It’s not every day you get to interview a DJ. For some of us, it’s not once a month, or even once a year. In fact, statistically speaking, the average person will actually never interview a DJ in their entire life. But, luckily for you, we were given the chance to talk with a local hero whose presence was both potent and inspiring (July 9, 2024).
His name is DJ Airwalk, and he’s a self-described producer/laptop musician who takes inspiration from artists including Monstercat and Yung Lean. DJ Airwalk specializes in Jungle, and if you don’t know what that is, that’s okay! You just gotta stick around and find out.
We met up with Airwalk at a gig where he was closing for a touring Chicago group known as “Kitty Litter”, at Cafe Bourbon Street.
It was a unique experience for us and, despite losing our Prime sponsorship, we were beyond pleased to talk to him. We feel like this interview acts as a testament to the wide variety of artists who call Columbus their home.
If you’re here for the interview, here it is! It is an interview I doubt anyone involved will soon forget…
DJ AIRWALK
THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC
So, what is DJ Airwalk?
DJ Airwalk: DJ Airwalk is... he's a man.
What kind of man?
DJ Airwalk: A DJ, producer, laptop musician. From Ohio.
What got you into it?
DJ Airwalk: I probably started around 2014. I pirated FL Studio. I was listening to Yung Lean, EDM, Spinnin’ Records, and Monstercat, and then eventually I got into drum and bass and moved to Columbus for school. And I've been here for the last couple of years.
How would you describe your music?
DJ Airwalk: I would call it jungle, and it's a genre that was pioneered out of Jamaican Sound System music and the Windrush generation, which was when a bunch of these people from Jamaica and the West Indies came to the UK and brought their music with them.
That sort of melded with rave music, Chicago House, Detroit techno, and UK rave sounds, as well as, you know, American hip hop, to create this sound collage of drum breaks, samples, 808 bass. [There’s] a wide array of influences that come together for one cohesive, fast-paced genre.
We've got some good drum and bass stuff in Ohio.
DJ Airwalk: Yeah! I would say jungle and drum bass are pretty intertwined. Jungle is like the precursor to drum and bass, so yeah, I'm very much into drum and bass. I would say some of the stuff I've made is not quite jungle, it's more drum and bass. I do like a lot of the drum and bass nights that we have here in Columbus, like Restart.
Ian: I've heard it’s really cool. I have not been either, but a buddy of mine has been I think six times. He missed one year maybe, but he says it's excellent. Something tells me since he's gone that many times...
DJ Airwalk: Yeah. It seems kind of scary…
THE FUTURE
What's your end goal with this? Would you ever want to play at something like Lost Lands?
DJ Airwalk: I would just like to play on the loudest sound system possible. If that's at Lost Lands, so be it. I just want to play on a really big speaker system.
My end goal is to inspire someone who was like me- pirating FL studio- to make music as well, because it’s fun, it’s fulfilling.
What advice would you give to someone who's just starting out in this?
DJ Airwalk: I would recommend finishing your music. Finish the songs, finish the demos. The first ones are going to be bad. You're not going to like them two years from now, six months from now. But you’ve just got to finish them, you’ve got to put them out.
You’ve got to reach out to people, you’ve got to find people near you who are doing the same thing. Go out to parties- there’s a lot of free stuff near you where you can just go and talk to people. Say, “Hey, I like the stuff you're doing. How do I get involved?”
How did you get this show booked?
DJ Airwalk: Kitty Litter reached out to me a couple of months ago. I have no idea how the two of them found me. I'm thinking it was through Bandcamp, because I location tag everything to Columbus, Ohio. Someone else who reached out to me in the same way, just kind of randomly, was like, “Yeah, I was just looking at Columbus, Ohio music and I found you.” They DM-ed me on Instagram, and that's what Kitty Litter did too.
But when I first started getting booked here, at Cafe Bourbon Street in particular, I just got involved with one of the booking agents and was sending them music. I remixed one of their songs, and they eventually brought me on for one of their party nights. So, yeah, it's all about networking, as lame as that sounds.
What are you up to next?
DJ Airwalk: Oh, I got this show I'm playing in, uh, 40 minutes. You can put that in the paper. And then, I'm playing July 19th at Skylab.
PAST/PRESENT
Where did you get the name from?
DJ Airwalk: Oh, this is a good story. A lot of people ask me if it's ‘cause I skate: no. I do own a skateboard, though. You can see my shoe (Editor’s Note: you readers cannot, sorry), I got some skate wear and tear. All I can do is ollie.
The name Airwalk comes from this summer camp I used to work at. I was working there with a couple of my friends, my girlfriend, and we were all camp counselors. We were graffiti-ing around the campus of the summer camp- with chalk, so it washed away in the rain. All of our tags were things that had to do with the camp, so [things] like “Lake”, “Pool”, “Cone Cup”.
There was a ropes course at the summer camp and one part of it [was strapping] the kids onto a platform. And if they jumped off, they would hurt themselves because they would swing back and the momentum would be too much. So we would tell them to walk off, just walk off to the side. We called that the “Air Walk” and I chose “Airwalk” as my tag. I was just writing it so much that summer and it kind of stuck. I liked how it sounded, I feel like it describes some of my atmospheric sounds. And that’s how I got the name.
Who did your logo?
DJ Airwalk: The two stickers I have were done by my good friend Geoff. His Instagram is @mindglow1 and he does tattoos as Grievous Angel (@grievousang3l).
He was also at the summer camp that I mentioned. He's done a lot of my art, a lot of my two logos, some tattoos as well. Yeah, great friend of mine.
What's your favorite project you've released?
DJ Airwalk: I just did my first vinyl release with a local Ohio label. That was really cool, obviously a milestone moment. I'd say my favorite release... my favorite release isn’t out yet. My favorite song that I've made is not out yet. I'll play it tonight, but... soon.
Hopefully I can press it on vinyl as well. There’s a local pressing plant here in Columbus called “Gotta Groove”- well, they do the plating and they send it to get pressed up in Cleveland, but it’s all the same company.
How much is it?
DJ Airwalk: It's about $16 a record. It gets in the thousands when you do a pressing of like 200, 300, but, you know, you sell them, you make your money back.
For sure- how much are you selling them for?
DJ Airwalk: That record in there, I'm selling for $16. CD's for $10, tapes for $10.
Wow. On the nose 16?
DJ Airwalk: On the nose 16. It’s four tracks- it's DJ-able. You can't really DJ, like, a full thing, so you [just] have four tracks.
Does it damage the needle?
DJ Airwalk: If there's that many? So the thing is, the closer you get to the center of the record, the more distorted the bass gets, just by the technology of cutting a record. So, for bass heavy dance music, you don't want to get that close because the circles are closer together.
Knowledge. Bobcat Press.
You went to Sweden, right? Was that for music, at least partially?
DJ Airwalk: No, that was a work away that I did with my aforementioned girlfriend. We were there for a month: we worked on a farm, we scraped paint off a barn, we saw a horse birth. It was in the north of Sweden. The Northern Lights would have come out, but we were there in summer, so we couldn't see them. But it was sunny all day long, it was a perpetual sunset.
Yeah, pretty crazy. But no, not for music, although I do love Swedish music. Like I said, Yung Lean, Bladee- big inspirations of mine.
Did you make music there though?
DJ Airwalk: I did. I wrote an album there, my first full length record. I was definitely inspired by the landscape there. We got there and there was still snow on the ground. And then within two weeks it was like 70°F. Their spring lasts for two weeks.
RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS (no longer sponsored by Prime)
Would you rather have a rock that looks like a hamster or a hamster that looks like a rock?
DJ Airwalk: Hamster that looks like a rock.
Mouse or squirrel?
DJ Airwalk: Squirrel.
Infinite bacon but no video games, or infinite video games but no bacon?
DJ Airwalk: Video games. I need infinite video games.
Ian: Infinite money-
DJ Airwalk: Infinite money.
Caleb: Yeah, what? What's the other option?
Ian: I was going to say infinite money, but no video games ever. And no music ever. No music or video games, ever. Or infinite money.
DJ Airwalk: I need music and video games. Wait-
Caleb: (laughing) That’s a stupid question.
DJ Airwalk: Infinite money with none of the drawbacks.
DJ Airwalk: Alright, infinite swag, but no money, or the opposite.
Caleb: Money. I don't care.
Ian: Money, no swag. I feel like I'm not really swag right now, so I would be okay to just wear this (*gestures to non-swag outfit*).
DJ Airwalk: Yeah, no disrespect to Bobcat Press, but not the most swagged out news organization.
Ian: Yeah, we need little T-shirts.
BALL TALK
So, who's the GOAT? Jordan or LeBron?
DJ Airwalk: Who’s the goat? LeBron. I’m Gen Z, I gotta say LeBron.
Caleb: I think that's fair. What would you (Ian) say?
Ian: I don't know, man. I got Jordan.
Caleb: Yeah, because he's been to all the Jordan games.
Ian: I was, back in ‘86, dude, it was me and Michael Jordan.
DJ Airwalk: “Blocked by LeBron”, have you ever seen that? LeBron James chasedown block on Andre Iguodala to come back from a 3-1 deficit.
Ian: Yeah, I've seen that. That was incredible, I saw that live.
Do you have an NBA team you like?
DJ Airwalk: I like watching The Mavericks. That's who I was rooting for (2024 NBA Finals).
As of last year or forever?
DJ Airwalk: As of the last couple of years
Who’s your favorite player?
DJ Airwalk: Luka Doncic. But I like Kyrie. I liked Kyrie since the Cavs, so when he came to the Mavs I was like, “Oh that’s cool”. And like the Kings too, it's cool that they signed DeRozan. You’re (Caleb) a Kings fan, right?
Caleb: Yeah
DJ Airwalk: I remember hearing that in the kitchen (Editor’s Note: We all used to be co-workers at a pizzeria).
In the kitchen… How much does the pizza work translate to the DJ work?
DJ Airwalk: I mean… so, there's circles.
Yeah, exactly.
DJ Airwalk: Yeah, it definitely helped a lot.
Really?
DJ Airwalk: (laughing) No.
THIS IS NOT PART OF THE INTERVIEW (TW: gross)
Ian: Be right back…
DJ Airwalk: All right, bye Ian.
Ian: *violent vomiting*
DJ Airwalk: Holy fuck
Caleb: Are you ok? You should not have eaten that much…
Ian: Yeah, six tacos was not the move.
DJ Airwalk: Damn, did y’all see that?
Group walking by: Yeah.
DJ Airwalk: We got the Bobcat Press right here!
Ian: *more vomiting, more violent*
Group: Ohh. Wow, yeah.
Ian: Sorry guys…
DJ Airwalk: This interview was much better than my other one.
Caleb: Really? Even after that?
DJ Airwalk: Much more exciting than the other one.
Caleb: Oh.
Ian: I mean, I drank one of those lemonade Primes because they (the gas station) didn't have Arizona. I think that’s what my issue is.
Caleb: Are you ok, seriously?
Ian: Yeah, I'm totally fine. I feel so much better now. I'm so sorry, that was unprofessional.
DJ Airwalk: Damn, you threw up a lot.
Ian: Yeah, that was kind of crazy. I fucking blame the Local Cantina.
And that’s it for DJ Airwalk! We were explicitly requested to keep that last part in by Mr. Airwalk himself, so we had to oblige- hopefully it wasn’t too jarring for any of you readers, it definitely was for everyone who was there live…
Anyway, we were very interested in learning more about a different side of the Columbus music-sphere and we hope to engage in more parts of this massive community in the future!
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We appreciate any of you reading for supporting us and (hopefully) supporting the artists we highlight in our interviews. We sincerely hope you enjoyed this latest edition to our catalog, and we’ll see you all next time!
