Back Stage: Summerfest 2021
/Back stage access needed? No problem. We got that!
CopyWrite Magazine took on our September coverage with a twist: on assignment at the “Big Gig”. Yes, that’s right, Summerfest.
With a year of crowd surfing lost and a postponed festival date, we couldn’t wait to step back stage to chat it up with some of our new local favs and some not so far removed midwest creative peeps. Check out these three Snap Shot interviews from our ever growing Summerfest vault.
DJay Mando:
Not a stranger to performing on Summerfest stages, DJay Mando was especially READY for this year’s festival. With this being the first Summerfest since cancelling due to COVID-19, and him doing two sets this year, Mando and his team came prepared to do what they do best - rock a show. The trifecta that is Mando and his dynamic dancing duo Dos and Chris G, put on two memorable shows opening up for Flo Rida and Nelly.
(side note: Likeee, what DJ do you know who brings a whole dancing crew with them at every show? That’s how you do entertainment! They’re DIFFERENT, Okay!)
However, this wouldn’t be Mando’s first show this year, because a pandemic couldn’t stop him from making moves. The “We Outside” concert Mando put together earlier this summer was much needed after being cooped up during quarantine for over a year.
“Everything was pivoting to online and I knew I didn’t want to do that,” Mando said.
The “We Outside” show on June 26th, 2021 was one of the first big concerts back in the city out of the pandemic and it represented the epitome of Milwaukee. With acts such as Chicken P, Gwapo Chapo, Solowke and more opening up for the female goat and Milwaukee’s own Lakeyah, the #414 was ready to once again enjoy their hometown favorites. Yung Bleu was also a headliner on the lineup until he canceled at the last minute and blamed it on “missing a flight.”
“[Yung Bleu] is never getting played by me ever again,” Mando said. “He pretty much ditched our show the day of, went to the Clippers game and they lost in game 7. So that’s what they get..that’s what he gets.”
Even with the last minute adjustments to make the show amazing, Mando and his team exceeded expectations and had a successful show. You can expect more shows from DJay Mando in the future, with more big name artists headlining. For now though, you can catch him spinning in UW-Madison as the official area DJ for their football and basketball games!
“I graduated from UW-Madison so to be the football and basketball arena DJ, it all came full circle, it’s amazing!” Mando said.
DJay Mando 100% knows his audience and is great at catering to them. From his electric astronaut performances with Dos and Chris at Summerfest, his sold out shows at The Miramar, the relationship he has with the Cheba Hut franchise, and now his DJ residency at UW-Madison, EVERY ENTREPRENEUR SHOULD TAKE NOTES! Mando is strategic, always on brand and to top it all off, you can tell he genuinely loves what he does. With a formula like that, you can’t lose.
DJ Gemini Gilly:
When you’re talking about a blend/edit/mashup Queen, it would be disrespectful for DJ Gemini Gilly’s name to not be in the conversation. With her vast catalog of pure music genius, her creative mixes of hip-hop and R&B tracks are always the right vibe. This year was DJ Gemini Gilly’s Summerfest debut, and it was a well-deserved and earned accomplishment after all the hard work she has been putting in the last few years.
(Forreal, if you haven’t heard of her, are you really from Milwaukee? You’ve clearly been sleep!)
“This[Summerfest] is like my official coming out party to Milwaukee, forreal forreal” Gilly said.
Music has always been a big part of Gilly’s life growing up, thanks to her big brother. He introduced her to a lot of styles like down south music from artists such as DJ Screw, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, along with artists from the East coast like Bad Boy, DMX, and The Lox. DJ Gemini Gilly was that friend who you trusted to pass the AUX to because you knew she was going to play some straight-up HEAT. That’s the kind of person who is destined to be a DJ.
DJ Gemini Gilly was a social work major at UW-Madison when she began teaching herself how to DJ over her winter break in 2018. What started as a hobby due to a love of music and a stressful job, quickly became an idea of something much bigger. Her first DJing gig was in 2019 and even despite the pandemic, her DJ career kept flourishing throughout 2020. From her first night at Pourman’s, The Black is Beautiful bike ride after set, debuting as the first female Butler Skateland DJ, and so many more, Gilly’s name was popping up everywhere! It’s only been up and stuck from there.
“I love when I’m on stage and bringing people together with music,” Gilly said. “I’m crossing my fingers and sending blessings that hopefully I will definitely be able to do this full-time. I also want to find a way to merge social work and DJing in a way where I’m able to do both, because I’m still very passionate about social work and just the community in general.”
Until then you can catch her consistently applying pressure on Instagram, consistently spinning gems at events and she recently announced she was selected to be an in-arena DJ for the Milwaukee Bucks! It’s been amazing to witness her journey and watch her dreams come full circle.
Ever since starting in 2018, DJ Gemini Gilly put her foot on the gas and has no intentions of letting up. She should definitely be on your “ones to watch” list. She’s the now. She’s the future and she stands her ground on Webbie having the best verse on “I.N.D.E.P.E.N.D.E.N.T.”
Taylor Bennett:
Summerfest 2021 was a first for Taylor Bennett. It was also his first show back live since the pandemic. So of course, what better place to have his first show than the city that’s home to the NBA Champions!
“Shoutout to the Bucks, We the Champs!” Bennett said. “I feel like I claim it just as a midwest kid.”
Taylor came to a few Milwaukee Bucks Finals games this year, along with his older brother Chance The Rapper, who also performed the same day at Summerfest headlining the American Family Insurance Amphitheatre stage. Shockingly to my knowledge, Taylor says he used to come to Milwaukee all the time when he was younger, and even when he was older would perform at different shows here. When I asked him if he thought Milwaukee is comparable to a little Chicago, like I hear everyone else always say, he agreed.
Carrie: “Is there a favorite place you like to go when you’re here?”
Taylor: “I just went to this new spot and it’s probably my new favorite - Proof Pizza. That sh*t is bomb!”
When Taylor isn't in MKE getting full off of Proof pizza, he’s on the gram showing body-ody-ody! And in the words of BIA, he invested in his body, b*tch he’s done up (or invested his time as Taylor let me know LOL). His fitness journey started after he had his first son, Charlie, in 2019. Taylor says he always envisioned himself being the type of Dad who would throw around the football with his son, and being 23 at the time, he didn’t feel like he was at the fit level he thought he was. Eventually he got addicted to seeing the results from all the time he was putting in and enjoyed the peace of mind it gave him.
Carrie: “If there was one tip you could give somebody who’s thinking about starting but doesn't have that push/motivation to get on their fitness journey, what would you tell them? How did you start?”
Taylor: “The only thing that’s really guaranteed, that you can put your time and resources that are guaranteed results in this world, that nobody can take away from you, is fitness. Once I realized that I felt like it’s like that for a reason.”
In the industry one of the biggest decisions an artist makes is if they want to sign to a record deal or stay independent. Taylor Bennett, is one artist who has remained independent throughout his entire career so far, along with his brother Chance. With so many years in the game running things solo, Taylor would know more than anybody how to successfully be independent.
Carrie: “What’s the biggest tip you know now that you wish you knew back then when you first started independent?”
Taylor: “The biggest thing you gotta know is there’s no amount - no record deal - is worth what you think it is. Once I figured that out, that’s what made me think alright, F*ck that. I can’t ever owe anybody money tryna make money. That’s crazy as hell LOL.”
This summer Taylor dropped “Come Alive,” and more recently he dropped his video “Easy Outside.” Being independent, you have to work harder to push out your own work versus if you have a label to handle most of that for you. So make sure y’all support our boy Taylor like he’s supporting us and go run it up!
/Carrie for CW
