We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alaycia Sandifer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alaycia below.
Alright, Alaycia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Oh my, where do I start? The most meaningful I would say was Faze Fest 2022. It started out as an idea (like most projects do of course) because of the lack of showcasing events of the ever so talented DJs that we have in our city (and there’s a BUNCH). I have travelled far and wide and have attended many different events that showcased the “DJ Artists”. I was selected to compete in New Orleans with the Yellow Brick Road Tour- Dancefestopia to prove to a festival promoter that I “have what it takes”, I did end up winning that competition that year and I came back to Shreveport and was like…okay, well that was easy-ish..the world needs to know what we have in NWLA. DJing has come back around to being a popular way to express music culture (like the 80s) so I figured, “why not create my own DJ showcase”. Thus FAZE FEST was born. I hired 11 DJs to spend a night with me downtown delivering whatever vibes they wanted to bring (a safe play space if you will) I didn’t want them to “read a crowd” or feel pressured to play what others wanted to hear, and I think that is what made the event so magical. It allowed others to truly ‘let loose’ and feel what they were playing through those speakers. And the magic was highly contagious, because those who attended the event still talk about it and ask about it to this day. Haha that was 2022…but it was the last big project I could fully pour my heart and soul into. Definitely hard to follow that one up with another!…BUT THEN I DID! Haha! October 2024 I presented the first ever ‘REVEL RAVE’ in partnership with Shreveports infamous Red River Revel Music & Arts Festival. I have the coolest relationship with that organization and I will say that they want to see the arts succeed and thrive just as much as we do! So I spoke with them about a section of the Festival where we throw a family-friendly rave right after hours of the festival on their last Friday night of the season, agreeing that this was such a cool idea and awesome spin to help promote further cultural art experiences they gave me the green light to set it up! I partnered with a local visual artist/dj who helped me choose a stage layout with LED screens that has not been done on the Revel stage before, fully chocked with super cool AI driven visuals; I also had himself, and another local DJ legend join me on stage to deliver the best, first, and as of right now ONLY family-friendly rave at the Red River Revel. Talk about a aesthetically pleasing and successful “after hours” event at Festival Plaza! History was made this night. The electronic music scene gained a TON of new fans that night and continued the love of the culture for those who already knew remotely what to expect. We were hoping to do this again and make it an even bigger part of the Art experience put together by the Red River Revel Team! My favorite projects have definitely been the ones where I introduced new ideas or new perceptions of how to give the audiences a different yet unique way to experience music in spaces they wouldn’t normally get those types of experiences. Or paving the way for other artists like myself to be inspired and be motivated to be themselves and do what they love the most! 💕
Alaycia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Alaycia Sandifer aka DJ Faze aka FazetheDJ aka WheresFaze aka Faze lol born in Shreveport, raised a bit in Harrisburg, Pa, then moved back down to Shreveport in ‘07 and have been here ever since. I got started with music as a small tyke. My grandparents and parents were very musical folks as my grandparents were with the church and my parents grew up surrounded by different types of musical art. My older brother was a pretty successful battle rapper back in Pennsylvania and I would always look to him for creativity, he showed me how to understand beats and their structures when it comes to adding words or lyrics to tell the story of the song. I would do “pen-beats” or beat on the tables with my hands just for him to freestyle over because i just loved spending time with my big bro. 4th grade i learned to play the clarinet, then 5-6th grade i turned to the trumpet (which was one of my first instruments i fell in love with) A lot of my listening as a kid was more so jazz, rock, and R&B. My parents liked to keep our listening diverse (i am forever thankful for this). Then in ‘07 when we moved to Shreveport i entered beginning concert band in middle school and decided to take up Percussion/Drums, and from here is where I found my true soulmate instrument 😇 I classically trained as a percussionist from 2007 to 2014 when i appeared in college for music. 2013 I did a Senior project where i chose to learn the history of Disc Jockeying and how to spin records like one. College wasn’t exactly for me as I was an impatient “artist” haha. i wanted to perform IMMEDIATELY. Several years passed as I was perfecting my craft and understanding more and more about the art of mixing. 2019 I stepped out at my first event called ‘Women Who JAM’ with my Agency; A Gifted Touch Ent. as the house DJ for the event. The venue owner at that time needed a resident DJ for the ‘Grown & Sexy’ themed weekends and recruited me from there to start playing for the 30+ age crowd. Unfortunately the venue closed down so as much practice as I’ve gotten, i had to take my craft elsewhere. At that point it was COVID shutdown and I refused to sit at home and do nothing or sit at home and play to a camera, so I went scouting for places that would let me plug my board in and play through some loud speakers. I came across a particular bar that specialized in Electronic music (which is the genre that got me started DJing) and from there they loved my passion and hard work ethic so i was hired to play college night Thursday’s, it went so well for this bar that they moved me to a resident Friday spot and they dubbed it ‘Faze Fridays’ and I was able to mix not just electronic music but Top 40s all in the same breath giving that audience fresh listens and opening their minds to music they weren’t used to hearing on both sides of the park (Electronic & Non-Electronic) from that point I was asked to send a demo mix tape to a casino director and they were really enjoying what I was putting down. What I was putting down was a true Open Format experience. Open Format means playing multiple genres in one single set time and I perceive that I have mastered the art of it. 2021 I was hired to play at one of our Casinos and I have been playing there ever since, earning my Casino Resident DJ title in the year 2023. Today I now resident at 2 Casinos and possibly a 3rd by the time the summer is over! I have had dreams of playing electronic music on a big stage. So i went researching, and I found Yellow Brick Road Tour – Dancefestopia which is a talent scouting system based off of crowd voting competitions in different cities across America. From winning the competition in 2022 then being able to play at my first major festival in September 2022, that opened many doors for me to perform at other major festivals as well as get inducted into the Artist Collective – UNITY – powered through Dancefestopia promoters spreading the good word of CommUNITY across the nation. 2024 was my second year playing at the festival as well as it being my first year promoting the competition showcases for Yellow Brick Road Tour, much success everywhere in that avenue. I am currently traveling to every corner of the country playing music that I love with people that are like-minded and that I love the most! This year September 2025 will be my 3rd year performing for Dancefestopia in La Cygne, KS. I am also producing music to help people better understand what is in my brain haha which is a full time job in itself. I am part of the great Krewe of Highland Mardi Gras community as a Royal member and Music Liaison for the special events we throw for Mardi Gras season! People say I have already left a mark in this world that will live forever, and that’s okay with me. Let’s smear the mark and make it a BIGGER stain on the world that says #wheresfaze 😂
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.
I think the most misunderstood perception about my journey is that I am just ‘pressing buttons and turning knobs’ (which essentially is true lol) but there’s much more to an “Artist DJ” than any regular “DJ”, and i don’t consider myself ‘just a DJ’. When i curate the setlist for a special event or for a performative set, the amount of ‘mad scientist brainwork’ (that’s what i like to call it lol) that goes into that perfect night from the first song to the last song is tailored to take the audience on a journey through the music, it’s more like story telling rather than just a dance party. Although I’ve mixed my folders “at random” doesn’t mean that the songs in that folder were chosen randomly, they were handpicked with the audience of that event in mind. The original tracks, the edited tracks, the cues at different parts of the songs that help define that journey that I’ve talked about earlier is a mind-boggle in itself and is not something just anyone can pick up and do. Yes, anyone can DJ, but the success rate of your delivery of your time on stage is measured on the preparation you completed to ensure that story, that journey, or that flow with your listeners. I am not a DJ that just wants to throw a party (I personally am not as much of a “party person” as people think) I am a mixologist that wants to give people the same or similar experience of listening to music that I have experienced or am experiencing. So if it seems like I’m not doing the DJ thing like DJs you’ve experienced before? lol then it’s because of one thing. I am an ARTIST first 😇
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
To truly support DJs and artists here, we need to double down on affordable spaces for rehearsals, FAIR PAY, and community-led opportunities, we need consistent support. Protecting our independent venues, investing in CREATIVE EDUCATION, and giving artists more ownership in shaping the scene are key. If we want a thriving creative music scene, we have to treat creativity as essential—not an afterthought. It’s about valuing creativity not just culturally, but economically and structurally too.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/fazethedj
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/fazethedj
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@fazethedj?si=VcubmCmK5tF_5TAV
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/fazethedj?ref=clipboard&p=i&c=1&si=1FE07D95F6BE42B0B2A7C3E2B478675C&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Image Credits
James Michael LeBlanc
Jeremy Hernandez
Amber Ricci