DJ Spooky was born Paul D. Miller in 1970 in Washington DC. His father was a lawyer and Howard University professor who passed away when Miller was only three years old, leaving his son an extensive collection of records. Though his...
[more]DJ Spooky was born Paul D. Miller in 1970 in Washington DC. His father was a lawyer and Howard University professor who passed away when Miller was only three years old, leaving his son an extensive collection of records. Though his father was absent, the record collection allowed Miller to get acquainted with his father's nature and influenced his far-ranging fusion of musical styles. As a kid, Miller accompanied his mother on her world travels, which further exposed him to the music of other countries and cultures. Coming of age in the DC music scene of the 1980s, Miller delved into all different kinds of sounds, including ska, funk, and plenty of punk. His personal involvement with music continued throughout his youth and led to his first radio show at Bowdoin College called "Dr. Seuss' Eclectic Jungle."
While in school, Miller studied French literature and philosophy in class, and Science Fiction and music on his own time. After graduation, he moved to New York City to write Science Fiction and advertising copy while interning at the Village Voice. But most importantly, it was in New York that he turned his love of hip-hop into the underground Soundlab Collective. This movement, which included fellow artists Sub Dub, Byzar, and We, later morphed into the illbient movement, a strain of ambient techno infused with a hip-hop influence.
After releasing a series of singles and EPs, Spooky unleashed his debut album, "Songs of a Dead Dreamer," in 1996. The album went on to spawn the club hit, "Galactic Funk." From there he began intermixing the worlds of free jazz and electronica with fellow musicians and artists like Kool Keith, Killah Priest of the Wu-Tang, Organized Konfusion, and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Since then, a few full-length albums have followed, each expanding his audience further. But with each new project, Spooky has said that he is more interested in taking his NYC sound to a more global audience.
To serve that end, he's done something almost unheard of in the world of DJs: he's formed a live band. Spooky works with a full troupe of players, including JoJo Mayer on drums, Dan Yashiv on keyboards, S.C.A.M.P. of Bassline Massv, and, of course, Spooky himself doing double duty on stand-up bass and a set of turntables. He expects to play a different interpretation of his own music every single performance, redefining his art and his persona for each new audience.
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