With my roots in music gaming, learning to DJ seemed like a fun thing to do! The opportunity presented itself in 2010 when Mike Hey, a member of the local community in the San Jose area decided to invite some friends over to play with his new CDJ-400s. He gave us a workshop on how to beat match and what all the buttons do on the CDJs and DJM on a bar outside his kitchen.

This turned into a regular hangout where we messed with the decks and enjoyed each other’s time, but as the weeks passed more and more people came to hang out and listen! I adopted the alias “Drayne O” for DJing, and we ended up filling the house and had to start holding our event (now dubbed “Kitchencore”) once a month, then once every 3 months, then once every 6 months. Friends were flying in from across the country or driving up from the Los Angeles area to come enjoy a night of music, food, and video games inside of a friend’s living room in Sunnyvale, California. We of course eventually outgrew the house and ended up having to find venues to rent to hold our parties twice a year, but these roots are where I learned to DJ.

I’m proud to say I have DJed at nearly every iteration of Kitchencore, and used those skills to branch out into DJing for other events, such as local anime conventions in the bay area as well. Below I’ve assembled a collection of photos and videos of me DJing at these various events over the last 14 years, as well as a mix I made for our online iteration of Kitchencore, held during COVID lockdowns.