A DJ for Life: The Story Behind Beats4Tanner
In 1998, at the age of two, Tanner Seebaum was diagnosed with brain cancer. His parents were told their son would probably not live to see his third birthday. He did, though, and then he saw his fourth, his fifth, and so on. He lived until he was 16.
Before succumbing to cancer, Seebaum used electronic music to touch the lives of thousands of people. The forthcoming documentary, Beats4Tanner, tells the story of how Seebaum, a cancer-fighting boy whose dream was to DJ on a big stage, used music to make the most of his brief life.
Like that of many kids with cancer, Tanner’s parents were given the worst diagnosis for their son, a move doctors often use to soften the blow if the patient then exceeds medical expectations. Tanner surpassed those expectations by a long shot. “In 2004, Tanner had an eight-year remission period, and we thought he was cured—as did his medical team—which was statistically out of all realms,” says his father, Matthew.
When Tanner was 15, though, his tumor returned. He was given four months to live, “but true to Tanner’s character in defying the odds,” his father says, “he survived for another 13 months.”
It was in 2011 and 2012 that Tanner started developing an interest in electronic music, namely dubstep. His father pushed the interest by providing Tanner with access to the music and to DJ equipment, a move that led Tanner to the classes that would shape the final year of his life.
In 2012, Tanner reached out to Walt White, an entrepreneur in Denver who was in the early stages of founding the Global DJ Academy, a school to teach music production and DJ skills. Tanner wanted in. At the time, the academy was not yet open, but when Matthew explained his son’s situation, White made a special exception for his first student.
During the next year, and with White’s help, Tanner’s skills developed, and he began booking local DJ gigs. When White reached out to Denver dubstep producer Nate “Ishe” Lappegaard, things really took off. Ishe booked Seebaum for his weekly Whomp Truck show and then prepared a special Tanner Seebaum Foundation fundraising event at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom, a local venue known for exceptional electronic bookings.
The result is an honest, sometimes hard to watch glimpse into the battle Tanner engaged with for his entire life.
The show was called Dreams and featured DJs Downlink, Reid Speed, Dirt Monkey, Fury, Ishe, and the headliner, DJ Seebaum. “I wanted to give him the experience of playing the best music in the world at the best place to hear it in the world,” Ishe told the Denver publication Westword.
Gabriel Rovick, owner and founder of Denver-based production house F4D Studio, offered to document, film and photograph the show free of charge.
“We had all the artists and the Seebaum family come to the studio for interviews and to hang out and take photos,” Rovick said. “No one had ever met Tanner face-to-face before that, so it was a good time before the show for Tanner to meet everyone. I think it really helped out with Reid Speed and Downlink to come meet him and really get into the groove of the whole thing.”
Rovick used this footage to create a video for the Tanner Seebaum Foundation. This video was played during a soccer match at Denver’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Stadium on July 4, 2013, to raise awareness for the foundation. Tanner was too sick to play the 20-minute set, but some friends from Global DJ Academy filled in for him.
Around this same time, Tanner played a live-streamed set at the Beatport offices in Denver and was also invited to play a show at Las Vegas’ Rehab Pool party during EDC Week 2013. His set consisted of mostly trap and dubstep, and his father recalls a crowd of roughly a thousand people watching his son play at the show. Matthew says this opportunity came down to the wire and went so far as to involve the Nevada Gaming Commission, which had to grant special permission, given Tanner’s age.
Less than a month later, on Friday July 12, 2013, Tanner passed away.
His legacy is captured in the documentary Beats4Tanner, which includes interviews with Downlink, Reid Speed, Ishe, Krewella, Dirt Monkey, and Fury. In the film, these artists discuss the importance of music in their lives and how music helped Tanner fight cancer and pursue his dreams.
“Getting to meet Tanner and his family was an unforgettable experience,” remembers Reid Speed. “To see him get to play a sold-out show, fully living his dream, absolutely melted my heart. That is all he ever wanted, and it was beautiful. Seeing his wonderful family go to great lengths to make sure he got to experience the thing he cared about the most really inspired me to try harder every day to do more for others.”
The documentary includes home movies from Tanner’s childhood and Rovick’s footage of Tanner behind the decks, in hospital rooms, and hanging out with his electronic music peers. The result is an honest, sometimes hard to watch glimpse into the battle Tanner engaged with for his entire life, and more than anything, the joy he got from playing music.
The documentary does not yet have a release date, but Matthew hopes to have it completed in time to enter it in the upcoming fall film festivals.
“Parents everywhere think their child is the best or the smartest kid in the world,” Matthew says. “Whether or not that is true, we just saw the side of Tanner that was Tanner being Tanner… and people thought it was exceptional.”
