Welcome! Please introduce yourself
My name is Oscat, I am a queer DJ from the Inland Empire, born and raised in Fontana. I got my start in San Francisco, and now I’m trying to make waves here in the LA area.
You started DJing back in 2022. How did that process get started?
So I started during the pandemic, bedroom DJing with my best friend I lived with at the time. We were in the lockdown era of it all, and she strongly encouraged me to use my unemployment money to purchase a controller and was just like, “Do it and let’s just live stream it.” I got my first practice being on live streams, and then once things started opening up, I did my first event for a party called Poppers. It kept on growing, and other people were noticing that I was DJing, and I got asked to DJ more parties, and now we're here.
How was that transition? Going from live streaming to your first in-person set, because you can turn a live off, but when you’re in front of people, you can feel their energy.
No, for sure. It's totally different because you're by yourself in a room. You're not performing for an audience, so you're not getting that live reaction. You think, “Oh man, I'm really freaking eating right now.” But when you try to translate that to a live audience, it doesn't always hit. You play it live, and nobody is reacting, or you see people walking off the dance floor, or just not vibing.
How did San Francisco influence your first steps into live performance, and how does that compare to LA now that you’ve spent some time in both places?
I feel like in SF, at least the scene that I’ve been DJing in, people have been a little more open to campery. I push towards camp and the fun of it all. I feel like in LA, because a lot of people are here to make a career in nightlife, people take it very seriously. So there’s this pressure to have everything be perfect. In San Francisco, I feel like people just let loose a little more.
You’re from the I.E. originally. What inspirations did growing up there have on you? I’m also from the IE, and I feel there’s a vibe to the creatives there.
I definitely get a lot from the IE, because there is this rawness. There’s a sense that you don’t have to be perfect. The imperfect kind of helps build and create. I feel like a lot of the SF locals really gravitated towards me because they recognized that rawness, unfiltered energy that I was able to cultivate in the IE.
You blend different genres: hyperpop, reggaeton, techno and Latincore. Can you speak on your process for blending these different genres, cultures, and energies?
I think growing up in a place where you don’t have a lot of outlets to express different facets of your interest and personality, you end up developing those in private or secrecy, especially in such a conservative area like the IE. I know for me, my queerness wasn’t something that I really felt a lot of pride in growing up. Moving to SF gave me the opportunity to take all these interests I had growing up and blend them with my queerness and create an environment I always wanted to see for people like me growing up, but never had. When I was in Latinx-centered spaces, there was an emphasis on heteronormativity, and there wasn’t a highlight on queerness. I want to give back to the queer youth that are caught in these intersectional spaces of queerness and Latinx culture. I want to take classic reggaeton or classic regional Mexican music and play it in a space that’s super femme-centered or protective of queer people, so they can reconnect with a place from their childhood.
"I want to give back to the queer youth that are caught in these intersectional spaces of queerness and Latinx culture. I want to take classic reggaeton or classic regional Mexican music and play it in a space that’s super femme-centered or protective of queer people, so they can reconnect with a place from their childhood."
It takes the fear out of it. I think sometimes fear is pushed on us [Latinos].
Fear and shame, for sure. It inspired me to make spaces for people that I think need it – people like myself that feel pride in their culture but also want to feel pride in their queerness.
How do you start formulating the vibe you want to bring to your set?
I tend to pull from inspiration based on what I'm listening to at the time. I get very cerebral with it. But I also try to stay true to my Latin roots. I always say that I tend to play more music in Spanish because it just speaks to me a little more. So if I'm being inspired by techno or house music at the time, I’ll do a deep dive into what Latin people were doing in that genre during that era. If it’s '90s house, I ask: Who was putting out Latin house music then? I’ll try to dig into the archives and blend something from the past with what's happening right now.
I do want to talk about the Labubu, because we can’t not talk about the Labubu in the room. Give us your vision with the Labubu and a little history on him (Momo).
I got introduced to Labubus in January of this year
So it’s a fresh obsession.
It's a fresh obsession
And you already have like 10 on the console!
They’re just so cute, and there’s something really fun about having to collect them. I really enjoyed seeing all of the content that people were making around Labubus—the memes, the craziness. So I was like, how can I tap into that energy and bring it into nightlife? Maybe give people a space to be youthful, to be campy.
When you have these on your console, do you feel like they get reactions? Like when someone sees one, can you spot the Labubu lovers?
You can always spot somebody who's in the active Labubu hunt. And then you can spot someone who's curious. Maybe they've seen some Labubu content.
I feel like you’ve kind of touched on it, but do you have any advice for anyone coming to a Labubu event that you throw?
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Come and just have fun. That’s really the goal. I think if people come with an open mind and the idea that they’re just there to have fun, not take it too seriously, not overthink, it creates a better space. I feel like LA takes itself a little too seriously sometimes. I just want people to come, let loose, literally let your hair down. Don’t think too much about what’s happening or what people are going to think about you. Just let go.