Hard House and Techno specialist Daniel Dejman has graced the decks in nearly every major club in his hometown of Chicago and held residencies at Spy Bar & The Mid.

Hey Daniel, where are you based and how did you first get hooked on dance music?

I am currently based in Chicago. I got hooked to dance music at a early age. In the 90’s the local radio station would host nightly street mixes which incorporated a shit ton of House and Freestyle. Ever since then I got sucked in! Haha!!

Who are your musical heroes or the people who most inspire you?

I’ve had many musical heroes throughout the years. In the early days it was guys like DJ Funk, Bad Boy Bill, Psycho Bitch, Armand Van Helden, Frankie Knuckles, Adam Beyer, Dj Misjah, Paul Johnson, Dj Hyperactive, Angel Alanis, Submerge, Richie Hawtin, Carl Cox, Derrick Carter. Nowadays catching a dope set live, or hearing a good track will push me to create.

What’s the music scene like In Chicago Where’s hot, who are the big names locally and how often are you playing?

The music scene in Chicago is always evolving. At the moment theres such a variety, that you can catch almost every genre of electronic music. You have quality clubs such as Spybar & Smartbar that continue to produce quality nights, and then you have friends over at Paradigm, Obscure, Dimi Bowie, and Amistad who bring some quality underground events. Some big names locally that come to mind: Bodyrock, Roji, Hiroko Yamamura, Rob Threezy, MicroDot, and Michael Serafini are just the few off the top of my head. Chicago has a reputation for spitting out some big names in the game!

There are a lot of people making techno so what makes you different? And for those that are not aware, how would you describe your sound? Is there a philosophy behind the music you play and produce?

What I believe makes me stand out is how use my Chicago and European roots in my tracks as well as my mixes, which you can check out on Slow Dancing To Techno! My sound I would describe as, a blend of Hard House & Techno. My philosophy behind the music I play and produce is just to make people move and sweat on the dance floors. No phones or requests please! Lol

Talk to us about your latest release and the inspiration behind it.

This past year has been a busy one for me in the studio. I produced enough tracks to put out an album, but I then decided to pick out 3 tracks that I believed were ready be introduced to the world, and began shopping them around! The inspiration for A^1 came after a couple friends and I caught a show in Chicago. With Sirena, I wanted to create a festival sound that I felt like the heavy hitters as well as myself would throw down mid set. 114 To N!s was a bit different because as I was creating it I was envisioning warehouse, rave, underground, and dark sweaty clubs lol!

Tell us about your DJ setup when you’re performing

The dj setup I prefer when performing is two Pioneer CDJs and a 4 channel Pioneer mixer. At age 14, when I first started playing, I was on two Technics and a 2 channel Vestax mixer. Over the years I’ve tried Serato, and Traktor, but never stuck with it. The setup and having to bring all that equipment with you just was just to much for me. The development of Rekordbox has made our lives very easy!

You made a mix for our C-U Presents series. Can you tell our readers what they can expect and include the tracklist here too?

In the mix I made for C-U, you can hear very heavy, industrial like, and pounding Hard House & Techno!!!

https://soundcloud.com/changeunder/c-u-presents-26-daniel-dejman

What are you goals for the future and do you have any other things planned that you want to share?

Plans for the future would be: Another ep, with a goal to release on vinyl as well, play a night on the island of Ibiza, and continue to pump out quality tracks consistently!! Not to much to ask, aye? Lol