Article by eva figueroa

DeeJay Julicio

By Eva Figueroa

C o m i n g he had to come into the music back to scene somehow. Let us take a h i s look at his life: As a child, Julio found himself and his family going back and forth between Chile and the US. He attended middle school in us U.S., but later moved back to Chile in the house mid-90’s where he would after a long then start his life jourday at work, the ney. starving musician sees “I was the first a notification for a new voiceperson that inmail on his phone. Checking troduced Juthe voice message, his face lio to the m u s i c ,” lights up with joy. He runs up- says Pelao, the bass stairs to where his newly wed- player of Los Morton. “I ded wife is working. “Baby,” he gave him his first turnsays, “I got the gig!” table.” Julio’s brother was Soon after celebrating friends with the memwith his wife, he rushes down- bers of Los Morton, which stairs to make a quick phone is how he got introduced to call to his best friend. He tells the band. Being the younghis friend the same great est one, he had a hard time. news, and in return, Although it was tough, at his friend consixteen years old, Pelao gratulates him explains it as “...a dream and offers to go for come true. it was the support. experience of a life This is the life time.” of the underground Julicio says that musician: Deejay Julithe history of djing cio. He devotes his life to has come a long way since music and djing, while has the early 90’s. At the begina soft spot for his family and ning of Julicio music career, friends. Of course we all know Djing wasn’t something ev-

eryone knew about. The whole reason scratch was added to Los Morton was because of its new, fresh sound.

Like all other musicians, lugging around equipment can be a drag. “It was horrible,” says Julicio. “It used to be a lot of work. Because, to do a party, you needed [at least] one crate of vinyl with fifty to sixty vinyls. That’s a lot of weight” (Torres). He says that it is simpler now with all of the new

“Fictur, ut verovide eiciis imus sed magnis aut vo-

technology. “We only need a computer, two vinyls, my needle, and…

I can play.”

As we all know, Julicio is not the only Dj in San Francisco, let alone the world. With all this competition, comes the struggle for self-promotion.

Julio is self-promoted, meaning: no manager, no company, no nothing. He tells us that he advertises his music on different social medias such as Facebook and Soundcloud. Of

course he is not the only one either; he says he uses these websites to also get gigs and find other musicians.

While he is more widely known as the dedicated and cool urban dj, Julio says he is just as committed to his family. He has a nine-year-old daughter that lives in Chile with Julio’s ex-girlfriend. Because they live so far away from each other, Julio often misses her. They do often visit each other when his daughter in on school break, but this isn’t enough for a loving dad like him.

As a newly-wed, Julio has been pretty busy, but happy nonetheless. His wife, Mariana, says he always bounces ideas off of her. Mariana says she enjoys this about their relationship: “He’ll make me listen to [ the song ] in like its very beginning stages, [ but in ] very beginning it’s a little hard because you just hear a little piece

of a beat and you’re going I think it’s gonna be great. [...] it is really fun to see the whole project and see how it comes together.”

Mariana’s and Julio’s relationship is heavily based on

traveling, according to Mariana. She says that she believes it is the best way to get to know someone. Both she and Julio are the type of people who like to get out and try new things. “[ We

Elentem r “[ We ] are also on the same page when we travel,” says Mariana. “...[ We ] don’t overplan, and we kinda [ just ] go with the flow.” “[ Without ] him, I wouldn’t know what to do. I would sit at home, watching TV all day, not doing anything.” Mariana

chuckles, “I’m just kidding, I don’t know.” She says that Julio is a fun guy that brings excitement to her life. Through her eyes, you could tell she was in love.

Moving into the future, Julio has a lot coming his way. In just one year he has played all

around south east asian, played at a Samsung party, and has gotten married. When I asked Pelao what the future holds for DJ Julicio, he responded enthusiastically. “...I hope [ in ] the future, [ he will be a lot ] better than [ he is ] now.

You know, [ recording ]

more solo albums, and [ still doing ] what he [ does now ] too. You know, he’s been [ making ] collaboration albums with artists from different countries, and so, he’s going up.”(Pelao)

] years.”

Julio is currently working on a new album coming out this year.

And he will keep going up, says Pelao, as he wishes the best for his friend. Like Pelao, Mariana doesn’t quite know what the future brings, but she is sure he will keep getting better and better everyday. I

asked Mariana what she thought Julio might be doing in a few years and she responded: “I dunno! [ And ] who really knows, right? [ I ] just, I hope that he’s happy doing whatever he is doing in [ the next few

Works Cited Torres, Julio. Personal Interview.

Figueroa, Armando. Personal Interview.

Torres, Mariana. Personal Interview.