Captain Trance-tastic
DJ Arthur Galestian spins you right ’round, baby
KUCI DJ Arthur Galestian knows his duty now. For the future?
What do you do at KUCI?
I do a weekly show called The Division of Hardcore Samples on Thursday nights. The show features electronic dance music from around the world, mostly in the styles of progressive, trance and techno—the things you’d hear in clubs. I have live DJs and guest mixers, and I do my own live DJ sets. Producers from all over will send me their mixes to feature on the show. Once a month, I play a syndicated show from British DJ and producer Matt Darey, and he has his own mixes as well as his own exclusive guest mixes.
How did you get started at KUCI?
I was deejaying at parties and events, and I was always captivated by the sound of trance music. I listened to a lot of shows online, and finding out about KUCI piqued my interest. I interned there and eventually got my own show.
KUCI’s signal doesn’t get too far. Does the audience for electronic music within the signal’s range have any impact on your show?
In general, Orange County has really taken off for electronic music. Right now, there’s Tentation Ultra Lounge; they have some really big names coming in there. Orange County is in the middle of these two big cities that always have really big headliners. It’s a good place to be if you’re into electronic music.
Does the streaming part of KUCI plug you into the international side of the electronic-music scene?
With iTunes, you have listeners from all over the world. We’re listed on there. We’re not just an FM station in Orange County. We can reach out through our Internet streams. There are a lot of ways to get ahold of us.
Do the live DJ mix sets introduce potential technical problems?
I’ve never had a problem, and I’ve been doing the show about five years now. I make sure the DJs on the show are professionals and are active in the dance-music community. I don’t take just anybody; they’re not just bedroom DJs.
Is there any relation to your show at KUCI and what you do for a living?
Yeah, I’m a board operator at KIIS-FM and Star 98.7. Being at KUCI helped me in the long run. Radio is something I’ve always been into.
When you do your own live DJ sets, do you work on things you intend to bring into clubs, or do you play sets you’ve already tried in clubs? Is there any crossover?
I don’t plan too much when I’m doing my sets. I have a vague idea of what I’m going to be playing—the style or the tracks I’ll be playing. But for the most part, it’s completely spontaneous. I go with the flow of things. That’s the same way I do my club sets. If I’m playing a club, I like to know what kind of crowd I’m going to be playing to and what sort of format that audience likes. On the radio, I go by the overall feeling of things, and I like to vary it. If I’ve played a couple of trance sets, I’ll change to a progressive set or a mellow set just to even things out.
Do you have a preferred format—vinyl, CD, mp3?
I’ve actually gone through several different formats over the eight years I’ve been deejaying. I started off with vinyl, and I was very reluctant to switch over to CD. Now I use a laptop-based DJ system, and I think that allows a lot of room to be creative. I use technology to my favor. I’m not one to say it’s a format I’ll be sticking to forever. I think new technology should be embraced just because you limit yourself by closing your mind. Who knows what I’ll be using five years from now? Technology’s always evolving, and I evolve with it. I wouldn’t say there’s a right or wrong way of doing it; It’s personal preference. It’s what works for you. There are pros and cons for everything, and they all work. In the end, it’s what will work on the dance floor. It’s not the format—it’s the end result.
The Division of Hardcore Samples airs on KUCI-FM 88.9; www.kuci.org. Every Thurs., 10 p.m.-midnight. For more information, visit www.arthurg.com.
