Meet Chad Kenney - DJ GOJ!RA
By Stephanie Mieko Cohen
“I named myself DJ GOJ!RA because I wanted to go to Japan and destroy it.”
When I was approached to write my first Hapa Mag article, the first person I knew I wanted to interview was Chad Kenney. Chad and I met in high school — in fact, we were high school sweethearts! With a passion for music, Chad started DJ-ing for some of our high school parties, and continued to do so throughout college. Currently, Chad is one of the co-founding members of Brownies and Lemonade, a project dedicated to throwing some of the largest electronic dance music parties around the city of Los Angeles and worldwide. I caught up with him (eleven years later!) for this interview.
Interview
What are your thoughts on the word Hapa? What does Hapa mean to you?
When I asked Chad this set of questions (on whether having someone ask “what are you?” is acceptable or an annoyance) — he replied
When speaking to other Hapas] I view it as a term of endearment versus when other groups tend to ask, I’ve always been pretty patient with people because I look predominantly Japanese with strong features. I understand people genuinely want to know. I’m not necessarily annoyed, but you realize that’s the norm… you realize that’s just how they process what you are culturally.
Chad Kenney
Chad Shigeo Kenney is Japanese-Irish, a third generation Hapa born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
Growing up mixed wasn’t really out of the norm [in LA], but in the group of Caucasian peers I had, I was always labeled as Asian — people would always refer to me as so, even though I am just as white as I am Asian. I think up to a certain point in my life, I was always a little ashamed of it… [it was] kinda like a negative. “Oh he’s Asian…” Especially being an Asian male… not being masculine and stuff like that. Growing up was tough because a lot of people are very narrow minded and want to categorize everything. A lot of Asian-Americans will tell you the same thing— they want to try to assimilate or conform to their white peers, so that’s always a weird dichotomy. I always had a contentious relationship with being Asian. As I got older, in college and since then, I’ve really embraced and doubled down on my Japanese-American roots and am very proud of that.
Growing up, were you closer to one side of your family than the other? How did that affect you culturally?
My Japanese family is from Northern and Southern California, and my Dad’s Irish family is all in Boston, so just by proximity, I was much closer to my Japanese-American family in terms of food and holidays.
Even though she was born in the United States, Chad’s Grandma was raised in Japan and was therefore very traditional. She immigrated to America in the early twentieth century.
She was a huge mentor in my life, so I took a lot of Japanese influence from her for sure. But when it came to being an everyday kid, I was a lot more of a ‘SoCal baby’ — I wasn’t raised going to Japanese school. A lot of Japanese kids grow up having community stuff like a basketball team, Buddhist temple, and Obon. I didn’t really do that because my parents are Christian, so we just had a very normal American family with Japanese roots.
Inspired by his grandmother’s upbringing as a Shin Buddhist, Chad has continued to deepen his appreciation for his culture when he devoted himself to Buddhism this past year.
How did you get started in the music industry?
Going into college, I taught myself how to DJ, and I got really into the electronic music scene that was emerging in Los Angeles. I went to UCLA for theatre, and even though that was my focus, everything else was kind of related to DJ-ing: playing shows, playing fraternity parties, and promoting at clubs. Transitioning out of college, I went from promoting shows to throwing my own shows, working at artistry, and then a lot of different things. I started managing other artists, started my own label, and starting doing A & R (Artists & Repertoire).
Chad became the Associate Producer of Brokechella (now known as Broke LA) up until 2017: LA’s popular alternative to the infamous Indio festival “none of us could afford” –NBC LA. As of this year, Broke LA has ceased production.
I was doing this all independently. SUPER casual.
Currently, Chad is the creative director of Brownies and Lemonade, a company that started as a group of close friends throwing parties around Los Angeles six years ago. B+L parties became a showcase for up-and-coming artists who found immense success after playing at their shows for the first time.
People started taking notice of us as being the gateway for emerging artists. World famous DJ’s like Skrillex, Diplo, and A-track started playing our parties, so it was this nice mixture of DJ’s of the world and the next up and coming ones… and then from there we started touring around the country. We went to Japan and Australia and did tours there, too.
Chad has performed at Coachella twice with Brownies & Lemonade, 2017 at the DoLab, and 2018 at the Heineken House.
We did 15 musical festivals in the last year. It’s been a huge climb.
How has your culture impacted your career thus far?
Although Chad has been DJ-ing since 2006, there were a few obstacles he faced before finding his true path.
Even though I went to school for acting, I started leaning towards the music industry because the acting industry (as I’m sure people who are Asian can attest to) was really not fair in the amount of roles that were possible, and I felt like I was always being judged. Seeing the ceiling that was being placed on actors at the time, it discouraged me from even really trying. There were a lot of opportunities in commercial acting, like you could be the ethnically ambiguous kid eating a taco in the backseat of a car in a Taco Bell commercial. When I got out of college [in 2011] and was going to auditions. It was clear what kind of roles you would be able to get being an Asian/mixed race male. You would never be a romantic lead. You would never be an alpha male. So, boom, a huge part of your career was stalled to a certain degree… there’s a low ceiling. I got a little more into the music side of things because you were judged off the music and your skill… instead of what you look like. A certain image is important in music too, to a certain degree, but the electronic scene is generally much more accepting. I met people who looked like me and have similar backgrounds [in the DJ world.] I identified with that community a lot more. I felt like I had a lot of allies and friends that had similar stories to share, and we all love music.
Any particular artists that have personally influenced your work?
When I was a freshman in college, someone I really looked up to was Steve Aoki. He’s half Japanese, from LA, and went to UCSB. We had similar upbringings, in terms of cultural background, and he was really making waves in the LA scene. He was someone that really showed me, “hey, I look like this guy and he’s doing great.” He gave me encouragement that the face of being a famous DJ was changing. There are a lot of Hapas who are doing their own thing. Ever since I got into the scene I’ve met a lot of other guys like Henry Fong and Tittsworth; even musicians like Yukimi Nagamo — It’s really inspiring to see.
Has being Hapa helped or hindered you in the industry?
Overall it has been positive. Because our home base is in SoCal, a lot of people are open minded and have multicultural roots themselves. That’s always been great because [LA] is a wonderful melting pot and multicultural exchange. 60% or more of the kids that come to Brownies and Lemonade shows in LA and SoCal are Asian-American themselves. It was something I didn’t even really notice until a couple of years ago, when our audiences started to get bigger. There was this wave of young Asian-American and Hapa kids who were coming to our shows and coming up to me specifically saying, “Yo, GOJ!RA, you inspired me to throw parties. You inspired me to pursue my DJ stuff.” I think seeing someone like myself, and the representation of my other Hapa and Asian-American peers at a level that is attainable... it encourages other people to follow. That is a nice thing I experience day to day — getting feedback from kids who normally would’ve never thought they had a chance to pursue something like this five to six years ago. Asian parents can be very skeptical and unsupportive of creative careers, but the industry is definitely changing. I think it requires people who have that platform, and take on the responsibility to educate and support the next generation.
Chad is definitely paving that way.
DJ GOJ!RA- explain the name!
I came up with that name when I was in high school because my dream was to go to Japan and destroy it… it’s kind of a stupid name that I just never changed because it was synonymous with what I was doing. But then, back in 2017, I actually did get a chance to go to Japan with Skrillex, and I got to open for him. It was kind of this incredible thing, where my dream actually did come true. It was a really awesome opportunity.
For the most part, however, Chad is no longer promoting or pursuing his DJ career; he is more behind the scenes. His focus is now more on production and creative construction, which entails booking, branding, marketing, and strategy. On occasion he and other B+L resident DJ’s, Fernet and Covntry Clvb, will play their shows or other events where B+L gets hired to do programming.
[DJ GOJ!RA continues to be] the monogram people know me by.
Do you have any other goals/projects coming up?
I just launched my Twitch channel/video game streaming stuff. I play Tetris at a very high competitive level, and I’m really into video games… they’re something that I’ve always been very passionate about. One of my main goals for this year is fostering the intersection of the gaming and music communities… doing experiential stuff in the gaming world and providing music to compliment it, not just shoehorn it in. There are a lot of opportunities there. We also just started a series called B&L Fit, which is our Brownies and Lemonade Fitness Series. We do Cycle Bar (we’ve done two in LA and one in Miami), and then last week we did a Yoga Brownies and Lemonade Fitness Event at the Santa Monica Pier (our first one was overcapacity).
Thank you for catching up with me, Chad. Sounds like you have a lot on your plate and an awesome future ahead. Keep crushing it!
End of Interview
Follow Chad Kenney @browniesandlemonade @chadkenney
Stephanie Mieko Cohen is a Los Angeles native who made her way to New York City. She is Yonsei and is a proud member of the NYC Hapa fam! Performing since the age of five, Stephanie has appeared on Broadway, National Tours, Regional Theatre, Television, Film, and in the Voiceover world. She is a certified Vinyasa yoga instructor and an advocate for mental health awareness, equality, and spreading kindness. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys crafting, writing, eating as much Mexican food as she can, reality television, and playing with kitty cats. Follow her on instagram @stecohen www.stephaniemiekocohen.com
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