Alum ditched graduation photos to practice for DJ set in front of HOL
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Rather than taking graduation photos and celebrating finishing college, Chase Fort, who goes by the DJ name tspoon, went to work to create a visceral experience to culminate his four years at SU. Fort set up his DJ equipment and streamed a live DJ set in August in front of the Hall of Languages.
Fort is a 2021 graduate of SU, and he has accumulated a six-year career in DJing. After starting to DJ for the first time in high school, Fort wanted to refine his craft and prepare to take off in college. The DJ streaming event at the Hall of Languages marked the end of his era as a college DJ and was captured in multiple drone shots and shot on an iPhone.
“I saw everyone taking graduation photos in front of Hall of Languages, and I had recently been doing a lot of streaming on Twitch and figuring out how to post videos of my sets more rather than just recordings,” Fort said.
The streamed event in front of the Hall of Languages had different colored lights and smoke machines all shining on Fort. The set included mixes of classic dance songs like “American Boy” by Estelle and “Levitating” by Dua Lipa.
Fort organized and planned the streaming event at Hall of Languages with the help of one of his friends, Josh Simoncic. Simoncic said that his friend has a deep commitment to DJing that can be infectious to the people around him.
“Through Chase, I have gained an appreciation for his type of music and genre, and I got an understanding for how it all works,” Simoncic said.
Fort is a hard worker when it comes to his music. The DJ does sets on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, in addition to working on his music two to four hours a day, Simoncic said.
“Last year I was always trying to hang out with him, but he would just be like, ‘Can’t right now,’” Simoncic said. “He is super dedicated and driven.”
Fort’s producer, Rowan Moynihan, is a student at the New York Film Academy and has been friends with Fort since preschool, Moynihan said. He was executive producer of the stream at the Hall of Languages and helped with the logistics of the event: setting up the drone and cameras.
The two friends bounce off each other’s creativity, and neither holds back when it comes to offering advice and critique, Moynihan said.
“We have always been on the similar wavelength of creative vibes where we know if we both launch forward in the creative process together, it’ll end up helping each other out,” Moynihan said.
Fort would stream DJ sets virtually on the video streaming app Twitch, sometimes DJing for up to four hours straight, he said.
“You got to have a passion for it,” Fort said. “It has to be fun for you. Just like anything — it could be music, doing business or doing school, if that is what you are into. But whatever you are into, you just have to put time and effort into it.”
The DJ’s effort paid off after working on his DJ skills through college, and he has booked shows outside of Syracuse.
In August, Fort opened for Lee Foss, the owner of Repopulate Mars, a record label for dance and house music. That moment came after his graduation, and Fort said it was a great milestone in his DJing career.
Fort offered his own advice for budding DJs at Syracuse, saying they should start DJing in college and keep improving.
“It is all about taking steps and being better than you were the day before,” Fort said.
