We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jonathan Roy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jonathan below.

Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” For me, this is true to an extent in the DJ industry. Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond happy to be an artist/creative. The ability to express myself through live DJ sets and mixes while making a decent career out of it, I’d say that’s a win-win. However, the glamour and fantasy of living the DJ life is only surface level, and I feel that’s only what most people know and see. Underneath it all is a lot of hard work and experiences that can either be brutal or nourishing. You will find yourself networking with other creatives, negotiating business with venue managers/event organizers, managing your social media networks daily, updating your music library constantly, staying up late for multiple nights in a row, all while making sure your mental and physical well-being is in check. This highly saturated and competitive line of work requires you to always be on your A-game. It is because of these things that I stay productive and strive to better myself day in and day out.

I used to have a regular day time job. I was a health inspector for LA County but was laid off in October 2022. It was grueling to balance my day job and live the night owl life of a DJ. I tried to keep the two worlds separate, so none of my coworkers knew how I spent my time on the weekends. It felt like I was Batman! I knew this wouldn’t last forever. I forced myself to attend nightlife events and network despite how exhausted I felt. I woke up at 5AM every morning for work and slept for an average of 3 hours a night (my eyebags were intense!) I would say that being laid off was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to fully commit to my passion. I’m now able to set my own schedule and work at my own pace, while also having time set aside to do the things that I enjoy. I don’t think I’ll ever go back.

Jonathan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been surrounded by music all my life. Living in a multi-generational household, my music taste spanned from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Motown classics all the way to Madonna and Cathy Dennis. Not only that, but I also got a taste of the more contemporary music through my two older sisters who at the time would jam out in their room to CDs filled with the newest 90’s and 00’s R&B and hip-hop hits. In combination with my fascination of rock, alternative and rock-adjacent music in my middle school years (emo phase), this inevitably laid the groundwork for accumulating what I consider a very diverse collection of music and music knowledge. This allowed me to slowly dub myself as the “AUX cord guy” as my classmates always wanted to have me plug my iPod into the speakers at parties.

Despite having no formal DJ experience, a close family friend gifted me my first official DJ controller, the Denon MC-3000. It was an older model, a very clunky and heavy DJ controller, but it worked. I practiced somewhat regularly and became known as what many would call a “bedroom DJ” during my college years. It was not until 2019 when I landed my first public DJ gig at The Slip Bar in Redondo Beach. Being behind the decks mixing music in front of a live audience was a feeling like no other and I wanted to keep chasing that feeling again and again. I was getting booked to DJ through a close friend of mine who organized small parties in LA, and after just a few months my talents were recognized by a close friend of his, a local DJ pioneer and icon SOSUPERSAM. SOSUPERSAM along with PARTYTIME organized a very influential R&B party in LA called 143, a party I frequented often and even worked the merch booth for. I DREAMED of performing at this party one day and I finally received that chance for the 143 NYE party. Nervous, shaky, and even suffering from food poisoning that night, it’s safe to say I totally rocked my set. SOSUPERSAM sent me a text a few days later to talk about the night and offered me the chance to become a permanent part of their outstanding line up of DJs. I’ve been extremely serious about my DJing career ever since.

Not only can you find me rocking nightclubs or local bars, but also at private parties, corporate events, and weddings as well. I take my experiences in both settings and combine them to offer a DJ experience that feels intimate, eclectic, and keeps you dancing all night long. My DJ sets are mostly open format, influenced by R&B and hip-hop sounds. I try to match the crowd’s energy, but also throw in a little bit of JackJack spice into the mix. Whether you open yourself to new music you’ve never heard of or get lost in the nostalgia of songs you haven’t heard in a while, if you’re able to have something to take home with you from my set I am satisfied. I’ve only been DJing professionally for about two years now (I don’t really count the year COVID kept us all indoors) and I’ve already been able to work with 88rising for their Cloud Mansion party at Coachella in 2022, the Head in the Clouds Music Festival in 2022, and open for Dillon Francis at a private event for 100 Thieves in 2021!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think just the general notion of being noticed is what’s most rewarding. I feel a lot of times I’m “moving in silence.” I’ll be DJing every weekend, posting on social media, recording new mixes without really seeing or hearing anything from anyone. All it takes is that one person in the audience, or that one friend of yours to say, “Yo man! That was pretty dope! I like what you’re doing here keep it up!” and I feel uplifted. It means a lot to us when you show up to our events or even just interacting with our content on social media.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I touched on this a little bit earlier, but I think there’s a common misbelief that DJs party for a living. There’s so much more that goes on than what you see on social media. This is a highly saturated and competitive market. Not only are we responsible for providing the “party” itself, we are also responsible for networking with whoever may have come by to watch your set, we negotiate our rates and pricing for DJ sets or events that we might want to organize at local venues, we show up to others’ events on a weekly basis to show our support to other DJs in the scene, we have to create daily/weekly content regarding anything about your DJ career to stay up to date with today’s algorithm, and we stay up late hours for multiple nights in a row because nightlife is our working hours. I remember reading somewhere that being a DJ becomes lonely because your schedule never meshes well with anything else going on like birthdays, or family functions. We make sure to schedule around those things and expect to show up extremely exhausted or end up not going altogether. The work put into DJing is just like any other job out there and I hope more people can acknowledge that.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/essjackjack/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/essjackjack
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@essjackjack

Image Credits
Andrew Valdivia, Bianca Cunamay