Sacred Grounds turns 15

Can you tell us a little bit about how you guys got together and decided to start doing Sacred Grounds? Sacred Grounds was originally conceived by myself and Ruben Medellin. I was 19 years old, Ruben was 14 years old and Lou was 17 years old. It all started one day when Ruben and I were at his house spinning records in his garage talking about all the awesome DJs that we'd heard that year. That's when we decided to create an opportunity to give ourselves a place to spin and bring in talent we wanted to hear and share with the rest of the Los Angeles underground scene. What were some of the parties which influenced you early on? We were inspired by parties such as Unlock the House, Parliament, King Afterhours, What Afterhours, and the original Melodic. We used to always fantasize about throwing parties for thousands of people with our favorite DJs at the helm. Little did we know that our dreams would some day come true. Tell us about some of the first parties you threw. The very first Sacred Grounds in 1995 was totally different from how it is now. Chris Brownie stole the show that night and rocked our worlds. In 1999 Brett from B3 Cande asked me to host his birthday party which was supposed to be private and exclusive. We had Doc Martin, DJ Sneak, Ruben Medellin and DJ Lou on the bill. The space was a loft that could hold about 300 people which was supposed to be the amount of invitees that were invited. Next thing you know there is about 500 people in the loft, another 50 in the hallway, and about 500 more people outside the building trying to get in! We had no idea the word would spread as fast as it did to so many people. Sneak was rocking it when the 5-0 showed up and shut us down due to capacity. I remember the look on Doc's face when I told him we had to shut it down. He was so disappointed that he wasn't able to play because the party was going off! How have you seen the West Coast scene change over time? It has evolved and dissolved at the same time. Nowadays due to technological advances anyone and everyone can be a DJ. Before, you had to either be part of a record pool, know the right stores to go buy the music or know the right producers and label owners to get the music. Now it's as easy as logging onto a website and buying music there. Before it was more precious and pure. Now you have pop-star-deejays all over MTV, and playing at "mega raves" to 12 & 13 year old kids. Don't get me wrong there are a few choice deejays that actually have talent that are taking the music, sound and scene to the next level which is good over all. So, I commend the new deejays who are doing things in the right manner and not trying to be the "cool guy", but rather dropping amazing sets whether it be via laptop, vinyl or digital. That is why when I get a chance to speak to a deejay that has recently started playing out or is looking to play out I give them a little history on what they are part of, where it came from and where it is going. So they can have a better understanding and respect for the music and the scene.