After a short but wild Friday (August 29th) night at union Park for North Coast Music Festival I traveled with a few WhySoChi members to check out the Portage Theater, a new EDM hosting venue in Chicago, for a coast after party. After getting settled and checking out the place (which has a great sound system by the way) we were ushered passed the stage into a nicely hidden green room. There we found some familiar faces including our friend Jai Sephora aka Animale.
After a drink, some chit chat and meeting his agent and manager, a crew member enounced ”where is the press?!” Instinctively a few friendly fingers pointed my way. “Do it on the fly” cheers ensued. Below is what I came up with spare of the moment. Hope it gives you some insight to who I think is a very talented local DJ,
1.“You have had a really busy year. You have come out with some great singles and performed at EDC Chicago last year. Is there anything that we should know about within the next 12 months?”
“Yeah, absolutely. We also just dropped a Borgeous remix so we will have a free download. We also have an Oliver Heldens remix we have been sitting on so that should be coming out within the next couple of months as well. I have an EP I am working on. A lot of new music and hopefully more gigs as well.”
- “You have a lot of local success. We also saw that you have been touring around in not only the Midwest, but also other states. You just recently went to Orlando. Being that you are from Chicago, how do you feel the Chicago scene or crowd differs from other places around the country?”
“The one thing I notice is that most crowds are all the same as far as if they’re going to come out to see you. The internet makes it so that you don’t have to be from a certain city to know what people’s songs are or what they’re going to play. There’s a lot of love everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are from.”
- “You mentioned you are working on a EP. I know you had collaboration with Dani Deahl and Alex Peace. Is there anybody local or anyone up and coming we should know about that will be on your EP?”
“I don’t have anyone directly that I am collaborating with. However, I am working with Trentino on a new track and had a release with David Hopperman not too long ago that was on Big & Dirty. I am trying to focus a lot on branding myself without being stuck to too many other people.”
- “Given the recent success, what is your personal triumph that you take pride in and what is the ultimate goal for Animale?”
“I just want more people to know my music and experience my live shows. I’ve been doing this 10 years now and I am very comfortable with DJing and so I want more people to come out. My motto has always been to aim as high as you possibly can and if you come up short, you are still above everybody else. For example, my goals are obviously to play Ultra Music Festival and hopefully headline one day but the goals are high obviously. ”
- “What is one thing you want your fans to know?”
“Be safe and have fun. Live it up. Life is short. You should never be unhappy doing anything. Whatever makes you happy – DO IT”
6.“What is with that port-a-potty video?”
“Well I like to have a lot of fun and I was really drunk. I had just gotten a GoPro and I wanted to make the best of my new GoPro. Plus, how many DJs have you seen go to a port-a-potty. I am probably the first and the last.”