Nic Jericho dumped finance bros for beats, bass & the dance floor
Nic Jericho had an education and career in finance. He's left that all behind to pursue his passion as a rising house DJ in Los Angeles.
Mark
Nic Jericho wasn’t supposed to be a DJ.
The rising star in the gay house music scene had gone to the University of Illinois for a degree that would set him up for success in the finance world. He was headed down that path until something else called.
“In college I got to see DJs at house parties and thought it was cool,” Jericho told Queerty. “But I studied business and accounting. I had my future planned out to go work for a big-four accounting firm.”
He had done just that, embarking on a solid career in finance in Chicago. As he grew as a gay Black man in Chicago, he found himself more and more drawn to house music and the culture that had grown around it.
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“I remember going to my first Queen! party in Chicago and seeing house legend Derrick Carter,” Jericho said. “Queen! is Chicago’s most prominent weekly queer party at Smartbar every Sunday.
“That was my first sanctuary as a gay boy, to be around people who look like me and having fun and get a release from the world’s everyday troubles. To dance on the dance floor and not focus on the DJ, to be able to get out all that pent up stress, a job, family troubles, relationships, you can have a release and keep going.”
“To dance on the dance floor and not focus on the DJ, to be able to get out all that pent up stress, a job, family troubles, relationships, you can have a release and keep going.”
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There are many current rising DJs who started down that path locked in their houses in 2020. Jericho is one, grabbing the opportunity to take on what was then a hobby. By the following year he had moved to Los Angeles, still working in finance remotely but aiming to build a career as a DJ.
In L.A., his Chicago music roots have stayed with him, committed to opening people’s ears to house music.
“Coming from Chicago, where house music is very prominent, alive and well – it’s the home of house music – I’ve always had a knack for this kind of music and always wanted to do it.”
In the gay party scene, circuit music – found mostly in the party scene amongst the gays – has dominated the last 30 years. Yet across the country, house music is experiencing a meteoric rise.
It’s not uncommon to find DJs in the underground LGBTQ party scene who simply refuse to play circuit music, as the genre is viewed as tired and lacking a certain level of creativity.
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A lot can happen on the dance floor.
“When I have visited other countries, I found that circuit music is very much alive and well in those places. They have house and tech house, but their underground scenes are very circuit-based.
“Where we are in America, that shift away from that is occurring. Trends always come back every 20 years. You see it in fashion, you see it in music, in television.
“When we look at music, house music was always around, at least for my generation and I am thankful for that. Maybe it wasn’t as popular or mainstream in certain areas in the States, but now more than ever we’re seeing a blast of it.”
Nic Jericho and house music are on the rise
With a strong foundation in house music, and the meteoric rise of the music genre, Jericho is fast-becoming a rising player in the gay party scene. He’s getting booked virtually every weekend in Los Angeles, and he’s even landed gigs in other cities like his hometown Chicago, San Diego and Palm Springs.
“It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to be the direct support for Derrick Carter last year for San Diego Pride – Dusty Carpenter from Chicago booked me for the “Very Pride” party – when I got to open up for one of my favorite DJs in the house scene, that made me realize I can get on big bills. I can do this thing full time.”
He’s now quit his job in finance to focus exclusively on becoming the most successful DJ he can be. He has good company, running in a DJ circle with rising stars in he LA gay scene, Buck/Off and Laser Fox.
“Buck/Off and Laser Fox have a party called Reverb. I’d been able to DJ in the West Hollywood scene at Beaches, at the Wild, at Tom Tom, at Roccos and I started to get more bookings because one of my best friends, Tyus Berry, spoke highly to a few establishments so I could get my foot in the door and show them my talent.
“When I started DJing reverb, I started to infiltrate the underground scene.”
For New Year’s Eve, Jericho be spinning at Maurice, part of the fast-growing scene of gay parties that is increasingly making Los Angeles a destination city for music and parties like it never has been before.
“Matt Ravey and Christopher Lawrence have done a fantastic job curating different vibes for the party,” Jericho said of Maurice, “because you can get Nu-wave Disco and 80s music downstairs as well as upbeat House music upstairs.
“The crowd never disappoints.”
It’s not lost on Jericho that he is a Black man in a gay scene rising around West Hollywood that is mostly white.
“It makes me feel good to have an outlet in West Hollywood to introduce people, a lot of white people, to the vibe of house music,” he said. “Me being a fraction of a fraction in these spaces gives me the opportunity to educate people.”
It’s been the underground gay music scene that has given Jericho life.
“I’ve always been a fraction of a fraction in any gay space. But that underground rave scene we have in Chicago and LA, there are more people of color than at mainstream bars because they feel safer in those spaces.”
You can follow Nic Jericho on Instagram and on SoundCloud.
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