The Scumfrog (Jesse Houk) (born October 3, 1971) is a Dutch-American DJ/

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

er/ producer/artist, mostly known for his underground flavored remixes of artists like

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group 4 All the Sistas Arou ...

, New Order, and

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

and his collaborations writing and producing techno-oriented works with

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

, and

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

. He released four albums as a solo artist (''Extended Engagement'' 2003, ''Simmer'' 2004, ''A Place Where We Belong'' 2011 and ''In Case We're All Still Here'' 2013). As a DJ, he has toured the world many times over, between 2008 and 2014 he hosted and produced the weekly radio show/podcast ''Glam Scum International'', and in 2015 he launched a new series of club nights named M.B.T.S.(Most Below The Surface).

Biography

Early career: 1997 – 2007

Jesse Houk was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Netherlands, to an American father and a Dutch mother. After finishing college, his dual citizenship allowed him to move to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1997 where he started producing music under his new alias The Scumfrog. Between 1997 and 2000 he lived between New York where he DJ’d Deep House and Tech House in NY's East Village lounges, such as the Opium and the Netherlands, where he worked with his production partner Jacques Sperwer. Jacques and Jesse released several singles under various names such as Jake & Jesse, Barbarus and a full-length album on BMG

Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music c ...

under the name Resonance. In this period he also recorded his first work under the Scumfrog alias, called The Watersong, which was selected by

Danny Tenaglia Daniel "Danny" Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is an Italian American DJ and record producer. Biography Early life Tenaglia left New York in 1985 and started DJing in Miami as a resident at Cheers nightclub, playing classic New York and Chicago ...

DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

’s number 1 DJ in the world at the time -- for his

Global Underground Global Underground is a British record label and compilation series founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolised the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s and first manifesto for hi ...

Athens compilation. After the underground buzz of The Watersong, The Scumfrog signed an album deal with

Roger Sanchez Roger Sanchez (born June 1, 1967) is an American house DJ, remixer and producer. He won a Grammy Award for his remix of "Hella Good" by No Doubt in 2003, and is best known for his song " Another Chance", which was an international hit in 2001. ...

, who also took him as his opening DJ on his 2001 tour. That summer, The Scumfrog single “We Love You” (based on the

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

collaboration) went to number one in most European dance charts and put the Scumfrog name on the map. The Scumfrog career has largely been marked by an ability to work with mainstream artists without sacrificing his underground sound. Between 2001 and 2007, The Scumfrog scored more than 10 number 1

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Dance Music/Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

records remixing mainstream artists like

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...

, Jewel,

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

superstar

Hikaru Utada , also known mononymously as Utada, is a Japanese and American singer, songwriter, and producer. She is considered to be one of the most influential and best-selling musical artists in Japan. She is best known by international audiences for w ...

but rarely ever making full vocal remixes of the artists he worked with. His

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

collaboration with

, remixing his 1984 single “ Loving the Alien,” set the tone for a career that would thrive simultaneously in underground clubs and in mainstream recording studios. While on duty for the stars, he never stopped remixing for respected underground Dance Music labels such as

Positiva Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the United Kingdom, UK. The record label was set up in 1993 in music, 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquar ...

, Intec, Yoshitoshi Recordings,

Bedrock Records Bedrock Records is an English record label for trance, progressive house and techno started by John Digweed. Its name comes from a long running and successful club night held in Hastings and also at Heaven nightclub, London – both also call ...

and

Strictly Rhythm Strictly Rhythm is an American house music record label. History The label was founded on May 1, 1989, by Gladys Pizarro and Mark Finkelstein, who were both working as A&R in a label called Spring Records. Working with house music artists ...

, doing remixes for his DJ peers such as Steve Lawler,

Planet Funk Planet Funk is an Italian electronic music, electronic band. The group is composed of Marco Baroni, Alex Neri, Dan Black, and formerly Sergio Della Monica and Domenico "Gigi" Canu. In addition a number of guest vocalists joined the group, includ ...

, Boris Dlugosh, and

Dirty Vegas Dirty Vegas are an English house music group initially made up of Ben Harris and Paul Harris (no relation to each other) on instruments and production and Steve Smith on vocals. The group formed in 2001, then broke up in 2005 before reforming i ...

. His first album, ''Extended Engagement'' (2003, EMI/Positiva/Effin) was a two disc mix compilation exclusively of his own productions and remixes, including his own singles "We Love You", "Music Revolution", and "Learning To Fly". Jesse released more radio-friendly records under the alias Dutch, getting his first number one on the

chart in 2003, "My Time" which he co-wrote with vocalist

Crystal Waters Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house music, house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits "Gypsy Woman (Crystal Waters song), Gypsy Woman", "100% Pure Love", and 2007's "Destination Cal ...

. The follow-up to "My Time" was the single "Why Should I Think About The Rain", featuring Grammy winning singer/songwriter and Rolling Stones back-up singer

Lisa Fischer Lisa Melonie Fischer (born December 1, 1958) is an American singer and songwriter. She found success with her 1991 debut album '' So Intense'', which produced the Grammy Award–winning hit single " How Can I Ease the Pain". She has been a back ...

. In 2004, The Scumfrog won the International Dance Music Award (IDMA) for 'Best Remixer' of 2003. His second album ''Simmer'' (2004, Effin) was the first album where Jesse himself wrote all the songs (no remixes of other artists). It featured the singles "Music Revolution", "Simmer", "Come On", and a duet "Bacon" with his longtime friend, singer

Lucy Woodward Lucy Woodward is an English-American singer-songwriter. She has released records on Atlantic, Verve, and GroundUP and has sung with many artists including Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Snarky Puppy, Celine Dion, Pink Martini, Gavin DeGraw, ...

. ''Simmer'' did not have a huge impact, largely because it was marketed and promoted solely by The Scumfrog's own label, and because the songs on the album were not nearly as DJ-friendly as his previous work. In 2005, The Scumfrog's most successful single "Music Revolution" was chosen for

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

's long running

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commercial on TV and radio. In the same year, Jesse formed the band DJs Are Alive with fellow DJ/performers

DJ Skribble Scott Ialacci, professionally known as DJ Skribble (born October 10, 1968) is an American Disc jockey, DJ, Record producer, producer, remixer, radio personality and actor. In the early 1990s, he teamed up with Kamron, ATA, Firstborn and Tommy N ...

, D:Fuse, Static Revenger and

Kristine W Kristine Elizabeth Weitz (born June 8, 1962), widely known by her stage name Kristine W, is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and entrepreneur. She is most widely known as a dance music artist. Born and raised in Pasco, Washi ...

. The band's mission was to sound like a DJ set and look like a band. DJs Are Alive performed a series of shows in 2006, but disbanded allegedly due to continuing scheduling conflicts with their gigs as individual DJs. Upon his return to the US after a long European tour in 2007, Jesse decided to trade his New York City home for the desert and mountains of

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

where he lived until 2015.

2007 – Present: Grammy nomination, ''Glam Scum International''

One of the biggest successes of his career came in the form of an unreleased Scumfrog remix of Peter Bjorn & John "The Young Folks", which went viral during the summer of 2007, and in its unreleased bootleg form made it to the playlists of many mainstream radio stations. At the same time, his collaboration with Italian DJ/Producer Tommy Vee in covering

Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles ...

's 1970s hit "Serenade" also made it into many European pop-charts. In 2008, the Scumfrog started a weekly hour-long radio show ''Glam Scum'' on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

in the US. A year later, after a merger between Sirius and Satellite radio company XM, the show was dropped, and the show was re-launched as ''Glam Scum International'' and licensed to several radio stations around the world. During 2007, The Scumfrog had been writing and recording with

in New York on her dance music album '' Bring Ya To The Brink''. Their song "High and Mighty" became the opening track of the album, which was released in 2008 and nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in the category ‘Best Dance Album’ in 2009. (The album lost to fellow nominees

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

.) In 2011, The Scumfrog reunited with his underground roots in the custom-made DJ set "A Place Where We Belong". Similarly to his debut album ''Extended Engagement'', the mix consists of 12 original productions (some his own, some remixes of other artists). Jesse himself announced that he did not want to call it an album because ‘DJs are not supposed to make albums, DJs are supposed to make DJ mixes’. The new material was offered in a non-stop DJ mix on his Facebook page where – in a video – Jesse explained his voluntary donation system for his new music. Many of the songs on "A Place Where We Belong" were licensed to labels for single-release. "In Love" was released on Umek’s label 1605, "Illusion" came out on Floorplay, "Running" on Inkfish, and "Don’t Give Up" featuring Vassy (a cover of

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

and

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

) on Armada.

Armada Music Armada Music is a Dutch independent record label that specialises in releasing electronic dance music. Armada Music was founded on 1 June 2003 by Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, Dutch business executive Maykel Piron, and music manager David ...

released The Scumfrog's fourth album, ''In Case We're All Still Here'' in 2013, which features his collaboration with

. The two teamed up to remake Sting's 1993 hit "

If I Ever Lose My Faith in You "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Sting, released on 1 February 1993 by A&M Records as the lead single from his fourth studio album, ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' (1993). The song reached number 17 on the US ' ...

". In 2015, he released the single "Send Wave" on

Hot Since 82 Daley Padley, also known as Hot Since 82, is a British house music DJ and producer from South Yorkshire, England. He has been releasing music under the Hot Since 82 moniker since 2011. Personal life Originally from South Yorkshire, Padley ente ...

label Knee Deep In Sound.

DJ career

As a DJ, The Scumfrog has toured the world many times over. Even though he has played many festivals over the past ten years (

Burning Man Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the Western United States. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the penultimate night of the event: the ...

being his favorite), he makes it clear that he prefers smaller venues with great sound systems for the music that he plays. In 2015, he started a new brand of small-room underground clubbing named M.B.T.S.(Most Below The Surface).

Personal life

Jesse Houk currently lives in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Discography

Albums

*''Extended Engagement'' (2003) *''Simmer'' (2004) *''Mega Scum! 01'' (2006) *''A Place Where We Belong'' (2011) *''In Case We're All Still Here'' (2013) *''The Collection 2021'' (2021)

Singles

* 1997 The Watersong * 2000 Learning To Fly * 2001 We Love You * 2002 Loving The Alien (with David Bowie) * 2002 Deep Sleep Dub (with Michael Moog) * 2002 Music Revolution * 2004 Simmer * 2004 Come On * 2005 Let The Sun Shine (with Cevin Fisher) * 2006 Like Paradise (with Cevin Fisher) * 2006 Secret (with Sarah Tancer) * 2006 Dirty Extra * 2006 Beat As One * 2007 Chicks For Free * 2007 I Remember * 2007 Serenade (with Tommy Vee) * 2007 Hear Me * 2008 Stereo & Video (with D:Fuse) * 2008 Into The Deep (with Static Revenger and David Gausa) * 2009 Escape (with Polina) * 2009 Sandia * 2009 How Does It Feel (with Tommy Vee & Static Revenger) * 2010 Undone * 2010 Showtime * 2011 All Go Down (with Davey La) * 2011 Illusion * 2011 Don't Give Up (with Vassy) * 2011 In Love * 2012 Schroeder In Wonderland * 2012 Running * 2012 Clones/Middle Earth * 2013 Lost Your Number * 2013 Dionysian * 2013 Downtown * 2014 Wave2 * 2015 Send Wave * 2015 The Woods * 2015 Hideout * 2015 Spin * 2015 Chemiquamour * 2017 Your Fortune Awaits * 2019 Antarctica * 2020 Tiny Little Human * 2022 X Injury * 2024 Life Blood / Life Groove

Remixes

* 1999 First Choice - The Player * 2000 Danny Morales - The Fiend * 2001 Boris Dlugosch - Never Enough * 2001 Sono - Keep Control * 2001 Milk & Honey - You, Me & The Music * 2002 Mr. Hermano - Free As The Morning Sun * 2002 George Michael - Freeek * 2002 Milo - Jungle Of Mirrors * 2002 Roger Goode - In The Beginning * 2002 New Order - Here To Stay * 2002 Kylie Minogue - Love At First Sight * 2002 Dirty Vegas - Days Go By * 2002 Eclipse 29 - You're Not Alone * 2002 iiO - At The End * 2003 Tomas vs. Filterheadz - Sunshine * 2003 Pure Orange - Feel Alive * 2003 Monica - So Gone * 2003 Lucy Woodward - Blindsided * 2003 Planet Funk - The Switch * 2003 Annie Lennox - Pavement Cracks * 2003 Double Dee - Shining * 2003 Dutch feat.

- My Time * 2003 Skin - Faithfulness * 2003 Jewel - Stand * 2003 Kristine W - Fly Again * 2003 Enrique Iglesias - Addicted * 2003 Dido - White Flag * 2004 Missy Elliott - Pass That Dutch * 2004 Spawn Blond - Waterfalls * 2004 Murk - Time * 2004 Nars - Dope Dope Dope * 2004 Amiel - Love Song * 2004 Britney Spears - Everytime * 2004 Utada - Devil Inside * 2004 Slacker - Best Boyfriend * 2005 Cevin Fisher & The Scumfrog - Let The Sun Shine * 2005 M-Flo - I Wanna Be Down * 2005 Fantasia - It's All Good * 2005 Squat 84 - Say No * 2005 Chocolate Puma - 4 Letter Word * 2005 Rob Thomas - Lonely No More * 2005 Robbie Rivera - Some Kind Of Heaven * 2005 Annie - Heartbeat * 2005 Missy Elliott - Lose Control * 2005 Rob Thomas - This Is How A Heart Breaks * 2005 Dutch feat. Lisa Fischer - (Why Should I) Think About The Rain * 2005 Emilia - Back To Me * 2006 Static Revenger - So High * 2006 Astro & Glyde - I Know What You Like * 2006 Kelis - Bossy * 2006 Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind * 2006 Syke & Sugerstarr - Are You Watching Me * 2006 Simple Minds - Different World * 2006 Static Revenger - So High * 2006 Zum Schneider - Crazy * 2007 Tommy Vee feat. The Scumfrog - I Would Die For You * 2007 Gaby & The Scumfrog - Broken Disco * 2007 Rafael Frost - Run To You * 2007 Meck feat. Dino - Feels Like Home * 2007 Cupid - Cupid Shuffle * 2008 Dr. Kucho! - Groover's Delight * 2008 Static Revenger & Love Song Surprise - Satellite * 2009 Peter Gelderblom - Lost * 2009 Nadia Ali - Love Story * 2009 Franklin Fuentes - The Robots (Are Coming!) * 2009 The Singhs - Beautiful Thing * 2009 IAM ONE - Missy * 2009 Polina - Shotguns * 2010 Victoria Aitken - Sunshine * 2010 Tommy Vee & Mauro Ferrucci - Old Skool Generation * 2010 Natalia Flores - Going Strong * 2010 Geoffery Paris - Money! & What! * 2010 (Never Mind The) Stars - France * 2010 Mumiy Troll - Polar Bear * 2011 Dennis Ruyer - A Night At The Opera * 2011 Tiny Trendies - The Sky Is Not Crying * 2011 Mason feat. Aqualung - Little Angel * 2011 Markus Binpafl aka BIG WORLD - Meganite * 2012 Larry Powers - Aurora Snow * 2012 Armin Van Buuren - We Are Here To Make Some Noise * 2013 Methodrone - Stop Start * 2013 Meandisco & Daniel Wilde - The Day I Set You Free

References

External links

TheScumfrog.com - Website of The ScumfrogGlamScum.com - web site to The Scumfrog's Radio Show and Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scumfrog, The 1971 births Living people Dutch house musicians Club DJs Remixers Musicians from Amsterdam Dutch people of American descent American house musicians American people of Dutch descent