Thank God It’s Funky – Ruckus Roboticus

The technology age that we are living now is well beyond our wildest dreams.  Seriously-think about it.  Vinyl gave way to cassette tapes.  The cassettes then stepped aside to give CDs their day in the sun.  Now, downloading music from the internet is the current craze.  Music also experiences changes.  Elvis shake, rattled, and rolled to become the king of rock and roll.  The 70s paved John Travolta to become a mega superstar.  The 90s was the grunge era.  Currently, electronic dance music is starting to put its footprint on the music scene.

Deadmau5, and Skillrex have become extremely popular as the electronic dance movement has started picking up speed.  Top 40 artists and producers are including the up-tempo vibe, and drum beats DJs are creating.  Also, seeing an EDM show is simply stunning these days, with the light and sound shows being produced.  The quickness you can download it, and the amount of music you can get online just makes things easier for DJs to set up their sets.

Locally, we have a crop of DJs that have honed on the skill of dubbing music together and mixing drum sounds with it.  One DJ that is currently making some noise is Dan Haug.  In case you don’t recognize that name, you probably know him as Ruckus Roboticus.  Tonight (September 20, 2012), Roboticus is going to be releasing his newest single and video for the song ‘T.G.I.F. (Thank God It’s Funky) at One Eyed Jacks in Fairborn, Ohio.  With the release, Roboticus will also be performing all night with another local DJ Jay Madewell.  Both plan on bringing the dance jams all night for the patrons that visit the intimate establishment.

‘I started DJ-ing in 1998’, Haug told me during a phone conversation.  ‘I started to discover electronic music, rap music, and I wanted to make stuff.’  Haug saved up money to buy a turntable, and started to work on his craft.  By bringing in old school rap from the rap pioneers N.W.A. and Run DMC, he slowly started to bring his touch on DJ-ing.  He went to parties, dancehalls, and clubs to perform.  He would practice with friends hanging around.

The practice started to pay off as Haug started to get work outside of town.  Some of his work includes remixing with bands Bloc Party, and Vampire Weekend, game developer Rockstar Games, and car company Scion.  He’s done shows on stage with other acts like DJ Jazzy Jeff.  In 2008, he released his first album, Playing with Scratches.  All this praise and good fortune hasn’t got to Haug’s head, he says. ‘It’s great that I have gotten to where I am, but I know that I need to keep getting better.  I don’t want it to ever to get to my head.  It’s not me.’

Currently, Haug is working on his next album, Phantom of the Disco.  Disco will be a concept album, telling the story of a dark and mysterious man.  ‘The album will talk about the nightlife and clubs at night’, Haug explained.  ‘It talks about shady people.  Greedy people who are in these clubs just for the money.  The phantom steals from the show, brings the love of music to them.’  There isn’t a
release date yet for the album.  Haug will be doing a few shows around the area, and then pack up and move to Los Angeles in the middle of October.  ‘I have been thinking of moving to Los Angeles for the last couple of years’, explained Haug. ‘There’s a lot of great things happening there for DJs, and I feel that it would be great to move there, get some great experience, and network.’  Haug then told me that he still will have family here in town, and he will coming to visit.

One Eyed Jacks in Fairborn, Ohio will be generating a lot of people getting their dance on with old school rap and electronic dance beats and also celebrating the single release of Ruckus Roboticus new song, ‘T.G.I.F. (Thank God It’s Funky) at 9pm.  The video for the song is also being shown at the show, starting at 9:30pm.  Also, Roboticus will be performing at the Trolley Stop on October 6^th, as he will be part of the 2012 Dayton Music Fest.

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