Milkman

Spotlight: Milkman

By Joseph Huttner

13 October 2009

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Ask anybody for the hotNfresh in today's music arena and you are bound to hear the word "mashup" thrown around. If you don't know what a mash up is, you are probably old and should not be using this website. Check out Viagra.com instead. For all others, please read on and enjoy Sad Steve's conversation with one of the top players in the mashup game, Mr. Gregg Luskin, known more famously by his stage name, Milkman.

Gregg was voted "Hottest mashup DJ of 2008" as well as "DJ to watch out for in 2009" by DJ Forum. So yes, this is legit.

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Joe, Sad Steve: Thank you for doing the interview, Gregg. Tell me about yourself and your upbringing.

Gregg Luskin, a.k.a Milkman: I was born in San Diego, California. While my Dad was in medical school, our family moved to Northern California, then back to San Diego sometime later. Despite moving around, music was always an important part of my life. At age five, I took piano lessons. At nine, drums. Guitar at ten. Ukulele at eleven. And all through high school I took music lessons on piano, drums, guitar, and bass.

I have to thank my parents for supporting and even encouraging my musical endeavors. Although my Mom does not have a musical background, she always understood the importance of music in my life. My Dad could identify more directly; he happens to be a great musician, too. He grew up playing the accordion, though he wanted to play guitar. I guess my grandparents really liked the accordion or something.

Even my brother Matt has been a huge part of my success. He's a photographer, and comes to my shows. Nothing is better than sharing what I'm able to have now with my brother.

Kudos to the family for appreciating your talent. How did you get into creating mashups?

I was always that kid making beats and doing remixes on his computer. Nothing too outlandish, simple stuff really. Then one day, freshman year of college, while I was playing my beats for my friends, one of them said that my song sounded like a song by a mashup artist that he had been listening to. Up to that point I had never heard of mashups (or intense sampling, as it is sometime called). So this exact moment was my first exposure to the mashup genre.

From there, I listened to the Danger Mouse's The Gray Album, which was the mashup album that opened the world's eyes to the genre. It samples Jay-Z a capella tracks with songs from The Beatles' The White Album. After hearing The Gray Album, I instantly fell in love with this new type of music. I was hooked. Aside from loving the mashup sound, the mashup style catered to my ADD with music. I'm that guy who turns on a song for thirty seconds, then clicks on to the next one.

So this first-time exposure to mashups happened when?

In the fall of 2006. I was a freshman at UC Santa Barbara at the time. (Sidenote: I'm slated to graduate this spring with a degree in computer science.) Over the course of my freshman year, I created my first album, Lactose and THC, which was a compilation of mashups that I had created during that school year. I went ahead and made that album available for free download on the Internet. At first I thought I was just some nerdy kid putting songs together on his computer, but pretty soon random kids were coming up to me on campus telling me how much they liked my stuff. It was pretty obvious that what I'd created was more than just some musical experiment. On the contrary, it had real musical value.

My next step was to do a MySpace/Facebook promotional blitz of my music, trying to get as many people as possible to listen.

So it's your sophomore or junion year at this point, and you've built up a decent size Internet following and a fan base at your college. How do you go from that to having a collegiate following on a national level?

This is a good story. A fraternity at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA called me and said they had heard my stuff, really liked it, and would like to bring me out to the college to play two shows, two nights, back-to-back. And compensate me. It sounded like an awesome opportunity so I went out there with my friend, played the shows, and my music was a huge hit. From there, I guess you could say that I blew up in the mid-Atlantic college scene. All of a sudden I was getting inquiries from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey colleges to play at frat parties and campus events. So I did played at a lot of East Coast colleges for the next six months, and it was a lot of fun.

Then you somehow eased into the prime time college party scene - not really frat parties anymore, but those crazy, huge parties at massive state schools. Explain this transition.

Well, what happens is that big colleges get to throw big parties for their students once or twice per year, and they have a big budget to boot. They typically get one big-name artist that everyone has heard of, and then some smaller acts to open for that famous artist. Since the people who run these events are students, they remembered me from the frat parties and such. They invited me to come play these bigger shows as an opener. The a-list artists I've played with include Three 6 Mafia, Lil' John, and Kid Cudi. So for the past year I've been playing at shows like this. My awesome managers, Tommy and Matt, are good at figuring out the best venues.

So what was the best venue you ever played at?

I'm going to have to say University of Denver. I'd never seen a crowd with that much energy before. Bucknell, Lehigh, and Penn State also had great crowds.

Did Lil' John give you any of his crunk juice?

Do you mean his personal crunk juice or crunk juice in general [as in the commercial product]?

I guess both.

Well he had his own crunk juice, so I crunked a little off that. He also had the crunk girls there so that was cool.

Changing topics, what do you have to say to those who believe that mashups aren't music, or that a mashup creator is not a musician?

To the question of "Is it music?" I always say, "If you don't like it, don't listen to it." For instance, I do not like nSync. That's not to say it is or is not music. I just do not like it. And me personally, I'm quite a musician. I play six instruments very well and am an advanced student of music theory. Just because you may believe that what I produce does not portray me as a musician does not mean that I am not a musician; I am. And in terms of the performance aspects of my music, before I mix a track into the current song I instantly have to know if it is in the right key, if the beats match, the time, the scale progression, and a slew of other musical components. So the success of my live performance relies tremendously on my experience as a musician.

Agreed - I can see how what you create requires tremendous musical ability, but what about the point that a computer is not the same as a piano or a guitar. I mean, a computer doesn't resonate. Do you think a computer can be called an instrument?

A piano is pressing a lot of keys in a certain order in a certain way. In much the same way, I'm turning knobs to create a sound, making music from my physical movements. So I would one-hundred percent say that a computer is an instrument.

Now in terms of young mixers out there, I'm sure you constantly have them e-mailing you saying, "Check out my mashup." I get that a lot on Sad Steve, too. The genre seems really accessible since every kid has a computer, but not every kid can afford a guitar and drum set. So what advice do you have for the young mixers out there in terms of the mental side of things, and also how to get a nice setup going?

I always called myself the "Bedroom Producer." And by that I mean that I sat in the corner of a dorm room and created mashups. The Internet and crazy technology (more on that later) means there's no reason that anyone out there cannot be the next huge rap producer. Look at the song "Love in this Club" as an example. The beat in that song was made on Garage Band using three tracks that are part of the library included with the software. Some guy looped them, made it sound good, and sold that to a rap producer. And really this is no different than what veteran producers out there do, trying to create the next great beat.

As far as a setup, half of my first album was made on Garage Band. Some people complain about its simplicity, how there's no time stretching, etc. But that's no big deal, really. Anyone who says Garage Band is not for real producers is wrong. Plus, when you do want to get fancy, there are add-ons for it like jam pack, remix tools, and vocal loops. If you want to try out the more expensive programs out there, download the free demos first and make sure the product has what you need, not what some other guy needs.

Wise words from the Milkman himself. Thanks again, Gregg, for reaching out to your fans on Sad Steve. We look forward to checking out your Sad Steve profile.

You're welcome. Talk to you soon. - Sadsteve.com

Home > USD Radio > Associated Students: Milkman & Sean Kingston


Local San Diegan and DJ phenomenon, Milkman, provided one of the best concerts that the University of San Diego has witnessed in its 50 year history. The throng of students who arrived for his set were moving back and forth with their hands up in the air throughout the entire time. A group of girls were actually able to get up on stage with Milkman in the middle of one of his sets. Although he was penciled in as the opening act for Sean Kingston, Milkman’s show was full of energy and excitement, something that Sean Kingston couldn’t match with his pedigree. - USD Radio