Playing
since 2014.

Lake Zurich

Raised in Lake Zurich, Illinois, Maz grew up playing guitar. When he heard Disclosure’s Settle—especially “Latch”—he decided he wanted to learn how to DJ. That Christmas, he got his first controller and a 2012 MacBook, then started practicing and asking friends to let him play their house parties.

The first set

His planned debut in Grant Soucy’s kitchen on New Year’s Eve did not happen because the setup would not cooperate. He came back the next day and played his first set there on January 1, 2014, while everyone was hungover.

ISU

At Illinois State, Maz mixed in the dorms and regularly asked his roommate Kevin “Chevy” Loch to listen. Chevy’s review was usually one of two things: “That was sick” or “That was terrible.” Maz kept playing dorms and house parties until he joined Delta Chi during sophomore year. The fraternity’s party room had a DJ booth, and his sets at sorority events led to formals, semi-formals, date nights, holiday barn dances, and more bookings around Bloomington–Normal.

Chasers onward

Chasers was the turning point. On Thursdays, he could play house music for the fraternity and sorority crowd. The weekly bookings soon paid enough for him to leave his job on the line at Jimmy John’s. By senior year, Pub America had him on retainer.

After college, Maz moved to Arizona and built connections that led to bar bookings at Bottled Blonde and HI-FI Cocktails. Back in Chicago, he played club dates and opened for Twinsick, Tvvin, Levity, Emurse, and DJ Treble before the pandemic. He stepped away to focus on his career. Now he is back behind the decks.