KGNU’s DJ Umo 1 chats with Denver DJ Mike Disco about his journey as a DJ and his experience with the Denver music scene. Mike plays a guest DJ set (Interview date: 6/20/2024)
DJ Umo 1: Got a special guest in the building. Mike Disco. What’s up, Mike?
Mike Disco: Hey, how’s it going?
DJ Umo 1: Good, man. How you doing?
Mike Disco: Good. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.
DJ Umo 1: Nice. You grew up in Denver or what?
Mike Disco: Yeah, born and raised in Denver. Moved around a little bit here and there. But the majority of my life, been here in Denver.
DJ Umo 1: Nice. So what kind of stuff are you going to play today for us?
Mike Disco: I’m going to play a mixture of some world disco from various places, some Brazilian and some from the Middle East. Got some other fun edits of some good summertime vibey music.
DJ Umo 1: Nice. That’s what’s up. What artists influenced you to be a DJ?
Mike Disco: I got big into disco in middle school and randomly found a flyer for an event called Funk House, which turned out to be a rave with Mark Farina back in 1995, and it really just turned me on to house music. He was doing his Mushroom Jazz series back then, and got me into kind of the trip hop stuff, which I’ve already been into hip hop, and always been into diverse music, but yeah, that’s what kicked off my DJ career or lifestyle and just enjoy exploring all sorts of music at this point.
DJ Umo 1: Nice. You’ve been here pretty much your whole life. You lived in New York City before.
Mike Disco: Yeah, I lived in New York for four years. I lived in California for about a year. I lived in Baja in a trailer for six months recently. But yeah, been here in Denver. I used to own The Beauty Bar. So did that for seven years. Yeah, so I’ve just been involved in Denver stuff since the nineties.
DJ Umo 1: Nice. Has the scene changed a lot, the music scene, from the 90’s to present?
Mike Disco: Yeah, a lot has changed in ways. There’s still a lot of the same faces and characters out there, but Denver’s grown a lot.
I would say the biggest change is that there was more overlap in community. Back then when it was a bit smaller there were established places like Muddy’s and St. Mark’s – kind of like coffee shops where everyone would gather. And then there were venues and that would support different genres but the same people would attend all of it. You’d see the same people at a punk rock show that you’d see at a rave so it’s a little more just supporting the underground and supporting music which I think still goes on but it’s a bigger city and more international attention. We got great tours here in the 90s. I got to see Nirvana and got to see a lot of pretty major 90s acts. Denver has always been a good stopping point for touring bands and stuff.
DJ Umo 1: What’s your favorite venue in Denver right now?
Mike Disco: Right now I really like Stay Tuned, which is a new little venue on 22nd and Larimer. It’s just a really nice, intimate room with a great void sound system and they curate all sorts of music and they do a lot of fun parties that start at four and go to nine. They’ve got later events that go from nine to two as well. It’s got a good vibe. The dance floor just feels comfortable and safe and just a good place to be.
DJ Umo 1: Yeah, I think Brother Funk Unk is a part of that as well.
Mike Disco: Yep, Rob’s over there and yeah, the Love Language people that do that event do parties over there. And yeah, it’s just good vibes. Funk Unk and I actually are working on some tracks right now that hopefully will be coming out later this year.
DJ Umo 1: I’ll be looking out for that. Be sure to send those my way and to KGNU!
Mike Disco: I will for sure.
DJ Umo 1: Yeah, man. After this Mind Design song, we’re gonna get Mike Disco in the mix. Big ups to everybody. Big ups to my guest, Mike Disco, on that set.
Mike Disco: Yeah, thank you for having me, that was a lot of fun, much appreciated.
DJ Umo 1: Yeah man. What kind of stuff did you play, what artists?
Mike Disco: There was A Brazilian track by Joutro Mundo, I believe is how you pronounce his name. There was a track from India byAlisha Chinai and Vijay Benedict. Let’s see, there was a tune by a group called Phantom Slasher. And that was a cover that they did. There was a George Benson song in there, which I love him. I love his guitar style and how he scats over his soloing. There was a French artist Vieux Farka Touré, I believe is how you pronounce it. An Italian disco track by Five Letters and a Latin disco track by Pino D’Angio.
DJ Umo 1: Nice.
Mike Disco: Actually, that last artist might have been Italian, but I think it’s in Spanish, but I don’t speak either one.
DJ Umo 1: Right on.
Mike Disco: But yeah, thanks again for having me, that was a lot of fun. Thanks for tuning in everyone.
DJ Umo 1: Yeah man, thanks for being on the show.
