Student DJ embarks on first tour, aims for career in audio production

Royal Oak junior Ron Sulewski listens to music while waiting for his BCA 527: Film Directors class to begin Tuesday evening in Moore Hall. Sulewski, also known as DJ Pigpen, started experimenting with mashups after seeing Girl Talk perform live at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival during the summer of 2008. "They inspired me to starting experimenting with music myself," Sulewski said. "To play music I've created and produced on a high stage, like in Vegas or Spain is one of my greatest goals." (Victoria Zegler/Staff Photographer)

Ron Sulewski said his career goal is working in audio production, and he’s helping advance toward that on a weekly basis — as “DJ Pigpen.”

The Royal Oak senior, who started DJing about four years ago, is preparing for his first tour.

This weekend, he will spend three days traveling and performing in Michigan, with shows in Ann Arbor and Pontiac before returning to Mount Pleasant for his last performance.

“I went to a big electronic music festival in Detroit and saw this guy named Girl Talk,” he said. “After that, I just started messing around on my laptop, taking a capella tracks and mashing them with instrumentals.”

Though “Girl Talk,” a DJ from Pittsburgh who makes tracks entirely using mashups, was Sulewski’s first inspiration, he said his top two influences are “Fedde le Grand,” known for “Put Your Hands up For Detroit,” and Steve Angello, a member of Swedish House Mafia.

Sulewski said he decided on the name DJ Pigpen after prodding from friends.

“It actually started when Michael Jackson died. At the time my name was ‘DJ RO’ — for Royal Oak,” he said. “All my friends hated that (and) said it was terrible.”

Sulewski and his friends were listening to Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and when the bass line came on, one of his friends shouted out, “DJ Pigpen keeping it filthy.”

“We all just laughed,” he said. “I didn’t really like it at first, and I thought it sounded dirty, but it just keep on sticking.”

Sulewski said at first his parents thought his interest in making music would just be a fad but have since jumped on board.

“My mom loved my first song,” he said. “My parents are just really good about supporting me.”

As a full-time student who spends a lot of his weekends out of town doing different shows, his mom, Sue, worries about him.

“As a parent, I of course worry about him getting his schoolwork done,” she said. “But we totally support Ron and his music. If you have a passion for doing something, you should go after it, and he does.”

Sulewski’s roommate, Matt Rosenbach, also a Royal Oak senior, has known Sulewski since senior year of high school.

Rosenbach said Sulewski is constantly adding to his collection of music.

“He probably downloads 10-20 songs almost every day,” he said. “I would guess he has 100,000, if not more, songs in his iTunes.”

After graduation next year, he said he hopes to move to New York City and go into audio production.

Aside from DJing, he is also in a music group, “Nice Lab,” that produces original electronic music.

Sulewski’s first tour kicks off at 11 p.m. Thursday when he will open “3Lau,” in Ann Arbor at the Blind Pig. He will then perform as part of “Nice Lab” at 10 p.m. Friday at Clutch Cargos in Pontiac.

The weekend tour will wrap up back in Mount Pleasant at 10 p.m. Saturday at Wayside Central, 2000 South Mission St.

“I practice everyday, and I’m constantly just thinking of what mixes well together,” he said.

Sulewski’s songs and schedule are available on his Facebook page.