Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Fults.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was raised in the city of Santa Ana, in a middle class and modest home by parents who were born and raised in the South (Tennessee and Texas). Growing up I would say my parents were pretty strict (probably due to their southern upbringing), and I think that might have had something to do with me becoming somewhat of a wild child during the later years of my college days. From elementary school thru high school, I was a straight-A student as well as an all-star athlete, and because of my athletic accomplishments, I was even recruited to play soccer at the college level. However, my life from age 6 to 19 consisted more than anything of school, sports, church, Girl Scouts, playing piano and listening to mostly oldies music (50’s & 60’s) in our house because all the other stuff out there was, according to my mom, tacky.
Of course, it was a good life, and to this day I still love oldies music, but I felt trapped in a bubble that wasn’t showing me everything that was out in the world, especially the variety of music and people in it. Well in 1999 (I was 19) that bubble was finally popped when I was invited to my first party, or better known as a “rave”, by a good friend from High School. It was an experience that changed my planned life course. At the time when I was invited to this party, I was at the point in my life where I was moving from playing soccer at a community college and on to playing at a division 1 college. The season was just about to start and this party had completely changed my thinking. For the first time, I didn’t want to continue to play soccer. I knew I wasn’t going to be a professional athlete in the future, so why should I continue to play and be confined to just school and soccer all day every day? Instead, I could be going to these parties that felt like home, which the soccer field did not feel like anymore.
So just like that, I quit the team and became immersed in the electronic dance music (EDM) and “rave” scene from 1999 to 2002. I would go to these underground warehouse “raves” and “raves” out in the desert or forest almost every weekend. This dance and music culture was so creative, open and accepting to all who entered it. I would meet amazing artists, dancers, musicians, and people from all over the country. I could dye my hair funky colors and wear outlandish outfits, and I would be accepted. I could be me. It was undoubtedly a community like no other. I would listen to the electronic music being played, the people dancing, and it completely blew my mind and filled my heart with joy. I would watch the DJ’s and listen to the story they would tell in their sets through the songs they choose, and I knew that I wanted to learn to do what they did someday.
At this time, because the scene was still underground, the DJ’s didn’t get paid a lot of money and would be playing in a corner or on a tiny stage, not really facing the dance floor, just in their own world keeping the dance floor moving. It was more about the music they were playing then how they looked or trying to put on an over-the-top show while they played. These were the vinyl days, so you would see crates of vinyl on the floor and the DJ’s pulling out records from their covers, flipping to the side they wanted, and setting the needle to the start point. I miss seeing that today.
After about a year of going to these parties, I decided I wanted to actually learn to DJ. So I saved my money, and I bought a pair of Technic 1200’s. Since just the turntables were so expensive for a struggling college student, I couldn’t afford a mixer, which is obviously an essential part to this whole process, so a friend gave me a pretty worn down 2 channel Gemini mixer with a broken crossfader that he had no use for anymore. Not a glamorous set-up for most, but it was a dream to me, and I could finally start to learn to mix records. My good friend and a DJ himself (DJ Glimpse), who to this day is still a super talented DJ/Producer, would give me lessons and take me to record shops to establish my own vinyl collection. I knew when I started to mix that I wanted to play and focus on the genre of House. At these parties I would see incredible House DJs such as DJ Dan, Felix da Housecat, Bad Boy Bill, DJ Irene, DJ Collette, and Groove Armada, just to name a few, and that was the music that continued to flow through my veins when I went home.
However, learning to play wasn’t easy, and beat matching was a nightmare. I would practice for hours at home and in front of my friends at house parties, but the truth was I wasn’t very good. I was beginning to think that maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a DJ after all. After a few years, I got better at it, but certainly, I wasn’t at the level of some of my friends or the DJs playing at the parties I was still going to. By this time it was now 2002 and I was graduating college. I was 22 years old and I needed to pick a career, and DJing clearly wasn’t going to be it. So I made the decision to put my Technics in storage, dye my hair back to a “normal” color, and disappear from the community I loved so much in order to become a “responsible adult”. For 9 years I didn’t touch a record or turntable.
On November 7, 2011, my father died unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. He was only 66 when he died and he should have had so many more years of life to live. I was 31 and I still had my life, which I didn’t want to spend unhappy or regretful because the reality was it could end at any moment. My father’s death was a wakeup call that my life needed a serious reboot. So I dusted off the records, turntables and the worn out mixer and started to practice mixing my records again. I practiced when I could while at the same time I was juggling an adult life. After a few years, I felt I was ready to try and play in front of people again. Well, unfortunately, at this point, vinyl was a memory of the past and everything was digital now. Plus almost everyone you talked to considered themselves a DJ. However, on the positive side, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and huge dance parties were mainstream and finally accepted. Plus headlining DJ’s were now getting paid massive amounts of money.
It was definitely a new generation and a lot had changed in the past 10 years. I asked myself, should I really go for this again now that I’m in my 30’s and the industry is so saturated? The answer was of course YES! Screw it, this is what makes me happy and age is just a number anyway. I knew if I wanted to try again to be a DJ it was going to take a lot of hard work, but hard work does not come without reward. At this point, since I was no longer a struggling college student, and instead was pretty successful in my corporate career, I had the means to upgrade my equipment to join the new era. So I did. I bought new digital turntables, which played USB’s, not vinyl records, and a new fancy mixer that had 4 channels, sound effects, and of course a functioning crossfader. I was 34 now, and I had decided to set an aggressive goal to learn the new digital format and play at a bar or club by age 35.
As I was trying to navigate how to use this new format and equipment, I was extremely fortunate to meet, just by pure luck, another amazing DJ/Producer, DJ STRIP (Tommy Marini). He gave me a ton of digital music (which would have taken me months to collect), a handful of lessons on the new equipment, and loads of valuable information and advice which helped me to become a solid and more diverse DJ (Top 40, Hip Hop, Latin and House music). After about a year of dedication and practice, I booked my first gig on my 35th birthday. I accomplished the goal I had set for myself, and that night DJ AmandaXO was introduced. It’s been 3 years since that first gig, and I am beyond blessed and grateful that I have been able to play at so many various bars, social events, schools, and top clubs in Orange and Los Angeles County. With this new journey, I have met and been inspired by so many amazingly creative people and DJ’s in the industry. To this day I still have my Technic’s and vinyl records. Although they aren’t used very often by me anymore, I will never get rid of them, as they will always be a reminder of where and how I started.
Has it been a smooth road?
It wouldn’t be such fun and adventurous journey if the road was smooth. It definitely has had its ups and downs. Since the industry is so saturated now, you have to set yourself apart from the other DJs in order to get booked for gigs. Of course being a female DJ certainly is an advantage, as there aren’t that many of us out there compared to the male DJs. I think one of the major struggles was creating a solid brand for myself. From your look to your logo to your style, it all is so important and it’s not easy to do.
In the beginning, you also have to be your own manager, promoter, and booker which takes a lot of time and hustle. The bars and clubs now want the DJ’s to promote themselves and get people to their establishments, which puts a lot of pressure on you as the DJ. I previously thought that these places would get the people to come, and I would keep them there with my music. However, instead, you as the DJ are in charge of doing both. It’s tough.
At the clubs, if you can pull a crowd you will get a better time slot to play and possibly (but not all the time) be paid. It’s definitely an ego crusher, in the beginning, to see the mediocre DJs playing in the best timeslots at these clubs, and myself getting stuck with the dead timeslot even when I was the better DJ. So it was, to say the least, pretty difficult to build a fan base in the beginning when I was playing at a time when no one would be at the club to see me.
It took years, but now I finally have a following of the most amazing supporters. They are the ones that keep you going when you feel like giving up. I think often we the artists are the most critical on ourselves, and your supporters remind you that you aren’t as bad as you think (even when you feel like you totally bombed a set).
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the DJ AmandaXO story. Tell us more about the business.
I am very proud that I have now been able to make DJing a career when it first started out as just a passionate hobby. Being able to get paid for something you love to do is the best feeling and accomplishment in the world.
I think my selection of music and style for my sets is part of what differentiates me from the other DJs in the industry. Since I come from the vinyl “old school” days, I am able to use the skills of beat matching and blending songs that some of the newer generation DJ’s don’t do. I also make it a point to always have a direction or story that my set tells.
There is a beginning, middle and end. Every song selection is carefully thought out and mixed with a purpose. I also combine “old school” and “new school” songs in my sets which definitely makes people of all ages turn their heads and stay on the dance floor.
Last year one of the most memorable moments was when I was asked to open up for one of the first DJ’s I had seen during my early “rave” days and someone I admire so much, DJ Dan. I would never have imagined that almost 20 years later I would be on the same stage with a legend like him. As fate would have it, I still had one of his vinyl records in my record collection at home, so I brought it with me that night and had him sign it. At that point, it felt like my DJ career had now come full circle. Just recently, a guy at a bar told me after my set that he was so impressed with my Djing.
The reason he was impressed, he said, was because he saw that I was not only just a pretty face behind the turntables, but I also knew how to mix and blend songs really well which he had not seen or heard in a long time. When you get compliments like that, even at the toughest moments when the doubts pop up in your head questioning if you are actually good at what you do, you are reminded that you are, and to keep going.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think the industry will continue to grow and new technology will be introduced. I also think we will start seeing more and more female DJs playing at big clubs and festivals.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.djamandaxo.com
- Phone: 714-623-6918
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @DJAmandaXO
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DJ-AmandaXO-437979693050642/?ref=settings
Image Credit:
Bradley Schweit Photography, Kat Attack Photography, GMTZ Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
