We caught up with the brilliant and insightful DJ Forrest Houston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, DJ Forrest Houston thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
This is interesting because when I look back in time I started while just out of high school while working at a chemical plant as a hole watch. When examining what I wanted to do with my life, I began scanning careers that were the most fun that made the most amount of money in the shortest time and DJing was the ONLY thing I could come up with that sounded intriguing! One thing that I learned around 25 years or so is that if I got more serious, this career path could be much more lucrative than just a normal job and that’s when I ramped up marketing and my websites to grow my company to where it is today.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have always intuitively known what songs needed to be played, even from when I was a child at my aunts wedding and I got a sense the DJ wasn’t playing song that would maximize the dancefloor. Today, because competition is fierce and there are so many DJs, what separates me is simply my customer service and experience to take this huge, scary, event, and make it doable and peaceful for clients who have never done this before. Many times I love to show people another side of their friends and families they have never seen because when they trust the entertainer, the people are more able to let loose and dance like never before. This creates the memories of a lifetime!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Yes, many people struggle with the fact that I never go into an event with a preset or predetermined playlist. This can be scary because you do not know 100% with certainty what will be played. I normally settle down non-creatives by letting them know that they are hiring someone like myself because of my almost magical ability to read a crowd and play the perfect song at the perfect time. I also may change my mind a few times based on the real-time dancefloor flow as I am constantly reading the crowds faces, interaction, and body language to choose the next song to fit the vibe.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I am a huge fan of cryptocurrency and have just recently began exploring NFT and am intrigued. This can be a way for artists like myself to give fans more ownership, as well as help us get more compensation for our art. I have been in discussions with one of my past producers and plan to release my first NFT single in 2022 that will allow fans to purchase a small portion of the track. In reality, Spotify and YouTube do not pay enough, which is why, in my opinion, that new music tends to not be of as high quality as in the past.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thehoustondjs.com/dj-forrest-houston/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djforresthouston/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoustonDJs/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thehoustondjs
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Thehoustondjs
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/xceptional-djs-photobooths-houston