DJ Shub is getting ready to kick off his 2022 summer season after a big win at this year's Juno awards. The Six Nations native walked away with the Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year award back on May 15. It was the first year that the Juno’s split the contemporary and traditional Indigenous artists and both were honoured with separate awards. It was Shub’s first Juno win as a solo artist following his success in 2014 when he was a member of A Tribe Called Red.
“Getting recognition from the Juno’s and any other award is a very satisfying thing as an artist, it’s great to know you’re being acknowledged by your peers” DJ Shub said about the honour, and continued by giving some credit to his fellow nominees.
“If anybody ever says there isn't any indigenous artists out there, just look at the category. They’re heavy hitters and everyone in the category makes me work twice as hard because they're just phenomenal artists”.
Shub grew up in Fort Erie but would make his way back to Six Nations often during his childhood. He was able to mix the sounds of his childhood into his music, whether that was the disco sound he credits to his mother, classic rock from his father, or hip hop from his brother. He uses all those different genres and combines it with traditional Indigenous music. Shub said he doesn't find it too hard to combine the different styles.
“I try to use the songs that are meant for dancing and are meant for contests and meant to bring people to come together and dance, it’s not very hard to mix the two. There isn't much that I add to it to make it crazy, it’s already an amazing, energetic music so it's not that hard.”
DJ Shub not only walked away a big winner on Juno night, he also was able to perform with Snotty Nosed Rez Kids for the award ceremony.
“Over the years, I’ve built a really good relationship with those guys and they inspire me right now. They put in so much work, I’ve seen them on tour and their work ethic inspires me to do the same. The performance was the greatest and to be able to be on TV and to show people and to let people see the beautiful culture that we are, and that we have it was just so cool and a culmination of hard work and great to have everybody see it on stage.”
DJ Shub will be performing in Ottawa this week for the Canada Day festivities and after that he’ll continue his Canada wide tour up until August. He also stated that a new album is in the works and preparations for that will begin in September or October. Fans can check out djshub.ca for tour dates and more details on anything happening in the upcoming months.
Listen to the CJKS interview with DJ Shub below: