Meet John Cabrera | Cat dad, Composer, Music Producer, Dj

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Cabrera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
When I was a kid, my parents were both into music. My mom was a Disco queen. My dad was the type of guy who just knew everything about music. Given how much my dad knew about music and how into it he was, plus his family history. Fun fact, his dad taught Richie Valens how to play guitar. My mom loved to go out dancing whenever she could. I grew up dancing, at parties, in dance groups etc. I was the type of kid that needed to be on the dance floor. Come middle school and high school, I got introduced to DJ’ing while attending Boys and Girls Club. I was messing around with the dj system they had there, practicing on vinyl. From there, my passion just grew. My sister would pick me up from school and would always have those classic mix-tape style burned CDs full of music their friends had introduced them to. I heard Chemical Brother’s “saturate” and was in total awe. That song drove me into wanting to create music.
I was conflicted because back then Dj’s and producers were separate. We had people like Benny Bennasi and Daft Punk coming up that were introducing us all to the fusion of production and Dj’ing. From there I spent time every day after school researching and hanging out with my sisters friends to learn more. I read the blog Chemical jump, I would start to put my music, mostly remixes, on SoundCloud. It wasn’t very good, haha. I would enter remix contests too. That was what was really big at the time. People like Girl Talk were such a big deal with the mashup style craze at the time. Girl Talk really inspired me to get into production as well.
I continued to make music on my own and draw inspiration from the big DJs and producers of the time. DJ Shadow, Afrojack, Hudson Mohawk, XXYYXX, Clams Casino, the list goes on. For me, I chose to pursue music as a career because it was the only thing I felt I was truly good at. My parents weren’t very supportive of it. They felt that it wouldn’t be realistic or stable, which I think is a concern all parents have for their kids. My mom had a stable career in the DMV. My dad had his own business. They always wanted me to go down a similar path as them. To be raw about it, I grew up with an auditory processing learning disability and they didn’t think I would be able to make it in the music industry. I felt passionate about music and I thought that I was good enough to turn it into a career for myself. It was a tough choice, but ultimately I have family that supports me and plenty of great friends and collaborators that I have met along the way. I really wanted to show people with a disability that if I can make it in this industry, they can make it in any industry they choose.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Going back to what I had mentioned before about what got me started DJing. I was playing around with a classic vinyl set up. That lead me into learning how to use my ear to listen for audio cues and how to mix live. From there, I got deeper into DJing and became what is known as an open format DJ. Essentially, someone who is not painted into a corner by one particular genre. I like to mix all sorts of music together and read the crowd I am playing for to tailor my set to them. That directly translated into the type of music I produce. I like to work in all sorts of genre from IDM, to hip-hop, house. Really anything that’s thrown my way.

The type of genre I get really into is IDM. Think of big artists like Apex twins or Arca. I like to make really experimental beats that are off the wall and utilize my sound design skills too. I work with weird synths, programs that create unpredictable beats. I also really pull inspiration from Flyin Lotus, Flume, Hudson Mokwak, Porter Robinson. Those people fuse some genres together to create unique music and blaze trails for other producers. That’s the type of music I really enjoy making.

Was it easy? No. I mentioned before that I have an auditory processing diability. That means that in order to learn new skills, I have to practice a lot and go really slow. For teachers and trainers, that can be really frustrating. I am very grateful to have had the mentors that I have worked with in the past. What I love about production is that there is a great and supportive community out there, but by and large, it is a solo skill that I can play around with and really go at my own pace. It took me awhile to transition from DJing to producing because I wasn’t too confident in picking up that new skill. Team Supreme helped push me out of my comfort zone and laid the foundation for the production techniques I still use to this day. They also taught me how to work under pressure and sometimes, to not be so precious about the music I am making. For many artists, their work is like their baby. I totally get that. Sometimes you have to not be afraid to toss out some ideas to allow new ones to flow in. That process is what gave me the sound I have today.

Lastly, I want to add: support your friends. A big factor in shaping my sound was going out to support smaller artists. Those small shows mean the world to artists and seeing them up there helped me to grow myself. It is important that we all receive that sort of support at any point in our careers to help us keep going. The community support means a lot.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in the Valley, about 30 minutes north of LA. I love it up here. We have great food on just about every corner with much less traffic. HIghly underrated, but we would have to go to Wong’s in Pacoima. Best Chinese food. Some of the best tacos can be on really any corner in the Valley. I love the beach too. Santa Monica is really cool with a pretty good beach, plus my boyfriend’s restaurant right next to it, so that’s an easy go to. YOu can check out the peir while you’re there or drive up PCH to Malibu for more private beaches. We can always do a trip into LA and do an Aemoeba run to grab some vinyls.

Honestly, I’m just a quality time sort of person. I stay in a lot and just like to have people over to kick it and talk. We can play some Smash Brothers, Pokemon or just put on an anime while we drink some seltzers. I’m easy. If we were to take a trip, I love renting a cabin in either BIg Bear or Arrowhead where it’s just chill and beautiful. We can get a bunch of frozen taquitos and pizza and just make a whole bunch of music between sitting in the hot tub.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Mike Parvizi, Dot, my former mentors, my friends Ghozt, Boxkitty, Blood Of Aza, Everyone in Ghozt den, Anyone who supported my music, especially Wreckno, msft, and Sømething. Rafi, massive from truth – htz, X&G, Massie and Wize, the Boiler Ro0m CrowdSourced my friends and collaborators Fasado and Yucki, as well as everyone from Team Supreme. club mesh & kilohearts for letting me beta test their plugins & letting me test phase plant when it was at its early stages. Anyone who has used any of my samples. Also my Vasaya people plus nubloom studios. I know I can’t name everybody, but I want to thank everybody who has taken a chance, risk, or an opportunity to work with me or support my art. That means the world to me. I read every message and I am thankful for all the time and support. A special thank you to my partner, Robert. He supports me in all my ventures, provides advice, critques, and takes care of me and our sons, Ziggy and Riley. (They are animals).

Website: rejectdamain on SoundBetter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rejectdamain/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-cabrera-272924145/

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Youtube: @rejectdamain2989

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@rejectdamain?lang=en https://www.twitch.tv/rejectdamain https://nuboomstudios.carrd.co/ co production and scores