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A
self-confessed "Disco Duck," Julius's early musical
influences came from the 70's era, where Disco, Soul and Rock
were all heard on the same pop radio station. Born and raised
in Montreal, Canada, Julius fell in love with Dance Music through
the healthy club scene which existed alongside a local Montreal
radio station which programmed pop and underground Disco six
days a week. "Of course, I could never musically limit
myself to just 'Dance Music.' My taste is quite eclectic these
days and always has been," says Julius. "Everything
from Deep House to old school Funk to a good dose of 70's Rock
to Hip Hop and Jazz.
Julius started
collecting records in the late 70's but didn't actually start
fooling around with turntables and a mixer until 1985, and scored his first regular club
gig in 1987. Currently residing in San Jose, California, he
has had several club residencies in San Jose and San Francisco
on a weekly basis for quite awhile. "When I DJ, I try
to go on a ride. I don't like to stay in one groove for too
long. I definitely try to keep the flow nice and smooth; however,
I just have to be eclectic in my musical selection, incorporating
various styles from Garage vocals to Jazzy instrumentals to some
harder tracks which pump more energy, which is definitely the
trend these days." Now, there is an alter ego here. Julius
does spin a downtempo set purely for the love of the music.
In that set you can hear him play some rare groove, Soul, Hip
Hop, Jazz and even Latin. As he says, "It's all about the
music..."
In
1994, Julius took on a new role -- that of Producer. The first
projects were mainly in the so called Acid Jazz domain. There
were some downtempo jazzy instrumentals that Nervous Records
in New York picked up and release on vinyl and full length CD.
As the Acid Jazz sound started to fade Julius moved on to produce
more club oriented dance tracks. Along with producing his own
solo projects he collaborated with Jay-J Hernandez as The Buddee
Boys and Shuffle Inc. He has also teamed up with Rick Preston
to form The Papp/Preston Project and more recently with Dave
Warrin of the band Slide Five.
"I do have
one disappointment relating to this business I'm in. Why is
club/dance music so under
appreciated and underexposed in the U.S.? With all the media
power and the number of radio stations, it's sad to see how little
of the music gets the attention it deserves. On the plus side,
being a DJ/Producer gives me the opportunity to travel nationally
and internationally to different cities and observe how the different
crowds react to my music."
As far as producing
goes, there is a constant inspiration in Julius's days at the
studio--his two young sons -- who are already asking Dad to see
if they can "play some records."
Also that night:
Marthe Wash, Xavier Gold, and guest DJ Freddie Bain Sunday, June
25th at Green Dolphin Street
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