NEW TIMES How long have you been a DJ?

HOWARD I’ve been doing this for 11 years now. I did my first gig midway through 2000 when I was 15. I started with school dances, and I was pretty much just choosing songs, and then when I was about 16 I started realizing, oh you can mix these songs.

NEW TIMES When did you purchase your first equipment?

HOWARD In 2007, so I would use, like, the school stuff or I would use the club stuff. I was broke, and I was struggling to make rent. I had to sell a projector and an Xbox when I bought my own stuff in ’07, and it was really crappy equipment, too.

NEW TIMES How much stuff do you have to carry around with you when you tour?

HOWARD Well, the places I am going to all are set up with the equipment. I just bring my computer. I have an iPad for my video and my hard drive. There are some places I can just bring my hard drive because I’m with other guys and I can just plug in.

NEW TIMES Have you always been into music?

HOWARD Yeah, I mean I didn’t ever play—I played trombone at about the same time I started to DJ. But I was always into the way the lyrics land on the beat.

NEW TIMES What is a video DJ?

HOWARD People who DJ with video, when they spin, you’re still mixing the music, but there is also a video counterpart. If I mix in a song or scratch it out or echo it out, the video corresponds with that.