On Performing, Passion And Staying Paid: DJ La Moon
As part of our ongoing digital residency, we’re spotlighting our recent interview with La Moon, an Austin-based recording artist, DJ, radio personality and co-owner of Night Owl Studios.
In conversation with bbatx committee member Diamond Hawkins, La Moon talked with us about her passion for music and performing, how she draws the most inspiration from other women, and what her day-to-day looks like as a performer, DJ and business owner.
ABOUT DJ LA MOON:
La Moon is a recording artist, DJ, radio personality and co-owner of Night Owl Studios in Austin, Texas. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, La Moon has loved music since she can remember.
In 2012, she started DJing every weekend at a popular club in Old San Juan and has performed in Miami, Colombia, New York, California, New Jersey, Chicago and more. La Moon’s goal is to perform and have her music heard around the world.
Her supporters gave her the title "La Reina del Perreo" because they love her explosive Reggaeton/Perreo DJ Sets.
In 2019, La Moon started releasing original music in Spanish and singing live. Her popular songs are "Lunática", "Violenta" and "Algo Sexual"—some real sexy dancing bops. She really enjoys collaborating and creating with other like-minded individuals, and she strives to provide a comfortable, professional, creative, good vibes recording studio called Night Owl Studios with her fianceé and two great friends. You can keep up with her on Twitch every Tuesday from 7 to 8 PM CT and during her “Cafe y Perreo” morning DJ sets.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. :)
My real name is Kristiany and I'm originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I moved to Austin. I love music—I DJ, I sing, I’m the co-owner of a music studio here in Austin, and I work on the radio. I like to do everything that has to do music, entertaining, creating and having a good time. That’s usually what La Moon does.
Let’s start with your stage name. Where did it come from?
Well, I've always been known by my real name, Kristiany, but then after the hurricane [Hurricane Maria] happened, I moved to New York because I was trying to leave the island. So, I moved to New York, and I would notice that Uber drivers wouldn’t know how to say my name. No one knew how to say my name! Literally that first weekend, almost instantly, I was like, I need to change my name, because no one’s going to book me. No one’s going to remember me if my name's this complicated.
I wanted to do something in Spanglish because I do things in English and Spanish. Spanglish is another language that I really speak, so I decided on La Moon! Because I'm a night owl! “La” in Spanish and “moon” in English. Anyone can say it in any language or accent.
What inspires you to create?
I just love expressing myself. I love being in good vibes. I love being relaxed. I like setting a mood, and I like to set that mood for other people. I just like people in general, so I make music for them. I like to express myself, but I also think about my demographic and who's going to listen to it.
I usually get inspired by women and our stories—us having fun, us being sad, us trying to get over stuff. You know what I mean? Us being badasses! Women always inspire me. Every time a woman compliments me, it means a little bit more than if a guy does it for some reason. Drake could tell me that my song was the bomb, but if some 17-year-old-girl told me, “Oh my God, you're the bomb,” I would be like, “Oh my god, a girl liked it!” I would feel so good.
What does your day-to-day look like?
Honestly, it depends on the day of the week. Monday through Friday, I'm at the radio station (Enchufe Radio Digital). I do a 30-minute DJ set, and then the night before, I have my listeners vote between two songs, and they choose which song they want. So, I have to think ahead of time about the songs they’d want to vote for and if it’d be a hard battle. Stuff like that. That’s me with my radio stuff.
If I'm at the studio, my daily schedule might change. If it's the studio I co-own, then we’re thinking of services, how to bring people in, things like that. If it's me creating my own songs in the studio, I pretty much try to create every second I can because when it hits you, it just comes. You just live life and things come to you at any time. So I’ll be listening to beats, getting some lyrics in… some feels. Whenever I know there's no clients, I'll try to record. I make music, and then if I have to DJ at the club, I use that time to practice and create stuff. Usually when I'm on the radio live on air, I’ll be practicing deejaying five times a week, plus on the weekends. I'm deejaying almost everyday. I do love it, but I love making music more. Performing—being live in front of people—is my favorite.
I love it because I hate waiting. I feel like I'm very patient and zen, but I'm actually so freaking impatient. Every time I perform, I don't know… for some reason, at least in the past, I always fight. I always get into an argument with others every time I have an event. I just feel like we [performers] give so much love, but at the same time, we know we deserve the love.
That's pretty much it for my day-to-day. But sometimes, everything goes crazy. I would get a message saying, “Oh, we want to do this today.” I'll go, but I also have to prepare for other things. I’ll have to go to the studio because something's happening, or we have a meeting at the studio. It can be very hectic, but I like it because it keeps me occupied, and honestly, I like making money. We’re hustling here, you know? So right now, I'm just trying to do everything I can. I don't have a studio here [at home], so I can't make music. Everything's in the studio, but the building it’s in is currently closed.
What do you do when you wake up in the morning? Do you have a specific routine?
For my best self, I definitely need to meditate for twenty minutes. Ten minutes is not enough anymore. I actually got that from J Balvin. He does it for twenty minutes a day, so that encouraged me to take that step since ten minutes wasn’t doing it for me anymore. I used to meditate for ten minutes without guidance, but then I did it for the first time guided, and I feel like it helps to make the time pass by quicker and get me to where I want to be mentally, you know—uplifted, relaxed and everything's beautiful. It makes me feel really good, and it really makes a difference. I also have to walk my dog, and she just makes me so happy. My baby girl!
In the morning, I like to drink water with lemon and lime. I’ll have friends over, and they’ll be like, “Why are you so bougie with your lemon-lime water at your house?” I'm like, “What's wrong with you? Just let me be!”
After that, I usually like to take a shower. Well, the first thing I do is brush my teeth, but then I'll take a shower, do my makeup, and listen to music while I'm doing that. (My morning mix is about 90% Bad Bunny.)
Then, I go off and do what I have to do. The first thing I do is usually go to the radio station, but I have to meditate, though. To me, it’s about patience. You know how many times things change in a day? Something last-minute usually happens to me. I’m used to it—that's part of life. All I can change is myself and how I deal with it.
What sparked your interest in your craft?
I've always loved music. I was that girl in every talent show, you know what I mean? I just did that all the time, but I never pursued it as a career until I graduated from college.
I studied kinesiology while I was living in Puerto Rico. What I wanted to do was do a boot camp on the beach once or twice on the weekends and have a DJ playing. So, we’re all on the beach looking cute, and it’s kind of like an obstacle course. People run it about ten times, all that stuff. So, I started doing that, but then if I was trying to book a DJ, they were like $100 or $150. I was just like, You know what? That's too expensive. Like, I'm not going to book you. You're not going to make more money than me.
So, I got the equipment, and then I learned through YouTube. I made the mix really simple because it's workout music. It's not like club music. It's much simpler. I just have to put on the banging songs. I premixed it, got my friend to fake being the DJ, and that was it!
Then, one of my friends from high school owned a bar there, but she had a really bad DJ, so I suggested she let me DJ there! The DJ would be playing techno, and no one in Puerto Rico wants techno. They just want Reggaetón, hip-hop and salsa. I told her that no one was coming to her bar because of the DJ playing techno. She didn’t want to cancel him because he was her brother's friend, and I understood that. But then one day, he got booked to do something else, so I told her to let me do it. And she said OK! I had one or two days to prepare. I have a lot of friends because I went to high school and college there, and it's a tiny Island. Everyone pretty much knows each other. I told people that I was going to DJ there, and it ended up being packed. There was a line at the side of the bar, and that really convinced her to drop that guy because, like, it's good money. No one was coming in for the month that she had it open, and I just told her that it was because she just needed someone that puts on what people actually want to listen to.
What was that experience like?
It was so lit! Because I was young—I was out of college, but I was like, what, 22? Like, lit years, you know what I mean? Now I'm 34, so that's what I'm saying. You know the song “Champagne Showers” by LMFAO? I got my friends on the bar making champagne pop! We made it like a Miami club.
How do you get through creative mental blocks?
I never write a full song. I just write emotions or one verse or something. Then I go to the studio, and whenever I'm on the mic I say other stuff or take in more ideas. I've noticed that I get roadblocked when I'm on a deadline. In my mind, I’m saying what I have to do and what I have to finish instead of just going in and chilling, because of the time limits. That's why I want a studio in my house. That’s the next thing I'm doing.
If you could tell something to your younger self, what would you say?
I feel like I was way more confident when I was younger. I would do whatever. I wouldn't even think things through. That could have been a good thing, could have been a bad thing. I just feel like I shouldn’t have listened to other people’s opinions and just have listened to my own. That's why I studied kinesiology in college, because my parents were really against me doing anything in music. If I didn't listen to them, I would've just studied music and been this boss and probably would have been different. I graduated, and then I had to study and learn again. It felt like I did eight years of learning.
But at the same time, maybe that made me more hungry, more driven. That's probably why I do, like, ten things at once. It's hard to have friends that understand me, because they have their nine-to-five job and they come back home and they're like, “When are we brunching? Where are we shopping?” And I’m like, I need to get booked for a DJ gig at the brunch. I'll see you there. That's how I think—money, money, money.
LISTEN TO DJ LA MOON’S BABES FEST RADIO MIX. :)
About This Mix:
This mix by DJ La Moon will get you amped and feeling fierce. Let yourself go in this ultra hype set of eclectic rhythms and bouncy beats. Featuring exclusive and unreleased tracks by Las Mas Violenta. You can tune in to DJ La Moon's livestream show every Tuesday at twitch.tv/djlamoon.
TRACKLIST:
1. W.E.R.K (edit)
2. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Fruity Set Jersey Style)
3. TNGHT & M.I.A. - BAD GOOOORLS (BAVR RMX)
4. La Goony Chonga - Claro Que Si (Perreo Mix)
5. Cesar Mannix x Hernande2 x Neddo - COSITA
6. Saweetie - Tap In (MarkCutz Multi Beat Blend)
7. Muy Caliente Versano Laroz x Mc V.e.g.a Dancehall
8. Sak Noel X Salvi X Franklin Dam - Tócame (Hater Perreo Del Sucio Remix)
9. Ducky - Work__ EMPYREAN TEARS REMIX (dembow edit)
10. Rosalía - A Palé (PAPITO PEACE EDIT)
11. Princess Nokia - I Like Him (Olzhas Serikov & Niceskeik Remix)
12. Dj Karaca feat. Truth Hurts - Addictive (2016 remix)
13. Tragame - Salon Sandunga feat. Ayotamz
14. Ms Nina - Rico Rico (Prod Beauty Brain)
15. Give It To Me - Nouriginal
16. Cardi B - WAP (feat. Megan Thee Stallion) (OAKK Bootleg)
17. BURN THE DISCO - Afterparty
18. IZDA - B.T.$.U.
19. Baby Work It (Ramuro Diaz Remix)
20. Missy Elliott - Work It (acapella)
21. Tove Lo - Disco Tits (HARD HABITS EDIT)
22. Gypsy Woman (Gafacci Remix)
23. Bambaataa Drip
24. Callaita (GC og Edit)
25. NO PONY edit
26. Satisfaction (Gafacci Edit)
27. Vamos A Jugar En El Sol - MËGA & Airsoft
28. Space Jams - Move Ya Body (TMB Edit)
29. drill my name (Λ N N Λ B E L flip)
30. Ayo Tamz x DJ la Moon - Aye Papi (Las Mas Violenta unreleased)
31. DJ La Moon - La Villa
32. Ayo Tamz x DJ la Moon -Trakate (Las Más Violenta unreleased)