In 2010, DJ BL3ND (real name withheld) started making videos and posting them to YouTube. At first, no one paid any attention to the teenager jumping around his room to hardcore electronic music. Then, at his parents’ insistence, he put on a mask that looked like a combination of Halloween’s Michael Meyers stitched together with Chuckie from Child’s Play and a 1980s glam rocker.
BL3ND danced hyperactively around his room in the mask to hard beats, but this time, something struck a chord, especially for rebelling teens. Soon, his viral YouTube videos had millions of hits and BL3ND was an in-demand DJ charging outrageous fees and traveling the globe. DJ BL3ND will be performing at ATT Show Box tonight.
“I never intended to be a mysterious person behind a mask,” BL3ND said in an e-mail interview with the Taipei Times.
Photo courtesy of DJ BL3ND
Now that he is known for his many different masks, BL3ND refuses to take them off. “I can express myself better with the mask on. Without a mask I’m just a normal person who you wouldn’t expect to be crazy,” he said.
Even though BL3ND has millions of fans on Facebook and across the globe, he claims he is a normal guy who likes to spend time with his family, dogs and friends when not listening to rock, hip-hop, old school jams and electronic music.
Like DJ Steve Aoki, who mixes two songs together and then hypes up the crowds by spraying champagne or throwing cake at them, DJ BL3ND makes sure that audiences get their money’s worth when they come to his shows by giving them his all. This means sometimes jumping out onto the crowd.
“Yes, I’ve gotten injured before. Not by crowd surfing, but by slipping on water and falling on a bass bottom at a show,” BL3ND said. “I ran back to the stage like nothing had happened, but I was actually just holding on to the pain.”
While BL3ND believes that image and music are both equally important, he knows deep down that anyone can be a viral video or two away from stardom. To the people who want to break into the DJ industry, his advice is: “Push a little harder to things you wouldn’t normally do.”
■ BL3ND performs tonight from 9:30pm to 4am at ATT Show Box, 7F, 12 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路12號7樓). Tickets can be purchased at the door or iBon/FamiPorts for NT$2,000.
A vaccine to fight dementia? It turns out there may already be one — shots that prevent painful shingles also appear to protect aging brains. A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20 percent. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is part of growing understanding about how many factors influence brain health as we age — and what we can do about it. “It’s a very robust finding,” said lead researcher Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University. And “women seem to benefit more,” important as they’re at higher risk of
Eric Finkelstein is a world record junkie. The American’s Guinness World Records include the largest flag mosaic made from table tennis balls, the longest table tennis serve and eating at the most Michelin-starred restaurants in 24 hours in New York. Many would probably share the opinion of Finkelstein’s sister when talking about his records: “You’re a lunatic.” But that’s not stopping him from his next big feat, and this time he is teaming up with his wife, Taiwanese native Jackie Cheng (鄭佳祺): visit and purchase a
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
Mother Nature gives and Mother Nature takes away. When it comes to scenic beauty, Hualien was dealt a winning hand. But one year ago today, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake wrecked the county’s number-one tourist attraction, Taroko Gorge in Taroko National Park. Then, in the second half of last year, two typhoons inflicted further damage and disruption. Not surprisingly, for Hualien’s tourist-focused businesses, the twelve months since the earthquake have been more than dismal. Among those who experienced a precipitous drop in customer count are Sofia Chiu (邱心怡) and Monica Lin (林宸伶), co-founders of Karenko Kitchen, which they describe as a space where they
RSS