Episode 194

Jeremy Avalon on WERC Crew, 'The Groove,' and the Soul of the Dancefloor

Queue Points welcomes DJ and producer Jeremy Avalon for a conversation about community, musicianship, and the power of building spaces where the music leads. Jeremy traces the influences that shaped him. He takes us on a journey from a childhood surrounded by records and instruments to the impact of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley’s Exodus, and how those roots inform his sound and approach behind the decks.

The trio digs into the formation and intent of WERC Crew as a collective, why The Groove treats R&B as a headliner rather than a segment, and how High Key Disco channels the spirit of early NYC dance floors. They also tackle the realities of today’s DJ culture, Gen Z crowds, Boiler Room aesthetics, and why technology can make songs feel “less sacred.”

Follow Jeremy Avalon

Website: https://www.jeremyavalon.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JeremyAvalonMusic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyavalon/

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/jeremyavalon

Jeremy Avalon Biography

A member of the WERC Crew Collective, Jeremy is often described as “The Professor'“ for his vast musical knowledge in musical history, theory and innovation.

Jeremy has reached a global audience as a DJ & Music Producer, performing all over the United States. He has taken his talent overseas as well as to locations such as the UK, Croatia & Mexico. Jeremy has appeared on the Rock The Bells Cruise, & acclaimed festivals & traveling events like Art Beats & lyrics ,The Art of Cool & One Music Fest. He has opened for a diverse array of artists like the late DMX, Kaytranada, Rich Medina, Masego, Fishbone, Vikter Duplaix, Sángo, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Byran-Michael Cox and others. Jeremy’s first love has always been guitar & music production. He is a multi instrumentalist with production credits with a diverse list of artist like Jazz singer Chantae Cann, Hip Hop legends Nappy Roots & collaborations with Electronic Producer Treasure Fingers.

Already a world traveler by the age of 11, Jeremy incorporates many international influences into his DJing and music production. Uptempo Soul/R&B & futuristic funk permeate his sound as well as Caribbean/Latin rhythms, Indie Dance & Deep House. These are the tip of the iceberg as it concerns Jeremy's musical palette.

Chapter Markers

00:00 Intro Theme

00:16 Introduction and Excitement for the Guest

01:07 DJ Age and Party Dynamics

03:57 Introducing Jeremy Avalon

06:04 Jeremy's Musical Journey

12:10 WERC Crew and Community Impact

24:45 Memories of Record Shopping in New York

26:42 Reflecting on Musical Influences

32:21 The Evolution of DJ Culture and Social Media

39:23 Jeremy Avalon's Remix Project

41:41 Closing Thoughts and Upcoming Events

43:26 Outro Theme

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Transcript
Sir Daniel:

Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.

Sir Daniel:

I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

and my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government,

Jay Ray:

says Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.

Jay Ray:

What's happening?

Jay Ray:

People,

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray, we, we got a superstar in the building this episode,

Jay Ray:

a legend, a superstar in the building and that's super dope for us.

Sir Daniel:

and I'm excited to, to speak with him because we

Sir Daniel:

get, we've had opportunities.

Sir Daniel:

We both got to see him gig and we've had opportunities to share space with him,

Sir Daniel:

but we haven't, the two of us haven't had an opportunity to like really chop it up

Sir Daniel:

and to just, you know, talk shop and to, to go over some things that are happening

Sir Daniel:

within, you know, the zeitgeist right now.

Sir Daniel:

So, I'm excited, um, to hear from him.

Sir Daniel:

But Jay, Ray, you know, I gotta, we gotta set it off with something that's

Sir Daniel:

been in my burning in my soul recently.

Jay Ray:

What's been burning in your soul, sir Daniel?

Sir Daniel:

I really do believe, I'm starting to believe that people, the

Sir Daniel:

party people of a certain age, if they can tell that you are older than

Sir Daniel:

them, as far as the DJ is concerned, they're really not rocking with you

Jay Ray:

Oh, that is interesting.

Sir Daniel:

you're, you're much older than them, they're really not trying to stick

Sir Daniel:

around and hear what you have to play.

Jay Ray:

You know, that's interesting to me because I've actually

Jay Ray:

always revered the older dj.

Sir Daniel:

Mm.

Jay Ray:

Um, growing up like that was, uh, and maybe 'cause

Jay Ray:

it, it was as a kid, right?

Jay Ray:

I was always just kind of hanging around the DJ booth, like watching what

Jay Ray:

the DJ would play and the DJ wouldn't like kick me out when he was like

Jay Ray:

at like family functions and stuff.

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Jay Ray:

I never had that thing.

Jay Ray:

So when I see like.

Jay Ray:

And a DJ that's older than me, I'm curious to know what the journey is

Jay Ray:

gonna be, because I know it's going to be different than somebody who's

Jay Ray:

like a peer or near my peer group.

Jay Ray:

Like I just, I expect the journey to be different.

Jay Ray:

So that's interesting, sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah, I mean, not for nothing.

Sir Daniel:

I see a lot of, a lot of DJs for, first of all, if I'm getting older, that

Sir Daniel:

means they're getting younger and there are certain things that I cannot do.

Sir Daniel:

Like I cannot, I'm not gonna do a set with my shirt off.

Sir Daniel:

That's just not happening.

Sir Daniel:

Y'all don't wanna see that.

Jay Ray:

Daniel, you, y'all, sir Daniel, you're not going like,

Sir Daniel:

No, not at all.

Sir Daniel:

No.

Sir Daniel:

Nope.

Sir Daniel:

There's just certain things that you, you all don't wanna see that, trust me.

Sir Daniel:

And then, but then, you know, I can't do a shirtless set.

Sir Daniel:

You know, I'm not, you know, there are just certain things that I

Sir Daniel:

think that if you're not, if you're past beyond a certain age, you

Sir Daniel:

cannot do or probably would not do.

Sir Daniel:

So therefore, the party people are just like, eh, that's really not my vibe.

Sir Daniel:

This is way sexier over here.

Sir Daniel:

I'm gonna go check that out.

Sir Daniel:

So that's just a, that, that's just been a thought that's been brewing within me.

Sir Daniel:

And it's so funny.

Sir Daniel:

Our guest, uh, when we met him, well, when I met him, I know it's

Sir Daniel:

been o like a decade now since, since the first time that I became

Sir Daniel:

acquaint acquainted with him.

Sir Daniel:

He's an elder al now.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Isn't that crazy?

Sir Daniel:

So he

Jay Ray:

talk about this.

Sir Daniel:

about what it's like to be the old guy, the head.

Jay Ray:

And, and you know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

Leading the people to to, to the, to the, to the promised land,

Jay Ray:

uh, you know, with the music.

Jay Ray:

But, uh, we're gonna introduce our guest now.

Jay Ray:

So who is this amazing person that we are talking about joining us tonight?

Jay Ray:

Y'all, we are so excited.

Jay Ray:

Uh, Jeremy Avalon is with us.

Jay Ray:

Uh, Jeremy has reached a global audience as a dj, DJ and music

Jay Ray:

producer performing all over the us.

Jay Ray:

He has taken his talents overseas as well to locations such as

Jay Ray:

the uk, Croatia, and Mexico.

Jay Ray:

His Pade Carmen set from last year, bang it.

Jay Ray:

Y'all need to go check it out.

Jay Ray:

Um.

Jay Ray:

has appeared on The Rock The Bells Cruise and acclaimed festivals and traveling

Jay Ray:

events such as Art Beats and lyrics.

Jay Ray:

Shout out to Art Beats and lyrics, uh, the Art of Cool and The One Music Fest.

Jay Ray:

He is open for a diverse array of artists like the late DMX Rinada,

Jay Ray:

rich Medina, Meego Fishbone, Victor Du Plays, Sango, uh, DJ Jazzy, Jeff,

Jay Ray:

Brian, Michael Cox, and others.

Jay Ray:

Shout out to all the Philly love in there.

Jay Ray:

Jeremy's first Love has always been the guitar and music production.

Jay Ray:

He is a multi-instrumentalist with production credits with a diverse list

Jay Ray:

of artists like Jazz Singer Shante Can Hip Hop Legends, the Nat Pee Roots, and

Jay Ray:

collaborations with electronic producer Treasure Fingers already, already

Jay Ray:

a world traveler by the age of 11.

Jay Ray:

Jeremy incorporates many international influences into his

Jay Ray:

DJing and music production, soul and r and b and Futuristic Funk

Jay Ray:

permeate his sound as well as.

Jay Ray:

Caribbean and Latin rhythms, indie dance and deep house.

Jay Ray:

These are the tip of the iceberg as it concerns Jeremy Avalon's musical palette.

Jay Ray:

Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

We are honored to have our brother Jeremy Avalon here

Sir Daniel:

is in the building.

Sir Daniel:

Welcome, welcome, Jeremy.

Jeremy Avalon:

Hello.

Jeremy Avalon:

Hello.

Jeremy Avalon:

Hello.

Jeremy Avalon:

It's great to be, it is, it is weird being on this side 'cause I'm always listening

Jeremy Avalon:

on the other side, so this is cool.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

We had to do it.

Sir Daniel:

It's, it's about time.

Sir Daniel:

We definitely, it's about time that we had you on the show For sure.

Jay Ray:

Absolutely.

Jay Ray:

Welcome.

Jay Ray:

Welcome.

Jay Ray:

You know, there's a lot to get into tonight, um,

Jay Ray:

that we definitely want to hit with you.

Jay Ray:

But first and foremost, how are you doing before we jump

Jay Ray:

into some questions for you?

Jeremy Avalon:

I'm, I'm cool man.

Jeremy Avalon:

I've, I've had a, I've had a good little good little weekend.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

to play with my man, sir Daniel over here.

Jeremy Avalon:

That was fun.

Jeremy Avalon:

Uh, that was my first time at that particular, well, at that space,

Jeremy Avalon:

um, at, at that particular venue.

Jeremy Avalon:

So that was cool.

Jeremy Avalon:

So was, it was good to see.

Jeremy Avalon:

And I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in years either.

Jeremy Avalon:

So that was, I saw a, a kid I went to high school with and that was crazy,

Sir Daniel:

Oh, that's dope.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah, so I had a great time.

Jeremy Avalon:

That was a, that was a good finish to my busy, busy weekend.

Jay Ray:

Good deal.

Jay Ray:

Well listen, man, like one of the things that have heard, so, um, being

Jay Ray:

blessed with cool parents, right?

Jay Ray:

You have an extremely interesting and diverse history as it relates to just

Jay Ray:

your artistic palate, all of that.

Jay Ray:

What made your parents cool?

Jay Ray:

Um, I would say,

Jeremy Avalon:

the gift of travel, first of

Jeremy Avalon:

all,

Jay Ray:

mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

um, I. Having cable television in the eighties and nineties

Jeremy Avalon:

if you were black, is a superpower.

Jay Ray:

It.

Jeremy Avalon:

were

Jay Ray:

I,

Jeremy Avalon:

yeah, yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

I'm

Sir Daniel:

The game.

Jay Ray:

it does.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

It just, it, yeah, it matters.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like, um, I'd say that, but I, I would definitely just say, um, a space to

Jeremy Avalon:

like, kind of like discover music in a, in a space to do it alone sometimes,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

And, um, I used to, you know, I was always

Jeremy Avalon:

infatuated with the album

Jeremy Avalon:

covers,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

parents had a pretty decent, have a pretty decent collection,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, so, um, just being in awe of them and taking 'em all out and,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, we had one of those, you know, console stereos, it look like

Jeremy Avalon:

coffin with

Jeremy Avalon:

the,

Sir Daniel:

Oh.

Jay Ray:

dropdown?

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

track in

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

So, yeah, so I, I grew up taking all those out and just f spreading

Jeremy Avalon:

'em around and, you know, my mom's, uh, who is, uh, Melba Moore and.

Jay Ray:

Legend.

Jeremy Avalon:

and all this, and then my dad having, you know, sly

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

and like those type of artists, you know, so that was,

Jeremy Avalon:

I was just obsessed with these like, what are these big trading cards?

Jeremy Avalon:

Or, you know, they were just so

Jeremy Avalon:

that,

Sir Daniel:

You know,

Jeremy Avalon:

of sparked it off.

Sir Daniel:

there, there enough Can't be said about parents exposing their

Sir Daniel:

children to culture at an early age.

Sir Daniel:

Like I, I re that resonates with me big time Jeremy.

Sir Daniel:

'cause I was traveling at a early age.

Sir Daniel:

Matter of fact, we were just talking about that.

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray.

Sir Daniel:

We were, we were interviewed on another show and we were talking about the fact.

Sir Daniel:

I started traveling at the age of two.

Sir Daniel:

Um, 'cause I'm an immigrant, so, you know, came over here at the age of

Sir Daniel:

two and mom exposed me to music at a very early age with the same console.

Sir Daniel:

Um, learning how to put the record on myself and at my, at the big

Sir Daniel:

age of five, um, she was like, okay, these are your records.

Sir Daniel:

You could put them on yourself.

Sir Daniel:

Those kinds of things.

Sir Daniel:

They, they have an effect on you.

Sir Daniel:

And, um, talk to us about the musicianship part of your repertoire, because you

Sir Daniel:

are, you are an accomplished musician.

Sir Daniel:

You play guitar, I'm sure you play other instruments, but talk to us about that

Sir Daniel:

and, um, being an accomplished musician, I want you to think about this and you

Sir Daniel:

can answer it now, maybe later, but what's your, your goat jam session Like

Sir Daniel:

if you were, you know, you got your ax out and you playing with somebody who's

Sir Daniel:

in that, that goat jam session with you?

Jeremy Avalon:

Oh, okay.

Jeremy Avalon:

So I, I might, I might be able to tackle that one.

Jeremy Avalon:

I

Jeremy Avalon:

think

Sir Daniel:

Okay.

Jeremy Avalon:

so, okay.

Jeremy Avalon:

So musicianship, I would say, um, I was blessed to have a piano in the house

Jeremy Avalon:

growing

Jay Ray:

that's dope.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah,

Jay Ray:

really plays for real.

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, everybody, it was just.

Jeremy Avalon:

I dunno.

Jeremy Avalon:

In the eighties it was just

Jeremy Avalon:

cool if

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

in your

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

you know,

Sir Daniel:

same.

Jeremy Avalon:

having a piano in my house and just being able to, if I

Jeremy Avalon:

wanted to touch music, I could touch

Jeremy Avalon:

it,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

outside of just these records and stuff like that.

Jeremy Avalon:

It was, um, so I was always interested in guitar.

Jeremy Avalon:

My, um, my dad's a big Hendrix fan, so like some of the first music I

Jeremy Avalon:

heard in life is like machine gun and

Jay Ray:

That's dope.

Jeremy Avalon:

so

Jay Ray:

That kind explains.

Jeremy Avalon:

I ended up the way I did, you know?

Jeremy Avalon:

So like that band of Gypsies album

Jeremy Avalon:

is

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

that's the first music I like remember hearing

Jay Ray:

Wow.

Jeremy Avalon:

life, know?

Jeremy Avalon:

So, um, but yeah, it is that I remember, um, when, I remember when

Jeremy Avalon:

we first got our, when we first got our, the first like CD player,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

the single like disc.

Jeremy Avalon:

Uh,

Jay Ray:

Like the Sony joint where it comes out and it's long.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

one.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

So yeah, just, um.

Jeremy Avalon:

Having like, you know, like just listening to a lot of like,

Jeremy Avalon:

uh, di more diverse things now.

Jeremy Avalon:

'cause now you know, you have this compact disc and just go, the record

Jeremy Avalon:

store experience is a lot different.

Jeremy Avalon:

So just my, I remember the first night we got it and, you know, my parents

Jeremy Avalon:

just getting all kind of different stuff really just to show off the stereo,

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jeremy Avalon:

um, but in that, in that mix was, um, Exodus by Bob Marley and the

Jeremy Avalon:

Whalers and that like, kind of, that really spoke to me

Jeremy Avalon:

on that whole album a lot.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I, I don't, I guess the, like Gen Z kids call it meta

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jeremy Avalon:

but like Bob Marley like, kind of wore this like exact

Jeremy Avalon:

shirt

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

in the, in, in, um, in an interview one time.

Jeremy Avalon:

So, yeah, it just, I don't know, it's funny, but Bob Marley, Exodus, um, album

Jeremy Avalon:

really kind of like, just like really spoke to my like soul I guess, you know?

Jeremy Avalon:

And I knew that I wanted to do that, um, along with going to

Jeremy Avalon:

a concert at a young age too.

Jeremy Avalon:

So.

Sir Daniel:

What concert was that?

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Jay Ray:

What concert did you go to?

Jay Ray:

So

Jay Ray:

my first concert,

Jeremy Avalon:

was the Any Heartbreak Tour

Jay Ray:

whoa, that's a legendary tour.

Jeremy Avalon:

yes,

Jay Ray:

Dope.

Jay Ray:

So, Jeremy, we have.

Jay Ray:

Mentioned WERC Crew

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

bio.

Jay Ray:

I, okay, so I'm just gonna love on WERC Crew for a minute.

Jay Ray:

There are one so many pictures of me at WERC Crew events in like the

Jay Ray:

very early years of like WERC Crew.

Jay Ray:

I loved energy that y'all were able to harness in all of us.

Jay Ray:

I feel like there was this, um, you helped all of us creatives in Atlanta kind of

Jay Ray:

have a space where we could just land and be, but also build with one another.

Jay Ray:

Oh.

Jay Ray:

And dance and sweat our faces off at, at our bodies away at the same time.

Jay Ray:

So congratulations on y'all continuing to do this,

Jeremy Avalon:

Thank you.

Jay Ray:

because it, it mean it meant a. Ton to me, um, in Atlanta work, work,

Jay Ray:

crew events, I have so many fond memories.

Jay Ray:

Um, so to that point,

Jay Ray:

what makes you the most proud about WERC Crew and what

Jay Ray:

y'all have done for the world?

Jeremy Avalon:

well, so I would say it is not an event really.

Jeremy Avalon:

It's not a, a moment in time for real for me.

Jeremy Avalon:

It is just that it is, it's a, it is a bunch of people who didn't

Jeremy Avalon:

like really fit in anywhere, kind

Jeremy Avalon:

of

Jay Ray:

We were the island of misfit toys.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

And like people from all walks of life, people from all type of places.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, me and Xavier met at a, at a birthday party for, um, a artist that

Jeremy Avalon:

he was DJing for, um, at the time.

Jeremy Avalon:

He was a good friend of mine.

Jeremy Avalon:

And, um, we just kind of, when we met, uh, this is before WERC Crew,

Jeremy Avalon:

when we, uh, were doing a party shade,

Jay Ray:

mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

Space two when it

Jay Ray:

Space two.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

So this is like even before WERC Crew

Jeremy Avalon:

time.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

um, we just figured out, we just figured out we had a

Jeremy Avalon:

lot of the same problems, you know.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, Atlanta, as you know, a southern hospitality as it can be

Jeremy Avalon:

is still very tribal a lot of times.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, you know, we didn't go to school with any, I mean, we didn't go to college

Jeremy Avalon:

with

Jay Ray:

Hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

there.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, you know, even if we had friends and family and had been there a long time,

Jeremy Avalon:

we didn't go to the same churches as

Jeremy Avalon:

people.

Jeremy Avalon:

We didn't go to, we weren't in these, we weren't in fraternities.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

not legacy,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

So it's kind of hard to fit in a lot of, a lot of times, um, and kind of find

Jeremy Avalon:

a space if you don't like, don't know.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

The big homies,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

as they would call it.

Jeremy Avalon:

Right?

Jeremy Avalon:

So we kind of figured out like, we have a lot of the same problems.

Jeremy Avalon:

We're from all these diverse places and we want to like, um, we want

Jeremy Avalon:

to express like this, this music.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, we wanna, it is actually twofold.

Jeremy Avalon:

It's like we want to play a lot of futuristic music

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

that is next.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I can say like even back then we were playing, uh, disclosure, like

Jeremy Avalon:

before

Jay Ray:

Oh, yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

was

Jeremy Avalon:

out

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like those type of

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

kind of previously.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, and I think a good, a big part of that was having younger people around us

Jeremy Avalon:

too.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, kind of, you know, by that time I was in my late

Jeremy Avalon:

twenties.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, so very disconnected with college age, anyone, you

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

but I would say the college age, uh, people at that

Jeremy Avalon:

time, you know, they really kind of helped us, helped us stay kind of.

Jeremy Avalon:

Cutting edge because we were kind of the middle children,

Jeremy Avalon:

you

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jeremy Avalon:

of the scene.

Jeremy Avalon:

You know, um, there's these, all these people older than us who have done

Jeremy Avalon:

all these like, incredible things, but this is kind of pre-internet

Jeremy Avalon:

and like access to people.

Jeremy Avalon:

So I remember like, and this is funny 'cause we just shout out to Sala.

Jeremy Avalon:

We just did a,

Jay Ray:

Shout out to S Salon now today.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

we just did a, a, a joint together, um, at the Echo

Jeremy Avalon:

Room,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

which is a new spot over here.

Sir Daniel:

Yes,

Jeremy Avalon:

I remember first seeing him opening for common

Jeremy Avalon:

and I'm like, oh, he is famous.

Jeremy Avalon:

There's no way I, you know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

Like.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

true.

Jeremy Avalon:

we talk.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

That's how we like our generation.

Jeremy Avalon:

We were disconnected from our elders

Jay Ray:

Mm.

Jeremy Avalon:

of that 'cause of that, you know?

Jeremy Avalon:

So we kind of, kind of led the younger people, the people younger than us, we

Jeremy Avalon:

kind of like, kind of held them tight.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like, okay, so we're kind of lost too, but we got y'all, so come on.

Jeremy Avalon:

So there was a good, there was a younger generation that kind of grew up with

Jeremy Avalon:

us

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

now, you know, now they have their own successful events.

Jeremy Avalon:

Now they're their own artists now they're their own DJs.

Jeremy Avalon:

Now they're own working for, um, you know, whoever I think of, I think

Jeremy Avalon:

of a time when, you know, speaking of that Shaa party, uh, Abra was

Jeremy Avalon:

the bartender, you know what I'm

Jay Ray:

Wow.

Jeremy Avalon:

know, like India, Sean and

Jeremy Avalon:

Marie.

Jay Ray:

Yeah,

Jeremy Avalon:

college kids, like, you know, hanging out at our party

Jay Ray:

yeah,

Jeremy Avalon:

the fathers and the Makos.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like those people were

Jeremy Avalon:

just,

Jay Ray:

yeah,

Jeremy Avalon:

James kind of era.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like

Jay Ray:

yeah,

Jeremy Avalon:

just the weirdo.

Jeremy Avalon:

No, we weren't though,

Jeremy Avalon:

you

Jay Ray:

We weren't right.

Jeremy Avalon:

though.

Jeremy Avalon:

We were just people from that didn't fit a, a single like,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, crowd necessarily.

Jeremy Avalon:

We fit every crowd

Jeremy Avalon:

almost, you know, so.

Jay Ray:

and I, y'all, I was like the old dude coming to the WERC Crew

Jay Ray:

parties, like having the best time like I was, I promise you, I'm gonna put up

Jay Ray:

some of the pictures from the joints.

Jay Ray:

brought us all, like I was able to get introduced to selection in

Jay Ray:

my thirties, you know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

And I'm like, ended up writing all type and just like introduced and,

Jay Ray:

and reacquainted with this new sound of music, which ignited a whole

Jay Ray:

other part of my life, my life.

Jay Ray:

So, So yeah, y'all did that.

Sir Daniel:

Shout out to to that for sure, because I think

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray, the first time that.

Sir Daniel:

I was with you.

Sir Daniel:

You took me, it was on Auburn Avenue and yeah, it was on Auburn Avenue

Sir Daniel:

and you guys were doing something.

Sir Daniel:

It was a WERC Crew event.

Sir Daniel:

That was my first time ever seeing you all.

Sir Daniel:

Seeing Xavier.

Sir Daniel:

Seeing Jeremy, and just, you know, realizing, I remember at that moment

Sir Daniel:

realizing that I need to find my tribe.

Sir Daniel:

So that resonates with me as well.

Sir Daniel:

And speaking of which, I see, you know, shout out to everybody in the chat.

Sir Daniel:

Um, I see, see my sister, uh, peppermint Gati is in the chat.

Sir Daniel:

You know, we've had, um, ox all the people that are part of WAX Fundamentals

Sir Daniel:

coming through and creating events, creating legacy, like what you're doing

Sir Daniel:

is so important that I, we cannot go any further without shouting you out

Sir Daniel:

and congratulating you on the ninth anniversary of the Groove Party, which

Sir Daniel:

you gotta tell for, for the people that are at home that don't know what

Sir Daniel:

the Groove Party is, tell them, um, just tell us how you got started.

Sir Daniel:

'cause nine years of doing, of doing consistently an event that people

Sir Daniel:

consistently come to and pack it out is nothing to shake a stick at.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

So thank you first of all, and I would, I just, for

Sir Daniel:

I.

Jeremy Avalon:

the groove is kind of like our, I don't know, it's like our

Jeremy Avalon:

activism a little bit, you know, kind of our rebellion against like look like.

Jeremy Avalon:

RB needs a space by itself,

Jeremy Avalon:

you

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

there's a, there's other, you know, we didn't invent the RB party.

Jeremy Avalon:

There's RB parties, uh, before and after and plenty after, you know, but I, but

Jeremy Avalon:

a lot of the times, you know, to appease people, you know, they'll, they'll have a

Jeremy Avalon:

hip hop segment or they'll have some kind of like rap infiltration kind of thing.

Jeremy Avalon:

And,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, of

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

I'm a, I'm as hip hop

Jeremy Avalon:

as they

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

But I feel, and, uh, the, you know, us and the group just feel like, man, r

Jeremy Avalon:

and b deserves its own move out the way.

Jeremy Avalon:

You

Jeremy Avalon:

know what I'm

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

deserves its own thing.

Jeremy Avalon:

So it just, our like, kind of love letter to r and b, like, you know, and we, we

Jeremy Avalon:

dig in the crates, you know, it's not just surface level, um, r and b, you know.

Jeremy Avalon:

We all have different, um, different influences and, you

Jeremy Avalon:

know, and things like that.

Jeremy Avalon:

So, uh, we all bring something different to the table.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, there's song I, I'm, I'm now the, the OG in the group, I guess.

Jeremy Avalon:

So I'm the oldest one.

Jeremy Avalon:

So like their songs from my teenage years, like, know, 7 0 2 and Subway,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

little game like that, I

Jeremy Avalon:

don't

Jay Ray:

Classic joy, right?

Jeremy Avalon:

And it's like, we need, we, I, that's what that's

Jeremy Avalon:

for, but it's not just for like, you know, nineties r and b at all.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, we always like, definitely tried to like champion what's next and

Jeremy Avalon:

like newer r and b too, because, you know, RI mean, you know, r and

Jeremy Avalon:

b is is still around and there's

Jeremy Avalon:

some of

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

some of the best music out now than there's ever

Jeremy Avalon:

been, but you know, there's just.

Jeremy Avalon:

too much music, period.

Jeremy Avalon:

So it's hard to, it is hard to find

Jeremy Avalon:

stuff.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

I think when, when we were growing up, like we're the

Jeremy Avalon:

last, like we're the internet puberty

Jeremy Avalon:

generation, you know,

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

we're the last,

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Jeremy Avalon:

the great science experiment.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

people to like experience r and b, like for

Jeremy Avalon:

real,

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, like our teenage years are like the, the classic nineties

Jeremy Avalon:

RB

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

know, that people are trying to emulate

Jeremy Avalon:

now and

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Jeremy Avalon:

me being on the younger spectrum of

Jeremy Avalon:

that,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

but still a teenager through

Jeremy Avalon:

that,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, like, um, it's kind of cool to see a lot of

Jeremy Avalon:

that come back in style and I can cross and I can hit them with,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, four page letter and,

Jeremy Avalon:

you

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

these, these, these records that I liked growing up.

Jeremy Avalon:

But then, you know, I could, we could always, you know, we, we

Jeremy Avalon:

always play a lot of new stuff.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I. That people could connect into today.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, so I know I rambled, but yeah,

Jeremy Avalon:

it's

Jay Ray:

No, that was perfect.

Jay Ray:

No.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

a place for, um, you know, to hear ballads out loud.

Jeremy Avalon:

You know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

Like

Jay Ray:

We

Sir Daniel:

So important.

Sir Daniel:

It's so important.

Jeremy Avalon:

running man real

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

do that sometimes.

Jeremy Avalon:

You know what I mean?

Sir Daniel:

Listen, I've been, you know, I've been screaming that for the longest

Sir Daniel:

time and I'm so happy that you all are, are able to experience that and create

Sir Daniel:

a space for that to live in and at.

Sir Daniel:

So I've seen, okay.

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray and I went to one of the times that you were in town, we

Sir Daniel:

went to one of the, um, I think it was a high key disco party.

Jay Ray:

key disco party.

Jay Ray:

Had a ball.

Sir Daniel:

And so what a lot of the younger people get a lot of flack

Sir Daniel:

for not dancing at parties, for not, um, going in and going up for

Sir Daniel:

the music that the DJ is playing.

Sir Daniel:

And, but that's not what we saw.

Sir Daniel:

And so I'm interested to hear from you, Jeremy, like what surprises you

Sir Daniel:

the most about spinning for a Gen Z or a, a Gen alpha crowd that you, what

Sir Daniel:

surprises you when you spin for them?

Jeremy Avalon:

So, okay.

Jeremy Avalon:

It is twofold, right?

Jeremy Avalon:

Like they have all the information in the world, but a lot of times they just

Jeremy Avalon:

don't research sometimes or they're like real surprised by things that I

Jeremy Avalon:

think they should know, but they're, I then I realize how much time has

Jeremy Avalon:

actually passed and I'm just like, well, it's just me for real, like.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

So, yeah, so that's, that's been the interesting thing.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, me doing, uh, the, my, my event, high key disco, which

Jeremy Avalon:

is kind of like another trip.

Jeremy Avalon:

It is kind of like, my selfish, uh, early eighties version of the Groove if I,

Jeremy Avalon:

if

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

were to do it,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

um, definitely a, a Latin Quarter 54, A Paradise Garage

Jay Ray:

Yes,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, like kind of

Jay Ray:

yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, you know, I come from a big family, you know, and all my,

Jeremy Avalon:

my aunts and uncles, you know, had their formative years in New York City and, you

Jeremy Avalon:

know, I would just, you know, and, you know, thinking of New York City in that,

Jeremy Avalon:

in that time period, um, you know, I, we, was always kind of a desire to like,

Jeremy Avalon:

just give, just, I wanted some of that.

Jeremy Avalon:

I

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

like a fat rat out

Jeremy Avalon:

loud,

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

Over the loudspeaker, right?

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

And experience it like how my aunts and uncles did.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I have an uncle that like, was really, I was, you know, really close

Jeremy Avalon:

to that passed away when I was about 18.

Jeremy Avalon:

And I remember the, the winter before he passed, I used to go back to

Jeremy Avalon:

New York, uh, to go record shopping

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

in the winter time.

Jeremy Avalon:

That was by records in a valex, just to, you know,

Sir Daniel:

Wow.

Jeremy Avalon:

nah, you know, it was, it was one of those, oh man.

Jeremy Avalon:

Which, just crazy that all that is

Jeremy Avalon:

style

Jeremy Avalon:

again, you

Jay Ray:

Yeah,

Jeremy Avalon:

uh,

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

that's what I would do.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like, and then just, you know, I remember one, one time, um, I was at

Jeremy Avalon:

his house and I was just showing him all the, these records that I had

Jeremy Avalon:

gotten and, um, and he, you know, it was just, you know, just these string

Jeremy Avalon:

of records that really stuck to me, that

Jeremy Avalon:

were on

Jay Ray:

Compilations

Jeremy Avalon:

you know, um.

Jeremy Avalon:

so for Haki disco, uh, also, and this is just in, in my DJing period, you know, I

Jeremy Avalon:

try to play things that probably haven't been played out loud in a long time.

Jeremy Avalon:

I

Jay Ray:

Yeah,

Jay Ray:

yeah,

Jeremy Avalon:

songs have some kind of soul, you

Jeremy Avalon:

know, and

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

been played out a long, out, out loud, a long

Jeremy Avalon:

time,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

they kind of, I don't know, they die or whatever.

Jeremy Avalon:

But it is, I just love playing like Kashif and, and Howard Johnson and, and

Jeremy Avalon:

like these type of records like out Loud.

Jeremy Avalon:

And a lot of these kids, they really like 'em a lot, you know?

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, to the point where like, they'll come up to me and be like, oh man, you put me

Jeremy Avalon:

on to, uh, well there's one particular jam in Lewis record, uh, by a group

Jeremy Avalon:

called Reel To Real, you know, called.

Jeremy Avalon:

And they had a song called Can, can You Treat Me Like She Does?

Jeremy Avalon:

Right.

Jeremy Avalon:

And it

Jay Ray:

Do I?

Jeremy Avalon:

it was like a one-off,

Jay Ray:

Okay, I have to find this.

Jay Ray:

I, I wonder if I probably know the song.

Jay Ray:

I'm dying to hear it

Sir Daniel:

now, yeah, now we have to.

Jay Ray:

Now we have to know.

Jay Ray:

real quick, so along these lines, Jeremy, this is how this conversation kind of

Jay Ray:

gestated too, because, um, we were, uh.

Jay Ray:

Chatting back and forth, and you had played Davina's best of both worlds.

Jay Ray:

I don't know if it was a song or if it was like the album and somebody's

Jay Ray:

mind, whoever you played it for, was like blown, like mind blown by this.

Jay Ray:

And you were reflecting about like, oh, like these little pieces of magic

Jay Ray:

would happen, like all the time.

Jay Ray:

When

Jay Ray:

I remember just that album alone, how wild it was that it happened.

Jay Ray:

And then it was, that was it.

Jay Ray:

Like, it was

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

this is a thing that's going to enter the world and it's going

Jay Ray:

to not, and it's just gonna be here.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

And we never hear from her again in that way.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

can you reflect on, 'cause you, you to this, like there's so

Jay Ray:

much music out there, it's hard.

Jay Ray:

To land stuff because it is so much coming at you.

Jay Ray:

Whereas when we were younger there was like a process, like there was a a

Jay Ray:

process in the way that music came to us.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

kind of knew what was coming and when it was coming at all.

Jay Ray:

These levels reflect from your perspective on that a little bit.

Jay Ray:

As you are kind of navigating the world now, it's kind of the elder,

Jay Ray:

millennial introducing the people to Davina and Loud records and all of that.

Jeremy Avalon:

Uh, man, you know, it, it is funny.

Jeremy Avalon:

It's like, was I just hoarding this music all this time just to do this now?

Jeremy Avalon:

You know, so that,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

You get to be like the sensei for like the young people.

Jeremy Avalon:

Or like, there, there's like I was saying, um, there's things that

Jeremy Avalon:

I think people should know already, and it calm, calm, my mind is kind of blown.

Jeremy Avalon:

Uh, but I don't, I also realize how much time has

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I'm a youngest child.

Jeremy Avalon:

I always say when uh, people meet me, they think I'm 30, but

Jeremy Avalon:

when they toss to me, I'm 80.

Jeremy Avalon:

You know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

Just 'cause I've been around older people my entire life,

Jeremy Avalon:

You

Jeremy Avalon:

know And it's always like, even my musical taste, I, it was just trying

Jeremy Avalon:

to impress some older girl, probably.

Jeremy Avalon:

You know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

Like, that's, that's really what it boils down to.

Jeremy Avalon:

So I paid attention to what older girls

Jeremy Avalon:

liked,

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

Older

Jeremy Avalon:

girls that I liked, they listened to, like, they listened to like the breeders.

Jay Ray:

Ah,

Jeremy Avalon:

to like Cree Summer and,

Jay Ray:

Shout out to Street Faërie That record is amazing.

Jeremy Avalon:

like I kind of peeped to like, okay, this is with the older girls,

Jeremy Avalon:

I like, this is what they listened to.

Jeremy Avalon:

And I, a, a lot of my like, taste kind of came from that, that kind of way too.

Jeremy Avalon:

I ain't gonna lie, but like, that's how I discovered like tricky

Jeremy Avalon:

and

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

you know what I

Jeremy Avalon:

mean?

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

of groups that this is the type of music I like anyway, but like

Jeremy Avalon:

that's, that really is kinda what did

Jeremy Avalon:

it,

Jay Ray:

Hm.

Jeremy Avalon:

that kind of shaped my, um, shaped my taste and the, just the desire

Jeremy Avalon:

to like dig more in that like kind of

Jeremy Avalon:

vein.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, you know, I was in, I was in my early college years, uh, doing that

Jeremy Avalon:

kind of the me soul kind of explosion.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

The, like the, the, the, you know, the mainstream

Jeremy Avalon:

wave

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

Voodoo and I would say like two of my favorite albums came

Jeremy Avalon:

out the year I graduated high school, which is Kid A by Radiohead and Voodoo.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

know

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

so that was the kind of music that was out.

Jeremy Avalon:

So that's, um, I was just on a hunt for anything like adjacent, a

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

like to this future soul, this new soul kind of thing.

Jeremy Avalon:

And then going to a lot of the record stores in Atlanta.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, and just like like di looking for like off the wall things.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I used to go to more dusty than digital a lot, which was a spot that, um.

Jeremy Avalon:

Used to be, uh, in the parking lot, uh, kind of where MJQ and Drunken Unicorn is

Jeremy Avalon:

now.

Sir Daniel:

Okay.

Jeremy Avalon:

they moved to off Ele Avenue, but, um, shout

Jeremy Avalon:

out to, uh, to, to DJ Rashida.

Jeremy Avalon:

She used to work there.

Jay Ray:

Okay.

Jeremy Avalon:

and of course, you know, I'm, I'm a, I'm a young

Jeremy Avalon:

kid

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

beautiful, this beautiful woman behind the

Jeremy Avalon:

counter,

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

try, I'm

Jeremy Avalon:

buying

Jay Ray:

You are like whatever you suggest,

Sir Daniel:

Whatever you say, I'm doing it.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

$50 fertile ground

Jeremy Avalon:

import.

Jay Ray:

Sure, sure.

Jeremy Avalon:

know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

So like,

Jay Ray:

The kids will never understand the need to import y'all.

Jay Ray:

We used to have to import things to

Jay Ray:

get

Sir Daniel:

My God,

Jeremy Avalon:

or imports, you know, so, oh man, this is ridiculous.

Sir Daniel:

you, you really unlocked the, you unlocked the memory just now.

Sir Daniel:

When you said kid a, uh, shout out to Qua in the chat.

Sir Daniel:

She and I, that was a squarely, an HV record store mainstay.

Sir Daniel:

We would wear that TV out.

Jay Ray:

So good.

Sir Daniel:

Every time we would, uh, you know, like if you were opening, I

Sir Daniel:

said this before, if you happen to be an opener at the store that day, you get to

Sir Daniel:

select what's played, you know, what goes on the, um, the CD playlist for the day.

Sir Daniel:

And Kidde was definitely a part of that.

Sir Daniel:

I'm Aida said something very interesting in the chat as well about another, this is

Sir Daniel:

another example of the power of feminine energy and it's, this is very true.

Sir Daniel:

Um,

Sir Daniel:

along my DJ journey, I have, I remember this one guy just randomly told me, make

Sir Daniel:

sure you look at what the women are doing.

Sir Daniel:

If the women, if it's making them move, you keep doing that because as long as

Sir Daniel:

the women are moving, then, then everybody else is gonna follow because the women are

Sir Daniel:

going to draw people to the dance floor.

Sir Daniel:

And that's just, that's just a, a true fact when it comes to the art of DJing.

Sir Daniel:

And it takes me to this next, I'm kind of flipping the subject.

Sir Daniel:

We're gonna go here a little bit

Sir Daniel:

about crowds and about social media and including them in what we do

Sir Daniel:

and how it's become glamorized and also been used as a marketing tool.

Sir Daniel:

So recently, um, I, I haven't seen any in the past few months now, but recently

Sir Daniel:

there were a lot of these videos popping up of these boiler room type set sets,

Sir Daniel:

DJ sets, and for the people listening at home or watching, we're talking about.

Sir Daniel:

The DJ is in front of the camera and there just happens to be, you

Sir Daniel:

know, just some random people behind them having a good time and dancing

Sir Daniel:

and, you know, whatever they're playing, whatever they're spinning.

Sir Daniel:

Uh, it is just, it's going off and people are just having the best time.

Sir Daniel:

So there, but then there's become this controversy surrounding the video.

Sir Daniel:

What's, what is your take on that whole, um, about those videos and the, the idea

Sir Daniel:

that a lot of like publishing companies or people who are, who are scouting,

Sir Daniel:

um, and grabbing a people's publishing are actually funding those types of

Sir Daniel:

videos to have people mash up records that they want to make popular again.

Sir Daniel:

Do you think that, do you think that the days of it being organic

Sir Daniel:

are gone or is it just, is it strictly a marketing thing now?

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, nah, I don't think it's gone.

Jeremy Avalon:

I think as long as there's people, they're gonna be kids

Jeremy Avalon:

like us, you know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

There's gonna be kids who desire more, who, um, who can kind of see through it.

Jeremy Avalon:

I, I kind of feel two ways about it.

Jeremy Avalon:

It's like, um, I, I admire the creativity of a lot of these.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, we've done, we've done

Jeremy Avalon:

boiler

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

and um, when we hosted it in Atlanta, is.

Jeremy Avalon:

You know, I, I get the, I get the aesthetic, I get the idea,

Jeremy Avalon:

and the videos are creative.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like, I mean, it's something that, uh, I don't wanna sound too, too

Jeremy Avalon:

yy and babe, but it's something I would clean my house to, you know?

Sir Daniel:

I and.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

That's fine.

Jeremy Avalon:

but no, but like, I, I appreciate good visuals,

Jeremy Avalon:

you

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

I appreciate aesthetics and that's cool.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, just, I, I think what, what happens a lot of times, a lot of people who do

Jeremy Avalon:

that and are booked off of that quickly realize, depending on the crowd, that.

Jeremy Avalon:

know, it, it is a different animal,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

it's not, a disrespect to people who do, to, you know, know,

Jeremy Avalon:

if, if you have a fun DJing, like, you know, hitting two pots and pans

Jeremy Avalon:

together, you know, by all means.

Jeremy Avalon:

You know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

But, but, uh, but, but yeah, but I just, I just think that, um, you know,

Jeremy Avalon:

it just in real life is different.

Jeremy Avalon:

And if you want to, if you want, if you're like a corporation, like one

Jeremy Avalon:

of your event or something to mirror exactly what you saw in this video,

Jeremy Avalon:

you just have to like, take the video with a grain of salt that it, it is

Jeremy Avalon:

a production, you know, in a way,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know

Jay Ray:

That is, and I mean honestly, I've always found, um, I love the

Jay Ray:

production on the boiler room stuff.

Jay Ray:

Like it's always like, and they've been, and it's consistent, right?

Jay Ray:

This is not like a new format, you know, in terms of how it's set up.

Jay Ray:

I was surprised to that point, sir Daniel, of being, seeing

Jay Ray:

it in like these other ways.

Jay Ray:

Like I was like, oh, that, oh, okay.

Jay Ray:

That's the thing that people are doing.

Jay Ray:

Um, I think that to that, I agree with you Jeremy.

Jay Ray:

I think that there will always be folks that are craving kind of a

Jay Ray:

little more and we could see like, oh, this is like a marketing thing.

Jay Ray:

Okay, I get that.

Jay Ray:

You know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

Um, Uh,

Jay Ray:

I

Sir Daniel:

the mashups because remember there, there was, I reached out to you,

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray when, because there was uh, some DJs finally set what I was thinking.

Sir Daniel:

I was like, I'm so happy for you, for you that you realize that this

Sir Daniel:

BPM matches this BPM and you were able to put these songs together.

Sir Daniel:

It.

Sir Daniel:

I not serene on anybody's parade, but it was like, okay, this, it's cute,

Sir Daniel:

but it's, you know, it's kind of a mid, it's, it's mid, it's, you know, I've

Sir Daniel:

heard, I've heard that done before, or I've heard, you know, something

Sir Daniel:

similar and it, you know, I don't know.

Sir Daniel:

It's just one of those things where it's like you understand that people

Sir Daniel:

are, are, are discovering things.

Sir Daniel:

They're discovering music.

Sir Daniel:

Like we discovered it every day.

Sir Daniel:

And so what's old to us and what's old hat to us is, is fairly new to them.

Sir Daniel:

So that's, I had to kind of temper my criticism of that with that thought.

Sir Daniel:

Like, okay, I. Give, you know, you gotta give the kids some grace and space.

Sir Daniel:

But then when I found out about the whole, you know, these are ploys by

Sir Daniel:

these people that these, um, publishing scouts out there trying to make, you

Sir Daniel:

know, trying to shift the algorithm and trying to get people to, to buy their old

Sir Daniel:

catalog again because they bought it up.

Sir Daniel:

I was like, oh, that, that kind of makes sense.

Sir Daniel:

But yeah, I had to step back and stop and not be the old head, you know, the

Sir Daniel:

old head in the room that's always got something to say about the, the, you

Sir Daniel:

know, the kids doing what they feel and what is making them happy and what

Sir Daniel:

makes them, you know, makes them groove.

Sir Daniel:

So thank you for that.

Sir Daniel:

Thank you for that perspective, because I know I, I text Jay Ray

Sir Daniel:

at least three to four times.

Sir Daniel:

Like, you see this,

Sir Daniel:

it.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

I, I, I think with technology, things become less sacred

Jeremy Avalon:

a

Jay Ray:

Ooh.

Jay Ray:

Say that.

Jeremy Avalon:

uh, there's like, there's certain songs that like.

Jeremy Avalon:

They're just, we're still from that.

Jeremy Avalon:

We're like the last Li Mohicans,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

that, that hold a lot of these, these songs sacred.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like

Jeremy Avalon:

when

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

like mashups or smells like Teen Spirit or like, like stuff like that.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like you can't touch, like I, I, I still have that feeling of like,

Jeremy Avalon:

man, you can't mess with these rec.

Jeremy Avalon:

Like there's certain records that, oh, don't mash up Billie

Jeremy Avalon:

Jean with Billie Eilish.

Jeremy Avalon:

I don't want to hear

Jeremy Avalon:

that.

Jay Ray:

Right?

Jeremy Avalon:

on.

Jeremy Avalon:

know, it, there's certain things that we hold

Jeremy Avalon:

sacred, um, and there's just,

Jeremy Avalon:

but technology just becomes less.

Jeremy Avalon:

So

Sir Daniel:

Jeremy Avalon and everything that he's done in Atlanta

Sir Daniel:

and beyond is something to be respected.

Sir Daniel:

And so we're very grateful that you, um, took this time out to, to spend

Sir Daniel:

it with us and to just chop it up.

Sir Daniel:

But as we wrap this up, Jeremy, I want you to have the last word.

Sir Daniel:

Please let the listeners and the viewers know how they can consistently follow you.

Sir Daniel:

Um, let us in on any upcoming projects that you have.

Sir Daniel:

I know you've done, you, you can't, you have, you dropped it already, but

Sir Daniel:

I know you were working on something.

Sir Daniel:

Um, a project, a remix project, if I'm not mistaken.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

So,

Jeremy Avalon:

uh, I am working on a, a remix project.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I've been just hoarding music too much and it is, it's, it is a, I'm, I'm

Jeremy Avalon:

sick of doing that, you know what I mean?

Jeremy Avalon:

Like, I just, I, I make it all the time and I always, you know, we

Jeremy Avalon:

overthink

Jay Ray:

mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

and I, I've been just inspired by a lot of, a lot of music,

Jeremy Avalon:

a lot of reggae, um, right now.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, and I just, I've been, uh, I haven't really heard any, like,

Jeremy Avalon:

remixes of any of like the Marley kids

Jeremy Avalon:

music

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

So I'm, I have a, a, a kind of a lo-fi like just guitar, bass

Jeremy Avalon:

keys, kind of, um, you know, head nod

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

of versions of some of my favorite, uh, music of Bob's kids.

Jay Ray:

Nice.

Jeremy Avalon:

So, yeah, I got that.

Jeremy Avalon:

I, I have my event, high

Jeremy Avalon:

Key

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

um, at MJQ and sometimes monthly at El Malo.

Jeremy Avalon:

Also,

Jay Ray:

Okay.

Jeremy Avalon:

we have a YouTube channel as well, uh, where you can see a set,

Jeremy Avalon:

uh, at the, one of the very last ones at the, uh, 7 36 location at MJQ.

Jay Ray:

Yes,

Jeremy Avalon:

that's a legendary, uh, moment.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um,

Jay Ray:

Knights.

Jay Ray:

Was Knights over Egypt the last song?

Jay Ray:

Is that what it was?

Jeremy Avalon:

Oh, so wasn't that night.

Jeremy Avalon:

But yeah, the,

Jeremy Avalon:

I,

Jay Ray:

Oh, okay.

Jay Ray:

Cool.

Jeremy Avalon:

play the last night and I played nice over

Jeremy Avalon:

Egypt as the last song in there.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, I, I just, uh, released a, uh, a video with control, uh, to, uh, Empress Rod

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

Yes.

Jeremy Avalon:

that is like full of, if you like, like.

Jeremy Avalon:

nineties, uh, r and b, like a lot of UK flavored loose ends,

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

Tara Kemp

Jeremy Avalon:

type

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jeremy Avalon:

one's for you.

Jeremy Avalon:

Um, you know, like I was saying earlier, um, you know, being like oldest millennial

Jeremy Avalon:

around, um, I'm like one of the few people that still like, plays a lot of that

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

I was probably old enough,

Jeremy Avalon:

you know?

Jay Ray:

Right?

Jeremy Avalon:

it.

Sir Daniel:

Listen, Jay Ray, when he dropped Loose Ends, don't be a fool.

Sir Daniel:

On Saturday,

Sir Daniel:

me and Madison were singing at the top of our lungs.

Sir Daniel:

I was.

Jay Ray:

Don't be a fool.

Jeremy Avalon:

Right.

Jay Ray:

song.

Jeremy Avalon:

And, and going to, going to England as a young

Jeremy Avalon:

age, that really kind of sparked

Jeremy Avalon:

all

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Avalon:

For

Jeremy Avalon:

sure.

Sir Daniel:

Absolutely.

Sir Daniel:

But this has been a pleasure, Jeremy.

Sir Daniel:

Um, appreciate you so much, so much for doing this and for sitting

Sir Daniel:

in with the Queue Points podcast.

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray, let's wrap this up.

Sir Daniel:

Let the people know all the people that Jay Ray has, um, that Jeremy has brought

Sir Daniel:

along with him to watch us tonight.

Sir Daniel:

They need to know how to keep in contact with Queue Points while we got

Sir Daniel:

'em here, so, so hit them to the game.

Jay Ray:

absolutely.

Jay Ray:

Thank y'all so much.

Jay Ray:

As we always say, if you can, uh, see our faces or hear our voices, subscribe

Jay Ray:

wherever you are, share the show with your friends, family, colleagues.

Jay Ray:

Chances are if you love Queue Points, they will love Queue Points as well.

Jay Ray:

Thank you so much Jeremy Avalon for coming and hanging out with us,

Jay Ray:

man, like I respect you so much.

Jay Ray:

And not only that, you have gotten me together on the dance floor.

Jay Ray:

I appreciate it.

Jay Ray:

So thank you so much.

Jeremy Avalon:

you dancing.

Jeremy Avalon:

Thank you

Jay Ray:

Absolutely.

Sir Daniel:

Absolutely.

Jay Ray:

so y'all please visit our website Queue Points.com.

Jay Ray:

You can uh, watch the entire archive of Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

are almost at 200 shows.

Jay Ray:

There's a lot of content over there that you can lean into and you should

Jay Ray:

visit Queue Points Mag where we give you some additional content.

Jay Ray:

We got all types of articles over there where we give you some

Jay Ray:

additional flavor that you might really, really enjoy as well.

Jay Ray:

And if you wanna keep the lights on and Queue Points land, you can shop

Jay Ray:

our store@store.Queue Points.com.

Jay Ray:

We appreciate y'all, we love y'all.

Sir Daniel:

That'll do it.

Sir Daniel:

All right.

Sir Daniel:

What do I say?

Sir Daniel:

Every week y'all, in this life, you have a choice.

Sir Daniel:

You can either pick up the needle or you could let the record play.

Sir Daniel:

I'm DJ Sir Daniel,

Jay Ray:

my name is Jay Ray,

Jay Ray:

this

Sir Daniel:

that's Jeremy Avalon.

Sir Daniel:

And this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping the

Sir Daniel:

needle on black music history.

Sir Daniel:

We will see you on the next go round.

Sir Daniel:

Peace.

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About the Podcast

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Queue Points

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About your hosts

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DJ Sir Daniel

DJ Sir Daniel is a DJ/Selector and part of Atlanta's, all-vinyl crew, Wax Fundamentals. Co-host of the Queue Points podcast, he is an advocate for DJ culture and is passionate about creating atmospheres of inclusivity and jubilation from a Black perspective.

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Jay Ray

Johnnie Ray Kornegay III (Jay Ray) is a podcast consultant and co-host and producer of Queue Points, the Ambie Award-nominated podcast that drops the needle on Black music history. In addition to his duties at Queue Points, he is the Deputy Director of Strategy and Impact for CNP (Counter Narrative Project). A photographer, creative consultant and social commentator, Jay Ray's work is centered around a commitment to telling full and honest stories about communities often ignored.