FEBRUARY 1, 2025
It’s the start of 2025 and all of us at Sound Gallery have been working tirelessly to try and get our ducks in a row- Discord? Check. DJs? Check. Interview?
Well.
The choice felt like an easy one: find the most relatable DJ, someone who reflects our goals of community building, loves some amazing music, and also understands that it’s all about a classy vibe.
DJ Runic.
We’ve had the pleasure of working with Runic for some time now. He’s a humble DJ from Canada who boasts a library of banging music and pairs his eclectic tastes with perhaps one of the chillest, can-do attitudes out there. When you’re talking about positive community vibes, he is a stand out figure. Seriously, we’ve never seen this guy so much as swat a fly.
As such, it was an absolute no-brainer for Sound Gallery to reach out and see if he’d be interested in being featured on our February interview.
And as our luck would have it, he immediately agreed.
So Runic, introduce yourself. Your name, your hobbies, the little get-to-know-you blurb for the fans.
“Hey everyone! My name is Runic (Dave) and I’m a west coast Canadian DJ/Streamer. I’ve been involved in the electronic music scene in Vancouver, BC for about a decade, mostly via photographing (and attending) events and festivals, but also more recently DJ’ing a few smaller ones. Most of my core friends share the same love for loud bass and good vibes, and as a collective we’ve hosted a lot of underground and popup parties (both licensed and… rogue) over that time..”
West coast is the best coast – but hey, I might be biased. They certainly are a pillar for some of the most well-known music production today. That said, what inspired you to DJ? And how long have you DJ’d for?
” I’ve been DJ’ing for about 2.5 years now. To be honest initially I didn’t have much interest in learning and just enjoyed being an attendee, but one weekend at a small camping festival we had a booth and subs setup with some old CDJ’s and my friend taught me how it all works. I was hooked immediately. I sort of got thrown into it headfirst because all he had was an old binder of upbeat jazz house CD’s, and there was no waveform on older CDJ’s, so it was challenging to learn, but I played Piano as a kid for 10 or so years and then Guitar for about 10 years after that, so I know music theory and fundamentals pretty well.”
Are there any musicians that you look up to? Why?
“Off the top of my head the Artists that stand out as shaping my taste for style are The Funk Hunters, Stickybuds, Kyle Watson, Skiitour, The Sponges, and Defunk. These are mostly Westcoast DJ’s I think, and I was introduced to a lot of them through festivals, but when I first went to Shambhala Music Festival here in BC many years ago it was this sort of Funky, Wubby bass house that I couldn’t get enough of (shoutout to the Fractal Forest stage, that culminated this sound for me).”
Do you have a preference to a genre?
“I tend to flow between a few different genres when listening and playing music, but they all sort of fall into the House/Tech House/Funk/Disco/Drum n Bass and Techno vibe. I like crunchy upbeat bass music with a positive energy, and think it’s fun when you find a really sick remix of a song that everyone knows in a style that’s way different than the original. People like recognizing songs they’ve never heard.“
Have you produced any music? Any examples of your work if you do?
“I don’t actually produce any music, though I have sat in on a lot of my Producer friends sessions and am learning a thing or two. One day maybe..”
Sounds like perhaps there’s room for growth – never too late to start! But with that said, is DJing a full time career for you? If not, how do you balance music and work?
“DJ’ing is definitely not my full-time career, though I often question whether I could make it so if I put more work and time into it (particularly streaming, not playing shows). I like the idea of entertaining people and think I’m a personable, not too annoying person so, maybe this will be the year I push harder at it and rid myself of the 9-5… One can dream.“
So we know you as the cool-cat, dude-you-want-to-befriend, Canada guy. Man with ultimate chill. But that’s just us- how would you describe your stage personality?
“My stage personality can vary a little (based on the amount of THC in my system..), but generally I’m a positive but slightly reserved host on stream. I like to throw out little comments here and there and interact with chat to keep people feeling connected, but I try not to talk for long periods during songs, or time it to breakdowns when it’s appropriate. Ultimately I enjoy my own music too so don’t want to talk through it. I think a good DJ has a balance between personality and music selection/mixing.“
Being able to balance wanting to interact and wanting to just vibe to the music can be a real struggle, but absolutely relatable. Especially on a streaming platform. I’d even go so far as to say it can be a real weakness, at least for myself. With that said, what would you consider to be some of your own strengths and weaknesses?
“I’d say my biggest strengths are that I’m pretty easy going and laid back, and I like to think I have a clever sense of humor. I rarely get upset at things, and when I do I can laugh it off a few minutes later. This helps when hosting a channel because sometimes people come in to say stupid things, or mixing doesn’t work out, and I think it’s important to be able to shrug that off quickly and move on so you keep people engaged and good vibes flowing. Weaknesses probably that I’m overly critical or am a bit of a perfectionist, so small errors or issues that most people wouldn’t notice or critique I might hyperfocus on and allow to affect my confidence.”
Handling a virtual audience can certainly be difficult, especially since you can’t actively see their faces or feel their energy beyond reading a chat. In that respect, what is your approach toward reading the crowd?
“Reading the crowd is tough because you want to play the music you enjoy, but if people really aren’t vibing you need to figure out what they want, and if it’s something you can pull off. Even tougher on stream, when you can’t see people and only get feedback based on chat or subs/bits, but generally it only takes a few positive comments on a drop to let me know at least someone is enjoying it. I find if you’re enjoying your own music and mixing well/not genre jumping too abruptly people will usually like to be guided based on your taste, that’s the exciting part of listening to DJ’s after all – you get to see their taste and find new music.“
Being able to introduce your audience to new flavors of sound can be one of the most rewarding experiences. Some may even say it helps encourage others to look into different styles of music or even start DJing, themselves. For those who might be wanting to start DJing for a first time, what advice would you give them?
“Biggest advice for those looking to start is to just do it. Buy a cheap controller off craigslist, plug it in, figure out how to get the audio working, mix some songs, learn about waveform and timing and what buttons do. My Wife got me a $300 controller for Christmas a few years ago and I’m still using it. All you need to start learning. DJ’ing is interesting because although it’s music, there’s a good chunk of technical aspects to it that need to be understood to succeed. What happens when you push this button? or that one? or spin this knob? When you’re comfortable enough to mix songs together smoothly, learn about phrasing so things line up nicely between songs. As with anything, practice makes you better.”
Thank you again Runic for your time. Once again, an excellent DJ with a lot of power behind the positivity movement. Good music, good feels, and just all around a genuine human.
For those of you who are interested in learning more about Runic and his music, please visit our bi-weekly raid series or directly at his Twitch for more on his sets.