He’s Back!: An Interview with DJ DancingFaraZ

By Nóra McIntyre

Photo provided by DancingFaraz

This past fall, I had the privilege of interviewing the magnificent Seattle based DJ, DancingFaraZ, prior to his performance at Starvation Gulch. After an absolutely fired up performance, he’s back on campus for this year’s SpringFest (and we’re back with another interview!).

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I’d love it if you could talk a bit about your experience DJing for Starvation Gulch. Had you been to Alaska or Fairbanks before? Are you looking forward to being back?

I’d never been to Alaska before, so I was really looking forward to experiencing a new state and city like Fairbanks. I’m also super excited (and humbled) to be back as the headliner for SpringFest, so a big thanks to all of those involved and the fans who made my return possible.

DJing Starvation Gulch was such an amazing experience, especially feeling the literal heat from the bonfires burning, which only added fuel to the continuous fire that the students brought on the dance floor that night. Performing in a brand new place can be daunting, but the UAF crowd’s energy was so lit that all I could focus on was bringing the best possible dance party to those in attendance that fateful night back in September. 

Some of my favorite audiences to DJ for are college students because they’re seemingly invincible. Feeding off that invincibility, like I did during Starvation Gulch, is something that I’m very much looking forward to reciprocating again behind the decks and on stage.

Are there any new developments to your career or recent successes that you’d like to share? How about upcoming events? Future hopes/plans?

Producing my own music has been a dream of mine since I started DJing back in 2017. Even with all the cutting-edge technology that makes it easier for everyone to access the tools to make music, the learning curve is still very high and extremely difficult to master when your time is crunched. 

Having said that, I’m still gonna give it the old college try (UAF pun intended), and my goal is to produce at least one song in 2024 that doesn’t suck. I would love for my first ever original song to be a banger, but since it’ll be my first time dabbling in this new space, I’ll settle for something that won’t make people run off the dance floor.

This year is also shaping up to be one where I travel a lot more around the country putting on shows, which I love because it allows me to spread my passion for music, dancing/partying, and fun to new demographics. I’m also going to be performing internationally for the very first time at the end of the year, so the anticipation to pull off a gig abroad is building. 

My hope is that the shows I do outside my home base of Seattle will lead to more shows outside of Washington, and eventually, create enough exposure and networking connections to DJ during a top-tier music festival, or at least open for my all-time favorite UK-based producer/DJ: Sigala.

Do you have any pre-show rituals or must-haves?

Before any show, no matter the size, I always have to stretch. If I want my crowds to dance their faces off during my sets, it is incumbent upon me to deliver that high-energy dancing that I expect from the audience. Because I also love the music I’m spinning, I’ll be dancing right along with folks, so stretching is critical to having my body keep up with the cardio and endurance required to perform on stage. 

Stretching also allows me to think about the kind of show I want to put on that night. Never underestimate the power of mentally visualizing a future scenario in order to flawlessly execute it when the moment arrives, so stretching isn’t limited to just my body, but also my mind.

I don’t drink or do drugs when I DJ because I want to be laser-focused on giving people the best possible show. If someone is giving me the gift of their time, especially during a late night when they could be sleeping otherwise, I take it as a privilege and honor to provide that positive escape through entertainment, which will (hopefully) be a memorable experience that will last forever. 

So, I gotta have water on stage with me; at least one bottle of water per hour of DJing. When there’s the pressure of having all eyes on you, drinking or drugs are not what keeps me centered – it’s water.

How do you approach connecting with an audience? What do you hope audiences take away from your performances?

Since the highest priority during my performances is to get people to dance, I know that there’s a level of self-consciousness that becomes an internal barrier for some when trying to dance. So, I try to dance as much or as hard on stage as I would want someone coming to my shows to dance; that’s how I connect with an audience. 

If I can alleviate self-conscious thoughts through my dancing performances, it could allow people to be free and share in the fun that I, too, am experiencing on stage, but on the dance floor with their fellow dance floor friends (and strangers). Again, I’m just a vessel providing a positive escape through entertainment, but it’s up to you to allow yourself to be taken in by the music and have the freedom to express your joy through dance.

I hope audiences come to my performances ready to have a blast with one another. Everyone is dealing with something in their everyday lives, whether it be minute or humongous, but when I’m behind the decks, I want those in attendance to be injected with copious amounts of fun through my music, which in turn, can create a dancing experience that will become a core memory.

I want people to see me as someone whose meaning of life is to spread positive, super fun energy through dancing amongst ourselves, so even though DancingFaraZ has a literal platform to spread that message, it can still be universally shared on a level dancefloor by just Faraz.

Photo provided by DancingFaraz

If you had to choose one defining emotion for your musical performances, what would it be?

Euphoria, full stop.