Uncle Dad's Mix and Mingle Episode 1: Hanging out with DJ Lasertearz

0:00 Hello and welcome to a special new episode series, I should say, that I haven't done yet. And this is not including Mike. So all you Mike stans out there, I'm so sorry, Mike will not be on this, but that's okay. Uncle Dad has it covered. And I am with a very special guest starting a new monthly show called Uncle Dad's Mix and Mingle. What the show basically is, I want to celebrate local DJ culture from all across the Bay Area, from all walks of life celebrating the art of DJing, whether it's on vinyl, whether it's computer-based, it doesn't matter. DJing is DJing, and I will always stand by that. So without further ado, let's give it up for our guests, the one, the only, the magnificent, Laser Tears.

0:42 Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. So, you know, you told me off mic that this is your first DJ-based interview. What's that like? like it's great because i've never done one before so i'm excited and you said there's a game involved so i'm excited to see what that's about yeah do you like games, Depends on the game. Smart answer. That's a smart answer. I like that. But before we get into that, our audience should get to know who you are. And if you can, just give us an introduction about you, your background, and how you got started into the DJing scene. Yeah, I go by DJ Laser Tears. I'm from the Bay Area.

1:22 And DJing is actually pretty new for me. I've been doing it for about a year. I joined this collective called Ladies First DJ Collective. Based in San Jose. So I did like intensive workshop, eight week program with them. And there's actually a few pretty up and coming DJs in the Bay Area that came out of that scene. It's taught by Cutso, who's a pretty well known local DJ and Soulmates, which is Charlie and Mike, they're a couple out here. And then, yeah, there's DJ Tara and DJ Darling Cool, who are kind of new djs that are up and coming in the bay area that i see at a lot of shows or i see their names on a lot of flyers so those two djs are just some of many djs but i personally spent many years in the punk scene in oakland and i used to go to gilman as an angry 20 year old as you all were right yeah i would mosh and all that fun stuff and i just always loved music my dad started I started playing Bjork and Kate Bush when I was a little girl and Yoko Ono.

2:32 So I had some very obscure female role models growing up. Those are some fun role models. I mean, Yoko Ono would be 50-50, but regardless, everything else, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I've always liked the very eccentric female performers. I like to be very performative when I'm DJing. I really love costume. I'm a B-girl. I breakdance. I've been doing that for five years and, I just really want to do more shows where I combine DJing with breaking. I had my crew, Dead Rabbits, Galaxy Con, where we met. And they're a B-boy crew. Well, I'm a B-girl, but we all break and compete.

3:14 Actually, we've been to Texas and Los Angeles. So we do compete on a national level. I haven't made it very far. That's okay. Not as far as Ray Gunn has, but that's another passion. Passion well we're definitely going to talk about that at the end don't worry oh no it's a sore subject in my community yes but we'll get to her for sure but we'll get to that i think we're gonna get me crucified here it's okay it's okay you're an uncle dad you know i've been crucified come on now in a good way so let's talk about uh the signature sorry sorry let's talk about musical influences now every good dj has that musical influence now you mentioned some but in the world world of djing right it is more of like a dance type vibe right so who are some of your dance i guess not dance i should say but more of your mainstream djs that have influenced your style.

4:10 Mainstream that's like okay so mainstream is peggy goo mainstream i feel like she is more so than like the local route right yeah exactly you're right okay i get what you're Yeah, so Peggy Gu, definitely. There's another Korean DJ that I really love. I actually saw her at 1015 Folsom. It was awesome. Her name is Park Hyojin. But she, she like, you know, has a really strong Korean accent. She DJs and she just is very like, provocative things while she's DJing. It's like, whoa, you look like a schoolgirl. What's going on? I love her performance when I saw her. I saw DJ Shadow. I love, I'm very influenced by Burial.

4:53 He's like one of those DJs that didn't show his face for years and kind of started like a cult following, I guess. Yeah. What's your thoughts on that? The idea of a DJ not showing their face. To me, that became very prominent in the mid 2000, 2010-ish era, you know, due to like people like Deadmau5, Gazette and a bunch of other great big EDM DJs. I know it's been around obviously since Daft Punk obviously but I'm curious like what is your thoughts on that do you think that's a good thing do you think that's a bad thing what do you think that falls in. I like that because like, you know, people can want to have privacy in their lives for whatever reason, or maybe it's not even that they want privacy.

5:34 Maybe they just don't think that their face represents how they want their music to sound. But I think that's cool. I mean, it's part of their act, right? Or I would like to, maybe they're just a super professional person and in their personal life and they don't want to be seen as DJ. Sure. sure yeah but i also think you're making millions performing at edc like come on. That's true yeah i get what you're saying well there's like horse girl she like doesn't you don't know what she looks like she has the face of a horse and she refuses to show her face her real face and i think it's cool yeah so you know one of the things that i find that seems to be kind of becoming a in thing and i don't mean this negatively but it does seem that cosplaying or really the con scene and DJing are kind of colliding together right now.

6:28 Now I've been doing conventions since I was 16 and now I'm 35. So like I've seen the growth of everything. And what's insane to me is how it's changing so much. And you see these, this DJ culture kind of infiltrating the con culture. Now that's not a bad thing. Absolutely not. But I wonder, and in your opinion, since that's how I was introduced to you is, do you think like, Like, do you think that is going to be kind of the future of, not necessarily dance, but how we continue the spread of DJing? Within the cosplay scene? Well, within the con scene, in the con scene particularly. I really don't know, because I've only done two cons. I did Fanime and GalaxyCon. Awesome. And I...

7:12 They're kind of tough. The crowd isn't always there because there's so many things going on. With Fanime, there's Park Con going on outside, which is like the rebellion to Fanime. Yep. I don't know if you've been. I have been. I've lived in San Antonio for about seven years now, so I've been able to experience that quite a bit. I'm curious, too, when we talk about you and your style, what is your style? What is the laser to your style? style that's also what i'm still trying to figure out because i love so many genres i guess my style is like kind of unpredictable like you don't know what's gonna happen next is my style okay do you like do you like that that feeling of being unpredictable i think that's actually something we don't see that often anymore in djing to be honest like i think especially like with the newer upcoming djs i feel like there is kind of like a set motion and one of the things that really attracted me to your music style was that there are two things actually that really impressed me when I was watching you.

8:12 One, I liked how you kept making it fun. And when it kept going to a specific direction, it changed. And that really impressed me. The second thing that I really appreciated was that your connection with the audience. I thought that was a hard thing to do when you're up and coming, for sure. And I really felt that you did a good job of doing your best to be involved with the audience and getting them involved. Now, granted, I know you You said you had your B-Boy crew, and that's great. That's awesome. But that also creates an experience, right? And I think that's an experience that you're not seeing in DJing, especially at conventions. Again, I've done a lot of conventions, and I can tell you this. That was probably my first time I've seen B-Boying represented at a convention.

8:52 So that's, to me, it was a huge win for you and your collective, I would say. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I think, do you find that being a challenge creating an experience, or are you just still trying to figure that out? Yeah, I'm still so new. I'm still trying to figure everything out. I really like the performance aspect of things. I mean, my long term goal is actually to make my own music and perform to my own music and have my crew perform in my music. Gotcha. Yeah, I would love that. So you know we talked about creative processes you know one of the things i think it's interesting about your creative process do you is it fair to say that your creative process is two steps in the sense that it's not just a dj set but it's also you cosplay when you dj is that every time or not usual i actually have only cosplayed for conventions but i would like i would like to do more i would i love costumes so it would be cool to be known for that there are times when i've like, Felt like if I show up in costume, the other DJs will be like, what the heck? We didn't talk about that.

9:57 And then you look them dead in the eye and you say, and? Yeah, you're right. Yeah. I mean, I feel like most people would love it and they would want to be part of that. I hope. I think so. I think also like, cause you, it's all about when you do these kinds of things, right? It's all about current experiences and you need to create a way that's relatable. Yeah. You know, I can tell you this too. I used to work in the promoting scene as well a long time ago, and one of the common things that I saw was that your audience was always the same because we weren't taking chances. And because you weren't taking chances, you weren't getting anybody different. And people don't realize, a lot of people love to dance, even if they're super nerds.

10:39 And what we have to do, if you find a way to represent that, represent them, whatever it may be, you will get more of an audience and more of an audience interaction than people realize. So I think when you did it, you know, seeing you cosplay, if I remember correctly, you did Cyberpunk Edgerunners, correct? Or no, no, no, no, you did it. I did Cyberpunk and Stay Valentine. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, and those are great things to dress as, right? Like, you know, if I could do it, believe me, I would totally do it. You can. Yeah, I should. I should be the first podcaster, journalist, cosplayer. There we go. Exactly. So, you know, I do have more questions, but honestly, I think these questions are going to kind of be further down your career.

11:23 And I can't wait for that. And when you do blow up and you do big things, please know I will be right there to celebrate that with you. Thank you. Ah, there's no hope. Do it or not. I truly believe you've got that. And I can tell you this. I was with a friend of mine who's not really into the con world or really the DJing world. That simple aspect of your set and connecting it to different genres of music affected him in a way. And this is a true story where he went home and was like, dude, I want to learn more about DJing. I want to learn more about convention. And he was so involved in it because of your set. That is 100% true. Wow. Wow. That's awesome. That really makes my day. You know how these moments affect people.

12:06 But without further ado, you brought us a mix. We're going to listen to that. It's going to be a lot of fun. Can you kind of tell us a little bit about the mix or no? Yeah, I can. So the mix, I wanted to make something that really represented something dancey, but also has, you know, my aced, like, goth punk language in it. And I wanted to like dedicate this mix to a singer that just passed away. She was in the band Crazy P. And she was an amazing like vocalist, performance person. And the band does like really good like funk house disco music, if you're into that. And I was listening to her music for so many years when I would drive like back and forth between San Jose and Oakland.

12:48 And I never like really put a face on this woman until she died, which is like ironic when that happens. But yeah, the first song that starts out is her vocals. And then it goes into Boy Harsher, which is like a super popular, I would say like dark wave goth scene band right now. And then it goes into like a house mix, different genres. But yeah, it's all over the place. I wanted to get something that was really emotional, but dancey. Because I think that's what I want, like my music to portray. So yeah. I love that. Well, we will check in after about 20 minutes. It's about a 20-minute set, so let's come back. And when we come back, we'll play a quick game, and then we'll wrap up.

13:30 And believe me, I hope you're ready because this game is going to be full of surprises because that's what I do here at Uncle Dad. I love surprising people. So we'll be right back with our very first mix ever from... Yay! That's awesome. Yes, you're the first one to kick this off. So everybody, have a good time. We'll be right back after this beautiful mix. You're listening to Laser Tears. Laser Tears. Music.

18:03 Music. Thank you. you put your love Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh That's all you gotta do.

19:04 And I reach out and I know that I'm out of here Let's go. And I reach out And I reach out And I reach out, Baby, and you Put your love in a heart Surround me Surround me Baby, and you Thank you. We'll be right back.

19:48 Music. Thank you. Music.

34:06 All right. So what you heard was those lovely, lovely sounds, not crafted, but curated by the very lovely Lazer Tears. Now, let me ask you this. Are you satisfied with that mix? Is there anything you would change, do you think? So like the second half of the mix like i would have changed some of it yeah. I'm really bad at i'm really bad at deadlines i mean not that like you gave me a deadline but like and i know there's a deadline i'm like i'm gonna mess around till it's perfect and of course that never happens you know the problem honest with you all those artists man you know whether it's podcasting art physical art digital art whatever it is we all i feel like we all struggle with deadline so don't worry yeah like the resistance kicks in exactly exactly so we're gonna play a little quick game to wrap and what we're gonna play is so one of the things if you and for those who listen to the main show uncle dad talks hosted by myself and just mike you'll know that me and mike are very big into 90s r&b now do you like 90s r&b of course who doesn't i mean you'd be surprised how many hate hate letters i got no i haven't got years but i've gotten people to say I don't really care for it, but that's fine.

35:19 But we're going to play a game where I'm just going to literally read you the title and you have to name the artist correctly. Oh no, the truth comes out. If you can name, if you can earn a total of five points, I'm going to pick a random listener and they will win a prize, especially from the Uncle Dad vault. What do you think? Oh man, I hope I win. All right. Are we ready to do this? Yeah. I'm scared. I'll see I feel like I need to start easy let's do an easy one okay, Oh my gosh. Watch me like not get it. So you're not going to hear song number one.

36:00 Who is the artist that sings one in a million? Oh, Aaliyah. Okay. See, easy. One boy. There you go. I'm sweating here. Here we go. Here we go. Song number two. What army artist sings the 1997 classic on and on. Eric Abadu. Oh, okay. See you were so worried and now you're doing all right i'm like which on and on there's a but i gave us a year that's why all right here we go here we go the 1993, the joint i've got all the ladies down who sang knocking the boots oh Oh, I don't even know how that song goes.

36:51 What's funny is... Can you sing it? Can I sing it? I don't know. I'll give you a hint. It starts with a letter. It starts with a letter? That's my hint. That's literally a letter blank. Yeah, I don't know. I'm sorry. All right. That was H-Town. One hit wonder. Oh, okay. I'm going to listen to that. Yeah, you should. It's a great song. All right so you're at three points so far but that's okay here's another chance, okay a little bit of a deep cup if you can know this one i'll give you some credit 1998 dance classic swing my way 1998 i know kamaya does swing my way.

37:34 Or but i think she might as well 1998 is she no yeah, Yeah, I don't know who does that. I guess I don't. That is a dance classic, dance hip-hop classic. KP and Envy. You need that in your mix, just so you know. Yeah. Okay, I do need that. All right. I will give you one last chance to earn two points for your listener, okay? Sorry, listeners. You have one last chance. And really, you should know this one. if you don't know this one to win the game and literally a legendary 90s r&b song arguably one of the biggest songs of the 90s oh my gosh you're killing me i'm gonna miss it and you're gonna, from a very okay then you can be emo and be a dj right that's that's how this works yes, motown philly yeah i don't know that song you're kidding me please tell me you're.

38:31 Maybe i've heard it you see mike's face in the back that's you how i feel right now, yeah i don't know it i'm sorry sorry audience that's boys to men oh dang okay i just don't know the name then i am sorry listener and the listener that would have won let's see i'm gonna pull their name up real fast because i had it here oh my gosh don't do that Well, yeah, I have to. That's okay. Hey, you know what? That's okay. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some. So before we go, before we wrap this up, first off, thank you so much for that 20-minute mix. That was absolutely such a blast to listen to you. And I hope our audience loved it too. If they did love it, where can they learn more about you? Where can they connect with you? And what are your next events coming up?

39:18 Yeah. Thanks for asking. I'm on Linktree. everything on my social media is under laser tears so that's laser tears l-a-s-e-r-t-e-a-r-z all one word you can find me on twitch I stream regularly I'm on the weekends and tonight I'll be streaming at 11 some gigs coming up. In October. Yeah. It's on my page. Okay. Yeah. But I'll be DJing at Zanzibar in Oakland, October. And I'll be at Golden Lion in Chinatown, San Francisco, October 5th with DJ Danny Lowe.

40:04 If you like dancing, I'll be doing like a pop-up battle in San Jose. But all the dates will be on my website. Okay. I'm trying to do more conventions, but I haven't heard back yet. Well, you know what? Without further ado, Laser Tears, thank you so much for taking the time, hanging out, being a part of the first inaugural episode of Uncle Dad's Mix and Mingle. Here on this show, we are on this network. We love to celebrate all walks of life. It doesn't matter if you're male, you're female, you're black, you're white, Mexican, Cambodian, in between. It doesn't matter who you are. All I have to say is let's go out there and make art because without art, we cannot live. Art is what we need to be human so please i love i love that you're making art and people who listen please get out there and make some art and i'll see you all next month for more, mix and mingle thank you guys thank you.