Hey DJ: Joey Vega.  The music keeps him sane.
by Vonetta Booker-Brown

Not everyone understands house music. Joey Vega is one who does. The Bronx-born, raised and residing DJ’s been spinning deep house, garage, disco and R&B classics for the past 15 years. Making people go to church on the dance floor, inspiring them sometimes to tears with the inspirational lyrics of the cuts he’s spun at spots such as Killimanjaro’s, the Tunnel and Palladium. Having cats “roll, bounce” at Skate Key. And so on and so forth. Put on by his clubbing brothers and sisters in his early teens, Vega’s epiphany came the night his 13-year-old self snuck into Bonds International, a popular mid-80s Times Square hotspot. The club’s size and sound system held Vega in awe, making him whisper to himself, “Damn.” And Kenny Carpenter was spinning that night. Later for the girls, the dancing, whatever—little Joey was mesmerized by Carpenter’s prowess, the power he held over the crowd with the flick of a wrist, the selection of a record. An urban, Saturday-night Pied Piper who made Vega say to himself, “This is what I want to do.”

And he’s doing it. 15 years later, 31-year-old Vega continues to surround himself with the music—producing fly mix tapes, spinning at various clubs throughout the city, in between his job at Downstairs Records—an increasingly rare spot that sells vinyl 12” hip hop, R&B, classic and deep house records, with a homey, old-school feel that invites the frequenting DJs and underground vinyl-heads to hang out, test-run the records, even bring food to grub on if they’re hungry. This is where Triscene.com editor Vonetta Booker caught up with Vega to gain insight into what he does—and his views on the politics of the business, radio airplay, and the future of house music.  So listen up.  

What’s one of the things that really influenced you in your deejaying?

Vega: “What really influenced me a lot was when I went down to the Paradise Garage. When I went in there, it changed everything around for me. Going over there, seeing Larry Levan play his music, the style, the way he did it, the feelings behind the music that he played—that inspired me to turn around and play the music the way he played it—not exactly the way he played it, but the feeling of it. And ever since then, my parties have been hellraisers to a lot of people. What kept me so much down from the industry was the politics. I hate the politics of the industry." 

Yeah, what’s up with that? There seems to be a lot of bullshit going around with that…

Vega: “Too much bullshit, too much bullshit. People talking about other people, DJs talking about other DJs, it was like, I never wanted to get caught up into it. When I was going to special VIP parties and going to music seminars, I was like, ‘No—this is not me.’ My thing was going to a club and just playing music for the people, and getting paid for it." 

So you see that kind of shade at the seminars and such?

Vega: “Yeah, and it was like people that I wanted to get involved with, you know what I’m saying? They wanted to put me down, but at the same, they was hearing from other sources, jealous sources like, “Oh, don’t put him on, etc.’ and then I’d get back with another story, and that hurt a lot. What bothers me with these clubs is that nobody’s really breaking any new music these days.  Everybody’s playing what other people play. And that sucks. Back in the 80s, you’d go to one club, you’d hear something. Go to another club, you’d hear something different, but it was new." 

So, how did new songs break? Who was adventurous enough to put out new music?

Vega: “The DJs. Because in radio, nobody wants to play underground. This is why underground house suffered so much on the radio stations. I mean, you remember the last time we had it was when Tony Humphreys was playing on 98.7 KISS.” 

Do you think anybody is coming close to playing decent house music on the radio? Like, KISS has that thing on Saturday nights… 

Vega: “KISS is coming back with it. KISS wants to do it because for so many years there was silence, and then they came back into playing classics—a lot of the regular listeners, including myself, that used to stay up and hear Tony Humphreys, kept calling the station like, ‘Yo, what’s up with the house music?’ So, I guess eventually, it got pushed to the board and they decided to say, ‘Look, we have a lot of requests for house music on the radio—let’s give it a try. Hence, came in the Saturday night parties at the Shelter. And because of that, that started the flow. But still, the programming is the same as before—the radio stations are very limited on what to play on the radio. There’s a lot of good jams out here that need to get played on the radio, but when it comes to the DJs bringing it to the attention of the radio stations, they don’t want it because they feel that it’s not a ‘top 40’-type thing for them. The other station that needs to get back into playing house is WBLS. Because we have not heard house music from ‘BLS since John Robinson, God rest his soul.   

What do you think is going to happen in the near future?

Vega: “I think what’s going to happen right now for the year 2000, it’s going to be the year for new DJs.” 

In house, or different types of music?

Vega: “In house music. Because right now, what’s happening to house music in NYC, it’s gone progressive, commercial, techno. That’s not us." 

Do you find that a lot of people confuse deep, soulful house with techno? Because when I tell people I’m a househead, they say, “Oh, you like that house/techno stuff?” 

Vega: “The ones that are into the underground stuff, we know who the househead is.  But what kills us is that the big clubs in NYC, they all catering to that techno, progressive, commercial shit. To me, it’s okay because it’s making its money, selling—on that end, I can respect. But for the real house music—and I’ve been around house music since it first came out—and I know the changes that house music was going to go through in the future, the techno, the trance, the trip, the gospel, you know? So what it is, right now house is backtracking itself. A lot of reason why people diss that kind of music [deep house] is because they think it’s “gay music,” or it’s ‘too mellow,’ ‘too slow’—bullshit, because they’re the first ones who was in the clubs bouncing on top of the speakers, you know?" 

When you spin, what kind of moods and emotions do you try to set with the crowd?

Vega: “I go through personal experiences that I went through with like, relationships, and the way I see my life. And there’s records I have that have to do with that. What I like to do is, for instance, I recently broke up with someone I cared about a lot. So, what I do is when I go to a club, to just let out my steam—I let everybody know what I’m feeling. And once they get in deep with what I’m feeling, then I come out with the inspirational stuff. If I see a person on the dance floor and I identify them like, ‘okay, this person looks like she got problems,’ then I play songs based on experiences like that. They know that they going through some shit, you know what I’m saying? If they have faith in their soul, and they believe that they can change everything and make things right, I’m giving them that."  

Are there any other types of music you’re into besides house?

Vega: “Yeah—I listen to jazz, classical, Latin records—like, country music, I’d sit down and listen to it. And I would listen to it for the words. Like, different kinds of inspirational stuff coming from different kinds of music. Because I come from a family that, you know, we’re just like mixed blood. So, it’s like there’s so many different kinds of music that goes through my family. And I can sit down and relate to it. Like, if you see me going to a calypso club—I’ll go in there and have a good time. To other DJs, it would be boring, because they’re so used to hearing beats. My music is not based on all that. Once in a blue moon in the club, you might hear me playing a Latin jazz record." 

Have you ever deejayed in a non-house setting, like R&B, hip hop?

Vega: “Yeah—house parties, when I first started. 

Do you notice a difference in the vibes of house crowds, vs. hip hop/R&B crowds?

Vega: “When it comes to house music, a true househead dances to revive his soul, because everybody’s going through shit these days. You go to sweat your emotions away. Hip hop, you see the crowd trying to show off to each other. ‘Yeah, I got my diamonds, my Cristal, throw your guns in the air-type shit—that’s silly. And me, I love hip hop—I mean, I’m from the Bronx! That’s where hip hop started. Back in the day, it was cool—everyone was all about the battling and the competition, all that stuff. But right now, hip hop’s gone to the extreme measure. We had murder, robberies, rape, all that shit—and a lot of people inspire that from hard-core hip hop. I would not knock down hip hop—I love the music, but right now I feel it’s gone too far. The crowds are different. When it comes to hip hop, the crowd is all about trying to wreck each other up. When it comes to house, everybody wants to get into some freedom, some space. R&B is in-between, because both sides can listen to R&B. If you’re a real househead, you can listen to Mary J. Blige." 

Where do you want to take your thing in the future?

Vega: “I got two kinds of talents: One is musically, and the other is artistically—I draw and I paint. So, I have the advantage where if I don’t make it in life as a DJ, I’ve got something to fall back on, and that’s the art. With the art, I have a lot of plans that I’d like to. For instance, I’d like to open up a clothing line—take my artwork, put it on clothing, design, as a professional business—do logos on computer or freehand, or even paintings. 

Did you start out in graffiti? Because your style is like that.

Vega: Yes, I used to paint graffiti on trains, my name is legendary to a lot of people—I used to write under Serve 1. But that was when I was living the vandalism days, running around with crews and vamping people. I been there, done that. But the music was another, totally different thing. I love the music, and I live for the music. The music keeps me sane.”