Meet Seje Omieno of Midnite Panda

Today we’d like to introduce you to Seje Omieno.

Seje, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
So initially Midnite Panda was a joke. It started out as a nickname for me (Seje) during my pledge process of joining a fraternity up in West Chester, PA.

I had always had a big interest in music so when I moved to Atlanta end of 2011 it only made sense for me to sign up for audio engineering school and learn the technical side of things. I started dj’ing around the same time and picked up my first gig Feb. 2012 as Midnite Panda and hence the joke became an actual brand. I met up with Cali (Ken) about a year or two into me doing my solo thing. I had won a contest to play counterpoint music festival and Cali wanted to come on stage and MC. Ever since then Cali has been incorporated into the Midnite Panda brand and we have transformed our live shows from just spinning records to including live elements like drums and vocals.

We have been extremely blessed and fortunate to have the support and fan base that we have in Atlanta in such a short amount of time. We have gone from playing empty clubs to headlining sold-out events. From playing dive bars to having residencies at Havana and Opera. We have toured the south-east, toured in Canada, and played at various festivals across the country.

Looking ahead we are switching gears to release an EP for 2018 and hopefully take this show on the road.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t think the road for any person pursuing music is easy. If anything, we are still on that road. There’s always those first couple years of trying to get established and having people actually take you seriously. I feel for DJ’s and producers nowadays cause it’s hard to get your in foot in the door now more than ever. And once you get in its 50/50 that you get treated right and paid right as well. It’s extremely frustrating and I still deal with this also. You just have to always remind yourself of your self-worth. Network with the right people who do good business and keep trustworthy people around you. Just those few things make this path a whole lot easier.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Midnite Panda is the powerhouse collaboration from producer/DJ Seje Omieno and emcee/drummer Cali the Kidd. I guess you can say we specialize in music. All aspects, however. From the production, to performing, to engineering, we try to cover it all. We perform all types of music from edm, to house, hip-hop, top 40 etc.

Doing that allows you to not be a one trick pony. You don’t get stuck having to play one type of show or producing one style of music. For example, the other weekend we performed at a high school prom, packed up and performed at Havana Club later that night. Two complete different performances with two different vibes that require two different sets of music. I’m proud of our versatility and ability to continue playing year out at different events/venues. It’s what separates our brand from all the others in the city DJ/producer-wise.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was outgoing, loud, had a lot of friends but very sheltered. I played a lot of video games and became obsessed with hockey. I played roller/ice hockey for most of my life and pretty much hung out with the same core group of people. I was always really into music but had a strange taste. I loved rock, metal, grunge, ska, before I really got into hip-hop and other genres.

I was not really into school but I was smart and got by. I always knew I wanted to do something like this but never knew it would be in the city where I idolized all the music coming out of it in the early 2000’s. For me, ATL was always a dream city so it was only fate when my parents moved me down here.