DJ Star Eyes

With eight years of DJ experience under her studded belt, 23-year old Star Eyes has a hypnotizing presence behind the decks, moving seamlessly between all different styles of drum 'n' bass with an ear for powerful melodies and captivating basslines. Star Eyes is known for creating a good party vibe and a lasting buzz wherever she goes, whether it's Toulouse, France or San Francisco's own Eklektic, where she has been a resident since 1997.

Taking up mixing at the age of 15, Star Eyes was originally inspired by old skool hardcore, which would eventually morph into today's drum 'n' bass. On the strength of underground mixtapes, she quickly shot to fame in the West Coast rave scene as the West Coast's first female junglist.

In 1997, Star Eyes moved to the Bay Area and co-founded the San Francisco B.A.S.S. Kru with DJs Abstract, Flux, and Hak. The Kru began throwing some of San Francisco's first jungle parties, helping establish the city as a hotbed for drum 'n' bass, a title it retains to this day. Star Eyes also released Ruffage during this time, a tape that has passed through ravers' hands from the West to East Coast and back again. The same year, Star Eyes became a resident at Eklektic, a party which has since become the West Coast's longest continuously running drum 'n' bass night. Eklektic has been featured as "Best Drum and Bass Club" in Playboy, Details, Urb and the SF Bay Guardian.

In 1999, she became a fixture behind the counter at popular drum 'n' bass record store Compound Records and began regularly writing drum 'n' bass reviews and features for globally-known electronic music publications Urb and XLR8R.

Star Eyes' skillful quick mixing, diverse track selection, and crowd control soon earned her billing alongside some of the biggest names in the drum 'n' bass world, including such heavy-hitters as Andy C, Craze, Ray Keith, Dieselboy, DJ Rap, Stakka and Skynet, Storm, Bailey, Fierce, and Technical Itch. She has also played alongside the top names in hip-hop and electronic music, including the Invisbl Skratch Piklz, Richie Hawtin, DJ Irene, Digital Underground, and Bahamadia, to name a few.

Not content to stay in San Francisco, Star Eyes has consistently brought her sound overseas. In 2000, she was invited to play in France, where she performed at O.P.A. and on the prestigious Radio Nova in Paris, and played to a sold-out crowd at Le Bikini in Toulouse. Star Eyes has also played at Movement in London, the Rachdingue Club in Barcelona, and was a resident at the long-running Jungle Roots night in Boston. Star Eyes has also taken drum 'n' bass out of the club, and into more mainstream arenas. Last summer she played on the Vans Warped Tour, appearing alongside over 40 bands including Rancid, Pennywise, AFI, Alien Ant Farm, and 311. She also represented at KROQ's Inland Invasion concert with Incubus and Weezer. Currently, Star Eyes stars in a spot on Showtime's ShoNext Channel. The short film is part of a DJ series produced by Eyeball Media, NYC; other DJs featured include Vinroc, Disco D, Craze, and Reid Speed.

Star Eyes has also been pushing the sound of UK garage stateside for the past year. Teaming up with NYC's Siren as Syrup, the pair will be releasing an all two-step mix CD in late March, as well as performing at several events at Miami's WMC conference.

Never content to rest on her laurels, Star Eyes is currently working on a drum 'n' bass mixtape, her fifth, due out in April. She has recently set up a home studio, and is working on production, as well as holding down residencies at Eklektic and her own party, Slow Burning. Star Eyes is also the editor of Urb's widely-read drum 'n' bass section, as well as a reviewer and contributor to such magazines as XLR8R, Knowledge (UK), Deuce, and the SF Weekly. Her sets are archived on popular websites as groovetech.com, betalounge.com, and Databass at sublife.com.

Contact her for bookings at djstareyes@yahoo.com

To connect to Star Eyes on the web, log on to: www.eklektic.net/stareyes

Photo credit: Phil Wartena