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DJ Zebo
Wednesday May 28, 2008.
By Maya Henderson
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 photo: Clifton Henri You won't catch DJ Zebo dropping an entire set of Top 40 remixes or catering to a bottle-service crowd that wouldn't know the difference between a DJ and an iPod on shuffle. He's one of the top nightlife figures to watch this year, and you won't have to pay a $20 cover to see him.
Zebo, born Johnathon Zebo Gust, started spinning records in 1998, when he moved to Chicago from Wisconsin to attend Columbia College. He became well known in the loft-party and house-party circuits, playing both jungle and house music. But by 2003, the city started cracking down on loft parties, so he graduated and got a "real" job at an office downtown.
In 2006, music called again. His longtime friend DJ Autobot had teamed up with J2K to form Flosstradamus; people were dancing again and the lack of good party DJs was evident. In January 2007, he played Funky Buddha's Outdanced party and killed it. Now, Zebo, who plays everything from hip-hop to house and dance to jungle, is one of the top local DJs, even bringing Baltimore (B-more) club, juke's East Coast-cousin, to Chicago dance floors.
Dance music blogs and publications have taken notice. Urb magazine put him on their Next 100 list, which landed him gigs at South by Southwest, Winter Music Conference and Detroit Electronic Music Festival, and gave him the confidence he needed to quit his day job and pursue music full-time. "It's a lot to live up to," says Zebo. "I definitely don’t want to be looked at as one of those DJs that didn't do anything with their career and that you don't hear about after making the list."
This summer, Zebo's label S.E.S. (co-run by Bird Peterson of Austin, Texas) will release his tracks, along with some from Peterson, Tittsworth, Dave Nada and Willy Joy. He'll also be revealing a new label with Marco Morales, Hot Dog Records, which will focus on the B-more style and classic house remixes. "We wanted something that said Chicago, so we went with the hot dog theme. Each release will be named after a hot dog spot, like the Hot Doug's EP," he says. "Marco and I are both old house DJs, so we really wanted to incorporate our influence of coming up in the rave and party scene of Chicago into what's going on in dance music now."
And it's just in time for the summer nightlife season.
What's the current favorite track to play out?
What's the best club that you play at?
If you could throw a party anywhere in the city, where would it be?
Favorite party that you don't play at or promote?
Favorite DJs?
Catch Zebo Monday nights at Green Dolphin Street's Boom Boom Room, every other Wednesday at Debonair, Thursdays and Fridays at Evil Olive, Saturdays at Subterranean, and don't be surprised if he's occasionally manning the decks at Underground.
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