Artist Spotlight >>>
Gaelen Rand

What is your preferred art medium?

-    Oh wow, that’s hard for me to answer because I actively do various types of art; music, dance, cosplay, painting, beading…… there’s a long list. The things I’m in to always ebb and flow depending on what I have going on, mood, and sadly often times financial availability. And they are all pretty important to me for different reasons. They are all ways of expressing myself, which means they are all a part of me. 

​

I think the best way to answer this though is with what’s at the forefront right know and that’s music. I really want to get back into making my own music, but in a very different way than I have in the past. I’ve been DJing for a year now and it’s definitely been stoking the fire I’ve had for a long while to start dabbling in electronic music production.

 

Who, or what, are you influenced by?

​-    How much time do we have? I definitely have my CVS receipt length list of people and things I’ve been influenced by, but I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version: uniqueness influences me big time, so artists of various mediums who embody the same have influenced me over the course of my life. Striving to be different is always the goal. Going against the grain. Trying things and literally creating something new. 

 

How has your style evolved over time, and what factors have influenced this evolution?

-     Well, as I mentioned before, with music it’s about to take a pretty big evolutionary turn once I have all the equipment to start doing it. It started with school orchestra, an alternative rock band in my mid 20’s, an Andalus band in my 30’s, and now this electronic journey I’m about to embark on. 

As for factors of influence regarding that, I’d have to say my friend Mars, who lives back in Southern California, has been a big influence. He’s a DJ and creates his own music and was a huge help to me in getting my DJ rig going. There was a lot of back and forth with me sending him song transition videos asking if it sucked or not. And I also have to take into consideration the influence of Erica Tatum for pushing me to persu my dream of becoming a DJ. Once that was set into motion, the progression to electronic music creation just seemed like a natural next step. 

As for the other forms of art I’m Involved in, they have had their own transitions over the years, but much more subtle. 

 

Do you have any rituals or routines that help you get into a creative mindset?

-     The only things I have any kind of ritual for is something I do before I do a DJ set or if I’m dancing in front of an audience. I smudge myself prior to those two things. (The process of burning sage and fanning it over the body while saying a mantra and/or prayer) It’s a way to cleanse and also ground myself before a performance. I failed to do that before my last DJ set and I felt so out of sorts. That will definitely not be happening again. It definitely helps me center and be in the moment. 

 

What upcoming projects are you excited about?

-     CRYPT is a goth child that I share custody of and nurture with a handfull of wonderfully creative individuals. I’m always excited about that and we have two more events this year. The fact that we were able to create this, with the help of The Historic Masonic Temple of Bay City, is amazing and it will always be at the top of my list because we are working hard to bring a community together. 

I also spin chill dark alternative DJ sets at LoLoBee’s Coffee & Tea lounge, where I have two more spin dates as well. 

I’ve been running fitness for belly dance classes at the HMT and look forward to starting those back up this fall once everyone is stuck back indoors. And I hope to be able to finally get back into ballet with some classes I’m taking for my own personal enrichment.

.