Say what you will about the O.C. based DJ Dan Sena, but one thing you can’t deny is his growth of popularity in just one year’s time. Yes, it helps having friends who own one of the largest names / record labels in the scene today but having well connected friends will only get you so far. Dan Sena, has been DJing for just under two years and he has already toured some of the hottest spots in L.A. and SF. Lucky for us we got to know who he was almost a year ago and ever since then Dan has been a big supporter in the fakeRICH movement. And in turn we have been following his DJ career from his first installment of BusyWork to his packed house performance of Just Too Hott at the Glass House in Pomona.

We got a chance to pick his brain for five minutes over the waves of AIM to talk about his past, present and future.. .Check it out below:

First and foremost… Where are you / what are you doing?

Well I am in my studio,  I was working on Sonny’s remix of Copaface, which comes out in January on Sony. Atlantic. Right now I’m working on a Haus Of Cards Remix for Weird Science. Aoki gave his stamp of approval on it. He’s into it.

What got Dan Sena into Djing?

Steve Aoki pushing me. Ha no joke

Did you know Steve from your band days?

Yup, we started Dim Mak together so to speak. I had a recording I wanted to put out and Steve wanted to start a label to put out his friends bands.

How long ago was that?

1996

Hah oh yes the days of grunge

Well, I think it was the resurgence of the boy band era to be exact

So in 1996 was is still cool to throw in a boy band track in the mix… or was that DJ suicide?

I have no idea. I was playing hardcore back then. I wasn’t even connected with DJ scene… Neither was Steve

Top 5 favorite bands in 1996?

Um…sunny day real estate, Threadbare, Dinosaur Jr., Converge and?
Hmm…man…that’s a tough one…Into another

Top 5 favorite bands today?

The Presets, Bag Raiders, Deadmau5, (although they arent considered bands)

Okay 2 more?

Nope.

Perfect

Hahaha

Other than Steve literally pushing you to DJ… when did you know it was something you actually wanted to pursue?

I didn’t really; he had been suggesting it to me while I was touring with my old band bullet train to Vegas. We spent 2004-2006 pretty much on the road.
He suggested it would be a good way to make money while I was home,
I was reluctant at first, but the more I thought about it, I figured what the hell…
The context of playing music in that setting as opposed to playing it as a band was pretty alien. It was a mentally a hurdle to get over, but I gave it a shot and found it to be really fun

When and where was your first DJ gig?

Ha uh it was with GMO at a Paul Frank dodge-ball competition in April of 2007 I think it was a mess but totally fun

Do girls prefer a dude in a band or a DJ?

DJ… I still don’t get it, but girls are a lot more interested in me now than ever. Compared to when I was in a band

So you have been seriously Djing now for a year and a half… Why didn’t you come up with some “witty” DJ name that everyone seems to have these days?

Eh I had gotten so much press with my old band under my name. A lot of people already knew who I was anyway. same thing with Steve.
I just didn’t think it was really necessary it’s short and sweet as it is

Lately it seems that most of your attention has been on the production side of things… where do you see your music taking you in the future? … /what is the goal for “DAN SENA”?

To be a giant…. Except I don’t see myself turning green… But in all honesty, I’m going to take things as they develop naturally. Being signed on a label was great and all but there was so much pressure. I’ve already been through the music machine once before. It’s not very forgiving no matter how hard you work.
But I do see myself writing an electro album next year. I want to get my production ear a little more dialed in before I take that on.

Oh wow… any special guests planned for the album?

Who knows? That would shred.
Sonny would be a good one. We’ve been really getting into the whole music thing. He’s young so I’ve been introducing him to a lot of stuff.
Love to get a chance to do something with Lykke Li…. and my homie Bjorn of course

Sonny who?

Sonny Moore (From First to Last / Sonnymoore.org)…. The kid I just did a remix for

How did you guys meet?

I met him at the Blow Up LA I did in September. He was just hanging out and we were there early and just started talking

How did that event go for you?

It was great. Really good crowd response. I gave Sonny a copy of my EP that night. He called me the next day. Funny thing was I didn’t get the message until 2 weeks later. It never showed up as a message on my phone haha

Can you send us the remix for this interview?

Nope…. It’s in the hands of his management and Sony/Atlantic, I’d love to though, you know me.

Last question (I ask everyone this) the 5 artists in the world you would love to perform with and where?

MIA in London
The Stone Roses reunion in Manchester (If that happened)
Deadmau5 in Costa Rica
Mixhell in Brazil
And uh …Soulwax in Belgium or where ever they’re the biggest
Haha

So not all of them all at once?

Yeah we could do that all at Coachella of course

Which track would you like for me to put on this interview?

Yr impossible(club retouch)

Anything you want to say / add in regards to the track?

It’s a reworking of yr impossible. It wasn’t so off the mark so it retained its title
Ok rad…I’ll use the “Chat with Dan Sena” as a reference point for the convo.

Ill put that up
Thanks man

No problem champ
You’re a champ
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We were stoked to officially interview Dan even if it was a super short one… look for more heater tracks coming from Dan in 09

WEIRD SCIENCE – HOUSE OF CARDS (DAN SENA REMIX)

DAN SENA – JUST TOO HOTT

DAN SENA – YR IMPOSSIBLE

If you wanna read up on more DAN SENA… check out our first quick interview with him here:
A CHAT WITH DAN SENA

DAN SENA LIVE @ FACTORY