Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 496

INTERVIEW
It’s great to speak with
you again. I know you’ve
been up to a lot of things
since we last spoke. What
inspired your long and
fabulous career to begin
with?
I think when I started out,
my goal was to make big
records. All of that has
drastically changed. I still
want to make big records,
but the important thing is
that I just make stuff that I
enjoy. I enjoy what I do. And
I continue doing that and
people continue calling me to
ask me to work on stuff and I
am able to support my family.
Those are the two things that
drive me every day.
Tell me about the new
country song that you’re
releasing.
The last time I talked to
you, I don’t think I lived in
Nashville. Four years ago,
my publisher suggested that
I come to Nashville and try
writing music out here. I told
that to my wife, and by the
time I got home from the
meeting, she had already
pulled up houses. You get
way more bang for a buck
here than in L.A., and I didn’t
want my kids to grow up in
L.A. It’s really worked out
great. What I am leading up
to, Eileen, is when I moved
to Nashville four years ago,
I couldn’t have told you a
Reba McEntire song. I’ve
moved here and have really
been able to learn music and
find out about a new type of
music that I wasn’t involved
in at all. So, I’m now involved
in this city and this new thing
that is huge here. It’s part of
their culture. Moving here,
I did not know one Reba
McEntire song, but now
I’ve worked on three. Also,
moving here, I worked on a
song that is really huge by
Brooks & Dunn, who were
one of the biggest duos of all
time here. Their biggest hit
is called “Neon Moon” and
everybody here knows this
song. If you went line dancing
in the ‘80s or the ‘90s, you
knew this song. I heard this
song for the first time, really
listening to it, when I heard
my friend Cody Belew sing
it at a little gay dive bar in
East Nashville called Lipstick
Lounge, and it just struck
a chord with me. I knew
that I had to redo this song,
and that’s what I did. It’s an
amazing song and I knew
that it would translate into
this dance version that I did.
I was also really inspired by
Elton John and his song that
he has out now, “Cold Heart.”
I thought if I could take
“Neon Moon” and the Elton
John vibe and put those two
things together, it would be
awesome. And that’s exactly
what I did.
That’s very cool. In addition
to your new song, you have
all of these Prides going
on.
Yes, I do, and last time I
talked to you, I also probably
had all these Prides going
on. I’m not playing as much
as I did five or six years ago
because I’m really focused on
my craft, which is producing,
but I still love DJing because
I’ve been doing it for almost
25 years. Twenty five years
ago, I didn’t even know
what Pride was. It wasn’t a
term that I knew or used or
thought about. When I started
doing records for people like
Madonna and Selena Gomez
and Katy Perry and Rihanna
and Beyoncé and one million
others, I very quickly learned
that I had developed a gay
following. The first time I
ever realized that I had a
gay following was when I
was playing a straight club
in St. Louis. The guys that
ran that club told me they
had a weird request. There
was a club across the river
in East Nashville that was
a gay club and they wanted
to know if I would come and
play from three until six in
the morning. Who goes out
to six in the morning? That’s
crazy. So I found myself in
the middle of a gay club for
the first time ever. I think I
was probably 30 years old.
And there were turntables
there and I put the records on
and they loved what I played.
It was great. I found out that I
had a lot of gay fans. It really
opened my eyes to a whole
new demographic and a new
group of people and new
friends. A few years later, I
ended up playing New York
Pride with Cher and Deborah
Cox at the Pier Dance. I don’t
know if that was the peak
of my Pride, but that was a
pretty damn cool moment in
the midst of playing Prides.
Since then, I’ve played all
kinds of different Prides,
whether in Milwaukee or
Toronto Pride and Chicago,
of course. I am in a place
where I never dreamed that I
would ever be DJing at Pride
events or even have a fan
base. I’m proud to be part of
the gay community.