknow on the radio, I'm more
of the music guy than the talkingguys. That is true, Okay,
Yeah, I mean I guess wecould start where we usually start in the

(01:14):
beginning, trying to get to knowsomebody. Are you originally from the five
to five nine? Are you fromPortville born and raised? Yeah? I
know. When I moved here,everyone kept saying, what do they call
like a Pete town or no,No, the Ville, the Ville.
Yeah, I don't call it that. Being from Portville, I don't call
it. Do people call it that? They might, but I don't.
I feel like people always try tomake something cool, like Madera's like mad
Town, Hilarry's like t Town.You Fresne the no but yeah, I

(01:38):
have heard the villa. But youknow, I feel like people from Fresnel
call it the No. Yeah,I don't think people from Portville. I
don't think so. I don't know. I was, you know, one
of my duties here at the radiostation is I like set up events.
And I've had a few in Porterville. And I was driving out there and
I was saying, Red Rock livesall the way out here. Yeah,

(02:01):
you're in the cuts. It's likean awkward place to get to. I
don't know, it's a little wellbecause it's off of the ninety nine,
like thirty minutes. Yeah, yeah, the ninety nine. So yeah,
it's not like right off the freeway. You get off the through way and
then you go a little bit more. When you exit, you have to
drive like another hour. Yeah,I mean something. And that's how much
I loved ninety five, that Iwould drive all the way from out there.
That's true. I mean, beforewe get to you starting at B

(02:23):
ninety five, were when did youstart DJ djying? Well, I started
wanting to DJ around the age oftwelve, Like, how did that come
about? I listened to Power Wanosix one time. Dude, Oh are
you listening to just like a mixtro? I think it was DJ Vice.
Okay, yeah, thinking back,and I really think it was DJ Vice.
They had the Galli Galliente next weekend, and I wonder if it was

(02:46):
during the years I was there,But dude, I was at ninety nine,
two thousand something. That's when Iwas listening to the radio on a
cassette the Walkman's Yeah, and Iheard like the song that I liked,
but they were different, like scratchingand like they were repeating parts and stuff
like that. Yeah, and that'swhen I was like, oh, wow,

(03:07):
there's like DJs that actually do thison the radio. But how did
you you heard a tape of Powerone six or how do I was out
there like visiting family or something likethat. Yeah. Ah, so you're
saying it sounded different because you wouldhear the tricks and like the scratching,
and that's the turntablism part is whatyou liked about it? Okay, okay,
So what in your head? Youknow you heard this thing, you
liked it, What did you doto What was the next step? Yeah,

(03:29):
what was the next step? Youknow what? Dude? This is
like one of those things that it'slike you think on it now. For
some reason, we got it's calledProSound and stage line. You know when
they used to send catalogs to yourhouse. Yes, we had one of
those at the house, and Iremember we had it, so like I
grabbed it started looking through it andthere's turntables in there and stuff that I
didn't know what it was back then. But yeah, so a little by

(03:51):
little I started building equipment, youkind of I heard, knowing what I
need to get started. And thisis like we didn't have a computer at
our house at this time, right, So just little by little getting information
from people, people that knew DJsand and yeah, and then I think
I finally got my turntables without amixer. No, I got a mixer

(04:11):
without turntables when I was thirteen.Was it that square Gemini mix rectangle?
Yeah? Yeah. A lot ofpeople had mentors, you know, did
you who did? Did you haveany mentors that kind of took you under
their wing and told you what equipmentto get or or even how to DJ,
you know, or did you kindof just teach yourself. I kind

(04:32):
of just taught myself. Well,I'm listening to the radio, because then
here we had the Insane Mexican backin the day. Yeah, yeah,
I always liked his name. Ialways thought that was a really creative yeah.
And he's a really good DJ.Yeah yeah. And so he had
the Friday Night Rumble at that time. So I remember one time I was
listening and he was on. Hewas doing the same thing. Probably he

(04:55):
did it just as good as thepower guys. He did it really well.
He was really good at it.And so from there by the time
I finally got my turntables, Ireached out to DJ Patrick who was here
too, to get on his recordpool. And I think I had to
have been like fourteen or fifteen.Oh wow, Yeah, so you really

(05:15):
did start really young. Yeah.Were you doing the whole thing that like
a lot of DJs did where youwas just doing house parties at first?
No, I didn't, no,no, no, well, I just
stayed in my living room. That'swhere I had my turntable set. It
was in the living room. Itwas like a little nook. Yeah,
and so I had a big tablewith turntables and the mixer and like less
like half a creative records, andI just like would practice. I gave

(05:39):
you a mixtape. Do you rememberme giving you an actual mixtape? I
threw it away. You were atthe Tilarry outlets. Oh, and I
had This was during the time whereMagic was really like big ego, I'm
from La so exactly my line.No, what we've we've had. Yeah,
we've talked about this and he's notlying. Yeah, there's this time

(06:01):
where that was my mindset. Andthe reason why I don't mind admitting to
that because Jesse has told me like, no, you've like really changed y.
Yeah, so to his credit,you, I mean, yeah,
but let honest, you have tobe that way in the industry sometimes kind
of kind of have a guard up. I feel like you do, or
kind of like you have that youknow that I wouldn't say faked to you

(06:25):
or make it, but you kindof had that mystique about yourself that maybe
that kind of helped you in away. You know what I'm saying.
You made yourself kind of bigger thanwhat you were. Maybe, I mean
for me, I was just tryingto bring that vibe over here. So
I think maybe I just stayed withthe mentality. Well, you should have
listened to the mixtape, because Ithink you would have liked during that time.
Well that gets me to the nextquestion is Okay, so that mixtape

(06:47):
didn't get you on. Now,how did you get on? I don't
I'm trying to remember how you goton B ninety five. So DJ Patrick
he was here. He was amixer, and so I would give him
tapes often, like probably every monthfor like a year, like just being
on the record post. So wheneverI'd go get my records, I would

(07:09):
give him a tape. And thenhe finally brought me in I think for
like a mixer meeting or something likethat, and they had some records here
when you guys had the turntables,when we had the turntables and he was
like, here, mix some records, and I remember it was like him
or DJ Snuff, maybe Bobby Bell, I forget who else. But they
were just like watching me. Sotalk about pressure. Yeah, like you're

(07:30):
like a little fifteen sixteen year oldkid and they're watching you and uh and
yeah, but they were cool,you know, and I did. Okay,
I guess you were that young,like trying to mix during that time.
Yeah, And then I remember youwould put in you know, time
at the fair. Was that duringthe time you were still kind of just
putting in work trying to get inI was like a senior in high school

(07:50):
during that time. Were you stillin high school when you No, I
was right out of high school.I got here around five. Yeah,
yeah, I know some my firsttime that I did a mix show weekend
here, I was a senior inhigh school. But but who was it
Herb? Because I think he wasin charge of the mixers, right,
Herb d time. Was he theone that like, you know, co

(08:11):
signed you for sure? Yeah?No, I think that Patrick got me
in the building and then from thereabsolutely Herb helping me out and kind of
fine tuning to get better. Forthe radio, because radio is its own
thing. It's like out an event, it's a different beast. That's while
that you bring up that, that'show you know you were listening to the
power mixers because you know, whenI moved here from from working at Power

(08:35):
Obviously, everyone has their different stylesof mixing, but when I heard yours,
I was like, this is thethis guy comes close to like what
I'm used to hearing. That's awesome. Yeah yeah, man, that's crazy.
How that's how you kind of howyou practice that's what you heard?
Yeah, yeah, Well, whenyou start diving into DJing, especially then

(08:56):
when you had records, it wasreally obvious when somebody messed up, you
know, so like you could tella bad DJ from a good DJ pretty
easily, and then the difficult thingslike scratching and repeating parts of a song,
you could tell when someone's really goodat doing those kinds of things.
Yeah, what before we move onany what's probably your favorite memory of working

(09:20):
at the radio station here at Bninety five. Dude, It's funny that
you bring up the fair because probablythose days, those days were just like
I was starstruck from all you guys. I'm not trying to ride y' all's
coat tails or anything like that.But yeah, just hanging around with you
guys, coming here to pick upa pass for yeah, yeah, you
know, for a little kid fromPortoville, like, it was a lot

(09:41):
to come here and then to DJon that stage, you know. Yeah.
So if you don't know, weused to build like this little mini
stage at the fair in the gazeboarea. Well, we had multiple locations,
but that was probably our best location, and the DJ kind of was
on a high rise a little bitmaybe like what eighty feet above and then
you guys would dj over there.We'd have the bat lights, and we'd
have our logo and we have ourlittle mini stage in our microphone, and

(10:05):
we would throw like a party outthere, you know, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday. And that was like alot of fun during that time.
So I'm with you. I hadthose memories too, But then doing that
year after year after year, itreally became old. But during that the
beginning, it was a lot offun. Yeah. So a little fast
forward to Okay, so you didyears of B ninety five. I think
the next memory I have of youis you started DJing a lot in vice

(10:30):
Elia. I think that was thenext thing I reclubs. Yeah, the
seller door is what I think Iremember you booking me at. So how
did that come about? Like didyou like, how did you get into
the promoter game of promoting nightclubs?Honestly, I think that that came from
not getting booked at anybody else's club. So you just started your own shit.
I just started my own thing.And I think that's when like people

(10:52):
like DJ's especially kind of started throwingtheir own parties. This is probably still
like MySpace days, so people startposting flyers and you can kind of as
a DJ, you could tell whenlike a dude was like throwing like like
a good music kind of party orsomething that was maybe a little different.
And that's actually what I tried todo at Cellar Door. It ended up
going more just like straight club,which is great because it I feel like

(11:16):
it was like the thing of Iceliafor some years. Yeah, but really
it was just that is not gettingbooked at clubs here and Fresno, and
like I'm gonna do my own shitand do my own thing there. Yeah,
what's Cellar Door your first the firstvenue? Yeah? Yeah, I
think so. Yeah, I thinkI had done some like spots like here
in Fresno, never in Vice Cellia, but just like fill in like DJ

(11:37):
can't make it, so I doa night or something like that. Yeah,
those were the cellar door. Whenyou were booking. You were doing
it right because you were booking outof town DJs at the time. Yeah,
and then you would get the Bninety five DJs there. Those were
some good nights at that spot.Yeah. What's crazy about that spot is
for the longest they didn't even haveliquor license, right, Yeah, so

(11:58):
you guys didn't know that. Sothey were a line it because I hated
beer and that's all they had,and so for the longest time it was
just only beer. But like stillhad a crack in. I always thought
that was like impressive, That's whatI tell because I so I own a
club now and now like when wehave so nights, I'm like, why
is it slow? We used toget it packed with three hundred people with
just a beer and wine, Like, yeah, thats a real thing,

(12:18):
man, Yeah, yeah, threehundred people plus every Saturday my birthday is
a couple of times. It's goodtimes with I mean, you don't have
to go into detail obviously, butduring those days of the cellar door,
just as a would you consider yourselfa promoter at that time? Promoter slash
dj? Yeah? What was wasthe money good? Like, you know,

(12:39):
were you making good money just doingthat that? Yeah? Yeah for
sure. Yeah. So that kindof this kind of overlaps at a time
where I was djaying and working ata bank full time. Oh I didn't
know that. So eventually the throwingmy own parties or whatever that along with
weddings and things like that, overtookmy my job. And that's when I

(13:01):
was like, I should just leanmore into this. And yeah, I
mean I was okay, Yeah,I wasn't making six figures yet, getting
close creeping up, Yeah, butI could see like if I keep doing
this then I'll be cool, allright. I mean you just mentioned it
when you were telling the story.You're a club owner. Now, was
there before you became a club ownerof Republic? Was the DJ mobile gig

(13:26):
before that? When did you startthat company or was it after before Republic?
I think that that's one of thosethings that just kind of happens.
Well, I like, starting aroundlike two thousand six, I graduated high
school five so like by six.Then I started doing mobile gigs kin Sinetta's.

(13:46):
I don't know. For some reason, I was big in the Filipino
community out there in the South Valley, So I did like debus Filipino weddings
and like a lot of different things. But yeah, so I myself started
kind of getting booked a lot,and I would get like inquiries for like
the same date, and I waslike, you know what, I got
DJs that I think are good,Like I could kind of start throwing them

(14:09):
their way, But it wasn't.It wasn't like what it is now,
right, No, it was justit was just you doing it, yeah,
just doing it, okay, beforeand then before we get to making
it this business? How did thenightclub thing come about? How did you
end up? What was it?What was the Republic before it was republished?
Republicshed that was the same name.It was changed the logo, right,

(14:31):
we changed the model painted. Yeah, I did a little bit of
remodeling. How did that all comeabout? So I was a DJ there
I think like twenty twelve something likethat, because you would go between seller
doing Republic right beah Fridays. Iwas doing Fridays and so it's just like
the story of a lot of clubs, like, it starts to kind of
decline a little bit. Just talkedabout that. Yeah, oh yeah,

(14:54):
we'll have to talk a little later. No, you know, we'll get
into it about about this go ahead. But so it starts to declining.
I think it was shut down forlike six months before I approached who's now
my partner, Frank about buying it. Being that I asked him about it,
he actually wanted to just partner up, and we did the thing.

(15:16):
And so we're fifty to fifty onthe business and and yeah, I mean
we just started and it's been going. Okay, we go through everything that
all the other clubs go through.Slow nights right now after the holidays is
a little slower, but it's creepingback up. How was it during the
pandemic? And I know that wasrough, right, Yeah, that that
part was tough. But you guysknow I turned it into a coffee shop.

(15:37):
Oh I thought about that. Yes, So was that like the loophole
or kind of I guess, yeah, so that coffee shops were essential?
You did great. I remember Iwas like, this is so genius,
dude. I still want to turnit into a coffee shop like during the
day. Let's talk about that.So the pandemic, everything closes down and
then a few months or I don'tknow how long it took, but you

(15:58):
started hosting get your Coffee here,but you branded cups everything. Yeah,
everything was branded. Yea, yeah, I think like September we started,
so like they shut everything down,what like March of twenty twenty. Yeah,
by September we're doing coffee because it'sjust like too long. What in
your heads made you say let medo coffee right now, bro, because

(16:21):
I'm drinking coffee all day. Howdid that work though? Like were you
able to get by with bills andstuff? Well, I mean luckily there's
a lot of assistance and start likeafter their businesses. But the coffee thing,
actually it's a good business. Coffeeis a good business. It's like
similar margins to liquor margins. SoI mean, as long as you're there,

(16:42):
you have a good staff and withsome good marketing, I think you
do. Okay. Yeah, whatwas during that time during the pandemic?
What was the was it just pickup only or people can go in there?
How did that go? Yeah?So that I think that was like
a social distancing time, so youhad to Everything was already kind of like

(17:03):
tables were kind of spread apart,so some people would go in and hang
Like I remember Fridays, Fridays especially, like we'd be open and people would
chill. It started to feel likea lounge again because people would hang it
out. Yeah, they were hangingout, but like after work, it's
Friday, like they would start toyeah they're socially distanced or whatever, but
it would start to get busy.So would you do was this like a

(17:25):
Monday through Sunday business? This wasMonday through Saturday, Okay, I think
that's what we were doing. Andthen we did Saturdays. We did like
a brunch so we'd bring in somebody. Remember that there was like someone would
cook Yeah, ryeah exactly. Andthose were a hit too many. It
was a fun time. Yeah,yeah, and then the nightclub started opening

(17:45):
up again. Yeah, was yourdecision? Just like, all right,
enough with this coffee and brunch stuff. It was really tough. So for
coffee you have to be open early. And I was driving from Portville to
I Sell You, which is notbad, like a forty minute drive,
but it was taxing, right,Yeah, like I would have to leave
like five thirty in the morning toget there to be ready to go at

(18:07):
seven. Yeah, and I wasdoing it myself. So yeah, by
the way, the product that youwere selling was it? Where did you
get the product? That is itjust the whole seller? Yeah? Did
you go to Costco and get thebeans? Yeah? The beans I did?
We did well. Was it SanFrancisco Bay beans or something like that.
Yeah, so we did do Costcobeans. I tried to go through

(18:30):
a distributor for it, and Icould have, but it just I wasn't
doing enough volume. I think thatif I had, if I grew a
little bit more, if I grewa little bit more, I think it
would have been cool. But thecool thing about having a distributor for anybody
out there listening that wants to doa coffee thing, Uh, they'll give
you equipment if you commit to adistributor. Oh wow yeah. Yeah,

(18:55):
so that's something that I learned thatif I got into it now, I
would totally do that. I knowwere going to get into like the club
cycle a little bit. But canwe speak on like the day party stuff
because I know Rin was doing theSundays. Oh that's right. How did
that come about because you know,we talked about this on the podcast about
how it's just kind of it's kindof rough to do it out here in
Fresno in the valley. But howdid that come about? Because those were

(19:18):
like pretty successful. Yeah. Yeah, well a lot of the same thing,
just like something not existing and you'relike, hey, we should do
it. Especially you know, Ithink that the fact that we do them
on three day weekends, three dayholiday weekends. Yeah, and people were
looking for something to do. Anyways, we started with those, it just
it made them do okay. Imean we'd have maybe two to three hundred

(19:41):
people out there. You know.Somebody that was really helpful during that time
was this gentleman Aaron Gomes. Idon't know if you guys know Aaron Gomes.
He had a nonprofit called Sound andVision and Vicelia and he would throw
shows and then I think he's oneof the I think that he helped them
do the Grizzly Fest the first timethat they when they started doing it at

(20:02):
at the stadium here. But anyways, he was somebody that was really like
kind of like a mentor I guess, like he would help me kind of
figure out ways, like especially withthe city to have them allow me use
this like space. It's pretty muchlike in the street to close it off.
And yeah, it was a partof nice area. Yeah, yeah,
it was a cool area. Iguess for some context real quick,

(20:23):
because I know we have people thatlisten that are not from the five five
nine is uh you know the clubsthat ren Rock talks about the events,
they're in a city, uh,in the five to five nine area called
Vicelia. And would you is itfair to say it's two whole different,
Like it's not common for Fresnel peopleto go out there, and it's not

(20:47):
common for Vicella people to come outhere to party. That's why we like
forty five down south to Vicelia.But you know, I would say that's
fair to say that, Like it'sit's a whole, it's its own things
like like Fresno, Madera, Clovis, you guys are your own thing.
It's whether it's by Sellia or Pavillion. You know, there might be you
know, you might get a handfulof people that cross either way, like

(21:08):
we would go out there, orwe would see some people from South vallecom
out here. But for the mostpart, yeah, it's its own thing.
Yeah. So you know, thelast episode we did, we we
talked about the state of nightlife,specifically more in Fresno, but we wanted
to get your opinion because you know, you're a club owner, DJ,
you see it. How do yousee the state of nightlife right now?

(21:32):
It's definitely it's different. It's notwhat it was when we started. Of
course, I'm trying to figure itout myself, you know, because I
feel like things just capture people's attentionfor such a short amount of time.
And I and I mean that likemusically like there when you're at a club,
but also like on on social likeyou could be hot one night but

(21:56):
not hot another, you know,and it's it's tough. What I'm trying
to do right now is really likethere's some younger guys there around by Celia
that I'm really hoping that they kindof see that, like they could do
the same ship that I did prettymuch. Like they're there, their friends
are like in that party age,Like you know, you guys need to

(22:17):
do your own parties, like utilizingmy Space like you got it for free
pretty much, you know, likeso just kind of do that. Like
I feel like generations Yeah, forsure. By no means do I think
we're on our way out unless youfeel like we're on our way out magic,
No, But I do think thatthey're I think that that's what's kind

(22:38):
of missing, and I don't.Well, here in Freson, I see
a lot of things popping up,but out there, I feel like there's
nobody kind of like starting their ownthing like that, like that finding their
niche and kind of creating a communitylike how we did with Cellar Door and
like the Sundays and everything. Okay, creating that like uh, that clients
or that that group of followers thatkind of rock which absolutely yeah, kind

(23:00):
of building that kind of like coolkids club kind of thing. You know,
that's what you're saying. I agreewith that after our last episode,
you know, just listening to itand contemplating, making me think of how
it was when I was in myparty years. He's right. You you
always saw the same people at everyparty because you were the you were the

(23:21):
group of party people. Yeah,kind of like the crew or you had
like you know, the promoting crewor where you where. It wasn't it
wasn't a bad thing that you sawthe same people all the time because you're
like, you had fun with thisgroup of people, so it wasn't a
negative thing that you know sometimes theysay, oh it's always the same people.
But to your point, I thinkthat is what's missing, is these

(23:42):
group of party people that just goaround town party. Yeah, absolutely,
how is it here? Because Ihaven't partied myself in presdo in a really
long time. It's spread out rightnow, That's what I would say.
I say, the main thing isit's spread so to your point of like
groups of people, so maybe thatthey're just like all spread out and it's
just why it's so spread so thin, Like they kind of bounce around like

(24:04):
they might be on this side oftown this, yeah, and then on
another another night or something. Well, and then a thing I brought up,
let me know what you think aboutthis I brought up on the last
episode was I feel like this generationis different, Like, yeah, you
do you see that? Like,I know you said that it's different.
Do you think it's the generation isdifferent of partygoers just like how they come

(24:27):
up like or maybe they just notlike maybe clubbing's not so much their thing.
Maybe the you know, the club, the dance club is not really
their thing maybe they just want tochill more. This is maybe they just
want to be on social media more. Yeah, so this is what I
think. This is what I think. I think that when we turned eighteen,
when we graduated high school, wewanted to make money so we could

(24:49):
go out, yeah and have fun. Yeah, I don't think that that's
the priority. And so it's alittle bit different. So it makes going
out expensive for kids, you know. And yeah, I think they just
they grow up but at a slowerpace, maybe more conscious of things of

(25:10):
like, oh yeah, I don'twant to go spend money at a club.
I don't want to drink so muchbecause I'm a little bit more health
conscious. You think those could becontributing factors of this generation. I don't
know, man, because I stillsee people while out, So I don't
know if that's the top one,but it could be one. Okay,
Yeah, I think that a lotof people get introduced to my spot around

(25:30):
twenty three, twenty four, sothey've already been of drinking age a little
bit. I think what happens isthen they get a better job and then
they have the money to go out. So you think like it's later,
like how you said a little bitlater later start. Yeah, like as
we as soon as we were eighteen, we were there, We're going to
eighteen and up club twenty one.Then you're at a twenty one exactly this

(25:51):
Maybe this generation is a little slower. Let me get my finances straight and
then like early twenties, I couldstart going out. Yeah, you know,
I didn't think about it in turnlike that, but maybe that's exactly
the same thing. Yeah, they'rejust kind of putting it off because they're
taking care of other things. SomethingI haven't seen in Vicella yet. I
know you you're I don't want tosay you're trying to do this, but

(26:12):
is the bottle service clubs there?Am I right by saying there's there's not
a bottle service nightclub ill your ownOh, and there's really not. But
you know, I don't think thatour downtown is really built for it because
there's so much bouncing around there.You guys have an environment where people can

(26:33):
kind of like bar hop, right, bar hop. Yeah, there's two
bars right around the corner from us, like on the same block. There's
one across the street from us.There's one across the street from that.
See, that's like a different vibethat they have out there than one.
So that's a good point. Solet's let's bring that up. Because something
that as a DJ that I alwayssay, the anxiety, and it's not

(26:56):
it's not a negative, negative thingto republic your nightclub. It's just as
a DJ because you have like oneof the nice spots there. I love
DJing, They're always a good time. But I've noticed that in that area
where your nightclub is at it itcould pack up like eleven pm, it's

(27:18):
packed. Yeah, and then Iget excited. I'm like, here we
go. I'm about to play thehits right now, because you know,
as DJ, if you wait forthat midnight. Yeah, but everyone leaves
your nightclub just empties because of thatenvironment of barhopping. Yeah, no matter
what music I'm playing, it couldbe the biggest song, it doesn't matter.

(27:41):
They just move on to next spot. Now I'll say this. Then
around twelve thirty they come back.Everyone's back. At first, it annoyed
me. It annoyed me, andI will annoys me. Yeah, I
told you his own man, Ijust accepted. Now I go into when
you book me at your nightclub,I go into it knowing that this is

(28:03):
what's gonna happen. So I playthe hits early because I know I could
play it again later. So Iactually DJ different when I DJA at your
spot, just because I know that'show the downtown Viceau people do. They
bar hop, have you r?I kind of accepted it, and so
what I'll do is, I,uh, I just run through my set.
Whether there's there in the twenty ortwo hundred, they don't matter because

(28:25):
then if I save shit, I'mplaying opening shit later. Yeah, So
I'd rather just run through it andthe people that are there vibing with me,
like I might have a drink withthem or something, and I still
just play out the night. HowI mean, have you ever thought about
switching it up and be a situationwhere once you're in, like you can't
come back in? That's tough becauseeveryone has that. I feel like if

(28:47):
I did that, people will belike, fuck Republic, we're not going
there. They don't let us backin, you know, That's what I
feel. So because they got somany options. Yeah, I do think
we're the better option, but Ithink that they just the way that it
is out there, they just belike, oh, we're not gonna makes
too much trouble to get back in. I'm this is all just just speculation
because I've never been to the otherspots. I mean, I mean,

(29:10):
I feel like, and I knowyou play, you play right, you
know how to control a crowd.I feel like I can do that too.
But also djaying there kind of makesme feel like music doesn't matter anymore.
What's your opinion on does music stillmatter at the nightclubs? I don't
know. I feel like the momentsmatter. I Yeah, so there's certain

(29:37):
songs and you know this, thesing alongs. Yeah, I feel like
those are the hype moments now andit could be something old now at coming
back. Yeah, so I thinkjust kind of injecting those here and there.
But I mean, I don't know. It would suck to say that
the music doesn't matter. Basically,is anybody going like, oh, let's
go to this spot because the music'sbetter, or let's go to this spot.
Like that's probably not really a thing, right, It's just for me.

(30:00):
It's a small percentage because I've hadpeople in Vicelia come to Republic when
I'm there and they say hey,and I don't know them. They're not
friends of mine. They're like wecame here because we heard you were here.
But it's small. It's like,yeah, so, but I think
you're right the moments. Yeah,it makes sense. So moving on.

(30:25):
Tell me, if this is justan opinion. A lot of DJs that
get older, from what I seeon social media, you're saying I'm getting
older, Well, just all allof us are getting older, but they
always go to the next part oftheir life is in the as real real
estate. Who else did it?Everyone? No? I mean, I'm

(30:48):
just kind of just you know,generalizing it. I feel like just DJs
are like entrepreneurs by nature, kindof business for yourself. So DJ business
owner, you know, nightclub scene. Where did this real estate thing come
about? Like? How did thiscome about? I've said this story a

(31:11):
bunch of times, but I don'tdon't think i've said it to you guys.
But I was actually going to goback to school and I was telling
my wife that I was well,she was were my fiance at that time.
I was telling her I want togo back to school. She was
like, what are you gonna goto school for? What are you going
to do with it? I waslike, I don't know, but I
just feel like I left it likeunfinished, and she was like, why
don't you do something that like isgoing to be useful for you? And

(31:33):
I was on like realtor dot comor something looking at houses and uh so
She's like, why don't you dothat? You look at houses, You
get excited every time there's a newhouse in town or something. And I
was like, yeah, I don't. I was, but I was like,
I think I need like my bachelorsto sell houses or something like that.
I didn't know you just needed alicense and I looked it up and
I signed up that same day.Oh wow, yeah, And how's that

(31:53):
been going for you so far?Have you been like a year in now?
Oh? Yeah? Have you guysbeen seeing my posts? So I
got to just click byd But gotRookie of the Year at my old company
and I got new Realtor of theYear at the new company that I'm at.
So it's going okay. Yeah,yeah yeah. And I think what
helps me a lot is like themarketing thing. Like as DJs, we

(32:14):
know a lot of people. Soit's been going okay for me. I
know, for as long as Iknown Wren. In this conversations that we've
had, Rent is just that dudeis always looking for the next thing.
I mean that's how I've always viewedyou, Like I've done this, I've
done the DJ and I've done theradio thing, I've done the promotion the
club. Now it's like the realestate. I always feel like you're just
always going to be that guy.And I don't know, given another year

(32:36):
or two and you're probably gonna belike, all right, I'm over this.
What's the next thing? You knowwhat I'm saying, or making another
business. I'm not saying that's abad thing, though. I never want
to be someone that does something badthough, like like he does it,
and he did it for a littlebit because he didn't do it well.
So I hope I don't leave thatimpression. Nah, I don't say that.
I think you you just have thislike passion of like you want to

(32:57):
do something new, you want todo something different, almost yeah, you
want to conquer something different. Maybeyou know. You know what I try
to do is I try to leavepeople in place after you've started something,
for them to do it themselves.Like even with the wedding DJ company.
Now, I have an assistant therethat helps me with the bookings, so
I don't do the bookings for theguys, and if I'm not available,
then we have three four other guysthat could do an event. You build

(33:17):
up and you move on, rightkind of Yeah, still oversee it.
Yeah, you can't ever leave something. And you probably know this. With
the restaurant, you got to belike hands on to a certain degree for
sure. Yeah, you went backto the wedding DJ stuff. I mean
when I was doing doing weddings inmy twenties, I mean I know how
much we got paid back then.I can just imagine what you're charging these

(33:44):
weddings because they're willing to pay.Yeah. I like that business, and
I don't think I'll stop that becausethe way I try to structure my life,
like I try to let I thinkof my job as a DJ.
So djaying takes care of like mybills at home and everything like that.
Everything else is like an investment.Republic's an investment. Even real estate is

(34:05):
like an investment. I guess itkind of overlaps to like a job.
But I just wanted to roll overand do something else, you know.
Yeah, Ren has uh, he'sput out the offer to me to DJ
some of the weddings that he getsbooked at. But sometimes maybe it's PTSD
and I get triggered, Like Idid that for years. I don't want

(34:27):
to It's a lot. DJ Weddingsis a lot. I think I think
you could probably get paid what Iget paid to DJ wedding just for him
seeing. Yeah, yeah, Ithink you could. Man, So both
of you guys probably could you knowwhat it is. It's I I remember
doing the whole setup and it's putin work. But I think did you
offer me You said I just haveto show up? Oh yeah, yeah,

(34:51):
We'll have someone set up for youand then you just show up.
Is that is that offer still open? Bay? I mean I could see
that th like being the whole productionlike this a lot. You know what
I'm saying. You got to setup, you got to be there the
whole time. I know, it'slike hours, and then you got to
break down. It's like an eighthour day. You're the first person there
and you're the last person. Yeah, so I get that part. But
I mean, if you could justshow up and plug in, we might

(35:14):
have to talk. Bro. Yeah, if they're if I might want to
do it, you might want tobe on the roster. No, Well,
here and there not not part ofthe roster. Well, and I
get that because some of my guyssometimes, like during wedding seasons, they
get overwhelmed. Yeah, so youkind of have to understand that you're gonna
go through the very busy time,which is gonna be like the spring and
then fall, and then you're gonnahave a lot of downtime. That's true.

(35:36):
Yeah, are they are they goingyour team? Are they going by
themselves to DJs and doing the wholesetup or do they have a team For
the most part, they're doing iton the wow own. Yeah. Yeah,
See that's what I didn't want toYou also supply other things too,
right, like don't you have likea photo booth and everything? We do
the photo booths. See, He'sgot the whole That's what they don't like
to do. And I hope thatthey hear this because they should just go

(35:57):
when I do a wedding, I'llset up the photo booth myself and everything.
You just leave it. They don'tlike they asked me, Wren,
is there a photo booth on thisone? And they just complain that there's
a photo booth. I've been messagedmore than a few times asking if you
know, hey, will you DJmy wedding? And I always say I
don't do that anymore, but you'rethe first guy I'm like, hit up

(36:17):
this guy. So some of yourbookings may have may have came from people
because well, you're doing it right. That's what I love to see is
just the marketing and you bring theright equipment because it was different during my
days in the early two thousands DJingweddings. Well, dude, I did
him with Vinyl when I first starteddoing over that. Dude, I remember

(36:43):
my very first wedding. I feelbad for them. It was experience.
It was a Filipino family and Idon't know Filipino families love Spanish music too.
Yeah, all I had was aSelena CD bro andful I random ships
back. Dude, you didn't haveyou gotta have one. Man. Now

(37:06):
now you're preparing, nobody knows different. I just mean the elegancy of the
you got. You make the weddinglook nice, the production of it.
I recently saw a video you havethose sparks. Sparks man, it's a
whole production man, So congratulations onthat. I mean, we could wrap
it up with this. I seeyou on social a lot, not only

(37:28):
with your business but just being agood dad man. Like, man,
so, how many kids do youhave? That? Five? Five?
Now? Wow, I just hadmy fifth in October. How old?
How old is the youngest? They? Well, three months? Three?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'smy daughter Quincy. My oldest is my
son Elijah, and then my he'sfourteen, my son Alizi, and then

(37:52):
Gabriella, my first daughter, andthen Ezra. Wow, now, Quincy.
The juggling of fatherhood in business,I mean, how are you handling
that? It's kind of like Imentioned earlier, it's good to have people
that kind of help you with allthe things. So I actually do have
quite a bit of time that Iget to spend with them. Of course,

(38:12):
there's a days like today's probably theday that I won't see them too
much, but it makes like themoments that you're there with them like even
very sweet. Yeah yeah, sowell, man, I mean anything else
on your I mean I've known Rinfor a long time. He's, you
know, one of my better friends, and uh, you know, I
talked to this dude on the daily. Obviously, you can catch him at
at five o'clock on be ninety fiveMonday through Friday for my mixt show The

(38:35):
Rush Hour. But yeah, Imean more than you know, business owner.
You know, DJ has just beena good dude and a great dad,
so you know, much love andrespect. You know, thank you
guys. This is a pleasure ofhanging out with you guy. I was
waiting for you guys. It's beena long time coming. Yeah, I'm
coming. We appreciate you driving allthe way out here. Yeah, you
know, it's it's quite a dry. I feel like there's so much stuff
that we didn't talk about though.I mean might be a part something like

(38:59):
we like did like an outline.Yeah, there's like details all throughout.
Yeah, is there one detail thatyou kind of want to know something out?
Well? We have so much history. I've known you guys since we
do yeah almost what twenty years?Is there is there a wild story that
that pops in your head about us? Or is there any that popping about

(39:22):
me to you guys? To methe reason why I say no, you're
just that quiet, really the nicestguy. It's weird because he comes off
quiet, but like he's not reallyI mean, I mean, during this
podcast, he's probably been louder thanall of us, and he's been non
stop talking, which, by theway, I love. Yeah, we
appreciate that for sure. I don'tknow, maybe you're like an introverted extrovert

(39:43):
or something like that. I don'tknow. I've always thought of myself as
an extrovert. Really. Yeah,you know what it is. I think
that you guys see me in thedjying element and I'm really focused when I'm
djaying. That's a good point whatit is. Yeah, So like because
people like when I'm djaying, likeI'm having a great time to like smile,
like, dude, I'm having agood time. What do you want?
That's like me too. Oh yeah, We're all kind of like that

(40:04):
right when we're in our element.We just kind of focus, you know,
we block everything out. We're notone of those people that we kind
of we don't really party with ourjob. We kind of just bring the
party. I don't know if that'sgood now. I'm kind of thinking in
my head is that good or bad? That's probably why people come up to
you be like well, I don'tyou smile? Yeah, I'm focused.
But we do what we do somuch, you know. So it's and
that not not that it becomes robotic, but it's just it's habit. Yeah,

(40:27):
you know, so maybe we smile, Maybe we should smile more,
all of us well continued success.Man, thank you for being part of
this episode. And man, thiswas a fun one. Yeah, a
part two down the road, whenyou find your next venture or some ship.
That coffee thing is gonna come back. I think it might. It
might have to, man,