“I’ve always wanted to have a Forrest Gump kind of life,” said DJ Jester the Filipino Fist, also known as Mikey Pendon.
After performing at South by Southwest well over 15 times — not including years where he worked for the festival and covered it as press — and touring all over the world with artists like Kid Koala, MGMT and Grand Buffet, it’s undoubtable that Pendon’s life can be compared to that
of Gump.
DJ Jester the Filipino Fist will return to perform at SXSW 2026 on March 14 at the Flatstock Stage at the Austin Marriott Downtown, along with multiple other performances across the week.
Born and raised in West Columbia, a small town outside of Houston, Pendon was exposed to music at an early age. The youngest of four siblings, Pendon soaked up his siblings’ interests and tastes before moving to a Catholic boarding school in Arkansas. It was there that Pendon began to discover his own taste in punk music, skateboarding and most notably, a large appetite for hip-hop.
From the onset of his DJ career as a student at UT-San Antonio, class of “many moons ago,” Jester decidedly knew he would have a “ridiculous” style.
“When I was coming up with my DJ name, I came up with DJ Jester,” Jester said. “But then I wanted it to be longer and sound more ridiculous because I knew that my DJ style was gonna be comedic and silly, because I’m silly.”
Matt Sonzala, a close friend of Pendon’s who also worked for SXSW between 2004 and 2012, recalls his first time experiencing Jester’s art, where he mixed a rap song with “Amarillo by Morning,” George Strait’s country hit.
“I was so surprised to see how many people in the audience it resonated with,” Sonzala said. “So many people in Texas were so excited for a DJ in a club to mix in something that crazy. … It was just very signature DJ Jester. He’s always got something up his sleeve and will hit you with something nobody expects.”
Kid Koala, an internationally known Canadian DJ whose music was featured in “Baby Driver,” met Jester after his show in Boston and received a copy of Jester’s mixed CD, “River Walk Riots.” After listening to the CD and being amazed at its joviality, Jester and Kid Koala began working together and toured across the world. Jester DJ’d for Koala’s brother’s wedding, which Koala described as “awe-inspiring.”
“I saw Jester sit right in the pocket, (with) my brother and all his friends, groomsmen and bridesmaids getting down,” Koala said. “Jester was playing stuff that hit them in the heart and (brought) them all the way back, like that moment the food critic eats the one bite (in) ‘Ratatouille.’”
Despite his immense success, Jester admits he still feels surprised by how far he has come.
“Sometimes I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I’m still doing it,’” Jester said. “I’m grateful; this is nuts.”
For Jester, what once felt like something that would end after graduating college transformed into “I’m in this for life.”
“We’re really lucky to have someone like Jester in the Austin music community,” Sonzala said. “With an event like (SXSW) every year, it’s really cool to have someone like him that can get up on the stage next to national, international DJs and artists and represent Texas in such an innovative, forward-thinking and dope way.”
