Name: Dan "the Automator" Nakamura Trademark saying or philosphy: I guess my philosophy is not summed up that easily but, in general it's enjoy what you do and do the best you can do at the time because A.) you'll probably be better tomorrow, but you can't keep pushing off till tomorrow and B.) It's like you know most mistakes or decisions you make in music and probably in life to a degree..If you follow what your feeling it was the right decision at the time even if maybe you'll go out later and go done that now, we all grow up and look at decisions through life and go i wouldn't have done that...but if you were never able to trust umm your instincts and do it...you would never get anywhere...you'd still be in the beginning. Hometown: San Francisco The first record you ever bought/owned? The first record I ever owned my parents bought me and it was Saturday Night Fever album, there was a couple 45's I had bought maybe before that but I dont know what they were or I know what they were but I know they were like top 40 hit's from the top 10 at that time, but the first album was Saturday Night Fever. Most influential records(s) in your life? Well there are alot or records that have altered the way I about music but one I want to talk about is Do You Like Scratching by the Worlds Famous Supreme Team, it was kinda intresting cuz the skill level was moderate which was what made it intresting I can hear t and go these guys are rubbing records and I want to do this, I mean it came out fairly early about 82-83 not quiet sure it was rite when uh people were thinking about hip-hop and rap music and the rhyming, I'm from the west coast so like that was the first exposure as far as I ever knew, but that record Do You Like Scratching had alot of movement and stuff that was a little ahead of it's time for what was going on I mean there was scratching in other elements in stuff but that was really the first time I could really pin it down and know what was going on. When did you first DJ? I dont know exactly but I guess it was about 1983...84 sometime around there. I was just starting to DJ, but in 84 I was DJ'ing at various party's, high schools and stuff. What is most memorable performance of your DJ career? Well, I mean over the years...one of the great shows i ever did as far as i'm concerned wasn't nececarily a great show, in the realm of shows, but i did a house of blues show with Prince Paul one year it was a purely dj'd thing, uh it was the night before the Tibetan Freedom concert in Chicago, Wisconsin..Chicago so it was umm it was pretty packed, and we went out there to play...we had just...I think Handsome Boy Modeling School wasn't out yet but we were about to debut it and umm we brought it out there and we were playing records and talking to the crowd kinda in general and we brought out Del with us...Del tha Funkee Homosapien...and he had just done this song for us called "magnetizing" and "magnetizing has this incredibly long verse...it's like 26-28 bars..it's weird and um Del comes out there and starts rhyming...by the 8th bar he's totally lost place of where he is and all the words are wrong....but he keeps rhyming cause Del can freestyle and that's cool, cause Hiero's? freestyle...haha hiero's! But he keeps going and going and going and then all of a sudden he just stops when the hook ends...and to the life of me to this day..I can't figure out how he did that. In your opinion who is best DJ of all time? DJ QBert. While obviously there's all different kinds of DJ's, but Q's probably the best DJ there ever was...he's brought so many different things out there and so many different levels of skill. He can do things with records that no one thought was possible. Partial AUTOMATOR Discography: Automator, Music to be murdered By (1988), Automator, King of the beats (radioactive records 1990), Dr. Octagon, Dr. Octagon (Bulk, 1996/(Dreamworks, 1997), The Automator, A Better Tomorrow (Ubiquity, 1996), Dr. Octagon, Dr. Octagonecologyst, Dr. Octagon, Insrumentalsyst (Dreamworks, 1997), The Automator, Bombay the Hard Way (Motel 1998) Part II, Handsome Boy Modeling School, So…How’s your girl? (Tommy Boy, 1999), The Automator, A Much Better Tomorrow (75 Ark, 2000), Deltron 3030, Deltron 3030 (75 Ark, 2000), Gorillaz, Gorillaz (Parlophone/EMI, 2001), Wanna Buy a Mokney, mixtape session (2003), 12" "Bear Witness Part 3" (2003), Dan the Automator, Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Dan the Automator with Prince Paul & Mike Simpson), Sammy’s Romanians (Dan the automator & El-P).... and many more that he contributed to such as Cornershop and track on a BOMB Hip Hop flexidisk that came free with the zine. Best website or way for folks to find out more about you? You know I really don't know I mean there is a www.DantheAutomator.net that's coming up soon... SOURCE: http://www.hiphopslam.com