DJML: “It’s like having sex with everyone in the room at once”
No, I’m not talking about a new designer drug. I’m talking about the way Seattle tech entrepreneur and DJ Mark Lacas feels when he’s working the turn tables at one of his gigs. And the way you’re likely to feel, too, should you be fortunate enough to be on the floor. Mark’s a man of many talents, but it’s his sizzling passion for whatever it is he’s doing right here, right now that sets him apart, in my view. Being wickedly intelligent doesn’t hurt, either. He’s succeeded in a lot of things - not least among them persuading Paul Allen to invest millions of dollars in a technology firm he co-founded, which is now called Singlestep Technology. And now, in addition to the software he’s working on, which is too secret for him to talk about, he’s lighting up dance floors from California to British Columbia with his mixes. Mark’s basically the kind of guy that if he decides he wants to do something, pretty soon you’ll be reading about it in a magazine somewhere, not just hearing about it from your friends.
I’ve known Mark longer than almost anyone else since I moved to Seattle in 1998, back when a gig for me meant loading trucks at UPS at 2 am. When I first met him at his old flat above the Bell Town Pub (supposedly the same place Tom Robbins used to live in), I counted no fewer than 15 Mac computers in the place. I liked him immediately. Not long afterward he hired me to do some design projects at his firm, and encouraged me (or perhaps “drove me” is a better term) to develop my programming skills. To the point where today, if I didn’t learn it in an O’Reilly book, I probably learned it (or of it) from Mark. So I’m delighted to have the opportunity to introduce him to you, too.
Q: Tell me a bit about yourself, and what brought you to Seattle.
I’m an entrepreneur, artist and technologist who likes to travel and sail. I live to make new things and to engage people.
I was coming to Seattle on a fairly regular basis to visit customers, and every time it was time to leave, I was disappointed that I wasn’t staying. That told me I shouldn’t have been leaving. I went back to Hermosa Beach, CA to my company, “Lone Wolf Technologies,” and called a full staff meeting. I asked the employees what they thought of the Pacific Northwest.
They all gave me this funny look and said, almost in unison, “Why”? A few months later there was a unanimous decision by all 20 people and their families, that they would move up with me. I moved the entire crew to Seattle. Some had never been away from the area where we had lived and worked, and they came anyway, because they all deeply believed in what we were doing.
Q: You’ve been successfully running companies for a long time. Any advice for small business people starting out on their own?
First of all use every cell in your body and soul to find a vision of what you should be doing. Spend the time to make your vision full and complete down to every detail. Don’t let your envisioning get in the way of doing, though. Start working toward your vision from the start and never stop. Figure out ways to self fund as much as possible. Devise a path that utilizes your talents and gets you paid for them as you go. Build that up and find ways to reinvent and diversify. Make sure you are doing something that makes people’s lives better in some way and that fulfills who you are. Don’t let failures stop you, they are simply teachers of what not to do next time. Learn from them and get stronger. Solicit everyone to help with your vision. Some will stay and many won’t. Build a critical mass and spread from that.
I have a bunch of mottos that I always keep in mind:
- “A winner never quits, a quitter never wins.”
- “Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement.”
- “When all is said and done, more has been said than done.”
- “Don’t let your mouth write no checks that your tail can’t cash.”
- “Do, or do not, there is no try.”
Q: What kinds of technology are you excited about these days?
I’m excited by a number of technologies, but my main love will always be using computers to enhance the things that we do, that make us happy and satisfied.
Q: Among all of the things you’ve accomplished so far, which are you most proud of?
Winning the International Science Fair. Watching the Apollo blast off with the President. Being self employed (terminally unemployable) since 1983 when I went out on my own and never looked back. Becoming friends with all my customers (Herbie Hancock, INXS, Chick Corea, U2, Grateful Dead, Emerson Lake and Palmer, etc…) and having my designs and products being used on tour by them. Getting my patents. Giving a demo of my VNOS technology to Paul Allen at a lunch date in ‘92 and getting $5 million dollars investment from him, because he thought it was really cool. Hooking up with my beautiful wife and having a super sweet baby girl.
Q: How long have you been spinning records in Seattle, and what got you started with that? What excites you about mixing?
I’ve been DJing since 2002. I was going to parties and having a great time dancing and I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have my career in music change in a new and fun way. Went to Burning Man and got knocked off my feet. I thought that I had to try DJing so I could make other people as happy as I felt. Then one night at a Paul Van Dyke show at the Showbox it all came together. I saw my future wife while dancing to the most amazing set I had ever heard. The crowd was going more crazy than I had ever experienced. I knew I had to do that no matter what it took. That night transformed what my life was to be like. My lady, my music and my friends to be were all set in motion that night. That started what was to become two years of daily practice and devotion to the meme. Little did I know how many nuances there were to master.
Mixing for a crowded room is one of the greatest highs I have ever felt. I’ve been in lots of bands, played in the city symphony, jammed and hung with lots of great rock stars but none of that even compares with taking a room full of people and winding them up to an ecstatic frenzy with my mixes. When we get to the top and everyone is yelling and whistling and screaming…it’s like having sex with everyone in the room at once. Seeing the big smiles and happy looks, I know that its got to be one of the purest forms of happiness I can give to them. There is nothing like it.
Q: Tell me about the best gig you ever spun. What was it like?
That’s really a tough one. They are all special in some way. I guess it would have to be Luminous Flux, that’s the night finally I broke through with bringing my experiences in Europe to Seattle. Casey Ann and I went to Sonar in Barcelona and danced our asses off for 5 days and nights to the high energy mixes that only Europe can engender. I wanted to bring that energy back to Seattle but knew that I had to do it in a way that worked for the people who come to our parties here. At luminous Flux I decided to raise the bar and mix the sounds and styles I had been transformed by, in a way that Seattleites could appreciate and get caught up in. That roof went off that night and I new I was on to something and had to continue to pursue experimenting with that vibe and energy. I had discovered a way to mix many genres starting with what is accepted here, and then changing and ramping up the energy and evolving into forms that might not have gone over here, not unless one found the path that could cross the chasm of the known and accepted to that which takes you over the top.
Q: You were the person who introduced me on to the Burning Man community here in Seattle back in 2001, and it’s had a massive impact on me. How has your participation in that community affected you personally and professionally?
My life has been transformed in many ways by my participation in the Burning Man community. I found my new voice in music and my tribe family. That led to getting together and marrying my sweet wonderful Casey Ann, and giving life to my best new little friend Aleta. I can’t even imagine how it would be if I hadn’t joined up with the Space Virgins and gone to Burning Man that first year. The years where we grew the camp from a small crew of diverse individuals to the party powerhouse it is today were amazing to participate in.
Q: How are you progressive? (and I’m not talking music here).
I try to stay on top of the things that affect us beyond our local neighborhood. With that I work hard to bring information from all points of view and geographies together to share with and educate as many people as I can. I have been the custodian of a politics list that has grown far beyond anything that I had imagined when I started it. I feel that it is all of our responsibility to understand what is going on in our world and to do what we can to make it better. Knowledge is power, and providing a conduit for sharing ideas, news and views has proven to be very fulfilling. I only hope that by banding together and discussing, and taking action, we can have a positive impact on the future of our lives and the planet.
Mark’s website is www.djml.com