DJ and producer Them Jeans came up in the LA electronic scene throwing parties with Dim Mak Records and now travels the world spinning genre bending sets at premier events. He DJs the Sahara Tent Vol. 3 party this Friday, May 18 at 1015 Folsom.

We caught up with Them Jeans waiting around for a haircut in LA last week before he headed out to Palm Springs for a DJ gig that night.

You and DJ guests discuss random topics as well as a little bit of music on your Tall Tales podcasts. What got you started on doing a podcast?

I’ve always been into comedy but never really had anything to do with it professionally – a fan of standup, movies and TV. I started listening to a bunch of comedy podcasts while walking the dog or at the gym and thought I might as well try my hand at it. It’s a fun way to get that out of my system while building my personal brand and another side to me that people might not know.

I spent a few months trying to figure out what would happen and at first wanted two guests on the show at a time. They wouldn’t know each other and the three of us would talk about random stuff and see what happens.

The first one was with Paul Devro from Mad Decent and Dallas Clayton, a children’s book author. They’re two people who have similar personalities but come from completely different worlds and I thought there would be some magic going on. It was pretty magical and after that I was hooked. I’ve been doing them once a week for about nine months.

The two different people plan didn’t last very long. It was cool but it’s hard enough booking a guest for every week while also having my whole musical career at the forefront.

My new cohost Nikki is helping out with organizing the booking and scheduling. Even if she’s not saying anything, having a girl in the room makes guys talk and behave differently and keeps it entertaining – keeps it from getting too nerdy. She’s funny and has a pleasant negative outlook on life.

 

Them Jeans Tall Tales Podcast ft. Anna Lunoe

I look at your style as a mix of indie, house, hip hop, electronic – all types of music. How did you get into that rhythm as opposed to sticking with one genre?

I’ve always liked so many different kinds of music and when I started really getting into DJing the people who I looked up to were DJ AM and people like Diplo who at the time were really all over the place as well and I kind of adapted that style early.

I see how many different things I can do at once and see how weird I can take things but do it in a way that it works. I definitely have done a lot of gigs where I only play one type of music but I will try to sneak something different in here and there.

Any music you are really into right now?

I really like the new Girl Unit record, the new Major Lazer song “Get Free,” I’m remixing that pretty soon, and liking the new Beach House record a lot.

You eat extremely well and are known for posting photos of your food on Instagram. When you come to SF are there any essential meals or restaurants you have to hit up?

Lately I go to Burma Superstar – Burmese food, which I’ve never really had before. A lot of friends have told me about Mission Chinese which I’m planning on going to. Usually I also like getting a burrito somewhere in the Mission.

I actually just started doing a second podcast that’s going to be about food that should be out in the next few weeks. Kind of like Tall Tales but I make the guests lunch and we talk about everything while eating.

How did you learn to cook so well?

I learned kind of randomly growing up and got into it when I was younger. I was vegetarian or vegan as teenager and I always tried to make food I liked but in a different way because I couldn’t eat meat. From there I was always into using my imagination and cooking weird stuff.

Sahara Tent Vol. 3 ft. Switch, Sinden, Them Jeans, Anna Lunoe and others is Friday, May 18 at 1015 Folsom. More info.

• Tag: 1015 Folsom, Anna Lunoe, audio, Interviews, Q&A, Sinden, Switch, tall tales podcast, Them Jeans