Steve Aoki Interview

Oh My God It's
STEVE AOKI

During his recent trip to rock the shit out of Guelph, Steve Aoki took some time to ramble on to us about his self-described 'boring' life on the road, his label and more pressing issues such as hair. When the interview was completed we got the sense that Steve Aoki's life may really be a little more conservative than first presumed.... but we'll let you be the judge of that the next time he visits your town.


1) If you had to get rid of one thing… Moustache or Hair?

Hahaha wow. Never thought of that one. Fuck… That’s tough. Maybe ummm…

*How about half and half? Mushroom cut/trimmed moustache?

Hahahaha, I’ve had a none moustache and I’ve had a mushroom cut….. Wow… I’m stuck, I can’t imagine not having a moustache or long hair. I guess I’ll shave my hair…. That way I could just wear a wig… But I guess I could always get a fake moustache….


2) Is there a particular brand of shoes that you’re especially fond of?

Supra’s…. I designed a model for them plus I always wear them. I work with Josh on the designs and throw back sick ideas and ways to redesign.

I love Supra’s cause they’re high end looking skate shoes for kids.


3) First album on Vinyl?

The first seven inch I ever bought was DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s ‘Nightmare on My Street’. I got a lot of my first vinyls from my old brother. When he was between like sixteen and eighteen he was really into the British mod thing and had a scooter and listened to a lot of the Jam, Madness, The Who. The first record I ever bought was like a Youth of Today LP. But what I really collected growing up was cassette tapes, Easy-E… DJ Quik’s first album… I lived in the suburbs… New Port [Beach, California]… At the age of thirteen all I knew was N.W.A was the coolest shit… West Coast Gangster Hip-Hop.


4) Is there a particular moment/show in your career when you persuaded to fully commit to a career as a professional DJ?

That would probably be Coachella 2007, it’s held right in my backyard… Only three hours away, and you know, it’s one of the most important festivals in the world, if not at least North America, and that was really important because it brought me out the clubs and parties and opened me up to playing to a wider audience.


5) When listening to the latest Black Eyed Peas album and reflecting upon its mainstream success, it becomes evident that electro music consistently influenced almost every track. Considering that you have been affiliated with the Black Eyed Peas in the past, I was wondering if you had any direct or creative influence upon their latest work.

You know, they came up in LA, they were just grinding it out and they blew up… They’re really good with timing. Will is a really intuitive guy and he is able to borrow from a lot of different genres and generalize them a bit and make them appealing to the masses. I’m just in one world and what he took from this world he was able to turn it into something powerful. To me, it makes total sense, you have to speak a universal language that’s not so technical and he’s able to do that… It’s a unique skill to have and not many people can do it.


6) The electronic music is often characterized by excessive drug use, hard drinking DJ’s , eccentric styles, high decibels, chaotic behavior, and music that rarely seems concerned with anything other than intoxication, sex and dancing…. It has to be asked, is electro dance music becoming the reincarnation of hair metal?

No... No… Not at all… Hair metal was huge and commercial, this is underground. Especially in North America, but I think it all depends on the territory, it's all relative. For example, the Bloody Beetroots are huge in Italy. Probably one of the biggest bands in the country. But you gotta think in the 80's of one of the biggest hair metal bands. Such as Bon Jovi. They were absolutely huge… Its not like we have any equivalent near that scale. I think the closet thing to compare it to is punk rock, like the huge punk rock bands… Dead Brains… The Germs… The Stooges.

And as for the partying, of course its around but me personally, I don’t do any drugs and lately I’ve really haven’t been drinking that much at all either. I still have the booze in my rider but at this point its more for sharing with the fans.


7) Have you ever passed out on stage?

Yeah… Actually I’ve blacked out on stage before… Passed out on the turntable. It’s actually quite a sad story which really left me feeling like an idiot.

I was on the verge of signing a big contract with this Vegas club and I was playing at a club for a Daft Punk after-party. It was supposed to be Me, [DJ] AM, and Busy P but… Pedro couldn’t make it. So it was just AM and I hanging out with Daft Punk and we were just pumped because AM and I were just the biggest Daft Punk fans and Guy-Manuel and Thomas are just such cool dudes. So I was drinking just so fucking excited but like… Las Vegas is like the most musically ignorant city in the world. Anyways… I was just pounding shot after shot after shot and eventually I blacked out and just remember being carried out of the club. Then I had to write out a letter of apology… They said I was never aloud to drink in their clubs… and yeah… Like a moron… I lost the contract.


8) How involved in the day to day running of Dim Mak records are you able to be while touring?

I still play a major, very involved role. The day-to-day micromanagement stuff I don’t handle… I have a really good team established with people that know how to get things done. I set the wheels in motion and get a lot of the A-B started and they can run with it from there most of the time. We're a pretty good machine at Dim Mak but I’m still very hands-on with the executive decision… It still comes down to me… I’m constantly on my BlackBerry. At this point a lot of guys on my team have been with the label for a while and have a lot of hands-on experience. The label has been around for thirteen years… For eight years we had no funding, then I eventually got some help financing the bills but now were gearing back to becoming more independent again.


9) For the past two years it seems like you have been touring like a man possessed, rarely stopping to smell the roses. When considering all the late nights, traveling and heavy drinking that go hand in hand with such a lifestyle, one must begin to question how much longer you can go on for. What are your Future plans? How long can you keep doing this?

Stamina is very important to me… I don’t want to burn myself out… I’ve been very blessed and fortunate that I haven’t acquired many bad habits… I don’t do cocaine or smoke cigarettes, which I think makes me very lucky considering the environment I’m constantly in… It’s easy to get in that mess. The only thing that’s going to slow me down is my hearing. My doctor thinks I need to take a break… Maybe live on an island… Just to get away from all the noise. Just as I have been fortunate to avoid the drugs, cigarettes, etc., I have been unfortunate about the hearing… but its something that’s different for everyone. Such as a band like Boyz Noize… there's so much going on in their music, they play it so loud every night… And they're fucking fine! Same thing with Diplo. I just got back from tour [in Asia] with him and I would ask him if he wanted to use my earplugs and he would crank it even louder… He’s fine… Some people get lung cancer… Some start losing their hearing I guess… Whatever.

I think I have to blame the hearing on a weekly party I used to have in L.A. There were these Ion speakers that would sit like six inches from my head and it would blast so fucking loud in my left ear… While I was DJ’ing with my left ear piece. Sorry… I kinda started rambling off track their… but as for future plans, I plan on DJ’ing less and start doing LA more. You know, become more of a home buddy less of a DJ. Eventually its going to slow down a lot… I’m not planning on being a DJ forever.