It all started with a thought. Dean Johnson ’25 had no idea how to make music, but the thought of it was captivating. DJ Seed was not founded until he connected with Shane Effgen, who shared this interest. Johnson said, “It was just putting an idea out into the universe and then Shane hears that idea, and he’s like ‘Yo Dean, I actually do make music,’ and from there it just gets going.”
Even though the trio of Johnson, Effgen ’25, and Evan Dubicki ’25 started out with rap beats, they quickly found that house-style beats would be the direction they wanted to head. The three all had a passion for that genre, and after Shane showed them his beat, it took off. That first song was so good that Dubicki thought it sounded like “Something that I would just hear on SoundCloud or Apple Music randomly scrolling. We all have a passion for house music because we love just bumping and making people laugh.”
Not everything was smooth, however. Due to all three having busy schedules, the time to meet wasn’t immediate. Effgen made and sent songs over to the others, but all three of them found it hard to coordinate a time for a studio session. Finally, a date was found, and Johnson was “able to bring Effgen and Dubicki together. We were all busy, but we ended up making a session happen and it was magical.”
The band’s first album, titled “SHEFF’S HOUSE,” was released this past March, but the trio doesn’t plan for that to be their last. Johnson mentioned “it’s not just a gimmick, it’s actually a hobby that we’re enjoying and it’s fun just to make music. So, we even got more stuff coming on the way right now and hopefully we’re going to be pushing out some more tracks, but I don’t see why it couldn’t continue in the future.”
Dubicki agreed stating, “it feels like a hobby that we kind of all discovered, and I find myself wanting to learn about music and making music because of this. So honestly, I think I might try and continue this past graduation as well.”
DJ Seed has grown in such a short time period. Dubicki, Effgen, and Johnson think that this is just the beginning. As Dubicki said, “Public attention is cool from it, and we like everybody talking about it. That just like adds to the fire.”
