DJ To Watch: Ghastly

The DJ to Watch as of late is David Crow, better known as Ghastly. The young talent from right here in Arizona ignored everyone’s doubts and defied all odds to become the successful artist he is today. He literally ignored everyone’s advice not to, and then chose to move to California anyways to follow his musical dreams – that takes guts!

As a young boy, David Crow grew up on a large farm with about 650 cows that was a field trip destination for a lot of the school kids. Even before he was Ghastly, he was always entertaining people, bringing the school kids into his house to have little dance parties at just 8-years-old. Later on in his childhood, David’s brother played Metallica on an acoustic guitar and sparked the inception of David’s future musical career, making him think, “Wow, I really want to do that!” He dipped his toes in the water, getting his start as a metal band’s lead singer while he was learning DAW’s on his computer on the side. Finally in 2008 dance music entered his life and he eventually switched gears to become a DJ.

“Metal is what brought me into EDM in the first place. When dubstep first started gaining traction in the US, it was constructed just like metal but with robot farts instead of live instruments. My first ‘dose’ of EDM was when I went to the Bloodfest warehouse in Arizona back in 2008. It was this underground rave where they had a giant bag of blood hanging above the crowd that they slit at midnight, totally coating its attendees. Mind you, this was all to the tune of a heavy-duty hardstyle DJ,” – Ghastly.

His road to success was unlike the rest, as he went from living on a goat farm in Arizona to Los Angeles to follow his dreams, struggling to get by living in his own van and then getting fired from his job at American Apparel because of it to becoming one of Insomniac’s Essential Artists, traveling the world performing tracks like his collabs with Jauz “Ghosts n Sharks” and “Miami Connection,” or the ever-popular “Crank It” with Mija and Lil’ Jon.

After about 2.5 years of struggling in Los Angeles, he went broke and was forced to move back to his family’s farm to recuperate for 6 months before he could give his dreams one more shot. This time around, his focus couldn’t be broken by anything and he got a position as a promoter for Exchange L.A. He diligently worked his way up to opening in their gallery room and then finally opening up their mainstage. Eventually he became a Bassrush resident and in 2012 he got his first taste of success with his track “Funky Flex” that was released on OWSLA’s Free Treats Vol. II.

Since then, Ghastly has become a force to be reckoned with in the electronic music scene. His track “Bitch U Ghastly” has become a prolific fan favorite, getting played at shows and festivals all over. His latest release via Mad Decent, “Get On This,” comes after Jauz has teased us with the track appearing in his sets for quite some time now. This hard-hitting original production is Ghastly’s debut on the Mad Decent label, and when you are starting out with a track THIS good, one can only speculate as to what the young talent has in store for his fans next!

Ghastly – Hello Festival Season Mix (◕,,,◕)

In the meantime, we can listen to Ghastly’s “Hello Festival Season Mix (◕,,,◕)” as we prepare for his return to Arizona this Saturday, October 10^th. Ghastly will be performing with Dr. Fresch at CASA’s Block Party on Mill Avenue and 6^th street for Gameday: Arizona State vs. University of Colorado, Boulder. Tickets for this 21+ event are only $10 and can be purchased here: https://relentlessbeats.com/events/mill-ave-block-party-ft-ghastly-dr-fresch-casa-block-party-101015/

Connect with Ghastly here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IAmGhastly
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ghastly
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ghastly/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ghastly