I first met DeeJay Sista Whitenoise at a rollerderby event. We'd threatened to work with each other on a musical collaboration for years, but it had never happened. However, she DID find time in her busy schedule to do this fun Q&A. I dig her DJ style as she mixes a wide variety of music so it's never boring, and the beats change all the time as do musical genres yet all flow together to make it more fun than other so-called "deejays". She's the real deal, so read on!
Q: You've been around a long time. What made you want to "deejay" to begin with? Do you classify what you even do as "deejaying"? what the hell does being a deejay mean nowadays anyways?
DSW: I inherited the music junkie gene from my father who was a big band\jazz radio dj in the 40s and 50s. Becoming a DJ just seemed like the natural progression in feeding my musical habit.
Q: I like how you spin a wide variety of diverse music from rock to hip hop and everything in between. What makes you pick certain things and what's your creative process?
DSW: I like so many different genres and eras of music it's hard to choose just one. I don't really ever plan my sets out or have a "process". That would feel stiff I think.I tend to bounce all over the place. On paper it would look as though I'm a little confused I'm sure but in reality it tends to work.
Q: you''ve been deejaying the assassination city roller derby bouts since it's inception. How'd you get started and what keeps you there?
DSW: My friend Robin Marco a.k.a Marco the Beast skated the first season and asked if I would come and DJ a bout. It was a blast. They called again the next month and now here we are going into (I believe) the 6th season. I love the girls and the sport.
Q: You now have your own radio show on KNON! tell us how this happened, what you like about it, what's different about it, and what you plan to do with it.
DSW: I co-host "The Sonic Assembly Power Hour" Tuesdays 10p-12a with my brutha from anotha mutha Reid Robinson (DJ Woodtronic). Reid and I had discussed wanting to do a show for a few years so when Dave Chaos approached me Reid was my next call. Over the years I volunteered my time doing voiceover work and other odd jobs for the station and I am up there a lot anyway due to fact that my boyfriend EZ Eddie D has had a show there for 20 + years. I think I got lucky with the "right place, right time" kind of situation. We have an open format much like my club DJ sets. The program is geared towards audiophiles and music devotees. We invite guests a couple a month to come and let us peruse their mental Ipods,so to speak, giving them
roughly 45 minutes to play whatever they want.Guests so far have included music critics Hunter Hauk and Pete Freedman, city
council[wo]manAngela Hunt, The Lollybomb Burlesque ladies, DJ Ewi and members of Assassination City Roller Derby. Only requirement to be a guest is a love of music.
Q: what other creative projects, both musical and non-musical have you been involved with, and do you have a favourite?
DSW: Other than music I have been a haircolorist for over 20 years. I used to do hair and makeup for film and loved that very much. The weirder the better. I did makeup for a film short called D.O.A. a few years back. It was about a coroner who is called in to perform an autopsy on the victim of a fatal car crash which upon arrival he learns that it is his fiance.I got to make crazy bloody,glass filled wounds and post-mortem makeup for the first time. It was very challenging and definitely one of my favorite jobs ever.
Q: what sort of bands and artists do you just love when you're alone with the headphones on (or off) . and don't give me the cool indie rock answer. give me some embarrassing guilty pleasures.
DSW: I am never embarrased by my guilty pleasures which include John Denver, Air Supply, Tom T. Hall's childrens album and 80s metal (i.e. Ozzy, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden). I had the lethal combination of being a metal head in hair school in the mid 80s and I am so fortunate that not many pictures exist from that era of my life.
Q: what does the future hold for you, and what are some goals and dreams you want to accomplish?
DSW: I have been lax in learning to create my own beats and music. I need to figure out exactly what direction I want to take that and get a grasp on the technology that will involve so I can take my career to the next level. I played violin for 6 years as a child and have tossed around the idea of taking lessons again for the discipline aspect if nothing else
Random topic round.
Topic: atari.
DSW: I still own an original Atari 2600 and my favorite of all the games is the Journey game where the band runs from shady promoters and dodges groupies and bad record contracts!
Topic: the old electronic game simon.
DSW: I have my Simon game in working condition that I got for xmas in 1981.
Topics: crocs & converse.
DSW: Crocs are so very unnecessary. I have an interesting collection of hightop converse tennis shoes that includes a pair in black leather, a pair in cornflower blue and a pair from the Rolling Stone's "Steel Wheels" tour.
Topics: mix tapes. vhs. dvd. cd. mp3s.
DSW: I have 3 working 8-track players. One is the always classic 1970s bomb detonator. I have one celebrating the bi-centennial that you can load 8 D batteries in and take on the go actually named the "Port-a-Player". Last but not least I have a quadraphonic stereo system that has a working 8-track player which I regularly use to listen to The Grease Soundtrack, T.Rex and Kiss Destroyer 8-track tapes I've had since I was a kid.
Topics: dance clubs. discotecques. dive bars. .
DSW: People tease me about being a DJ that hates dance clubs. I prefer to work in a bar where people go with the expectation of enjoying a cocktail and pleasent conversation but feel moved to kick tables out of the way creating an impromptu dancefloor.
Topic: fort worth.
DSW: Fort Worth is underrated I love to go get a hotel in downtown from time to time and pretend I'm really out of town maybe attending a show at The Bass or going to the excellent art museums.
Topic: soda pop.
DSW: My favorite memory of my grandparents house in E.Texas when I was a kid was them (foolishly) giving us sodas in glass bottles, leaving the metal cap intact they would use an icepick to punch a hole in the it to drink from with the idea that we wouldn't spill as much in the house. We quickly found and exploited the flaw in this design . Shaking the bottles wildly with thumbs over the hole in cap we created a sort of soda-water gun that we would proceed to chase and spray each other down with. It's the little things in life you know?
Find her and stalk her online at www.djsistawhitenoise.com
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