You thought Zedd was good, UTSA? Well, this Campus Cutie might just be better! Meet Justin Chavez, a student, fraternity gentleman, and an aspiring doctor/DJ. If you don’t believe us, you can listen to him yourself on his Sound Cloud account at soundcloud.com/jacmuzik, follow his twitter account @JacMuzik, or catch his set live at Club Live this Thursday from 11:30-12:30!
Name: Justin Andrew Chavez
Nicknames: J Chav
Hometown: San Antonio, Tx
Class: Junior
Major: Biology / Pre-Med
UTSA Involvement: Kappa Sigma
Relationship Status: Single
Celebrity Crush: Adriana Lima
Ideal Girl: At least 5’8, blonde, colored eyes, and a little bit of crazy because you know she’s bad.
What’s the best relationship advice you’ve ever received? You cannot love anyone more then you’re willing to love yourself.
What’s your favorite memory from your time here at UTSA? Being involved in Greek life.
Besides being in student organizations on campus, school, and working, you’re also an aspiring EDM DJ. What’s the story behind how you got into DJ’ing? Okay, so back in the 90s my older brother drove a 1995 red Ford Tempo. Google it if you do not know what it looks like, but that’s besides the point. Although his car was ugly, he had 2 15′ as well as 2 12′ subs in the trunk/backseat. With that being said, he was in love with the music genre “Freestyle”, and bass music. (Google the album, “It Came From Outer BASS”) So naturally, I liked whatever he liked but it was really underground back then so I didn’t listen to it too much other then when I was with him because I didn’t have access to the music. So this is when I started to like electronic music. Now jumping to 2012, I was at a random house party when I heard the track, “Flosstradamus – Original Don” and it pretty much changed my life. It incorporated electronic Synthesizers and sound effects with rap/hip-hop percussion such as the snare, hi-hats, 808 bass, etc. Immediately the next day, I went on a search to find as much music as I could. Once I gathered as much as I could find, I downloaded the app, “Djay” and that’s where it all started.
What would you tell someone who thinks that EDM is just “noise” and has no meaning? Well first off, I am a producer as well as a dj and it’s really offensive to me to say EDM [electronic dance music] is noise and has no meaning. I would assume that people just think you put a couple of samples together on software and you press play and out comes a Calvin Harris or Zedd type of song. People need to understand that writing an electronic track is the same as writing a country, rap, jazz, gospel, or any other genre song. It’s hard. There’s writer’s block. There has to be creativity. There’s frustration. There’s moments when you want to quit. But you don’t, and when someone says there’s no meaning to this/your music, it hurts. Personally, when I write any type of a music, there’s a part of me in that song [because] I took time out of my life to try and create something for people to enjoy and some ignorant person is calling it worthless. Writing electronic music is an art, so is DJing; you’re doing more than pushing buttons and playing music out of your iTunes library.
Who’s your favorite DJ? Definitely would have to be LOUDPVCK or Ookay.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? God-willing, in 10 years I would like to see myself being successful. Right now I feel I’m approaching a crossroad in life and whatever I choose to do I hope it’ll have to do with medicine or music.