Club Bronco with DJ Check-O

By Kathleen Grohman

During Club Bronco, so many students pile into The Bronco that it is difficult to move around the hot and humid dance floor. Few students know that the founder and disc jockey of Club Bronco, DJ Check-O, is actually senior Juan Blanco, a combined sciences major.

Blanco got the nickname Check-O from his older siblings when he was just a toddler. "I have some relatives that I think don't even know my real name," he said jokingly. The name has stuck, and he has used it to create a DJ persona for himself.

Blanco was first exposed to DJing 13 years ago in his home city, Los Angeles.

"My oldest brother is actually responsible for getting me into this whole mess. He had a little circle of friends that were really into the DJ scene at the time, and I got to know them and they started inviting me over to their studios," said Blanco. "Little by little, I started learning the concepts and getting the fundamentals down."

As a freshman at Santa Clara, Blanco was not impressed with the party scene. "When I got here, all I saw were these random house parties and keg parties. Personally, if this was all there is to do out here, I would go crazy. The events that the school was having in The Bronco were not hitting the target," he said.

This dilemma caused Blanco to submit a business proposal to the Office of Student Life at the end of 2005, but he did not get called back until the following year when he was a junior.

Now, Club Bronco is one of the most consistent events on campus, happening three to four times a quarter. Blanco is delighted that it has grown in popularity. "The seams are breaking in the walls. It's really, really crowded," he said.

Continuing to cater to student interest, Blanco said his choice of music depends on what the crowd wants. "It's a loop feedback cycle: You put something out there and see how they react," he said.

In order to be able to choose the right music at the right time, Blanco keeps his music collection organized by beats per minute because the whole process of mixing comes from matching beats. He also practices a lot, trying to find which music works well together.

The actual method of mixing music has changed a lot with growing technology. It started with a mixer and two turntables with speakers to amplify the sound, but now DJs can use CDs or MP3s, or even some software programs that do the mixing on their own.

Blanco is a little wary of these changes. "It's taken away a lot from the actual craft. I'm real old school. I consider myself a rare breed right now because I'm one of the few people you'll still see spinning on vinyl," he said.

When Club Bronco first started, Blanco would perform alone, but now an MC named Kyle Richard often joins, as well as helpers who set up, break down and operate the media screen. When asked about his collaborators, Blanco, clad in shorts, a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap, enthusiastically pulled up his sweatshirt to reveal a Full Clip DJs T-shirt.

Full Clip DJs is a company with five DJs, including Blanco and Richard, who goes by DJ Kay Rich or The Tazbaynian Devil. Full Clip DJs was started by Blanco's friend Jeremy Canals, aka DJ Hobbs, and is aimed at bringing entertainment to schools. Most of the DJs are students at various California colleges.

But music is just one of Blanco's diverse interests. He wavered between studying art and science in college. He decided on combined sciences after his love of anatomy led him to combine art and science in an independent study. While he was working as an aide in a third-grade classroom, Blanco created a children's book about the anatomy and physiology of the shoulder.

In addition to performing in The Bronco, Blanco also has gigs with the Alumni Association, sporting events and a few venues in San Jose, including Club Raw, Britannia Arms and Jack's Bar & Lounge. Blanco said a career as a DJ is very tempting.

"A dream would be to work with a radio station down in L.A., called Power 160, which is one of the top stations in the state," he said. "The DJs and the mixers they have there are like the same style that I brought here and that I emulate."

Another dream is to become a superstar DJ, he said. "I know there are a couple of guys in L.A. that get flown to Vegas and flown around the country and make $100,000 a night. You get four or five of those a week -- you're doing pretty well," he said.

Besides being a superstar DJ, Blanco also dreams of working as some sort of forensic scientist. Blanco's ability to combine his talents to suit his surroundings will surely help him no matter what he ends up doing, whether it is music, art or science.

Contact Kathleen Grohman at (408) 551-1918 or kgrohman@scu.edu.