Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Mclean.
Anthony, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Washington DC, but my family is from Trinidad & Tobago. Growing up in my household, I was influenced by Soca, Calypso, Hip-Hop, Go-Go Music, R&B and Soul. I began my career of performing at the age of 17 for private parties, strip clubs and lounges in the DMV area. When I turned 18, I moved to Tallahassee Florida, where I attended Florida Agriculture & Mechanical University. There, I honed my DJ skills by playing for a plethora of people from different cities in the United States. After I graduated, I moved to New York City. During my time in NY, I learned how to understand culture and expanded my catalog of music to sounds from around the world. This included Afrobeats, Reggaeton, Salsa, Bhangra, Bolly Wood, Funk, Soul, House music and much more.
My time in New York also lead me to spin for some of the biggest hotels, lounges clubs and parties. Some notable ones are the 40/40 Club, Green House, The Mondrian Hotel, Tammany Hall, etc. I’ve also had the opportunity to share the stage with Biz Markie, Rev Run, T Pain and other well-known artist and DJs. In between DJing for parties, I toured the country playing for various music festivals such as Vans Warped Tour, High School Nation, Truth Live College Tour, Mountain Dew Festival, the Honda Civic Tour, Tony Hawk Boom Boom Huck Jam, Caye College Tour, Afropunk Atlanta, Afropunk NYC, 2018 Tennessee Gay Pride Fest and various others. After six years of living in NY, I decided to take my skill set to Los Angeles which is where I currently reside.
Los Angles was always one of my favorite cities. Moving out here has been such a positive and uplifting experience. I love the people, culture and energy. I also have had the opportunity to collaborate with awesome recording artist, songwriters and music producers on various projects. I look forward to what my future holds in this lovely city
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My Journey has been filled with many challenges and much success. When I first moved to New York City, the culture shock I experienced musically was extreme. I felt overwhelmed by how much music and how long DJ’s played for in a single night. It felt like I was learning how to DJ all over again. I remember my first party in NY was actually at a major club. From my perspective, the people there were not impressed with how I deejayed. I did have some positive feedback, but I was extra hard on myself for not excelling. I also had various opportunities I missed out due to being apprehensive and doubting my abilities as a DJ. I experienced various moments of depression, sadness and at one point, I moved back to Washington DC for several months and stopped DJing.
During that time, I focused on music production which was another love of mine that I was doing on the side for several years. I remember the slump that I was in changed when I was with my friend in Brooklyn at a book store. He invited me out so I could get my mind off my current situation. We were reading magazines and he handed me one that was named Lady Gunn. He showed me an article on a famous DJ who discussed their process on success, etc. The article resonated with me so much that I bought the magazine and studied his process to the T. From there, I began practicing everyday up to 3-4 hours. I studied as much music as possible for about four months. By the beginning of Spring, I was a Different DJ. I was polished, knowledgeable about what I was playing and focused. From that point, I gained better gigs and also knew how to step up to any challenges that presented its self. I decided to take control of my life vs letting it control me.
DJ Clean ‘The sound of the people’ – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My business is that I am a DJ and Music Producer. My style is known as an Open-Format DJ. This means I play a variety of music genres in a single night. My specialty is mixing music from around the world and translating it in a way that’s comprehensive to the listener. I’m proud that I currently have been able to develop my international sound and style of “flawless mixing”. What set’s me apart from other DJ’s is my mixing ability, crowd reading IQ, music production style and charming personality.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My definition of success varies from day to day, month to month, year to year and overall life. The success that I strive for overall is to supply my family with enough financial cushion that they will be able to live comfortably. This mean’s access to amazing healthcare, room and board, spiritually uplifting resources, the best fresh produce and all the love and support that I can physically provide. I also look at success as providing resources to my community. These resources will be access to mental health, financial education, networking and various others. Day to day success for me is taking care of my mental health, physical health and knocking out small activities. When I don’t complete these activities and have to move them to the following day, I’ve learned to not shame myself but honor the fact I had the awareness to know that it needs more work. Month to month is making sure that I push myself further than I did last month. That could be achieving one major task, doing something uncomfortable, and reaching out to a major resource. Year to year is very subjective. I usually compare my month to month success’s overall to see if it matches my idea of substantial growth. That could be financially, physically, mentally or spiritually.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thesoundofthepeople.com
- Phone: 2024411655
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/djclean
- Facebook: facebook.com/therealdjclean
- Twitter: Djclean
Image Credit:
Tavis Johnson/Instagram: @Stayinyourframe; Trivell Miller/Instagram: @Tmillerfilms
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
