November 26, 2006: DJ Zebra

November 26, 2006: DJ Zebra

If you're reading this and plan to be in the Twin Cities on December 1st, I hope you'll join Ruben Nusz and I at Rosalux Gallery for Create.Destroy.Repeat, our first show together and my first major art exhibition since showing there with Amy Rice nearly two years ago. I'll be showing a brand new series of collage, along with some video collage collaborations and two brand new additions to the Marquee Series. Please join us the evening of Friday, December 1st at Rosalux Gallery, from 7-11 pm. Rosalux is located at 1011 Washington Avenue South, in Minneapolis and you can find more info online at rosaluxgallery.com

Our featured artist this week is DJ Zebra! Stay tuned for episode 122 in just a few, and read on to learn all about DJ Zebra. Thanks for checking us out!

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DJ Zebra

DJ Zebra is a member of an exclusive new club of mashup artists who've taken that natural next step with their work, forming bands to perform their mashup compositions live. I'm sure there are at least a few "bastard pop bands" doing this by now, but the first artists I'm aware of to do this were DJ Zebra and a group called Smash Up Derby (featuring members of a mashup team called A plus D, out of California).

DJ Zebra is a musician and radio producer from Paris, France. He produces a daily radio mix for OÜI FM (a rock 'n roll radio station in France) and also does a mash-up program on FRANCE INTER. He's also a remix artist, and spins around Europe as a rock DJ.

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with DJ Zebra...

*Name: DJ Zebra

*Do you use a pseudonym? I am Antoine MINNE, a.k.a. DJ ZEBRA. I have this name since 1993, when I started DJing in a funky-latino style in France.

*Members: I also play in the BOOTLEGS LIVE BAND with DJ Moule, playing live our own mash-ups with guitar, bass and loops.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I don’t use technical definitions to describe my work. I'm rather like a "metteur en scène" (in french), it's like a movie director or a master of puppets. I create musical scenes or stories with singers and musicians that never met in real life. It's not just a mix. If it was, mash-ups wouldn't be so interesting.

*Location: Paris, France.

*Original Location: Ham, France

*What is your creative/artistic background: I started playing guitar at the age of 9, in 1980. It was in Ham (the city where I was born, in the north of France). Then I created my first rock band in 1990. We played my instrumental compositions, which were a sort of mix between The Smiths and Jimi Hendrix (can you imagine that?). I was a student in an art school at this time, and I always knew that my life would be nothing without a creative job. Then I went to Rennes in 1991, to work in a radio station, and since that I played music and produced radio programs. So being a DJ was the best way to do both.

*History: I'm living in Paris, France, but I started playing music in a professional way in Rennes (west of France), which is a city that had a serious new-wave background. I joined Billy Ze Kick in 1993, a pop band who did songs over loops (from The Doors, Them, Dave Brubeck, lots of reggae hits...), which was new at this time. This experience made me want to work with a sampler, then I never gave up this kind of work. It was already bootlegs, but I didn't know it because this happened before the "bastard pop" movement came.

*Born: 1971

*Motivations/Philosophy: I like to be free. I like every kind of music, and I have an offensive attitude. The art of provocation! So bootlegs/mash-ups are the best way to do music with all those elements. It's also a way to open people's minds, to have a sort of political dimension without anything else that music. Some people think that "we shouldn't have the right" to do that kind of mix between artists without demanding. So it's like a "f*** off" style, and I like that.

*Web address: My website is http://www.dj-zebra.com

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Thanks to DJ Zebra for submitting his responses to our Q&A this week. Check out his website and download this week's podcast (episode 122) to learn even more and hear some of his work!

In a rush this week, so I'll wrap this up quickly. I still have a couple of pieces to finish up for my exhibition with Ruben Nusz this Friday! Please join us at the opening - again, it's Friday, December 1st, from 7-11 pm at Rosalux Gallery. More info at rosaluxgallery.com

Tune in next week for our feature on TWINK. Until then, thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net