Shiba San is the French connection to the Dirtybird collective – the “newcomer” that many people don’t realize has actually been making beats for 15 years in his native country. But it was his ubiquitous 2014 track “Okay” which was played by the big EDM names and eventually signed by Claude Von Stroke that set his path to stardom.

Shia San will be playing at Mamby on the Beach in Chicago on Saturday, July 2nd from 6-7pm in the Mixmag DJ Tent – tickets are on sale at mambybeach.com.

So how was playing EDC, was that your first time? With such big crowds like that, do you find that they’re already open and receptive to whomever is up onstage as opposed to say a club?

It was my first EDC Vegas but I had already played EDC Mexico. I found the crowd to be very receptive. It was an awesome feeling. It’s not exactly the same atmosphere as in a club because we are much further away from the crowd, but I love both. And it’s always very great to see 10,000 people or more jumping to your dirty beats.

 

I understand Chicago was your very first US city to play when you came here 2 years ago! What was that like and what were your immediate impressions?

Awesome!!! I started DJing with Chicago House and you can’t imagine what it means playing in Chicago for my first show in the USA. The party was sold out, it was just a dream. 

 

What was it about that style that you were drawn to?

It was new, with funky and dirty basslines, vocal samples or sometimes soul singers, all the sounds were totally new.

 

You just finished a track with Will Clark “Give it to Me” as part of the Dirtybird BBQ compilation CD. What else do you have in the works?

I’ve been touring a lot so I haven’t produced much the past month, but now that I have a studio in the US, I have the ability to work here on my days off. I’m actually there and working a lot so new stuff will be coming soon.

 

I’ll be heading to Paris in 2 weeks and am very excited. We’ve covered a lot of the Deep House guys from there. I understand that scene has been growing quite a lot over there? What other styles of House are getting big there?

All the house styles are represented, Paris is between Hip-Hop and House music and a lot of DJs and bands come from Paris. From Techno to Soulful, you can find whatever you want there.

 

And lastly, can you tell us how you came up with your alias?

Shiba Inu is a dog breed I love, we are very similar with our minds lol. I tried to have a name you can spell the same in all languages, except I just forgot Brazil — it’s different there but cute to hear.

I didn’t want an English or Spanish name like a lot of DJs. I love Japanese culture as well, so Shiba San was perfect.

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