Welcome to this special interview! Today, we’re delighted to speak with a talented DJ and electronic music producer who’s made a unique mark in the industry. I’m Danny Tape, and in this conversation, we’ll explore their journey, inspirations, and future projects. Without further ado, let’s welcome DJ Joshua.
Presentation of the DJ: a. Stage name b. Professional background (career highlights, experience)
DJ Joshua (K-Joshua / Joshua Marian / Joshua Onairam / Joshua Fernand)
I don't really have a professional career in this area, this is just one of my favorite hobbies... for various reasons, I haven't progressed beyond a few parties that I did with friends many years ago. Perhaps because I was never a stage man and mainly because I never identified with the way this industry works in the part that is not visible even to most of the people who manage it. I neither have nor have I ever had patience for wars and squabbles or to do favors. Also because it is not profit or popularity that drives me in these ventures, but rather the love for music. For these reasons, my true and main professional area has never been in music, but in some other activities until I reached Accounting which is something I also like very much and allows me to make a living.
Initial questions
How did you start your career in electronic music? b. What were your early influences, and how did they shape your musical style?
I started making my first mixes around 1991/1992 only with cassette decks “play/pause/rec/stop”. Around 1995 I acquired two turntables and a mixing console and started buying vinyl regularly to practice and improve my mixes. Then, for personal and truly professional reasons, I was away from mixing for a few years. In 2007 I invested in Traktor and evolved to a more digital technique, actually somewhat hybrid as is fashionable to say today and I have continued like this until today.
My influences are very broad and range from hip hop to techno, including house, pop, rock, ambient... I never felt tied to a style, as long as it has the parameters that I consider to be of quality, it is enough. However, Nelectronic music is very special to me. Perhaps because when I first heard a record by Jean Michel Jarre that my father had (I believe it was Revolutions) my time a record by Jean Michel Jarre that my father had (I believe it was Revolutions) my mind awakened more to this aspect, I felt at the time that I was facing something special and futuristic, it was something that marked my musical taste forever.
Career and experience
Professional development
a. What have been the most significant challenges you faced throughout your career?
b. Highlight a memorable collaboration or event that marked your career.
In fact, I didn't have many challenges in this area, because as I mentioned earlier, I did not expose myself to them. I never made DJing my true and main area professional, I have always done this for the love of music and not for money or for notoriety. That is why I end up being so free and liberated in the work that I do, from mixes to radio shows and more recently to production.
Although I have performed very few times, there was one party that marked me a lot and which I particularly liked for its characteristics. It was in the summer of 1997, a small party of friends that ended up involving the authorities and everything.
Musical style and evolution
a. How would you describe your unique musical style?
b. How do you think electronic music has evolved over the years, and what has been your role in this evolution?
I don't feel that I have a very particular style, or I probably do, I don't know...
I never cared much about that. I like to do things that are always very eclectic and well underground with an old school touch in the middle. To be honest, I feel that I even manage to have something intrinsic and common in my mixes and in my productions.
Electronic music is always in constant mutation and evolution, not always for the better, but it is like all areas, it has its ups and downs. Technological evolution has contributed to both the good and the less good. Its use allows us to have greater and broader creativity, but on the other hand, it requires in a way to more competitiveness and the accumulation of some trash. Although, in my opinion, the competitiveness is very relative because it depends on the goals and limits that each one defines for themselves, the trash has to be filtered until it is, that is, one must spend some time researching and knowing how to separate it.
My role over the years has been, first of all, that of a spectator who enjoys what has been done and is being done. I feel that I am part of a very privileged generation because we were lucky to witness the birth and growth of music electronic, of the parties, of living all those experiences.
Since 2009 I have also had a role as a promoter to the extent that I am possible, namely through my weekly radio shows. I started collaborating regularly with 3 radios and there are already more than 50 currently. According to the statistics of the platforms I know that I already have some followers around the globe.
I always make a point from the beginning to share the tracklists so that there is thus a promotion of the works of other artists. I have always found this aspect very important and an indirect way to intervene in the industry and contribute to its promotion and evolution.
I will also keep active participation and collaborations with publishers and podcasts, as well as with specific series of my authorship (Are You Ready for Classics, Elements of Nature Series, Seven Deadly Sins Series, Techno for Your Heads, etc. just searching on this internet...).
Recently, I moved on to producing my original themes and I am still in a learning phase, but I am already managing to put some ideas into practice. Sometimes I already say to myself: I would buy this for sure!!
I have received some invitations for remixes but I do not accept them all because in some cases, I do not yet feel completely comfortable dealing with the pressure of taking on a theme of another artist and "modifying it."
Music production
What is your creative process when producing a new track? b. What tools or software do you use for music production?
Production is still something very embryonic for me. It arose as a consequence of my taste for electronic music. I wanted to do it for a long time, but only recently I managed to arrange the conditions to put that into practice.
I still do not have a defined line of work... sometimes I start by creating a kick, a bass and some percussion and I add elements, other times I create a loop of a few minutes, which can be a part of a track and then I go dismantling until I create a more solid structure. I feel comfortable in these two ways, especially because both allow me to prepare the final arrangements well.
I do not yet have any "physical machinery" (I am just thinking about it), at the moment I only work with Ableton Live, FL Studio and I am currently testing the Soundtrap.
Live performance
a. What is your approach to performing live? b. Can you share a remarkable experience from a concert or festival?
Connection with the audience
a. How do you interact with the audience during your performances? b. How important is audience feedback to you?
As I do not perform, I cannot have a concrete answer based on my experience.
But I believe it is important to have interaction between the audience and the DJ, but I think the DJ cannot mold too much to the audience in front of him, after all it is he who "commands" and the audience is there of their own free will for him, for his style. It is not he who is there for the audience but rather the opposite, if I make myself understood... but then comes the rest with which I do not identify, from money, the attempts to profit easy at any cost, the lack of self-respect and respect for others, the lack of empathy from the people who are in this scene, the abuses of the industry and this does not allow the environment overall to be what it should be.
Trends and opinions
Electronic music trends
a. How do you view current trends in electronic music?
b. Is there a subgenre or movement you believe will have a significant impact in the future?
I believe it will go through greater and better creativity, through productions with a scope of genres and elements that a few years ago was unthinkable. It will pass perhaps also through more collaborations between producers and DJs, with more exchanges and sharing of ideas. This new generation seems to be more flexible in this aspect and demonstrates to have an enormous creative potential.
I do not believe that there is anything that will have a greater impact in the future, just the usual that comes and goes, that is, one trend or another that will pass as has already happened with so many facets.
In my opinion, with the global interconnection that exists today and with the means technological means we have available, it is easy to reach any corner of the world where there will always be someone more willing to listen to drum’n’bass, hardtechno, house, garage, dubtechno, whatever it is. Then each one will make their own “filter” about what they want or do not want to buy or listen to or whether or not to pay to go to a more mainstream or more specific event.
Challenges and opportunities
a. What are the main challenges faced by electronic music DJs today?
b. Are there emerging opportunities you’re exploring or find promising?
Perhaps the questioning about the path that DJs' careers are taking, namely whether the promotion of their image and their work is being done through the right or wrong channels. If they should continue to focus so much on image instead of betting more on the promotion of their work and in a more informative way with content that adds value. It is clear that the audience also has its share of blame for the direction things are taking, but it is never too late to change.
The issue of having to be more careful and a greater loss of time to research about the tracks you want to play. I refer to the differentiation of what you like and what you do not like, the knowledge of the tracks, their structures and putting aside the thought of #this will work well in this club” or “I really like this but it won't work here or there.”
Staying true to oneself will also be an important challenge, not following trends or the easier path and only thinking about social media followers and not about the what matters, in what has driven you up to that point.
Not exactly emerging or promising opportunities, but the ability to think for ourselves can be surprising, both in creativity and even in the acceptance of criticism and the environment around us because it can condition us. Even in the collaboration and teamwork this is important, because if we don't think for ourselves we will not be able to present and defend our idea to the other party. Thus, everything else will be profit, not monetarily speaking, but as a result of synergy.
Advice for new DJs
What advice would you give to someone starting a career as an electronic music DJ? b. What are the most important qualities for success in this industry?
Understanding the importance of what you do, following values like persistence and resilience, the honesty in what you do and how you do it, thinking for yourself and not by the quantity of followers you have on the internet or by the number of interviews you can give or gigs you can reach.
Liking what you do and being willing to be patient, hardworking, and persistent in your ideas while always respecting others'. Having a plan B professionally also seems to me to be very important, this is because this industry is becoming increasingly complicated and volatile.
On the other hand, the global economic situation itself is constantly changing and we cannot remain oblivious to the world by putting “all our eggs in one basket.”
The first qualities that come to my mind are the ones I mentioned earlier, but I confess that sometimes I see all of this very much turned “upside down,” I see people who think that it is enough to have good social media management, to have a good body, a good image, the biggest tattoo, the best pose, anyway... Not mentioning names, but recently I saw a case of a female DJ entering the market that left me again disappointed with this industry in Portugal. Someone who started mixing not long ago (if they even know how to mix), (if they even know how to mix), who shakes their tanned body well and does some DJ poses behind the mixing table, but quickly managed to get gigs in clubs.
As in all areas, there is space for everyone as long as each one respects the space of others and does not want success or their minutes of fame at any cost. There is a need to be consistent and coherent in what one does, because there will always be space for the wedding DJ, for the club DJ, for the event DJ, for the hotel DJ and restaurants and even for bedroom DJs... Each one knows themselves and defines their goals that are totally legitimate as long as they are correct and do not interfere with the of others.
Conclusion
Future projects
a. Can you share some of your future projects or goals?
a. Besides keeping my professional plan A (managing my company) active, I also aim to reconcile everything from personal, family, and hobbies Like music. I hope and really want to continue sharing and promoting good music through my radio shows and other collaborations and participations.
My evolution in production will also be a goal to be achieved gradually little by little. I have 5 EPs ready and signed to be released in the coming months, two with dub techno sounds and three with house tracks. I am also finishing some tracks of more melodic techno and tech house that I intend to sign by the end of this year or in the beginning of 2026.
