:: BB INTERVIEWS ::

:: DJ ICON ::

DJ ICON - Catch A Rising Star by Doug Vaccaro DJ ICON, also known as Connie Wong, began her DJ career in 1996 at age 16 in San Francisco. She quickly rose in the ranks and created a name for herself in the underground, soon to break through the surface onto clubs, festivals, televisions, and radios across the globe. ICON was known as primarily a Trance DJ for the first half of her career but since 2001, she has immersed herself into Breakbeats and almost exclusively plays Nu-Skool and Funky Breaks, a style she refers to as “Dirty Breaks”. Whether it’s Breaks or Beats, she is known to always keep the dance floor moving with slamming tracks and her animated performances. ICON founded her production company, Mach 5, in 2000 and has promoted many of her own events in San Francisco as well as in New York City, where she resided for almost three years. During that time, ICON also co-founded Sister NYC, an east coast chapter of the original all-female DJ collective from San Francisco, Sister SF. ICON has a number of radio show residencies. She does a monthly Breaks show for "Thump Funk" on XM Satellite 80, plays regularly for "House Nation", Friday nights on Wild 94.9, and still periodically appears on "Solid State", a weekly Saturday night electronic music show on K-ROCK in New York City. She has also appeared on Bay Area Breakbeat shows, "Future Breaks FM" and "Bassline FM". ICON often performs with many of the top acts in the industry including Adam Freeland, The Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Plump DJs, Stanton Warriors, and many more. What's happenin' Miss ICON! Thanks for taking some time out of your schedule to join us for Ladies of Breaks month! Thank you! It’s a pleasure to be part of your feature. So give us a little background on yourself. What inspired you to become a DJ? I started going to underground raves in San Francisco when I was 16. I immediately fell in love with the music, mainly Trance. Soon after, I met and befriended a very influential Trance DJ that started the Cyber Trance movement in SF, DJ Mystre. With the encouragement from Mystre and inspiration from my love of the music, I soon acquired my own decks and started collecting records. I started out playing at underground events in SF, then nationally to internationally, paying my dues and building my name, to eventually getting to where I am now, 10 years later. When did the breaks genre come into focus? I had already been playing Trance since 1996 and felt that I wasn’t connecting with it as much as I used to when I was younger. In 2000, I was doing the record ordering for a local SF record store and started collecting a few nu-skool Breaks records along the way, I was definitely interested but hadn’t diverted just yet. However, in 2001, I was playing at a rave in Vancouver and happened to catch an amazing nu-skool set by Dig-Dug from Seattle. Ever since then, I was hooked and started playing Breaks. I slowly integrated it in my sets, first 25% Breaks/ 75% Trance, then 50/50, 75/25, to eventually all nu-skool Breaks. You are involved with Sister SF and Sister NYC. What’s the deal with these two projects? Sister is the first all-female DJ collective in the U.S. It started in San Francisco and became a huge success. Then when I moved to NYC in 2001, I teamed up with MC Linzee, DJ Siren and DJ Lejla to head up the NYC chapter, spreading the word by hosting Sister NYC events. I have since returned to SF from NYC and wish the New York ladies the best of luck. You’re also a resident DJ on several radio stations. What stations can you be heard on these days? I can be heard on a number of radio shows. First, I’m a resident of Thump Funk on XM Satellite 80 “The Move”. It’s a weekly Breaks program featuring myself, Simply Jeff, Fiddler, Smoove and also showcasing many prominent guest Breaks artists such as Friendly, Elite Force, Meat Katie, Timo Maas, Lee Coombs, Hybrid, Hyper, Uberzone and many more. I also am a rotating guest for many other electronic music radio programs, Solid State on KROCK in NYC, Radio Zendada on Energy 92.7 in SF, Future Breaks and BasslineFM in the Bay Area. Damn girl, you need an assistant. Let’s get back to your local scene. What are some of your favorite spots in San Francisco for a girls night out? To be honest, my favorite place to chill in SF is my house. (laughing) I’m quite the homebody when I’m not DJing. Otherwise, I like going to check out the Breaks headliners that come through SF so often, at venues like Mighty or 1015. Yeah, Mighty holds it down proper in the city. Heard their one year party went OFF! I was telling a buddy of mine about this interview and he said he saw you on MTV. Was he pullin’ my leg? Nope, he’s certainly not pulling your leg, or your arm. Well, sometimes it's hard to tell with him. How'd that all come to be? In 2003, I played the part of myself on MTV’s “The Wade Robson Project”. It was a self-titled dance competition hosted by the super choreographer himself. Needless to say, it was on a major cable channel so I had no freedom in music selection on the show because I was only allowed to play MTV approved music, in the order they wanted. Although sometimes I would sneak in some Breaks tracks to warm up the live audience between takes. It was great to experience that industry. Of course, there were many perks - I had stylists, hair and make-up artists, my own trailer, etc. However, it definitely was confusing for people because those that knew of me, knew I didn’t play Hip-Hop and those that didn’t thought that I did after they saw me the show. Then they would see me play out and hear nothing but Breaks! Overall it was a very positive experience and hope to someday do more TV. Radio, TV, all you got left is film! Being a female DJ in a predominantly male DJ genre of music, do you find it harder or easier to get the word out on yourself? Being a female in a male-dominated industry has proved to be challenging but I never let it deter me from my goals or passion. Female DJs are no longer a novelty but now a staple in the dance music culture. It is probably wise use it to your advantage instead of a disability. My philosophy on the matter is: if a promoter is going to book some one based on their gender or looks and not on their talent, that’s their mistake, because all the DJ has to do is show up to the gig, rock the house, show them wrong for undermining her, and everybody wins. The promoter has a happy crowd and the DJ gets their respect... and gets paid. Word. Gotta get that paper. So how did 2006 kick off for you? For NYE 2005, Mystre and I played at a club in Seattle called Contour, it was fun! And the rest of the year? Mystre and I plan to continue running Reverb Records, the record store we teamed up to establish, he had already owned Frequency 8 since 1996 and I helped him change the business over in 2004. We are planning on starting a new separate online store called DanceMusic1 so please stay tuned on that. Also, planning on getting into the studio to put out tracks on our new Reverb label. It just doesn't stop with you. Well, it was a pleasure to talk with you Connie. Best of luck in the New Year! Thank you so much, good luck to you too! :: February 2006 :: ICON is represented by Chaotica Music Agency, one of the most renowned booking agencies in the world. For more information on DJ ICON, peep her dope website at DJIcon.com

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