Bio

It began with a song. It was the quintessential dance track, Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”. I played it over and over when I was young, mesmerized by the electronic bass-line and melody. It was a fresh and inspired sound that made me fall in love with dance music. My appreciation soon grew to other favorites like ELO, ABBA and finally the ultimate, Duran Duran. Each of these bands could produce fresh rhythms and catchy riffs.

As I grew older dance music took a prominent place in my life. I would buy 12″ remixes of songs instead of 45′s because for a couple dollars more you not only got the single but longer versions that were always better than the radio edits. I cut my teeth on tracks by Depeche Mode, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, New Order and others with a new sound, typically coming out of the UK.

In college my taste in music evolved towards industrial, techno and rave. At the height of this evolution I started a radio show in college called “Industrial Maneuvers”. This is where I learned to beat-mix with a turn-wheel turntable and two CD players. It was challenging at best and many of my early mixes were train wrecks. The seed was there however, and soon I got booked at clubs with my first event called “Techno Tuesdays with Ted.” Still working with the world’s worst equipment, I learned over time to put together music in a meaningful way; creating “journeys” the way every DJ strives.

My life took a major detour after college when I went to work for an airline. I moved to St. Louis, my records in tow, not quite knowing how to keep my passion alive in a different city. Over time my jobs and cities changed, eventually landing me in Chicago in 1999. By this time I had done the unthinkable and sold my records. I was tired of lugging them from city to city, telling myself I’d use them but not knowing when.

At this point I hit the height of my Circuit experiences, traveling to many parties all over the country, where my favorite DJs were bringing unique energy to the parties. This was where my drive to return to the decks emerged. I had been going out for years, heard every DJ under the sun and knew what I liked and didn’t like. I was honing my “sound” and realized it wasn’t like other DJ’s. It was time to get back into it and share what was beating inside.

I dipped into my savings and bought the best equipment I could. By building a set up that was the standard in most major clubs, I would know what I was stepping into when gigs came. Then I started buying music and practicing, playing at home hour after hour and driving my neighbors and boyfriend crazy.

To take my revived passion to the next level I needed a way to spread my sound to the community but I wasn’t keen on distributing CDs like most DJs. Then a friend suggested doing a podcast and that’s how CHUNKHOUSE was born. I started posting podcasts on iTunes once every few weeks as my digital business card. It quickly became a featured podcast on iTunes with thousands of mixes downloaded monthly and people who had never heard of me were discovering my music. I began to be known as a DJ who played “something fresh and new”, even though I hadn’t even played live.

Shortly after the launch of the podcast a friend got me the break I needed, playing a pool party at a large weekend event. After the successful day gig the promoter offered me another event, which became my opportunity to shine. I pulled out intense, meaty tracks that were new to the bouncing crowd, many of whom are now fans.

Since then I’ve been very focused on promoting CHUNKHOUSE because I enjoy what I do and love hearing how I’ve opened people’s ears to a whole new range of dance music. Bold, melodic and uniquely progressive tracks driven by inspired bass lines that often nod to classic house, disco, or rock songs. I get my inspiration these days more from groundbreaking DJ/producers in the straight scene like Starkillers, DJ Dan, Robbie Rivera, and Steve Aoki.

I’ve come full circle and this lifetime passion has brought me back to the decks. After telling myself time and again “No regrets before I die.” I am now living my dream, sharing my love of fresh and powerful music. Funny, how it all started with a song.

Artists who have influenced Ted include the following DJ’s:

• Phil B (SF)
• Neil Lewis (SF)
• Peter Rauhofer(NY)
• Jamie J (SF)
• Oscar G (Miami)
• Mark Valles (Chicago)
• Ralphi Rosario (Chicago)
• Susan Morabito (NY)
• Robbie Rivera (US)
• DJ Dan (US)
• BT (US)
• Sander Kleinenberg (Belgium)