jason merle if you asked his grandmother, she'd tell you, "this kid has been making music since the day his mother felt him kick for the first time!" from an early age he was on the search for the beat. arranging pots and pans on his grandma doris' kitchen floor, climbing his way up the bench to play grandma's electric organ, even tagging along with his step-dad to his funk band rehearsals--anything to be around music. exploring the jazz and marching percussion programs in junior high, he subsequently dedicated himself completely to drum corps, eventually winning a dci world championship title as a member of the concord blue devils, then settling into teaching high school percussion and drum corps. it was while teaching during the day and bartending at night that the house music bug bit him, and bit him hard. while bar-backing at jax house in fresno california, an afterhours party found him behind the decks learning the knobs from soon to be mentors shawn hinman, mitch, ali, rusty, joe harp, roger, and naz (owner of inhouse records) and the addiction had begun. he bought his decks the next day from naz, was given a crate of records from ali, and later that day drove to nearby turlock to buy a mixer from joe harp, who threw in a crate of records to seal the deal. it wasn't until he moved in with long-time friend clint storm and was given a mixtape with mark farina's united dj's mix on one side, and dj dan's funk da system mix on the other from vanessa that he began mixing everyday and buying records. he and clint were going to the express on wednesday nights and listening to dj rene, then coming home and playing records all night, driving up to sf every weekend to hear the dj's whose records they were buying. after throwing a few local parties (northern exposure, first works, so-fa) he decided to go play in a bigger pond and moved to san francisco. he managed to get some bookings in its legendary west coast house music scene, one of which was aural confections' "stylus," which continues in oakland. in classic form, after spending all his money on records, jason was forced to move back to fresno and rebuild. it turned out to be one of the best things for jason's slowly building dj career. upon returning home, former roommate clint storm had begun throwing a party called focus with promoter rick baines and local legend dj jordan. jordan moved on to other ventures and that left a spot open in the partnership. joining the crew, jason merle now found himself in the perfect situation, booking talents like jonené, m3, garth, rick preston, david harness, to slater hogan, john larner, halo, onionz, diz, dj freestyle, mes, deron, frugaletti, duane, homero espinoza, jamie thinnes, and many, many others including johnny fiasco, who has become a huge help in his career. after 4 plus years of the bi-weekly party scene, he decided to concentrate on making tracks. with partners p-rez, ezra osborn, and rusty, he issued the first release on local label lé poop music. a release on viva recordings is scheduled to hit the shelves during 2007's winter music conference and other releases are in the pipe, ready to smoke. his detailed mixing style and unique track selection make him memorable for even the most educated ear to hear out on the big system. you can catch him at pink in san francisco on an almost monthly basis and his travels seem to take him further and more frequently as time passes.