About DJ-Draven

Perhaps the hardest topic for anyone is to speak of is themselves. It is also the one topic that people love to focus on the most. With Draven as a person, this is a topic that can’t be fully disclosed on this one page, but we can give you a taste of the man and also the DJ.

Those who have known Draven can point to certain things about him: he is funny, passionate, expressive, understanding, curious, and driven. Draven is someone who has been taught to be humble in everything he does, and to always be true to himself. Both aspects can be found in each of his shows.

Now to dig a little into the man:

Draven has lived all over the USA and also in Europe. The word "romantic" has been thrown around many social spheres, but Draven tends to embody this attribute more than most. Some say he was born a few hundred years too late, as evidenced by his expressive poetry and also in the fact that he strives to be an exemplar of chivalry.

Draven spent much of his youth living in various locations with his mother and father. This lasted until his latter years of youth, when his parents divorced. Thereafter, he lived the remainder of his youth with his father.

Draven’s dad was a part of a rare community of electronics gurus who were often nicknamed for their time with HAM radios. Being of this old-school group, his father used his skills to make a lasting impact in both the electronics world and also in helping with the dominance that computers would eventually have. This in turn gave Draven a heavy exposure to the computer industry and the birth of the Internet. This high level of IT exposure would be later tied to his many jobs and ventures.

As Draven grew older, he placed most of his skills in development, database programming, and also in the programming aspects of the Internet. These would land him jobs throughout the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Even to this day, it is a major feat to not see some form of technology at the fingertips of Draven.

Let's dissect the DJ:

With the diverse tastes of music in Draven’s family ranging from classical, rock & roll, rock, pop, and heavy metal, it should be no surprise that Draven took his choice of music like most take their choice in a college degree. He studied each era of music, each style, and found elements that he loved in each.

It was actually Draven’s love for poetry that would lead to his discovery of the music that would swoon his heart and drive his soul. With a tragic loss of his first love, Draven found an outlet in the written word. As countless pages of poems poured out of him in a fashion of weeping and therapy, many of his friends encouraged him to put these on a public location for others to read. This lead to a BBS called Seek Haven.

Seek Haven was a bulletin board system operated by friends of a friend of Draven’s. One of their requirements for posting on the BBS was to use a nickname or a handle; the nickname chosen by a friend was Draven. As the poems poured out, a growing fan base took hold, which he was unaware of. It wasn’t until months later that the owner of the BBS insisted that Draven go with him to a dance club. It was at this club that the name "Draven" became a part of the man he is today, where he got his first true dose of the music which would become a part of him forever.

This love for the music would lead Draven to befriending the DJs at this club. One of these DJs took him under his wing, mentoring him in the countless bands wearing the proud titles of Gothic Rock, Gothic Punk, who gave rise to the birth of many of the Industrial genres. This DJ also gave Draven his first taste of being a disc jockey, a taste he has hungered for ever since.

Over the intervening years, Draven has DJ’d using most forms of audio media in North America and Europe. This exposure, along with his lack of fear in embarrassing himself, has opened gates of opportunity to forge both contacts and friends in the music world. This visibility has also opened avenues for obtaining music that most DJs have never found.

The discovery of new music is far more than a hobby for Draven— it has been a form of therapy for him as well. Where some will take up pottery or a sport to release stress, he releases it in the discovery of music in all the nooks and crannies of the world. Even if an album is produced in Russia, Japan, Europe, South America, or even Africa, it is Draven’s devotion to the music to find it all and to share it in his shows. The beauty he finds in the melodies and spoken words are his joy; sharing this with others has become a responsibility and a quest.

This devotion to music became even further entrenched into his very being after living in Europe. Draven had the rare opportunity to meet some very gifted musicians in Russia and Eastern Europe. Many of these musical artists never had the chance to present their talents to music fans in North America or even in Western Europe. This was a loss Draven saw as a tragic sin to the music world and the bands. He also saw that the listeners were being cheated in all the music that they should have a right to hear.

These revelations lead to him DJing more, and also in the inspiration behind this website. This site may bear his name, but it is truly a site dedicated to the listeners, the bands, and all those who want to help make the world of music that much more accessible for everyone.

After countless hours of hard work from Draven, The Sorcerer Of Sound, Zia, and many others... this dream, this vision has finally become a reality.