Digital Logic, otherwise known as Jeremy Klein, out-dueled the other finalists earlier this month to win the first ever WU DJ Battle, earning him a chance to DJ at W.I.L.D. along with DJ Keeno. Student Life had the opportunity to sit down with Digital Logic and ask him about his influences, the St. Louis DJ scene and how he feels about opening for Cold War Kids.

Student Life: Can you tell us a little about how you got into DJ-ing?

Jeremy Klein: Well in high school I went to a ton of concerts, got really into electronic music. I had a couple friends who started getting into DJ-ing and bought the equipment, and every time I went over to their places, I would play with it for hours. That sort of got me into it. And over the summer before I got to Wash. U., I bought some equipment. That’s all I needed for months at a time.

SL: What acts do you look toward for inspiration?

JK: I’d say mostly electronic acts. I’ve seen Boys Noize, Justice, Cromeo, Crystal Castles, Proxy, all of MSTRKRFT—like all these big electronic acts. Every time I go to these shows, it’s just unbelievable to be dancing with hundreds of people. Everyone’s going nuts. That’s really what inspires me.

SL: What do you think of the St. Louis electronica scene?

JK: Eh. I mean, there’s a little bit. There’s like, random raves and random DJs that are pretty cool. No one that I’ve been really impressed with, but there’s something to do.

SL: Do you play much around campus?

JK: Well, I did a lot of Myers parties, I did some frat parties. I live in Myers, so we’ve been just constantly throwing things on our floor.

SL: What kind of equipment do you use?

JK: I have a Numark DXM06 Mixer in my laptop. I also do a little bit of competition; I use a MIDI Controller for that.

SL: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the contest that you won?

JK: You may know better than I would, but I think it started out as somewhere between 12 and 15 DJs. They did this audition, which was just a 10-minute set a week before the competition with a panel of judges. Basically, they narrowed it down to five finalists. And then the finalists did a competition in the DUC, where each DJ got a 30-minute set. They judged based off of crowd participation, overall energy. A bunch of different categories, creativity. I’d say one of the biggest factors for me winning was just having a ton of my friends there. They were awesome. They came out and just danced their faces off. It was pretty sweet.

SL: Were you impressed by any of the other DJs there?

JK: [Senior] John Huang was really, really good. He’s been doing it a lot longer than I have. He’s technically really impressive. We’re really different styles. I think it ended up being style choice.

SL: Could you describe your style?

JK: Like I said, I’m a lot more into the electronic genre. I’m a little more, I guess—I don’t know if the technical terms are going to help you understand it. I DJ at a higher BPM (beats per minute) rate. He does more hip-hop stuff.

SL: So you’re more like—give an act that you think people could identify you with.

JK: I would hope people would know Boys Noize. If not, then Justice, MSTRKRFT. But I don’t know if I’m like anyone that Wash. U. students know that well. And I think that’s something I like, that I’m hoping to bring to Wash. U., is sort of a different kind of music that they haven’t listened to.

SL: And what are you thinking of bringing to W.I.L.D.? Are you working on any new stuff?

JK: A little bit of new stuff. I don’t think any of my stuff is really at a point where I can integrate it into my sets that well. I’m getting there. I’d say that right now, I’ll be mixing, obviously, on the stage, you know, combining pieces of other people’s stuff. Something that I’m doing differently, that I haven’t done in the past in any of my other sets, that I didn’t do in the competition, is that I’m integrating a little bit of dubstep, which is a very different style of music than what I normally play. I’m pretty excited for that; I think it’ll be a cool separation.

SL: Are you excited for any of the other acts at W.I.L.D.?

JK: Yeah. Yeah I am. I really like the Cold War Kids. I’m hoping that I set them in a way that they’ll sort of be able to roll off of me, but it’s tough, because we’re such different styles. It’s going to be interesting to see the energy change in W.I.L.D., from John Huang, who’s actually DJ-ing into Shwayze, and then myself, and Cold War Kids. It’s so many different styles going on at W.I.L.D., and I think in a way that’s a really good thing, because it gets a really diverse group of music. But at the same time, it’s also going to be difficult to maintain a mood throughout W.I.L.D. So we’ll see how it goes, I think it’ll be a lot of fun.

SL: Is there anything else we should know about your DJ-ing career?

JK: Hmm. Not particularly. I’m just hoping to make people dance and sort of appreciate electronic music a little more. I saw Passion Pit come and, in my opinion, totally change people’s perceptions of that genre. Before they were here, I didn’t hear Passion Pit playing anywhere on campus, and now I hear it all the time, which I love. I’ve been a huge fan of Passion Pit for a while. I’m kind of hoping to do that a little bit, to bring something different to campus.