Born and raised in the sleepy town of Endwell, New York (located in the suburbs of Binghamton in the Southern Tier of the state), the man best known in the mix and in the studio as Dj Komar is poised to wake up Central New York and the World with his progressive sound and skillful mixes.
“I can‘t really classify the style of music I play,” Komar explains. “I like to take everything to the next level, to be able to wow my audience with something exotic and hard after playing a familiar club track or remix or vice-versa. You don‘t know what to expect from me. I don‘t know what to expect from me. One thing‘s for sure, I‘m getting increasingly better at looking out into a crowd and reading them and keeping them dancing. It‘s a rush. There‘s nothing like it.”
It was not long ago that Komar, a nickname of his father’s that was passed down to him, began exploring electronic music. Helping out with mobile deejay gigs was enjoyable in the early stages of his teens. However, this didn’t satisfy Komar’s tastes after listening to mix tapes and being introduced to club culture. With the early influence of Crayola Contraband, Komar realized his love for electronic music. It was in listening to a friend’s highly experimental electronic music on his computer, that house music was something that Komar adopted to become his own and something he wished to work with.
“I was blown away,” Komar said. “To realize that beautiful musical compositions were being put together digitally was unfathomable. When a friend showed me how it was done and let me work with his tracker program on a home pc, I was hooked and amazed at the same time. Now, as far as we’ve come in such a short time, I’d be frustrated in attempting to work with such a program.”
But, it began even before that.
“I can recall being given a short wave radio for Christmas one year and listening to the BBC’s Top Ten,” said Komar. “The European sound was intriguing to me. That really fueled my interest in dance music.”
The song on the top of the charts when he began listening to that program was 1995’s “Missing” by Everything But the Girl. The sound, although more poppy compared to the music Komar works with now, provided a solid ground from which he has built upon.
“I‘m sure that my love for dance music began before that point, but that is a milestone in my life where I realized that this was something I wanted to do. I’m a sucker for female vocals in a track and “Missing” is a prime example of the beauty I see in house music. I didn‘t know that I wanted to spin at the time, but I knew I wanted to do something in that genre. I mean, I would see deejays using turntables and scratching, but I really had no idea what was being done. I laugh when people don‘t exactly get it when I tell them about mixing and scratching, but I remember being so ignorant myself.”
The turntables are nothing unfamiliar to Komar. As a young lad, he remembers going through his father’s record collection and children’s records of his own and placing them on the platter. Lowering the needle to the vinyl, he listened to the variety of sounds the speakers produced. Komar continues to flip through those and other old records, not so much listening to the songs in entirety, but picking out interesting samples he can use.
“Just like so many deejays, I guess I’m not content in just mixing other peoples’ stuff all the time, but in creating my own projects as well.”
It wasn’t until college at Syracuse University where he continues to this day that Komar realized the joy of mixing music. As a wide-eyed freshman, Komar entered the doors of WJPZ-FM and began on-air there in the Fall of 1997. He followed the very same show he now spins and co-hosts for, “The Friday Night Party.” As a fledgling radio jock he lent a high energy 4 hours on the air from 2-6 am following the show. He began coming earlier and earlier for what was already a lengthy shift into the early hours of the morning to observe and learn how to match beats from one song to the next to create seamless mixes. With very little money, Komar did all he could to become acclimated with how the mixer and turntables worked and with the wax that was placed upon them. He took it all in and soon realized that it soon was his turn to shine.
Purchasing a used Gemini 500-XL turntable and a used Gemini mixer off friends in 1998, Komar began with the few records he had learning all the basics behind turntablism. In his free time he would be mixing, scratching, while at the same time continually observing. Practice has made...well...no one’s perfect. A year ago the airwaves were his to take over, coming so far in such a short time.
“To remember not long ago observing deejays and dancing on the floor of the club and now to be the one perched high in the booth making them groove...it’s awesome. I am constantly learning new things when I play a party or spin on-air. For that time on the decks you are the king of the castle, calling the shots!”
In the past couple of years Komar has concentrated on both hip-hop and house music in its many styles, becoming more proficient in both. He enjoys both styles of music being introduced to both in his high school years, but has recently re-kindled his love for house music which seemed to take a seat next to hip-hop in recent years.
Komar has gained a following in the Syracuse area as well as closer to home, but hopes to become even more recognized as his name gets out there. The Friday Night Party on Z89 in Syracuse has become a highly popular mix-show in Central New York in part to what Komar brings to the show.
“We’re the only show going live for all of Syracuse to kick off their weekend and get the party going. Sure, I wish I was out there on a Friday night partying with the rest of them, but we set the tone for those parties and that’s special.”
He completed a mix-album over spring break that is available through contacting him, but his current project which is tentatively entitled “In My House” will be released in summer 2001. The mix-album which will also feature the progressive and trancey sound which Komar has made his own, will most likely feature a track of his own or a remix. He is currently working on narrowing down the tracks he will use on the mixed compilation and the order in which they will be featured. This will be the follow-up to the latest, "Emotionz" and the debut tape “Y2K(omar)” which was distributed in late 1999 to early 2000. The 90-minute cassette featured a house side and a hip-hop side, but Komar decided to concentrate this time around on house music.
“The reason I decided to do this was for a couple reasons. For one, I got a lot of positive feedback on the tape as a whole, but a very good response on the house side. But more importantly, because I want to do so.”
Komar has been featured in recent times at the Country Club in Syracuse along with the FNP for parties that have all reached near capacity. He also has been featured at Club Liquids in Syracuse for club nights and other parties. In addition, many fraternity, sorority and house parties as well as rave events and afterhours in Syracuse. Komar is currently being booked for gigs in Central New York and along the Northeast.
With the exception of summer hiatus, you can listen to Komar and the rest of the Triple Threat most Friday nights from 10-2 on Z89 (89.1 FM) in Syracuse, with streaming internet audio at Z89.com. He lists DJ Skribble, Faithless, Darude, the Prodigy, ATB, Brooklyn Bounce, Crayola Contraband, Philly Blunt, as well as many others as influences in his music.
It’s only a matter of time that Komar reaches the same sort of status and you find him spinning in your hometown.
