Dan Stevens, aka DJ Brakez, started DJing in high school in 2001, hosting a weekly underground hip hop radio show in Indiana on 89.3 WJEL called DFS Sound, featuring three hours each week of live interviews, scratching, juggling, and more from hip hop and electronic local artists.

Heavily influenced and mentored by Indianapolis legends DJ Top Speed and DJ Stil, he joined the Hitbreakers crew in Indianapolis in 2002 until 2006. Then it was on to college.

During his time at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN from 2003 until 2007, DJ Brakez linked up with DJ Sleeper and DJ Wushu to collaborate on numerous events and weekly shows around the top bars at one of the top rated college party towns in the nation. Venues included The Jungle Room, Kilroy’s Sports Bar, The Bluebird, Little 500, and various Greek events.

While building his reputation and skills in college, DJ Brakez was featured weekly on the 91.3/98.1 FM Beat Street Mix Show, competed in numerous battles, including the Guitar Center Spin Off and the Hip Hop Congress Awareness Festival DJ Battle, and started a promotions company called DFS Sound that organized and promoted weekly events at venues around Indianapolis and Bloomington.

After finishing school, Dan moved to St Louis in early 2007 to pick up some nights at a few local bars with the help of friend DJ Mahf, and within two months gained residency at some of the top clubs in the city, including The Pepper Lounge, Mandarin and Lush. He also started DJing for Red Bull at such national events as Mardi Gras and the Blue Party.

While in St. Louis, Dan joined the Derrty DJs crew out of St Louis in 2008, which opened the doors to a national network of other djs and major recording artists. For the next two years, from 2007 until 2009, Dan was featured in almost every dance club in St Louis, including Lure, F15teen, Xes, Harry’s, Skybox and a weekly at Ameristar’s Home Nightclub, and performed at private celebrity parties for such individuals as Bobby Brown, Nelly, Murphy Lee, Danity Kane, and Chingy.

Feeling the need to expand his repertoire and his horizons, DJ Brakez decided to explore the club scene in Europe. Within a couple weeks of cruising around Spain, France and Italy, Brakez was offered an opportunity to begin working with Rome’s top DJ crew at such venues as La Maison and Anima. During his time in Italy, he also took on a management job at a hostel in Venice, where he picked up various gigs as well at the local beach clubs.

With his 3-month tourist visa expiring, Dan had to return to the US, this time taking residence in Denver, Colorado where he began working in collaboration with his long time friends DJ Wushu and DJ Empire. While in Denver, they collectively formed the group Basscrooks, and have been focusing their efforts in the studio. After only a few months, they were featured at such venues as Zen Ultra Lounge, Wicked Garden and The Funky Buddha where both Brakez, Wushu, and Empire performed on four turntables spinning electro, dubstep, turntablism, and hip hop.

After only being in Denver for a few months, Brakez was invited to travel to Tokyo by long time friend DJ Yoshi to spin at some of the hottest nightclubs in Japan. He was there for three months, and held weekly residencies at top venues such as Feria and Logos, as well as being featured at special events for Disney and various international celebrities. During this time, Brakez was featured as a special guest DJ for top models and celebrities from around the world, and performed with such icons as DJ Mick Boogie and The Crystal Method, .

Since then, Brakez has been based out of Denver doing various special events with the Basscrooks, as well as devoting his time to the studio and working on some original production tracks to be released in early 2012.