Today we’d like to introduce you to Devon Marchaun.
Hi Devon, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My path into the creative world started after stepping away from football at Missouri Baptist University. I had been fully committed to the sport, but I knew I was built to create something not just compete. I returned home to Chicago, and the people around me pushed me toward that.
I didn’t know what “creative” looked like yet, so I started where the energy was watching artists record in studios, watching producers work. That was my first real introduction to process. At the same time I was learning to sew, working in retail to understand branding, and eventually producing my own fashion show. Music and fashion together started to shape who I was becoming.
That period led me to build OneBandBrand. Around the same time, I got my first major music placement through a co-production with Dom J for G Herbo. It was Dom J and his dad who also planted the idea that I could DJ — something I carried with me when I moved to Nashville.
In Nashville, I got into real environments immediately. Early rooftop gigs with Nemo Bailey and Jordan put me in front of real crowds before I was fully ready, and that’s exactly where I developed my ability to read energy and build sets in the moment.
One of the most meaningful things I’ve built is the OBB Zoo Project created in honor of my father, who passed away and shaped how I think about legacy, community, and family. Through that project, we took 250+ kids from Stratford STEM Magnet School to the Nashville Zoo through an experience that blended fashion, music, and education. That work opened doors to merch collaborations with Warner Chappell Music and Sony Music Publishing, and gave me a deeper understanding of the business side of culture.
From there, Me and AB built The Last Friday a monthly event series built around one idea: the journey of becoming. It’s a space for people to pause, recognize their progress, and celebrate wins big or small in community with others.
Today I work across DJing, fashion, event production, creative direction, and brand activations. Everything I’ve built has come from staying close to creativity, community, and consistent execution.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road hasn’t been smooth.
The first real test was transition. Leaving football meant more than walking away from a sport it meant losing the only structure I’d ever known. Discipline, purpose, identity all of it had to be rebuilt from scratch. There was no playbook for what came next, so I moved on instinct and figured things out as I went.
Starting with no blueprint made everything harder. Music, fashion, events. I was learning how to create, how to execute, and how to turn ideas into something real, all at the same time, with limited resources and no safety net. Most of it was self-funded, self-taught, and built on relationships before it was ever built on systems.
Even when things started moving in Nashville, the learning curve didn’t stop. The first time I DJed in front of a real crowd, I understood something no amount of practice at home could teach you how to control a room, recover from mistakes in real time, and keep the energy alive even when things go sideways. That only comes from being put in uncomfortable situations and choosing to stay.
There were also stretches where momentum just stopped. Opportunities would slow down, things wouldn’t connect, and I had to figure out how to stay creative and keep building when nothing was immediately paying off. Consistency when it’s not working yet that’s the hardest version of it.
And then there was losing my father. That one changed everything. It didn’t just hurt it reoriented me. It made me more intentional about what I build and why I build it. A lot of what I do now carries his influence, none more directly than the OBB Zoo Project, which I created in his honor.
The biggest challenge across all of it has been building something real, without a roadmap, without a guarantee, while staying true to who I am creatively, financially, personally. That’s still the work. But it’s also what makes everything I’ve built mean something.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I build at the intersection of music, fashion, design, and cultural experience not as separate lanes, but as one connected body of work.
I’m a DJ, creative director, and event curator based in Nashville. In the DJ booth, my focus is energy reading a room, building sets in real time, and creating moments that connect. That instinct was sharpened early through rooftop gigs in Nashville where there was no margin for error and no way to develop except by doing it live.
I’m the founder of OneBandBrand, which began in fashion and grew into a broader creative ecosystem spanning events, community experiences, and brand work. Out of that came The Last Friday a monthly event series built around one idea: the journey of becoming. It’s a space for people to pause, recognize their progress, and celebrate growth individually and together.
The project I’m most proud of is the OBB Zoo Project. We brought 250+ kids from Stratford STEM Magnet School to the Nashville Zoo through an experience that wove together fashion, music, and education. It was created in honor of my father, who passed away and shaped everything I believe about family, legacy, and purpose-driven work.
On the industry side, I’ve done creative work with Warner Chappell Music and Sony Music Publishing work that deepened my understanding of how culture and commerce connect at the highest level.
Right now, I’m in a meaningful transition moving from my stage name Solo to my full name, Devon Marchaun. It’s not just a rebrand. It’s a commitment to showing up fully as myself across everything I do.
What sets me apart isn’t any one skill. It’s that everything connects. The DJ sets, the events, the fashion, the community work it all feeds the same vision: building culture that actually means something to the people inside it.
What matters most to you?
What drives me, more than anything, is the process itself.
I’ve learned mostly through losing things I thought I needed and rebuilding from there that the journey is the point. Not just as a philosophy, but as a daily practice. Being present in the work. Finding real satisfaction in the becoming, not just the arrival.
My father taught me that. He didn’t leave me a blueprint, but he left me a standard for how to move through the world, how to show up for people, and what it means to build something that lasts beyond you. That’s shaped everything, from the projects I take on to the way I treat the people around me.
Family is the foundation of all of it. Everything I build is connected to creating stability, opportunity, and something that my people can stand on long after I’m gone. That’s not just motivation it’s the measure I hold myself to.
What I want, ultimately, is a life where creativity and responsibility aren’t in tension. Where the discipline it takes to build something real is the same discipline that keeps me grounded personally. Where the work reflects who I am, and who I’m still becoming.
That’s the standard. That’s what keeps me going.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: devonmarchaun, thelastfriday, OneBandBrand
