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It all started at Northeastern University, where Lucas Zivkovic and Guillaume Blanchet, founders of global house music platform Deep House Bible, met DJs Ahmed Spins and Carlita. Ever since then, their careers have taken off. Deep House Bible has organized house music shows in location across five continents, from St. Tropez to the Giza Pyramids. Ahmed and Carlita have both played at Coachella, and each of them have over 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. These artists sat down for an interview with The Crimson in their origin city of Boston, reflecting on their journeys and the bond between them that has lasted all these years.
This professional bond is rooted in the friendship that brought them together at the start. For Ahmed, their bond was “friendship before it became a business.” Even though their business partnerships grew along with their careers, they were still grounded by friendship and mutual trust.
“When you start associating yourself with different brands, you need to trust their vision,” Carlita said. “Basically, immediately after we met, we all trusted each other. They trusted that I'm going to deliver the music, and I trusted that they were going to deliver the party.”
This trust is more than just a personal bond, it is also a mark of professionalism. They each have their roles: Zivkovic manages production, Blanchet manages marketing, and Ahmed and Carlita bring the thumping music. This “divide-and-conquer” approach creates flawless events.
With curated events in exciting locations worldwide, Deep House Bible has built a community that Carlita said is “beautiful, inside and outside.” This beauty is not a coincidence but rather the result of careful planning, crowd management, and a strong artistic vision. The atmosphere of an event extends beyond the music; It is also created by lighting, decor, and staging.
“We try to have a good vibe, an uplifting vibe, and a happy vibe around our shows,” said designated “vibe coordinator” Zivkovic. “It needs to look like a chaos, but it needs to be organized and controlled.”
Deep House Bible prides itself on two defining features: its community and its venues. These go hand-in-hand, as their events continually expose attendees to new cultures and places. A strong focus on community, especially at the beginning, helped them grow their audience from Boston to international stages.
With festivals all around the world, another key differentiating factor for Deep House Bible is its social media presence. Apart from the events themselves, social media helped put them on the map and create a community that they take pride in.
“It was the social media that we managed to use as leverage for booking artists or booking venues,” Blanchet said, referencing his area of expertise. “And thanks to that social media, we managed to grow faster and quicker than quicker and bigger than other event companies.”
The community is a reflection of their own beginnings as “a good group of friends,” testifying to the strength of the community they have built, Zivkovic recounted meeting people at their shows who travelled alone because they knew they would be reunited with friends from previous shows.
Ahmed and Carlita often play at Deep House Bible events, whether together or separately. Their international backgrounds influence their music and contribute to a diverse soundscape. Carlita grew up in Istanbul, Turkey — the culture of her home city inspired her to make music that reflected its confluence of cultures.
“Basically Istanbul, when you think about it geographically, comes from East and West. So basically you have the Western culture that is more European, and you have the Eastern culture that's very Middle Eastern,” said Carlita, sharing about her mixed genre sets, which defy easy categorization.
Like Carlita, Ahmed also combines sounds from different genres and cultures in refreshing and surprising ways. He grew up in Casablanca, Morocco, surrounded by an “open-minded” culture of music. This culture was influenced by electronic legends like Solomun and Black Coffee, who toured in both Europe and Morocco.
“Believe in your dreams, even if it seems far-fetched, but you should work in reverse process — so dream then goal-set,” Ahmed said, having just fulfilled his dream of playing Coachella. “For me, it was the four C’s, and three of them I've done: Circoloco, Club Space, and Coachella. And I have another C that I want to do that I'm keeping for myself.”
The rest shared their own tips for success, reflecting on their journeys as young entrepreneurs and musicians who have managed to break into the industry. Carlita faced resistance while pursuing an unconventional career path, but she stressed the need to “follow your instincts and your dreams.”
“Believe in the people that you surround yourself with, because I think the success of DHB wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all of all of us together. You know, I think we completed each other very well,” Zivkovic said. “And trust yourself, because you will make a lot of mistakes, but you will learn from those mistakes.”
Apart from having vision, courage, community, and trust, it is also important to have passion. Whether it is flying between venues for performances or running a global brand, the artists know that the work can easily become overwhelming. However, Blanchet believes the secret to working despite the long hours is loving what you do.
“One quote I heard when I was young, and that stuck to me is: Do what you love, and you never work a day in your life. Okay, I can confirm that's true,” Blanchet said. “Working with my best friends every day, I don't feel like I'm working, and I'm truly grateful.”
When speaking, the joy that comes from their friendship with one another was palpable. Being back in Boston where they all first met was a “full-circle” experience. They held fond memories of their time here together.
“We cannot imagine a better comeback, especially being all of us together,” Carlita said, when asked to describe how it felt to return to Boston. “We're all so grateful.”
Even in that sentimental moment, a quip from Ahmed exemplified the banter that can only be attributed to their long years of friendship.
“Send your kids to Boston,” Ahmed said, with a big grin on his face. The rest nodded along.
—Staff writer Sean Wang Zi-Ming can be reached at sean.wangzi-ming@thecrimson.com.
