By Mike McCarthy
Keeping the Room Zen
DJ Zen Freeman has worked parties all over the world and lots of other parties in LA for A-List celebs. Zen is an amazing British talent that loves what he does, whether it be a party for Elton John or more corporate gigs like Microsoft. It’s all fun and games for him behind the 1’s and 2’s.
Wingman Magazine: How did you get started in the DJ world?
DJ Zen Freeman: When I was super young I got really interested in it. But professionally, it really happened when I got to L.A. really. When I was 13 I was building my own deck and setup. I think by the time I was 15 I was fully setup with a good collection. It was always a hobby to the point where I was playing clubs by myself. The amount of money that i spent on records far exceeded what any club promoter got for me. I played a lot of pubs, clubs and house parties in England. I played a little in Tokyo and Sydney, but when I moved to L.A. it was almost like there was no way that I would be able to play here.
What inspired you to become a DJ?
DJ Zen Freeman: It was like the gold rush the first time around. There were guys that were super stars when I was 13 like Sasha and Digweed and Paul Oakenfold. He (Oakenfold) played at Wembley Stadium and it was definitely the first time of what can happen on a way larger scale. The pioneers back then looked at what the Chicago House was doing and took it to a more commercial level. And for some reason it never really took off the in the U.S. It was more of an underground, rave scene. And in the U.K. it was very sexy. And then you have Paul Oakenfold producing Madonna, among others. I was a little too young the first time around, but when I got to the U.S. it was right place, right time.
Wingman Magazine: How supportive were your parents when you told them you wanted to be a DJ?
DJ Zen Freeman: I always saw it as something I loved and as a hobby and focused on my studies and thought that work was work. The beauty of doing it as something that I really genuinely enjoy doing. I had always been buying records when I was younger looking to see what I could mix together, practicing with software and hardware. I was doing that, to the point where I am now a grown up, living in LA and there was a gap in the market of the kind of music that I was playing. It all became a reality of a career and not just a hobby.
Wingman Magazine: You have worked events all over the world. Top 3 places that you have been?
DJ Zen Freeman: The thing is, I started to play some serious parties out here in LA, which had been great. Since LA is such a great city and network, I ended up going on the film festival tour. When I first started, I definitely wasn’t a club DJ because the DJs in LA were big guys in Laker t-shirts and playing 90’s hip hop mixed with 80’s rock so it’s really different. I was doing a show in a suit for Harvey Weinstein. Some of the clients I had were some interesting people in the movie business. There were a couple of billionaires and some movie moguls, so I was fortunate to have played some great events and venues. I got to play the Monaco Grand Prix and the Toronto Film Festival was really good. I played a party for Brad Pitt when he was still early in the game at a villa he was staying at in Cannes. I have played on a yacht for a party for Sean Penn, which was really interesting. It’s all about planes, trains, parties for Victoria’s Secret, and whoever the It guy or girl is at the time. Whether it was going to Cannes, Sunday, the Super Bowl I realized that, that was the market I would go for. My top 3 would have to be: I played for a billionaire and they took over part of a resort at Turks and Caicos which was amazing. I played on Paul Allen’s yacht in the South of France and another party at Lake Como, Italy which was nice too. My wife always comes with me when I get a gig in St. Barts, she absolutely loves it. I have been so lucky, for 10 years now I have been playing parties like this.
Wingman Magazine: Having worked events for so many different diverse clients, how do you plan each event’s music so you entertain their certain clientele? Like going from Elton John’s Oscar Party to say the Microsoft party?
DJ Zen Freeman: It’s all about understanding the crowd and where they come from and what they look like. It’s good to observe and it’s one of the things that in the early stages there are pop stars that DJ because they realize they can make a lot of money from it, like Calvin Harris. And on the other side there are DJs like me that have come through differently. The best DJs are the ones that are the least selfish and that play for the crowd. Obviously, playing Elton John’s party, it was an Oscar party and there were a lot of Brits there because it was Elton’s party. It was movie people as well, so I played a song for Elton’s people and then one for the movie people and one for myself and so on. A Microsoft party is more corporate where it will be more eclectic, more top 40’s music. It’s all about reading the crowd and it could be anything from the clothing, to what type of shoes they are wearing. When I play in Vegas there are 7,000 people in the room with lots of security and it’s a big dynamic show. When you are in one of these parties, the whole thing is VIP. You are on the ground and on the floor and you are in the middle of it. Communicating with the crowd can be the biggest help to a job, and helps out a lot.
Make sure to check out all of Zen Freeman’s work and his social media pages: