We handed the keys to MorrisKode to unlock her roles within and observations on the San Diego dance music scene.
What brought you to San Diego?
I grew up in Michigan and never liked the cold. Every summer, I would fly to sunny San Diego to visit my Dad and enjoyed the sun, beach, boating, theme parks, Mexican food, etc. In May of 2002, I impulsively decided to stay in San Diego one summer instead of returning home to Michigan. I ended up finishing college out here and just passed my 20-year anniversary as a San Diegan earlier this year!
What inspired you to enter the music space?
Music has always played an important role in my life. I played the flute and piccolo in the high school marching band, theatre orchestra, state of Michigan honor band, and numerous solo & ensemble competitions. I played at the main street parade in Disney World twice during high school and continued when I joined college marching band, and traveled with the Western Michigan University Broncos football team to perform at half-time shows.
I was introduced to electronic music during my senior year of high school (2000), when friends invited me to see Bad Boy Bill at an underground Detroit warehouse party. After my initiation into the scene, I spent 2000-2010 as a die-hard Paul Oakenfold and In Search of Sunrise/Tiesto fan (IYKYK) until I dated an underground DJ from LA in 2010 who showed me underground house and techno. I learned proper beat matching and harmonic mixing, and purchased my first set of Pioneer CDJs and mixer.
My now husband, Jason (Játék), and I started dating in 2012 after our weekly fun series named “Mixing Mondays” (we would practice DJing together and I would make cocktails every Monday night). We came up with my DJ name during this era, MORRISKODE (my maiden name is Morris), and I day-dreamed of spinning at nightclubs and festivals (see fake photo of that dream from an EDC photo op).
I only DJ’d at home or for friends at parties for almost 10 years, until my dream became a reality during the pandemic in 2020. We stumbled upon Church of Music at the Gliderport, and after a magical night on the cliffs with amazing music in a beautiful setting, a friend urged me to reach out to Alina Gordon who was seeking other female DJs to showcase at CoM. I was SO nervous to even ask to play, let alone actually play, but my friends pushed me and Alina was very kind and excited to showcase me as the second female DJ to play at CoM. After my public debut in November 2020, I joined the CoM team as an organizer and resident DJ. I’ve played 19 or 20 sets with CoM – and these days were some of the best days and really helped my friends and I get through the pandemic when everything else was shut down.
I met so many amazing people in the local music community through the weekly Church services and was hooked. One wonderful person I met through CoM was Milad Imen aka Sprout who brought me into the Afternoon Umbrella Friends community. Being a part of the AUF crew has really educated me on the past, present, and future of the music scene here in San Diego and has also taught me how important event production quality is (sound, lighting, stage, etc.). If you haven’t been to an Umbrella event, you’re missing out – AUF really does it right! I’m fairly new to the San Diego music scene, but have quickly expanded my network of local DJs and producers, event producers, communities, artists, and vendors. I’ve met countless wonderful, kind, like-minded humans following their passions and doing big things, and can’t wait to see what comes next in this adventure!
Talk us through your favorite genre(s) to mix?
The genres I play out regularly are organic house, tech house, progressive house, minimal/deep tech, and techno (mostly melodic). I play many set “vibes” depending on the venue, audience, and set time; but when I’m playing at home, you’ll find me getting lost in an organic house / progressive house musical journey. If you want to check one of these sets out, you’ll find my favorite recorded organic house journey here.
With so many newly opened venues and recently started events, the San Diego dance scene is growing rapidly. What are your observations on the scene and community here?
The San Diego dance scene is definitely up and coming but we still have work to do to be able to compete with larger cities like Miami, LA, New York, etc. Insomniac moving into the San Diego market is proof that our scene is growing rapidly, and we are attracting top-notch talent from all over the world.
The San Diego music community has a lot to offer EVERYONE and I see a lot of collaboration and cross- promotion happening between communities, which is great! Everyone seems to know everyone in this industry. I see many communities bringing unique, high-quality music experiences, and top-notch talent to the city. My current favorites are obviously The Afternoon Umbrella Friends, Pineapple Live, and Music is 4 Lovers – but there are definitely others to watch out for. I also see a lot of new collectives popping up! There are So. Many. Shows. in San Diego. We sure do appreciate House Key SD for helping us keep them all straight.
What is your process for preparing for a set?
I rely heavily on Spotify for music organization since I’m not always at my PC on RekordBox. I continuously work on upcoming sets via different Spotify playlists. I drop tracks into my playlists when they pop up in my Release Radar, Spotify song radio, or I find something good on SoundCloud or Beatport.
In my opinion, being a good DJ involves 90% prep and music organization and 10% playing live. Beatmatching and mixing is easy with practice, but if you don’t know your music library/genres – it’s going to be tough to put together a cohesive set that makes sense on the fly. I swear by Mixed In Key software to aid in harmonic mixing (I don’t trust Rekordbox’s key analysis). I keep my library organized by music genre and release date. I’ve tried to use Rekordbox tags, but eventually gave up on that so now I just add notes in my track titles like “HYPE” “intro track” “last track” etc.
My friends make fun of me because every track in my library is marked as a 5-star track, otherwise why would it be in my library? Delete it if it’s less than 5-stars! You’re not going to play it anyway… But when I find a special, super FIRE track, I put a * or sometimes ** in front of the track title which we joke are my 6-star and 7-star tracks.
Reading the crowd and playing on the fly is what being a DJ is all about. I typically have a playlist with 30-40 tracks that all go well together, and a starting and ending track in mind, and I just wing it from there. I try to set myself apart from other DJs with brand new or obscure tracks. I hit up my Spotify Release Radar religiously every Friday morning and thanks to their algorithms, Spotify is super in tune with what I like. If I’m playing on a Friday or Saturday night, you will find me at my computer on Friday or Saturday morning digging for newly released music. Last fun fact about my set preparation: I’ll mark a track in Rekordbox once I’ve played it live, to avoid playing that same track twice. I really try to deliver a 90-100% fresh set EVERY time I play.
Do you have a dream venue or event to play in San Diego?
I am fortunate to have played at a lot of venues I used to dream of playing at! Spin Nightclub, Nova, Oxford Social Club, Quartyard, Revel Revel, Euphoria @ Lumi Rooftop… My current dream is to represent the city as a local DJ and open up at CRSSD. Tech House at the Palms or Techno at City Steps. I’d love to play at Camino Riviera. I love the Tulum/Playa vibe and this is the prime spot in San Diego where I can take listeners on an organic house journey. I hope to play a progressive house set with Pineapple Live someday. Their music and production is top-notch. I’m still sad I was out of town for their Guy J show. Last on my San Diego bucket list is Bang Bang. I love that venue. Great lighting and sound. It’s usually spacious, the A/C is pumping, and they have delicious cocktails... I’d love to play some techno there!
When you're going out dancing in San Diego on a night off from DJing, where will we find you?
Sadly, this is rare for me… If I’m at an event, I am either DJing, leading organization, or working as a volunteer. I rarely go out in San Diego to fully enjoy the experience these days. As someone who’s been in the scene for a while, it makes me happy to utilize my experience to elevate a music show and give back to my friends and the new generation of ravers. If you catch me at a show NOT working, I am most
likely supporting one of my close friends that DJ (shout outs to @amira_music, @bayranmusic,@hitmewiththoselizabeams) OR supporting The Afternoon Umbrella Friends or one of the other local underground collectives.
Who are your 'ones to watch' from the San Diego scene?
I’m inspired by several of my friends in the scene that are KILLING it right now… Milad aka Sproutbeats is the leader and co-founder of The Afternoon Umbrella Friends. He is a talented DJ, producer, event producer, festival producer… he is the promotion MASTER, genius level intelligence, and pretty much good at everything. He is currently working on Umbrella Weekend 2023 and launching an artist agency amongst many other projects. I owe a lot of my progress in my musical journey to Milad. He’s definitely one to keep an eye on now and in the future! I have so much respect for my friends Amira, Tyler Chase, Laura Peck, Kale @kalerely, Alex Barrera @itsbarrera, Jovella with Sisiety, Shonna… I consistently enjoy all of their sets and shows, and consider them all “ones to watch.”
What are your future plans, what should we look out for from you?
I joined The Afternoon Umbrella Friends in November 2021, when Milad was looking for volunteers to help execute the dream of scaling The Afternoon Umbrella Friends 5th year of Umbrella Weekend which is a boutique camping festival with outstanding talent, venue, and production. I plan large-scale corporate conferences/conventions as my career, which led to me taking more of a leadership role than I had originally planned for Umbrella Weekend 2022! The festival was a great success, and I can’t wait to be back in Yucaipa. I’ve already committed to helping AUF with the festival again, so save the date for Umbrella Weekend 2023, March 9-13. This is one local event NOT to be missed.
I started an underground, techno-centric event series called S H A D E with The Afternoon Umbrella Friends in August. For my debut event, I brought in Weska (Drumcode, Mute, Cocoon, Bedrock, Factory 93) from Toronto – who is one of my favorite techno producers. We offered craft cocktails, had pizzas for everyone delivered at midnight, and a lot of other fun surprises - with the goal of elevating the underground techno experience. I’m hoping to produce S H A D E twice a year. I can’t wait until the next edition!
As of right now, I am not producing music, but it’s been on my mind for a while that I need to make the time and dive in, if I want to get booked anywhere outside of San Diego... so more to come on that!
If you could play anywhere, at any venue in the world tonight, where would it be and why?
It’s the house music capitals of the world for me, Ibiza or Tulum.
In what ways can the San Diego dance community support you/ your event(s) or collaborate with you?
To support me: follow me on IG at @morriskode_music to stay up to date with my upcoming shows and sets. Follow me on SoundCloud soundcloud.com/morris_kode and share and re-post if you like my music! Follow @theafternoonumbrellafriends on IG for info on upcoming Umbrella shows; and of course, save the date for Umbrella Weekend 2023 (March 9-13)!
To collaborate with me: If you are a DJ/producer, local craft or clothing vendor, dancer/performer, artist/live painter, photographer, lighting or sound expert, food vendor, bar service, or anything else that could enhance the experience at music events – I’d love to connect! Let me know what you are able to contribute, and what you’re looking for in return (payment, promotion, photography/media, guestlist spots, etc.). DM me at @morriskode_music.
Lastly, what’s a track you want to share?
I want to share this track I’ve had on repeat lately. It’s a beautiful organic house production by Savvas – this is the type of music I listen to pretty much around the clock when I’m not out at an event or DJing. I find organic house to be relaxing, but more importantly grounding. Organic house helps me slow down, connect with our tribal ancestry, and is a powerful conduit for meditation and reflection.
Lastly, I also want to thank @housekeysd for this interview to help the community get to know me a little better, and for everything that you do for the SD music community – we are very lucky to have you!
You can keep up with MorrisKode on Instagram,
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