I’ve wanted to be a DJ ever since I can remember. That’s not surprising really, given that my mom was a DJ, but not everyone wants to follow in their parents’ footsteps. Neither did I, when it came to my dad. I had no interest in becoming like him, but I’ve always wanted to become a DJ like my mom.
I loved how strong and in-control she looked up there behind the decks and how she controlled a large crowd of people. I loved that power and I showed a talent for DJing and music in general, from a young age. I knew I would do something with music and I knew I wanted that something to be DJing. Other girls like to play with their mom’s makeup and try on her clothes. I played with my mom’s record collection and tried my hands at her turntables.
Growing up I always hung out with boys. I never really had any close girlfriends. I have plenty of girlfriends now, bu that’s because I sleep with them. I didn’t know back then, though, that I was a lesbian. I just knew that I felt more comfortable hanging out with boys than with girls. Girls wanted to play with dolls and play house. Boys played sports, which I liked and my guy friends were all into music, which I loved.
They loved coming to my house and playing with my mom’s decks. Even back then, I was by far the best DJ among my group of friends I was not a good singer, but did want to learn. As for DJing, some of the guys were alright, but none of them could beatmatch as naturally as I could. None of them could scratch records the way I could either. When it came to music selection and playing a mix that kept a crowd going, well we never got to practice that at the time, but I’m really good at that now. And since only one of those guy friends from back then became a DJ himself, and I’m much better than he is, it’s a pretty safe bet I would have been better at choosing the right tracks to really pump up a crowd than all my friends, too.
Naturally, we all come up with wonderful DJ names for each other (we didn’t have a generator like this one). Mine was DJ-rina. It was stupid, but one of my friends came up with it, because I was a girl, obviously, and it just stuck. It stuck for years, as did everyone’s stupid DJ name. The one guy friend who also became a DJ by profession actually kept his dumb DJ name. You may now know him as DJ Trombone. I know. He should have changed it like I did. You might even be able to tell that my eventual name was, in part, derived from his name.
At the time, obviously, none of knew I was a Tomboy, since none of us was really familiar with that word. A few years later, though, I overheard my dad referring to me as a Tomboy to one of his friends. When I asked him what that word meant and he explained it, I agreed with it 100%. I wasn’t upset being called a Tomboy at all. I know some girls are, but I never minded. I guess that’s obvious, since I took it as my DJ name.
It didn’t escape me that Tomboy sounds a bit like trombone. I knew the second I heard my dad’s explanation that this would be my new, and final, DJ name. It stuck and I’ve loved it ever since. A good DJ name is a wonderful thing.
Looking back, it’s kind of ironic that my DJ name came from my dad, the one person in our family with no talent for music whatsoever. If you’d asked me, or if you or anyone had to guess, I know we’d all figure my DJ name would come from my mom if it came from anyone but myself. But no, it came from my dad. Well, it came from me, but he provided the spark that led to my inspiration. And I suppose DJ Trombone did his part with his stupid name as well.
If you’re a DJ who’s having some trouble coming up with a good name, try these 7 tips.
