DJ James Kennedy is ready to take on Coachella.
The “Vanderpump Rules” star, who is celebrating his nine-month sobriety birthday on Thursday, told Page Six that he’s working on “lots of tracks” and is “trying to get on to Coachella’s lineup for 2021.”
“So this is going to be my year where I work towards that,” he said. “I’m gonna be basically making a bunch of songs, house music tracks, kind of inspired by the Do LaB at Coachella. It was actually my girlfriend Raquel’s idea and I fell in love with it. I thought it was genius and it would basically challenge me for the next year.”
Coachella 2020 is set to begin on April 10, and the 2021 date has not been released yet. In the meantime, Kennedy is working on building up to the festival while remaining sober.
“It’s been a beautiful nine months. I found a new passion for deejaying sober, which is actually what was one of my biggest things was, you know, ‘What am I going to feel like when I’m actually performing in front of people?'” he explained. “I used to drink a lot before shows. Mask all the excitement. Mask all the anxiety with booze and whatever, and that took a huge stop.”
He said he has found “this love for deejaying now” without booze, and that he’ll “continue to sober out for the rest of 2020, for sure.”
He is currently touring as a DJ with former “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise” star Grant Kemp, and recently remixed Kemp and cøzybøy’s single, “lost reception.” Kemp, 31, became a member of Bachelor Nation when he competed for JoJo Fletcher’s heart on Season 12 of the show.
“I’ve actually been involved in music my entire life,” Kemp told Page Six. “I’ve made music since I was little. It’s just never really come up in conversation.”
The duo plans to work on new music together over the summer — just in time for a potential new season of “Vanderpump Rules” to start shooting.