We were lucky to catch up with Mike Gradian recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The year was 2004, and my business partner at the time kept asking me if I had seen any of the Dave Chapelle show. There was one skit, where he plays a character Tron, and it takes place in a court room. The judge keeps asking a bunch of questions, and he keeps pleading the “fif” (spelled that way). It became a running joke for a long time, and I even did a graffiti piece in our office on one of the walls, that said FIF EMPIRE. I kept using that as a tag for the Hip Hop / House DJ Crew I started, but everyone kept pronouncing wrong, so I changed it “5th Empire”. Empire was added because I believed I could create an empire that spread over the world, of the best DJ’s and Producers. Another interesting fact (which I didn’t know at the time), was the Portuguese during the 16th century, created an idea called the 5th Empire. They believed a spiritual and linguistic body would spread throughout the entire world. It would represent the ultimate form of fusion between material (science, reason, intellectual speculation) and spiritual knowledge. I’ve always had a great purpose in life of helping people succeed, by sharing everything I know and doing a lot of praying.

Mike, 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 both a DJ and producer of music for over 29 years.

My dad was in the Air Force, and met my mom in Spain, where I was born. We spent 2 years in Holland, 2 years in Virginia, 6 years in England, 2 years in Washington state, and back to the same base in England for another 4 years, where I graduated High School. Having the chance to travel so much allowed me to see and experience so many different cultures.
My biggest influence has been my mom! During the late 70’s, and all of the 80’s, she was always making pause cassette mixtapes from records she would check out from the military base libraries. She was always introducing me to new artists and genres of music, especially Sergio Mendes and lots of Bossa Nova.
My dad was heavy into Barry White, George Benson, Prince, Temptations, Four Tops, lots of Soul, Funk, Jazz, and R&B.

I started off playing the drums in 2nd grade, and moved over to the trumpet, and played that until I graduated High School
I was in concert band, jazz band, marching band, and competed in Solo and Ensemble competitions. When I graduated in 1993, my dad had orders for Mountain Home AFB, in Idaho, and we’ve been here ever since.

I went to Culinary School at Boise State University, and spent 20 years as a Chef, while DJing locally at the same time.
My creative juices have always kept me in careers that allowed me to express myself!
I was constantly digging for new music at that time, and stumbled across the album Entroducing by DJ Shadow, which blew my mind. I wanted to figure out how he was making those tracks, which started my journey into producing music. Technology even at that time, allowed for me to set up a small bedroom studio, and start learning.

I also was the General Manager of 3 local night clubs, Lush (that specialized in promoting a different genre of music each day of the week with DJ’s), Catacomb (a basement club that played House music), and Montego Bay (a destination Bar & Grill that rested on a lake with floating docks, and tropical theme throughout).

Over the years I’ve thrown Hip Hop and House shows with national touring acts and used them as opportunities to promote the local artists as well. I’ve been blessed to open up for big named artists, headlined shows, and traveled to other big cities to play in well-known nightclubs. I’ve made amazing friendships with other DJ’s, producers and label owners across the US, making it easier to bring them to Boise, and vice versa.

One thing I’ve learned over the years, in order to stay full time in the music industry, I’ve had to embrace all the different ways of making money. Renting equipment, DJing local gigs, corporate events, school dances, private parties, promoting shows, and a big part of my business now are Weddings. The season generally starts in May and lasts till October, and this year (2023) we did a total of 33.

I also published my first book, So You Want to Be a DJ, and put together a team to help manage my website, social media accounts, content creation, photos and videos, and branding myself and the 5th Empire label.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

After spending 20 years in restaurant industry and having many different titles, from Chef to General Manager, I’ve learned how important it is to be nice to people. When you are willing to share all the knowledge and resources you have, with not only your employees but also your peers and competition, and not expect a single thing in return, it magically makes you like a magnet. I’m always wanting to help people be their best and think it’s a priority to be fun to work with. Having worked in high stress kitchens, needing to multitask and remain calm and collected, has definitely translated over to the music business. Especially with everything being so relationship based. I feel being approachable and willing to share, has given me even more opportunities within the community.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

9 years ago, I committed going full time with music. At that time I had one foot in the kitchen as chef, and one foot in my label the 5th Empire. Once I decided to use all my energy on my main passion in life, things really took off, and I haven’t looked back since. The old story of Vikings coming to new land and burning their boats so they couldn’t leave, really stuck with me and made it easier to pursue my dreams.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://5thempire.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikegradian/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mgradian
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikey-gradian-277423176/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mightydeltaone
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/y5e3eMb4bzI?si=9UZ6LgvxzDSiU2Y6
• Other: https://linktr.ee/5thempire?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=1d423e7e-28f8-4173-ba82-0cf5fd703b0e

Image Credits
Curtis B Creative Gordie Tamayo