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By Thomas Steinhagen
(Photo courtesy of Pumpkin)
Lumberjack reporter Thomas Steinhagen recently sat down with electro-remix DJ Pumpkin before his performance at The Orpheum this past Friday.
Lumberjack: Why did you choose the name, “Pumpkin?”
Pumpkin: “Pumpkin” was one of the nicknames my mom had for me when I was growing up, and also my friends. So, it’s been a nickname that’s just stuck with me. It kind of happened when I first started DJ-ing, it was under a different name. And then, when I got more into the stuff I am doing now. It is more melodic, and cute, for lack of a better word. And the name “Pumpkin” just fit in there — it just sort of fell in place.
LJ: One thing I noticed is that you like to blend together a lot of different beats and styles to create your own unique sound. Tell us a little about going from one side of the spectrum with a remix of “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + the Machine to your recent collaboration with EVeryman. Tell us a little about what influences your style and why you want to make music under a broader genre of electronic music?
P: Yeah, man. With that, I feel so fortunate, because a lot of DJ’s and producers have to play with a particular sound. If there’s a big Dubstep producer, you can’t just go and make a House music record, because it will throw a lot of his fans off. So, it just works out that I have such a broad background of music and I love so many different kinds of music. Early on in my career, I would play some shows really late at night and close to sunrise; and by that time, you don’t have to try so hard to help make people dance. And that time slot catered to more melodic type stuff that I love, and I recorded a couple of promotional mixes that were sort of all over the place genre-wise. And, really, the only thing tying them together is that most of the songs have lyrics; and most remixes out there take only one lyric or one hook, when I try to keep the original song intact.
LJ: Tell us about your coming release, an EP coming out in a few weeks? Tell us a little about that.
P: Yeah, we’re tying up a lot of the loose ends, but we’re aiming to drop something at about the three-week mark. There are a few tracks up on Soundcloud where I collaborate with EVeryman, like “Good Day,” and my Zee Avi remix of “Concrete Wall.” I’ll also have a few cover songs, new releases, remixes. I’m very excited about that and I have a new side-project doing the collaboration with EVeryman. He’s such a good guy and we vibe so well that out of that one song, we decided to make a little side project making 90’s, good vibe style hip-hop. And we sat down to make one other song, and wound up making a whole record. So, we have a new little side project called Little Giant, and sometime in November, we hope to drop that.
LJ: That’s the whole reason why you’re performing and we can’t wait to see you then. Again, thanks so much for your time.
P: Excellent. Thanks, man.
