DJ Enferno’s Three-Pronged Attack

By Eric Henderson | March 3, 2009

Very few people can say they quit their day job as a network engineer to pursue a DJ career that led to a DMC World DJ Championship title and a gig as Madonna’s personal DJ. In fact, the only person who can say it is Eric Jao, aka DJ Enferno.

Eric Jao began his career as a DJ starting at the young age of sixteen. Persuading his parents to loan him start-up funds for costly equipment, Jao started playing shows in high school and by the first year in college he had created quite a name for himself. That name was DJ Enferno.

Promoters conceived “DJ Enferno” for a Heaven and Hell themed party, where Jao was spinning in “Hell.” Jao remembers, “They needed a cool name to put on the flyer so they were like, ‘let’s call him Enferno since he’s on the hell floor, and let’s start it with an E instead of an I because his name’s Eric.’ And that’s it.”

From that point on, Jao started booking high profile gigs and entering in competitions. “The first time I ever entered the DMC, which was in 1999, was pretty embarrassing. But, it almost didn’t matter because there was so many other guys on stage that also sucked,” says Jao. “I was really bad and unprepared.” From those humble beginnings, Jao progressed to winning the coveted 2003 national DMC title.

The DMC title was just the beginning; recently Jao started the Live Remix Project, which is one of the most comprehensive DJ experiments happening in the scene right now. Typically, a DJ will use two turntables that he/she will mix between the two throughout the night. The difference between that and the Live Remix Project, is Jao using everything for performance as opposed to just playing. “So, if you can imagine adding performance gear, or in this case keyboards, synthesizers, little drum pads,” explains Jao. “I’m using that type of gear along with my turntables as musical instruments. And the cool thing about it is with technology nowadays, I can basically produce music as if I’m in the studio. Creating a track, I can do that live and perform it live as opposed to getting up there and putting a pre-recorded record on.”

Jao is currently the only one in the industry who, as he explains, uses a “three-pronged attack” of music, technology and turntables. It was during one of his “Live Remix” performances that Kevin Antunes, Madonna’s music director, found Jao and immediately wanted to use him for her performance. The call was made, Madonna agreed, and Jao became part of the team — easy as that.

Soon after starting rehearsals for the main tour, Jao received a call from Guy Oseary, Madonna’s manager. Jao recalls being told, “‘Madonna wants you to keep giving your input and to work with Kevin on certain things.’ Specifically me, you know? That meant a lot to me to be asked that.” Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour was so successful that it will be extended starting late summer 2009.

In the meantime, Jao will be focusing on his Live Remix Project. After performing with one of the most renowned artists in the world, Jao continues to reach for his dreams. Expect to see DJ Enferno at a Super Bowl halftime in the near future.

San Francisco peeps can check out DJ Enferno live March 6 at Fluid.

www.fluidsf.com