Steve Aoki

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Posted on August 12th 2009 by Owen Thomas

Who: Steve Aoki
What: artist interview (Q&A)
Where: Rokbar, 15 Hess St. South - Hamilton, ON
When: Wednesday August 5th

The unofficial leader of the new school, Steve Aoki makes his way from L.A. to Hamilton for a show that's sure to entertain. Steve is the founder of Dim Mak Records, (www.dimmak.com for more info) who's released music from Bloc Party, The Kills, MSTRKRFT, The Klaxons, The Gossip, Laidback Luke, Sinichi Osawa, Diplo and others. He's remixed everyone from Duran Duran to Chris Cornell to D.I.M. to Jukie XL. His Dim Mak clothing label is also a highly recognised brand and aided in developing lines for WESC headphones, Supra Footwear, and KSUBI glasses. Occassionlly he sleeps. About 8 hours a week while on tour.

You can also go to www.Dimmak.com for more information on his label and artists...they've also signed some Canadians like MSTRKRFT and Felix Cartel too!


Between the clothing line, record label & touring, how many hours a week do you sleep?
Oh man, when I am on tour, less than a day worth of sleep. I'll do like two-hour naps here and there, add those up and you get like eight hours over the course of six days. Sometimes the schedule is just non-stop. But when I get home, I get like six hours or five hours.


What shows do you prefer playing at? The more electronic genres shows or the "whatever is hot right now" type shows?
Obviously the electronic shows, where people come to see me dj as an artist and not as a name. Like in Las Vegas or Atlantic City or like the Casino people are more coming for the name. They don't really know the music and like I have to play by democracy rules card. I use that card you know. If I could tell it's an urban crowd then I'm playing what they want to hear you know. I only do like maybe five percent of my shows like that, the rest of them the crowd is pretty aware of the music, not necessarily the songs themselves, but the kind of music that I play. For the most part the Top40 sets are actually a relief sometime.


I've heard you mix like it's no bodys business. I've also heard some huge train wrecks from you. On both occasions, the party was out of control. Do you places technical mixing or party intensity higher on the scale of importance?
Some rough mixing is better than the music just stopping. That happens more than the rough mixing. Have you seen the Soulwax video that they made the dvd? Like there is a full section where they're like talking about when the music stops and people are like going crazy cause the music stopped for a technical reason. What they were saying, which was kind of funny and kind of true, when the music stops everyone likes it because it's so unexpected they go crazy and get excited.

I played a really crazy show in Cologne on Saturday my last show of the tour and on my first song, this guy was going crazy next to me hit the start/stop button on the cd player. I looked over and he was going nuts on my (cd player). I was right in the middle of my mix and I got fucking really pissed and then the same guy did it again like forty-five minutes later. It doesn't matter if it's me or if it's the next guy or some random fucking hosier, fact remains the same that if I'm djing, it's my responsibility regardless.


I've seen you, in The Drink at Guvernment, leap out of the dj booth into the crowd. The people missed you and you hit the floor pretty hard. What's the worst club injury you've sustained?
Something similar to that happened in 2006-2007. It was a really rough year for me cause I was just drinking really hard and blacking out a lot. I don't remember much of that year cause I was in this different world.

Justice and Pedro and A Track and some other friends were playing and I stage dove but I didn't really let anyone know. I just hit the ground. I think some like some  people caught me but for the most part I just fucking really hit the ground hard and  damaged my elbow. To this day I  can't lean on my right elbow. It's been like two years plus that I can't lean on my right elbow. Now if I decided to fucking be one with the crowd, I'd let them know. For the most part it has been pretty healthy landings.


You said when you were younger you had a lot of self-doubt and was insecure growing up. Having 2 personality traits not very common in successful entrepreneurs, how did you overcome them?
I haven't really overcome them yet. I get scared of certain things all the time and I just really stay focused on the things that I know best and pursue them and keep building them. Like Dim Mak records was not a success for a long time. It's still a building block that I've been working on for the last thirteen years and for years and years and years I've been pounding away at the label trying to make it something where I can actually see an income from. To this day I haven't been able to see an income from this label. That's not the primary concern and that's why I continue doing it. There are certain things that I love and what I'm passionate about. I will put all my time and effort in and that, to me, keeps my head straight.


What tunes do you have coming out in the near future?
I have something coming out with Thieve. It's a Pillow Face number two. That's the mix album with a bonus cd with all my remixes I've done in the last year and a half. That's planned for the end of the year.

What I'm focusing on is my own original album uh and It's been a long process. Some of these tracks I've written were done over a year and a half ago. For example I did a track with Romanthony that I finished in June of last year. It's been a long process and very tough as my touring schedule gets busier and busier, my studio time gets um more packed with remixes that I have accepted to do.

My list of tracks so far (for the album) I already have about six done. I'm working on six more. I just did a track with Kid Cuddi. I've done collaborations throughout the year with Armand Van Helden, Laidback Luke and Joachim Garraud. Those may or may not go on the album. They may just end up being singles put out on the label.

I don't have like three weeks in the studio like most producers do. I'll do like two days in the studio and finish a track, finish a remix, then go back on the road. Or if I go to New York I'll do a track with Armand. When I went to Hamburg, I stayed two days extra and did a fully finished track with D.I.M. Laidback was the same thing, two trips to Amsterdam. Boyz Noize did a track here in L.A. We knocked that up really quickly hen Boys Noise and I actually did two tracks with The Faint over the course of three days in Omaha. That was actually really prepared session We just focused in the studio and just did a live session, did vocals with live instrumentation.

I've been collaboration ever since I was sixteen I've been in bands playing instruments and over the last four years remixing artists and finally releasing an album. That was something that I wanted. I'd rather have it out now but it is just, just to tough.


You have an album coming out in 2010. Can you tell us about it?
What I'm focusing on is my own original album and it's been a long process. Some of these tracks I've written were done over a year and a half ago. For example I did a track "Dead Meat" with Romanthony that I finished in June of last year. I put that on my essential mix. It's very tough as my touring schedule gets busier and busier, my studio time gets more packed with remixes that I have accepted to do. My list of tracks so far, I already have about six done. I'm working on six more. I just did a track with "Super Black" coming out in September. We just shot the music video for that. I just did a track with Kid Cudi. The Romanthony track is finished. We just have to arrange that in sequence. I've done collaborations throughout the year with Armand Van Helden, Laidback Luke and Joachim Garraud. Those may or may not go on the album. They may just end up being singles put out on the label.


You're at the forefront of the genre crossing breeding electro sound, with elements of 90s hip-hop, 80's synths, the attitude and party vibe of a rock show. Would you say this is the music of the current generation?
It is probably outlandish to say something like that because if you look at it as a whole, it could be the Black Eyed Peas- Boom Boom Pow (type of music) or it could be the generation of Lady Gaga. That's not necessarily my generation but what we're doing in the electronic world, I think it's definitely causing a movement and there is a shift that's been changed over from the Armin Van Burren and the Tiesto's to artists that are completely redefining the electronic sound, and stripping it away from them and making it a completely different culture and life style. There is that rebellion and there are people that love Justice but do not like David Guetta. It's grown into something beyond a trend or beyond a fad. It's definitely a staying power and the pioneers of the sound will predict the future of where the sound is going.


Being so involved in "party culture" how have you managed to stay away from the drug trap majority of people in your position have fallen victim to?
My roots in music were not in electronic music. My roots were in hard core, straight edge and punk. When I kind of departed from that scene and focused on my label, I moved to L.A.  I just never had any interest. By then I was already close to mid twenties so I just never had any interest. I'm not judgemental about the whole drug usage. It happens all around me, I get offered it a million times whenever I go out and it doesn't bother me at all. I just don't partake in it. You know? It just not my thing.

I live a pretty kind of square life. I just work and have a lot of responsibilities that keep my head straight. If I'm not like functioning the next day and I'm not able to like reciprocate and communicate with all different people that I work with then I can't run all these different things that I'm doing. You know?


What's the most favorite pair of shoes you own?
Oh man that's tough. I have to be a loyalist and say Supra's. I think uh their main designer Josh he's fucking kick ass. I was working with him on my signature shoe for Supra. He's got a great vision. That shoe company is a skate company but they take elements from high-end sneaker shoes, that are only available to the elite, the super rich people, that the rest of the population has no idea about. It makes it like accessible for these kids to buy. So they don't have to buy the fat tongue skate shoes anymore.

I was never a big Nike buff, like dj A.M.  He's got the most insane collection of dead stock Nikes. His knowledge of shoe culture is pretty insane and if you see his collection and you're a shoe junkie you would just probably go nuts.


You've even toured in Burlington Ontario and coming to Hamilton Ontario...is there anywhere you won't go?
I did an Ontario tour where I did all these smaller cities like Kingston and Waterloo, Richmond Hill which was really strange. For the most part the tour was fucking epic. I love these small cities! Waterloo was really a memorable show, Kingston was great, Ottawa was great you know like in general Canada is one of my favourite countries to go to. I dj'ed in Bala, which was cottage country I guess. That was a sold out thousand+  party. Crazy fucking kids going nuts and having a good time. You know the last year and a half being in Canada has been nothing but a really fucking great time. Burlington was a fun show. That was me and Jessie from MSTRKRFT going back to back. It's like just fucking bring it on.When the promoters over there in Canada want to book me in a small city, I'm all about it.

 

Steve Aoki
www.steveaoki.com - www.dimmak.com

Rokbar, 15 Hess St. South - Hamilton, ON
Wednesday August 5th

 

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