DinPei

Name, where are you from?
DinPei, Taipei/Taiwan.

What do you do?
DJ/Producer.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
When I studied in San Francisco back in 2015, my friends and I went to the DJ/producer, UZ’s show at a club called 1015 Folsom. I really loved the show because I was absorbed into a state that I never knew before. I was surprised that such a niche style of music had so many fans in just one place. It was amazing to be surrounded by a bunch of people who all love trap music like I do.

Which subcultures have influenced you?
Hip-hop and punk. Throughout high school to university, I had always been a member of the traditional Chinese music instrument class, while back In junior high, I played drums for a while and listened to punk. I didn’t start to listen to hip hop until I was finally old enough to go to a night club. It had a strong impact on me, as did the night club DJ; this mix of encounters motivated me to go from percussion music to becoming a DJ myself. I admired how the club DJ was able to showcase his taste and skills, so I wanted to spin my own mix of music, delivering my taste. I think I just got tired of reading sheet music, repeating my practice over and over to perfect it, preparing for tests, and performing during the seven years of traditional Chinese music in school. Nevertheless, it has a lot of impact on me. As much as I’d like to create styles of my own now, these days I add traditional Chinese music element into my work.

Of all the venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?
I would say it was the graduation performance at Chinese Culture University, and it was the very last time I played the marimba. The music piece appointed by my teacher was way above my skill level, but I ended up playing it really well. Another experience would be from 2019 Taiwan Red Bull 3Style Competition. I used my turntable to tell a story; for the first time, I felt like I was really incorporating all my thoughts and delivering a message that was important to me, and the frequency emitted matched the audience. Despite the difference in nature, I felt the same excitement in my blood as I did during the graduation performance. During both performances, I felt like I accomplished something that didn’t seem possible.

If you could be on the line up with any bands in history?
X-Japan.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Blink-182 (Travis Barker/Tom Delonge/Mark Hoppus).

Your greatest unsung hero (or heroine) in music?
Smoltron. A friend during my San Francisco days studying music production. He opened the doors to crazy genres like grime, leftfield bass, and bassline music, and showed me that it’s important to focus on the music you like.