AC '08 DJ Spotlight: DJ Pardus

Anthrocon features some of the most talented DJs in the Furry Fandom, but who are they really? We'll be taking some time in coming weeks to let you know, in their own words, what makes them tick and what you can expect from their sets.

Today we've got an Anthrocon veteran, the one and only DJ Pardus!

Fandom Name: AtraPardus / Leppid King
Real Name: Chris Dalton
Stage Name: Dj Pardus
Age: 25
Influences: Dave Ralph, Danny Tenaglia, Deep Dish, X-Dream
Genre's Played: Trance and House, as well as all the subgenres in between...a little DnB too.
DJ Style: Strictly turntables, dj shamanism

Biography:

It all started back in 1994, Kurt Cobain dies and I give up on rock music and popular culture as a whole. I picked up some Prodigy and Chemical Brothers albums and got into electronic music. Having played alot of video games, all the bleeps a blips were comfortable with me, almost familiar. Then on the fateful day of February 11th 1996, I went to my first rave @ the infamous Asylum nightclub in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was there that I saw for the first time the djs that I had only heard about and knew instantly that I wanted to be that man, up on that podium, that deus, giving everyone that roaring good time that I was now experiencing. In 1997, I came across a set of Gemini XL-100s and the garbage 2 channel mixer that came along with it in a dj package that were just really starting to come out at that time, along with some records and I got to town. A year passes and I get to be pretty good at it, I'm now ready to start on my road to being a true dj. I played my first few underground [aka illegal] raves under a friend of mine's crew, Torch Productions, at a remote location in Foxboro, Massachusetts. I'll never forget the feeling I had as my journey began.

I stayed underground from 1998 until 2002, playing house parties and illegal raves that my friends were throwing, but it was in 2002 that things really took off for me in a big way. That spring, I had met some other furry djs who were digging my sound and invited me to play with them for the Toronto Furry Pride party, which I played until the final one in 2005, was just starting to kick off. I agreed and some nearly secret furry history was made. Also that summer, I played at the Camp Feral rave with the same djs, we were forming a nice team. Also, on October 22, 2002 I had the chance of a lifetime. I entered a dj contest at the very club that opened my eyes to my path as a dj, the Asylum. I competed in the Trance genre and took it all home with a 15 minute mix that drove the whole room, including the judge, off the wall. As it turns out, due to some of my more ludicrous adventures in January of 2003 brining me to Los Angeles, where I played at the Dungeon bondage club, the Abundant Sugar Burning Man Documentary release party, and ARN radio stations, nothing ever came of my victory in my Mecca, the Asylum. But, I was back again in Boston in time for yet another Toronto Furry Pride and another Camp Feral rave with the same team of furry djs, Snow Wolf and Thanatos. From then on, I never got to perform much for the rave scene as it was being decimated in the New England area by the local governments, but a few more underground parties as well as a handful of performances at Club Vapor in Boston were in store for me.

The year of 2004 brought me to my debut performance at Anthrocon, where I was well received by both the staff and the crowd. I also started doing a radio program in Amherst, Massachusetts (my new home at the time) with the same team of furry djs I had been having so many good times with which ran for a year and some change doing an epic service to the then ruined rave scene in the New England area that I wouldn't find out until some time after the last program aired. 2005 found me headlining the one and only Texas Furry Con along side Jim Groat. I wasn't a Guest of Honor, like he was, but I was certainly treated as though I was. I also played at FurtherConfusion by chance as one of the djs didn't show and I happened to have some records. I played another Anthrocon as well, where I had an epic tag team set with Tek-fox which was probably the best set AC has ever seen, from what I understand. At this time I was also starting to play on the all-furry internet radio station, <3 Music. Another Anthrocon in 2006 where I continued to be well received by the audience and my peers, kept me in the game as I had a falling out with most of the people I had worked with up to that point. I feel, now, that as my performing career has reached it's 10 year mark, a milestone for any dj, that of all the groups I performed for, the furry fandom has been there for me and has kept me going, even when the government and the vast abundance of djs has kept me from getting a foothold in the more mainstream dj scene.

As 2008 comes into bloom, I finally find myself starting up the promotion project I should have started years ago, Earthside Mixlabs, and yet another of my beloved Anthrocon performances, I'm looking forward into the next 10 years steadfastly hoping that you all will be there with me every step of the way.

Thank you all for the love you've shown me over the years.

~Dj Pardus~
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Check back next week, when we turn the spotlight onto DJ Rigel!