DJ Rin has done a lot of living in his 29 years. Born Ryan Egner in East
Lansing, Michigan, he was raised by a self-described “hippie” mom. The family
moved to Ohio before migrating to the pastoral town of Fairfield, Iowa. There,
young Rin was raised within an extended family of music junkies that had
huge collections of vinyl records. As Rin came of age in the early 90s, so too
did the Midwest rave scene. Rin started hearing mix tapes that trickled down
from some of the top DJs on the party circuit. He began studying the origins
of house music, digging through bins at dance-oriented record stores and
collecting more tapes from his favorite DJs. Some of his early influences were
Chicago DJs Glenn Underground, DJ Funk, and K Alexi, as well as Detroit’s
“Second Generation” of techno artists, including Richie Hawtin.
By 1995, Rin and some like-minded friends in Fairfield began throwing their own
parties. Thus, DJ Rin was born. He purchased his first pair of turntables and
set them up in his basement. As his skills developed, he started playing club
nights at local bars and anywhere they would tolerate house music. Over the
next few years, DJ Rin would bounce around the country. Finally, in 1998, Rin
landed in Los Angeles, California, and eventually made his way up to the Bay
area, where he attended the Community College of San Francisco, studying
broadcasting and radio production. Rin’s musical tastes were now moving in a
decidedly techno direction, with influences from Detroit and German labels.
In 1999, Rin made a huge move to Australia where he enrolled in the School
of Audio Engineering in Sydney. He also landed DJ gigs in the vibrant club
scenes of Sydney and Perth. He graduated from SAE in 2000 and was inspired
to head home to the States and begin a production career. When Rin returned
to Los Angeles in 2000, he found work in post production, mostly for the film
and TV industries. However, by 2002, with the music industry in turmoil and
work scarce, Rin decided to follow his heart and move to Chicago, but, after
living in the sunshine and heat of Australia and California, Rin could no longer
bear the brutal Midwest winters and returned to LA in 2003, this time for good.
In Los Angeles, DJ Rin formed a production team with his brother, Miles,
and their childhood friend Jeff Harris (aka Hydrogen). The trio christened
themselves “Chemistry” and Rin added “The Chemist” to his nom de guerre.
The group produced several original tracks, pressing up limited edition white
labels of “Critical Minded” and “California Kilaz.” Rin soon got bookings at
famed San Francisco clubs like The End Up and The Top, and the massive
Love Parade festival. He also played monthly events at LA’s venerable Circus
nightclub, and held down residencies at hip Hollywood hotspots like Geisha
House, Dolce, and Le Deux.
During an inspired trip to Ibiza, Spain, Rin witnessed the current phenomenon
of minimal techno, a Detroit-influenced sub genre that he had loved for years.
Upon returning home, he and Chemistry hit the studio and cooked up “Molecule
1” and “Molecule 2” for Rin’s new label, Jook Music, owned and operated by
DJ Tatiana. Both tracks have sold impressive numbers at digital retailers like
Beatport and Juno without any promotion.
So, what does the future have in store for DJ Rin, The Chemist? More
Chemistry releases, focusing on minimal techno tracks. DJ Rin will be touring
for AQUACabana Magazine in Las Vegas this summer, and will also be heading
to Ibiza, Spain,Germany,London and Holland