DANE A. VANDERVELDEN
STAFF WRITER

The Wavehouse in Mission Beach played host to a Red Bull-sponsored DJ showcase and President’s Day party for Greek leaders and captains from local dorms and sororities on Feb. 19.

The top DJs from UCSD, USD, SDSU and CSUSM were invited to the event to compete before a large number of Wavehouse patrons and the DJs’ fellow students in attendance.

Selected as the top student DJ from Cal State San Marcos and chosen to represent CSUSM in this friendly competition was Justin Campbell. He opened the competition, which ran from noon to 5 p.m., and as per the rules of the contest, he had an hour to spin.

After finishing his set, he joined me for a brief chat about the contest, his motivation and music in general.

Campbell has been DJing for two years and has been gradually building his reputation by posting his songs online. Mostly instrumental mash-ups (a song created by entwining two other usually well-known and prerecorded songs), Campbell’s music caught the attention of local clubs downtown, and pretty soon, he was being booked for shows. Performances around the downtown scene and at such well known establishments as The House of Blues have allowed Campbell to branch out of San Diego and permitted him to spin at places like Los Angeles’ historic Avalon theater, where The Beatles played their first west coast performance.

When asked about his musical palette, Campbell says that his taste is quite broad, and that as a DJ, one should be open to all sorts of genres and sounds when composing a piece. This speaks to his ultimate goal as a DJ which is to keep underground music creative.

As the party went on and the other DJs completed their respective sets, it ultimately became the audience that would decide the winner through applause and cheers.

As the roar of the crowd was gauged, it was determined that the winner of the showcase was Justin Campbell. It came as no surprise that Campbell’s skills triumphed, but it still came as a very welcome victory for CSUSM to overcome their big-time rival schools.

To hear some of Justin Campbell’s music, visit http://soundcloud.com/ jcam8989.