It was a couple years back when Maddy Remias got a gift that ended up changing her brother’s life.
Maddy got a mixing board to practice DJing, and her younger brother Billy couldn’t stay away from it. She started off teaching him the basics, and he started liking it so much that the mixing board quickly ended up becoming just as much Billy’s as it was hers.
The siblings’ mom, Karen Dougherty, said Billy had always been musically inclined, yet it was surprising how rapidly he picked up DJing for someone whose education consisted of a couple tips from an older sister and YouTube tutorials.
What started as a side hobby for his sister quickly turned into an obsession for Billy, and now he can’t picture doing anything else but DJing for a career.
It has been over two years since Maddy got the mixing board, and Dougherty said Billy has since grown out of his sister’s entry-level mixing board and upgraded to more advanced technology.
Dougherty said in addition to taking a deep dive into the world of DJing, she watched her son take a deep dive into the world of marketing. Alongside advancing his musical career, Billy began researching how to market himself and get his name out there.
This proved to be more difficult for Billy than for most DJs since he was under 18 and wasn’t old enough to play at most venues. Billy, whose stage name is King Billy, couldn’t — and still can’t — play clubs or bars that aren’t also restaurants. Instead, Billy booked every opportunity he could get whether it be graduation parties, end-of-the-year school events and even spots like RMU in Breckenridge — which serves food, allowing Billy to play there.
Maddy remembers one time Billy built his own “makeshift” stage and held a small music festival. He worked with the videography team at Summit High School and made the event into a music video.
Billy still has to continue the grind of finding ways to perform while he’s still under 18. Yet, with his 18th birthday just around the corner in early April, that will change soon.
For Billy, it doesn’t matter where he plays, he just wants to play.
“My biggest joys in life, personally, is just making other people happy and making their day,” Billy said. “So if I’m able to create music that makes people feel happy … that’s worth gold.”
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Dougherty admits to not being a huge electronic dance music fan before her son got into DJing, but that has changed. Through watching Billy, Dougherty learned that the electronic dance music genre is more expensive than she previously thought. She said when she tells Billy some of her friends are coming to watch a show he says, “don’t worry, I’ll throw in some stuff you guys are familiar with” and will mix in songs from the ’80s and such so that his mom and her friends recognize some of the songs in his line up.
Despite having not any previous connection to electronic dance music, she now finds herself playing King Billy on Spotify when she gets in the car.
She said one of her greatest joys is getting to watch Billy play.
“It’s incredible, as a mom, to watch somebody who’s worked that hard,” Dougherty said.
She said even though it’s been years now, watching Billy change the vibe of an entire crowd and get them up on their feet and dancing still gives her the same feeling of pride every time.
Billy’s constantly trying to step up his game, and he said he’s constantly listening to and studying different elements of music. He is working toward getting a formal education and currently has applications out to different music schools.
When he thinks about his end goal, of course headlining big events is in the picture, but he ultimately wants to play music with his friends.
“If I were able to create some kind of a community with my friends where we could just get to play together, that would really be the dream,” Billy said.
He said music serves kind of like another language for him and his friends, and it’s a means of being able to express yourself and bond with others. It’s a form of communication for them that doesn’t involve talking.
While Billy counts down the days until he is 18, his sister and mother look forward to him being able to play “official shows” at a proper venue.