In school and in everyday life everyone is good at something even if they don’t show that talent in public. There are some that are good with words, some are good with numbers and then there are the few that have that awesome stage and showmanship skills that just comes natural.
Jackson Maki is one of those few with that skill. “When I in the sixth grade at CS Porter, they had a tech group for student council and the council would DJ all of the school dances.” “I was in the student council and got in to the tech group.” “I just tried it out and it was something that I really liked to do,” Maki said with a smile.
“Then in eighth grade I was the “leader” of it, I knew everything that was going on, how to do everything and everyone was coming up to me and asking me all of these questions,” Maki told a Big Sky reporter.
“Then freshmen year came around and my mom got married and they were looking for a DJ and I guess they didn’t realised how much it was and realised how much I like to do it.” Maki Said. “So they bought me all this equipment, all these speakers and cables,” Sai Maki.
“I actually just played off of spotify and DJ’d their wedding I guess,”Maki said.
“This year was the year I actually went hard on that concert vibe,”when you care for something you find ways do you that thing in a way that makes you happy. “Not really going for that entertainment but trying to make a name for myself,” Maki said.
Whether you’re a person who wants to start a business or a person that wants to go to college and then work. If military is your thing or you just want to join the workforce, we all have ways to try and a get a raise, recruited or even invested in. For Maki it’s to get recognition, so he plays shows and puts on performances for people to enjoy and if you think about it that’s the lie music equivalent to symbiosis. People that play music oftentimes can’t and won’t have only one type of music they play and they try to touch on as much as possible.
“There’s a lot of different types of trap but I kind of touch on all of the different genres in my sets.”
“I only just recently started liking EDM for the past year or maybe the last two years,” Maki Said. “ I like Flume, Odesza but they are not really DJ songs that you would play live unless you’re them obviously.”
“But I like Oskie, Hydraulix, um Eptic is a good one, Boombox Cartel,” Maki said. When it comes to practice everyone has a rhythm some people like going hard for a few hours a week and others like to do small increments throughout every day of every week. “So about a week before the event is when I start writing down songs and thinking of songs in my head that would go together.”
“And then I practice it for about two or three days before the show and ya then I just have a list that I go through,” Said Maki. When people practice, whether it’s for a game or a show on stage, that person is practicing to make themselves happy that’s why it’s all that much more amazing when you get an opportunity to perform at larger venues with larger crowds.
“This is a story that I like to tell, Diplo really is an inspiration for me to try new styles of mixes.”
“Diplo actually came to Missoula and I decided to go to his concert, not know what I was going to expect, I went to his concert and had the greatest experience I can think of and it was so much fun,” Maki said with a grin.
And after that, when I had my board and everything and I was like oh ya Im a “DJ”,” Maki said in a sarcastic way. “But I never DJ’d like that I just “fade in fade out” but when I went to diplo, he did all of these techniques, I had no idea what he was doing.”
“So I went home and looked up his sets, learned how to mix like that,” Said Maki.
“And then I learned about this festival, just recently and I started following them, waiting for them to announce the lineup, and then they announced Steve Aoki,” Said Maki.
“And I was like sweet, you know I’m definitely going to go to that and what happens.”
“And on their Facebook page they announced this contest where you would ever your mix,” Said Maki. They announced this contest on the Socotra facebook page.
“And if you’re mix got a certain amount of likes or like the top twelve, the top twelve made it to this thing called Bohemia, which is like the party before Socotra,” Maki Said. For Jackson Maki playing shows and making people enjoy the music they are listening to while he is performing is a regular occurrence which just goes to show that it’s never too early to learn how to be awesome at the stuff you enjoy.