DJ Spen is a globally respected DJ, producer, remixer and co-founder of Quantize Recordings, with a career spanning over four decades. From his early beginnings with The Numarx and the legendary Basement Boys, to shaping the soulful house movement through Jasper Street Company, Code Red Recordings and The MuthaFunkaz, Spen has become one of the most influential figures in house music worldwide. A sought-after remixer and producer, he has worked with Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Toni Braxton, Ann Nesby, and many more, while building a catalogue of 700+ releases across the Quantize label family. His global reach continues through his Get Quantized radio show and The Praise Party livestream. One of the key architects of Gospel House Music, DJ Spen reveals his brand new full-length artist album, ‘The Praise Party’ on Quantize Recordings. DMCWorld Checks in to find out more…
How has 2026 been for you musically so far?
So far, 2026 has been pretty good. Even in the midst of the AI influx, I think we’ve been able to maintain a presence doing what we love, and I feel really good about that. Not bad at all.
You’ve just released your brilliant ‘The Praise Party’ on Quantize Recordings, what can we expect to hear and are you pleased with the results?
You can expect to hear music from the likes of Barbara Tucker, Robin S, Inaya Day, Cleveland P. Jones, Dawn Tallman, and a song that I’m especially proud of featuring my aunt and my cousins on a version of On the Battlefield that we were able to house up. It also includes some of my favourite producers like David Harness, Gary Hudgins, Thommy Davis, Kenny G, Shawn Hibbler and more. We also have members of The Jasper Street Company featured on the album as well.
I’m particularly proud of this project because it’s something I’ve been working on since the pandemic. As most people know, I’ve been doing the Praise Party live stream every Sunday morning, and that was something my wife encouraged and was completely behind from day one. We were coming home on a flight from LA when the lockdown happened in March 2020. I was asleep and she tapped me and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be DJing online.’ I said, ‘No I’m not.’ She said, ‘Oh yes you are. We’re going to do it on Sunday mornings, we’re going to call it The Praise Party, and we’re going to do it every Sunday.’ The Praise Party has been something we’ve continuously done ever since. I’m really proud that we’ve been able to take so much of the music I’ve been playing and producing for that show and finally bring it together as an album.
You’ve described ‘The Praise Party’ album as “a work of my heart unlike anything I’ve ever done.” What made this project feel different from your previous albums, ‘Soulful Storm’ and ‘Eye Of The Storm’?
This is completely different because it’s a 100% Gospel House album. That’s literally all it contains. You’ve got up-tempo tracks, down-tempo tracks, jazzy styles, classic House, Deep House… it covers Gospel House music in so many different ways. That’s what makes it totally unlike anything I’ve done before.
The Praise Party has grown into a global family over the past six years. Could you tell us a little about what it is and how it first came to be?
When we started The Praise Party, so many people immediately connected with what we were doing. They’d join us every single Sunday morning just to listen. As it developed musically, we started adding hymns, scripture, pastors’ sermons, and the chat room really began to grow. It became a community of loving people who prayed together, praised together, worked through problems together and encouraged one another every Sunday. Now we have people joining us from all over the world on Twitch, YouTube, Mixcloud and Instagram. https://www.youtube.com/@DjSpenQTZ
Which album tracks “break the mould” from your traditional style of production and sound, and what inspired you to take those risks?
One of my favourite records on the album is our rendition of Tramaine Hawkins’ Going Up Yonder, which Barbara Tucker remade. Barbara put so much heart and soul into those vocals – almost like I’ve never heard her sing before. When I finished the production, I played it back to her and she said, ‘Wow… is that me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s you.’
I think everybody approached this as a labour of love and as a way of giving back to the Creator who gave us all these different talents. It’s just an amazing collection of tracks. I’ve worked with choirs before, but on this album we really went deep into the choir arrangements with the help of Shawn Hibbler out of Chicago, Gary Hudgins, Michele Chiavarini and especially Inaya Day. I honestly think this album contains some of the best background vocal recordings I’ve ever produced.
The track featuring my pastor, Dr David Anderson, entitled Push, which stands for ‘Pray Until Something Happens’, was produced with Kelly G. It’s an absolute departure from anything we’ve ever done before. It’s energetic, powerful, and completely spirit-infused. The inspiration behind the album was to create a one-stop shop where people could come and find Gospel House music in one complete project.
Faith has always been woven through your music and your message. How does your spiritual life guide the creative choices you make?
Faith has always been a big part of the creative choices I make because there are so many times, especially when I’m producing or writing songs, where I get stuck. Sometimes you have to step back instead of trying to force your way through something that you’re frustrated with or just don’t know how to tackle. That’s where I believe divine intervention comes in. I can’t tell you how many times, especially while working on this album, I’ve gotten frustrated, walked away from it, slept on it, then come back the next day and suddenly it doesn’t sound the way it did the night before. Or I’ll wake up with an idea that I truly believe God gave me in my sleep.
Those are the God moments that shape so many of my creative choices, especially when I’ve come to the end of myself and simply can’t figure out what to do. That spirit guides my choices through the gifts I’ve been given. I love seeing people dance. I love what dance music does for people—how it creates happiness and brings joy. House music naturally lends itself to that feeling, and putting the Gospel message on top of those grooves is almost pure genius to me. That’s one of the things that drew me to House music in the first place: the fact that we can incorporate Gospel into the music in such a powerful way.
What was your guiding principle when choosing collaborators, and were there any moments in the studio that felt spiritually or creatively transformative?
The guiding principle was really to take some of my favourite Gospel records and reimagine them as songs people could dance to. Going Up Yonder is one example, along with the two Whitney Houston remakes, ‘Help Is On The Way’ and I ‘Love The Lord.’ Working with Cleveland P. Jones on ‘Help Is On The Way’ was incredible. It’s traditionally sung by a female vocalist, but Cleveland has such an immense talent that he absolutely made the song his own. On ‘I Love The Lord’, Dawn Tallman poured her heart and soul into that record. It’s an incredible performance.
Choosing the collaborators really came down to who I felt could bring each song to life in the best possible way. Then there’s the original song I recorded with my aunt, which is absolutely stunning. It’s something I’ve been working on since around 2004 or 2005. We originally recorded it as a traditional Gospel song, and being able to rework it into a dance record was really special. I think it came out beautifully. The Robin S track, ‘Take Your Heart In My Care’, actually came about while we were working on another record with Crystal Waters. The inspiration just hit us. We came up with the song in about ten minutes and had it finished in twenty. It was my first time working with Robin and she completely blew me away. It was an absolute honour.
Gospel House has always carried messages of hope, purpose, and joy. With writers like Kelly Spencer, Eric Roberson, and Richard Smallwood contributing, what core message do you hope listeners take away from the album?
The core message I hope people take away from this album is that tomorrow always brings something new. One of my uncles always used to tell me, “If you think everything is bad today, just wait until tomorrow.” That’s something I’ve kind of lived by. If you can make it through the bad times, the good is usually just around the corner. That’s not to say life is always easy, because when things are good there may be challenges ahead too, but it’s about realising that there’s always something good to look forward to. If you persevere, it will come back around. Most of the time, the good outweighs the bad.
Giving praise through dancing and singing is also a way of letting go of the bad and walking into the good. There’s always something better around the corner, but you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, even through the rough times. Take the record ‘When I Needed You The Most,’ written by Kelly Spencer and sung by Tasha La Rae. It’s a song of praise about how God always comes through when you need Him the most. Just when you think there’s nothing left, there’s always something good waiting for you. So if you think things are bad today, just wait and see what tomorrow brings.
What’s your favourite track from the album and why?
Honestly, there are quite a few to pick from, but the one that’s really spoken to me lately is ‘Today.’ The lyrics are all about living your life to the fullest. Don’t worry about your past, look towards your future, keep finding joy in every minute, and whatever you do, don’t do it half-heartedly. Put your whole heart into it.
How important was live instrumentation in shaping the feel of the album and did you use AI in the creation process at all?
Live instrumentation is an absolutely pivotal part of what we do. To be completely honest, Kelly Spencer used AI as a songwriting tool for Today and When I Needed You the Most. It helped generate the initial songs, but from there we took them into full production with live instrumentation from Gary Hudgins, Michele Chiavarini and Jeff Straw, along with incredible vocal performances from singers like Tasha La Rae and Angelica de No. My opinion is that AI can be a valuable tool, but for the most part we’re a House label that’s built complete productions from the ground up using live musicians and live instrumentation. AI has its place if it’s used responsibly, but I also think it can very easily be abused.
What’s been your favourite gig of the year so far and where else are you most looking forward to playing this summer?
I think one of my favourite gigs so far this year was Funktifino in Southsea. That was absolutely amazing. Paradisco in Liverpool was another highlight, and it seems like some of my favourite gigs this year have actually been in the UK. I’m also really looking forward to playing House of Yes in New York City again. I haven’t been there for a while and it’s always off the chain in so many ways.
With a decades long career, global DJ schedule and being Traxsource’s #1 artist of 2025, how does ‘The Praise Party’ album reflect where you are now, and where you want to go next?
I think The Praise Party is really a culmination of everything we’ve been doing with my online streams since 2020. The amount of joy I get from doing the live stream and then being able to turn that into a full project that people can really connect with has been incredibly rewarding. Being able to release it on vinyl has made it even more special.
Being named Traxsource’s Number One Artist last year was honestly a bit of a surprise, especially during this wave of AI. It makes me feel really good that what we do from a truly organic standpoint is still so highly respected in the marketplace. I’m excited to see how Gospel dance music continues to influence people around the world. I also hope the mainstream begins to take dance music more seriously, and that The Praise Party album introduces even more people to what we do.
You’ve got an album launch party taking place at BBE, London on August 2nd 2026, what have you got lined up for us?
Well, it’s a Sunday, so we’re going to be doing the Praise Party live stream in person at BBE. I’ll be signing copies of ‘The Praise Party’ album and I’ll be joined by MicFreak and Marc Francis as my guests, with hopefully a few more people that I’m still working on confirming. It’s going to be a really good party. We’ll be there from 2–6pm and it should be a great Sunday afternoon for anybody who wants to come along, see what we do live and be part of The Praise Party.
How are things going with your Quantize Recordings label and what else have you got coming up that you can tell us about?
Everything at Quantize is going really well. Right now the biggest focus is The Praise Party album, but we’ve also just released another Gospel dance record from David Bratton, who gave us ‘Every Praise’, which was our Song of the Decade. We’ve done a new version featuring Barbara Tucker and Dawn Tallman, and that’s out now. I’ve also got some new tracks coming with Crystal Waters, plus something really exciting with Kim English. It’s a disco remix that I’m not quite ready to talk about just yet, but we’re working on it and bringing it to light very soon. We’ve got plenty more projects on the way with some real heavy hitters, including Ann Nesby, so stay tuned.
‘The Praise Party’ Album is out now on Traxsource exclusive / Full release (incl. vinyl) on July 31st 2026.
https://www.traxsource.com/title/2832675/the-praise-party
DJ Spen presents The Praise Party album launch party at BBE Store, London, Sunday August 2nd, 2-6pm.