Evolution beat Mike Filly, Mick Boogie, Rob Sherwood and last year’s winner, Larry Szyms, for best DJ.

Credit: Beth Rankin

As production manager for student media, Evan Bailey is responsible for overseeing the printing and design of Kent State’s student publications such as The Burr, Fusion and the Stater.

But as Evan Evolution, he’s the best turntablist in Northeast Ohio, according to the Cleveland Free Times and the readers who voted him best DJ in the publication’s sixth annual music awards.

Evolution began DJing eight years ago, picking a name that was in one part a nod to his parents, who are both anthropologists, and another part acknowledging the fact that, as he says, “electronic music in itself is sort of an evolution of technology.”

Aside from playing the turntables, Evolution also runs his own home studio and is an experienced concert promoter.

He recently took the time to talk to the Stater about how he started playing the turntables, the art of self-promotion and the local scene. The following is a condensed version of the conversation:

You started out playing bass and guitar at a young age. How did you end up on the turntables?

I was fortunate enough to have grown up in a pretty musical household. As I grew up, I remember there being a lot of records around, everything from Bob Marley to The Beatles to Cyndi Lauper. In grade school, I started playing double bass in the orchestra, and I stuck with that a couple years and probably around 1990, when the whole alternative movement started off, I gravitated toward guitar.

When I entered Kent State, I started taking jazz classes. Around that time, the Chemical Brothers came out and everyone started getting interested in that. I had a lot of friends who were going to parties and raves at that time, and a couple of them were always telling me to check out turntables, so one night a friend lent me a turntable and I literally sat up all night playing with it, and I realized I had found something I loved.

Ironically, I saved up enough money for a Paul Reed Smith guitar, which is a real nice guitar, and something kind of snapped in me when I went to the store to buy it, and I ended up buying turntables. It was one of those things like, ‘I just spent ten years learning to play guitar, why did I just do this?’ A lot of it was that it was so fresh. There was a lot of mystery around it. It seemed to offer a lot of possibilities.

And this eventually led to you opening up a studio?

I had a friend, this Russian kid, Alex. We decided to open a studio in 2001 that pretty much catered to electronic musicians. DJs, producers, stuff like that. We do CD duplication, design. The time since, I’ve spent it doing club residencies and taking on bigger and bigger events. A couple times a year, something really cool happens. I’ll get to open up for so-and-so, that kind of thing. But it’s been a long road of hard work. A lot of times, you don’t really get any respect DJing until you sort of arrive, so to speak.

And how do you get to that point?

Well, the advice I would give to up-and-comers is to practice on the best equipment you can afford, and practice often. The other side of it is undeniably self-promotion. That’s everything from making quality music in your studio to going out in the streets to promote yourself. A self-promoter is a master of talking to people. They know how to make people excited about their music. They’re not based out of hype — they’re based out of having fun.

You recently were voted best DJ in Northeast Ohio by the Cleveland Free Times. Were you surprised?

I was very surprised, because the talent I was up against were all very, very qualified. A couple of them I would even consider heroes to a certain extent. One of the guys has been playing since I’ve been in middle school. Another guy, Mike Filly, I’m really into his music. Mick Boogie, he just did the intro to LeBron’s site. So the competition was stiff. All night (at the award ceremony) I sort of sat in the corner, I was mentally preparing to lose, and when they called my name it was a gleeful surprise.

How would you say Cleveland’s dance scene compares with the rest of the country?

Cleveland’s actually had a pretty good scene — it’s come around twice. It was good in the early 1990s and in the late 1990s with that whole pre-millennium tension kind of thing. And now it’s sort of moved into the clubs, and I would say it’s sort of middle of the road. The music is very good, but it’s tough to get people out because it’s supposedly one of the poorest cities in the nation. Stuff like $20 cover charges and $12 martinis, you know — you’re only gonna find so many millionaires. Probably the best cities for dance music are L.A., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle. I tend to steer a little bit away from the glitzy South Beach sort of nightlife. I see why people like it — and if it gets one more person into this, I’m happy — but I steer more toward the anything-goes sort of thing.

So what comes next —what have you been doing lately?

I’ve been doing a lot at the Electric Community Center as part of a Friday thing. I’m playing at Glory Days in a couple weeks, which should be interesting. I’m starting a monthly (gig) at Cloud Nine, which is definitely one of my favorite clubs in Cleveland, sort of an ultra lounge atmosphere. And there are rumors I’m doing FlashFest, which would make it the third time I’ve done that.

Contact pop arts reporter Jon Dieringer at [email protected].

To see the photo gallery for this story, click here.