Needle Exchange: A DJ Questionnaire with Jon AD

His go-to records, his craziest gig, and the music you should never ask him to play.

IMAGE: Courtesy of Jon AD.

Years DJing: I started in 1991, when I was in my early teens, so a good deal over half my lifetime ago. 

Genre: Started out with rave cuts, then moved to jungle, while playing house, since that was all the promoters let you play then. Ended the '90s in Milwaukee and then San Francisco playing mostly Chicago house, then came back to Oregon where I did the Goodfoot First Friday Super Jam funk and disco party off and on for 10 years until I got busy with LoDubs, my dubstep label. Now I hover between all these genres, depending on the night and/or need. Oh, and I spent a couple years in the middle delving into dancehall as well.

Related: "One Small Dubstep."

Where you can catch me regularly: The past year I've mostly been playing in Detroit at Temple Bar, but I'm starting my first monthly in Portland since we closed Various, which will be at the Old Gilbert Road Tavern. It will be known as the First Saturday Soul Social and will focus on soul, R&B, rocksteady, reggae in a somewhat subtle "rudebwoy" context.

Craziest gig: One that springs to mind was this underground spot I played on the South Side of Chicago that was a former funeral home. The place was a great fit, other than that a lot of people got robbed going there. Of course, once the cops caught wind of it, there was a mandate to make sure no one ever returned to the spot, and find the promoter and "disappear" the door money. I was by the decks, so I saw the promoter hide a bundle between the turntables and the road cases. This proved to be a bad spot, because the half-dozen cops kicked in all the speakers, smashed all the lights and ultimately flipped over the table the turntables were on, causing all the money to spill out. They then ran everyone's IDs before letting them leave. And with that, there was no more of that spot, to my knowledge.

My go-to records: Max Graef & Glenn Astro, "W313D"; Paulette and Gee, "Feel It"; Nancy Nova, "The Force"; Reggie Dokes, "The Chicago Pimp"; Jakki, "You Are a Star"; Kylie Auldist, "Waste of Time."

Don't ever ask me to play…: Anything with Auto-Tune.

NEXT GIG: Jon AD spins at Old Gilbert Road Tavern, 5501 SE 72nd Ave., on Saturday, May 6. 10 pm. 21+.

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