Getting to Know Your Local DJs (Part III)

Here’s the third and final part of our mini series. Check out our interviews with Ken Lazee and Eric Masiello!

DJ Ken Lazee

Ken Lazee has been on some coveted line-ups since his career began back in the mid-1990s.  He opened for The Crystal Method and DJ Dan in the Nation main room for one of the Buzzlife closing parties, he opened for Mark Farina at Club Five, and just last year he warmed for DJ Sneak at U Street Music Hall.  As Lazee simply states, “All of these performers have had a huge influence on me and it was a complete honor to be on the same line up with each one of them.”

Even with such star-studded gigs on his track record, Lazee is still able to vividly remember what inspired him to work so hard toward building his career in music.  His interest in DJing developed out of a love for the rave and club scenes in the DMV.  He reminisces, “One night that summer [of 1995] DJ Feelgood played at Rise in Baltimore – that was the first time I ever saw a club full of people put their hands in the air to electronic dance music. Memories like these are still fresh in my mind and still inspire me today.”

As someone inspired by the District’s scene, Lazee is more than excited to be one of its strongest presences all these years later.  “We have always had a very special electronic music scene here in DC thanks to all of the amazing people involved. I’m happy and thankful to have gotten to know many of these people over the years and to have been given a chance to DJ, to work as a promoter and now to work at U Hall; this experience has been a truly amazing ride.”

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 Eric Masiello aka DJ Erictronica

Eric Masiello got his start in high school when one of best friends purchased his own DJ setup. It may not have been the finest equipment but it was enough to get Masiello going and 13 years later, he has not looked back.

Inspired by regularly seeing Scott Henry and Charles Feelgood at Paradox, Masiello was transfixed by those parties, provoking him to start DJing himself in the early 2000’s. He looks back fondly on his earlier parties in Baltimore like “Syntax,” but it’s his party with Deinfamous that gets the big bookings.  As Masiello says, “We occasionally do a 4 deck DJ set as D-FECT and we’ve had a ton of great bookings.  My favorite two were opening for Goldie in the main room at Buzz and then playing the closing Buzz party. The closing party was nuts. It was packed. Everyone was dancing and the walls were sweating. Frankly, it was also kind of gross but damn was it fun.”

While pursuing his career as DJ, Masiello has also been focused on building “Expansion Broadcast,” a podcast he does with a few friends.  “We’re actually about to celebrate our ten year anniversary this September so my fellow Expansion Broadcast crewmates and I have been planning what we’re going to do. We can’t announce anything yet but we have some pretty grand plans!”

Excited to have such a solid footing in the DMV area, Masiello appreciates the way the electronic music community has helped to nourish his career. “DC has seen a lot of ebbing and flowing with EDM over the years, but the community has always been really strong,” Masiello claims. “Clubs like U St Music Hall and promoters like 88 DC, SubDistrick, and Deep Sessions are doing a lot to foster that community and expand its reach. Right now I feel like dance music in DC is stronger than ever!”