EDM whiz Steve Aoki, who gave the world a crazy new way of indulging in cake and champagne, returned to India for a three city tour with Vh1 Supersonic Arcade. EDM fans got a chance to watch Steve Aoki perform live on 16^th January in Mumbai, 17^th January in Delhi and 18^th January in Bangalore.

Notorious for his crazy on-stage antics which include ‘cake-ing’ fans, showering them with champagne, acrobatic crowd surfing and rafting on the dance floor; Steve Aoki has legions of dance music fanatics universally. He has been recognized for his creation of leading chartbusting numbers with some of the titans of the music industry. His famous track ‘Boneless’ is one of the hits that rock his shows. Not forgetting hits like A Light That Never Comes, Get Me Outta Here, Free The Madness, Flight, Back To Earth and many more

We had to meet the man, but time constraints had us send him an email to which he replied.

Here are excerpts from the interview with none other than Steve Aoki the Japanese-American electro house whizz. 

How would you best describe your tracks?

Crazy, insane dance music

With whom is your best collaboration according to you? Who is on your wish-list?

Jay-Z would be amazing to work with or working with someone in a completely different world, like a classical composer. I’d like to see what would come out of something like that. Rihanna or Madonna, bigger names are harder to come by, so working with them would be great. I’ve been able to put some people I’ve been a fan of for a long time on the tracks I’ve been putting together for my first solo album. I got to work with people like Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, Kele from Bloc Party, Sky Ferreira who’s like a new female pop singer, Super Blaq – amazing producer and vocalist – Travis Barker, Lil Jon, Kid Cudi, Taio Cruz, Blaqstarr… so it’s kind of a mix of different vocals that I’ve got on this album.

Are you familiar with Indian/Bollywood music? Do you plan to collaborate with any Indian singer or musician? Are you excited about your trip to India?

I shall explore the best I can. I do not know many Indian musicians but I am looking forward to meeting some in this trip. I don’t know anyone in particular in the Indian music industry so I will be there more for the knowledge and hopefully the people around can help introduce me to the talent. To me India is one of the most special places in the world and it is the one place I really wanted to visit. I love its culture, food and after my first trip, I loved the people. I like the streets here, I like it all. The sad thing that you see is poverty too. It is very difficult to see that but you have to see it, its reality.

You recently released a track 'Cakeface' with the announcement in Twitter that you won't throw cake and champagnes at the audience for which you were famous.

To start the New Year I’m making some new changes and have decided I’ll no longer be caking fans at most festivals. There might be an exception here or there but for the most part I’ll be saving the CAKE for my headline shows. And to show my love to all the fans around the world that love the cake I wrote a song especially for YOU, properly titled CAKEFACE!

Your Aoki jumps make quite news. What’s your most memorable “Aoki Jump?”

With the “Aoki Jumps,” it’s difficult to name the most memorable one, because I’ve done over five hundred. I started doing it with friends: I’ve done them with all the [other] DJs. Doing the jump with Hulk Hogan was so amazing… because he’s Hulk Hogan! Or Lance Armstrong. I did one with Raymond John from Shark Tank.

How excited are you for this 3 days city tour in India and performing for the Indian audience?

I love this country and love the fans here. There is so much of a buzz created about Vh1 Supersonic Arcade on twitter and other social media which has got me even more excited to be a part of it.

We’ve seen a huge increase in ‘EDM’ style festivals popping up over the world with the likes of Ultra and Tomorrow land expanding on to different continents. What’s your take on the explosion of this genre?

Dance music is evolving big time all over the world and it will only get bigger!

You play loads of different venues, how do you adapt your set for each occasion?

When I know the crowd is there to come and see me play, then I play about 80% my own music because I feel like they are coming to see me play, so I don't wanna just play my favourite tunes. I used to tour in a band and when you tour, people want to see you play your songs and your big hits, so I just transfer that concept when DJing. But when I'm playing a party it's a little bit more fun for me because I just play fun songs that I like, so I have to look at it in different ways.

With all the different things you do taking up your time, what do you enjoy the most?

The source of everything I do is music, being able to help develop an artist is the main thing. Seeing a brand new artist that hasn't formed and moulded itself yet, to becoming a global influence. Being a part of that is a really good feeling. Seeing something really grow and expand and reach across the world. Like the Bloc Party thing for Dim Mak was a really big deal. Although we only really covered the American side, it started in a really small place and just blew up after that. And the Bloody Beetroots, seeing them grow from doing really sick club remixes to know them becoming an amazing DJ live act and producing these massive tracks around the world, to now developing into a live band, it's just seeing that progression that's so amazing. And we haven't even tipped the iceberg with their live performance. I just foresee when that comes full circle, and they tour that around the world, it's going to be big and seeing that is an amazing thing. So at the end of the day being part of producing tracks that connect to a lot of people, that's what's amazing.

If you were not been a music artist, what profession would you have chosen and why?

I would definitely be helping other artists promote their music and talent.

What’s been your favorite moment of 2014?

There were too many to pick one.

How did you move from the punk rock scene to DJ-ing?

I’ll tell you, a lot of people ask me this question, about being in these underground punk bands, touring, and going from that whole world, which was self-sufficient, that didn’t want to be part of mainstream culture. And now I’m a DJ playing to massive audiences. Some of its commercial, a large part is still underground, but for the most part, people can say it’s commercial. That transition didn’t happen overnight. I’m 36 years old. When I was 14, hardcore punk was the first music and community that accepted me. And that was one of the most important moments in that impressionable period of time. You’re trying to fit in and the jocks don’t accept you, because you’re too small. And certain people don’t accept you because you’re Asian. But the hardcore community is like, “We want to take in all the people who aren’t accepted anywhere. Because we’re not accepted, we embrace that!” When you’re part of this group, it’s all about using the tools around you… not to take mommy and daddy’s money, but to use the tools around you and do something with it. And the more you are able to find ways to create and produce and make music and write a ‘zine, and do all of those things, then you are respected. You’re a respected part of that community, and that’s all that you care about. But if you go, “Hey, Daddy, can you buy me this, so I can do this?” They’ll be like, “Get outta here! We don’t want that! We want you to create it on your own!” So I took that concept, the idea of DIY, but it was really “DIT” – “do it together.” You work with your friends and you create something cool, like a band. I took that concept and I applied it to anything that meant something to me. Like starting the label. Learning how to DJ. Starting to produce music. You take whatever you can in front of you and you make the most of it. And I’ll tell you, it is a long, long process, and you can’t know where it’s gonna go. But the most important thing is, at the moment in time that you’re working on it, make that moment as significant as possible. Make whatever you’re doing right now the best that you can make it.

Tell us about other artists whom you listen to

My favorite DJs in the world are Daft Punk and the best DJ that I’ve ever known is DJ AM. So, probably AM.

How would you describe your sound? And who are your influences? How has it evolved over the years?

Crazy insane music. Music is always evolving. When I’m playing in the club, I play club records, like hard, kind of stomping dance music. But the music that I produce is very diverse. The album I’m producing, which should be dropping this year, features a variety of stuff from actual song writing to fun, dancey jams. And I guess everything around me has influenced my music.

What’s your signature tune?

I don’t think I have one yet.

What are you working on right now?

I am working on collaborations. A lot of singles and remixes will be coming out as well as music videos my current album. New projects and albums production will only start by the end of January. On my YouTube channel, I will be filming from the road while I travel across India for Vh1 Supersonic Arcade.

Who do you think is that one artist that people need to watch out for/must check out now?

I've definitely been supporting Deorro, through Dim Mak, and he's got an album coming out at Ultra. He's definitely creating his own sound, his own culture. I'm really proud to see his rise. Then there are these really young guys that no one's heard of too much: Botnek, every time they put out a track, it's charting on Beatport and always a new sound that no one has really done yet. Autoerotique, who have been consistently doing something really awesome and incredible at least for the club space. Whenever they put out a new song, I can play it in the club and it just destroys the dance floor, and they're still fairly unknown. Those are a couple I'm really all about. Skrillex is another good example of someone who came out and changed the dance music scene.

You are known for your live, energetic shows. Recount your craziest concert experience so far.

Coachella 2009 was the first time I actually did production for a show. I wanted to do something interesting, so I had these boxes built that would light up my letters—A.O.K.I.—behind me. I had a stylist design these neon crazy capes. I had people standing on the boxes dancing. I had a full-on Jeremy Scott getup—this crazy jacket with reflectors all over so it just looked bizarre. Then I brought out Super Soakers and I brought out four rafts. That was the first time I introduced the rafts to my show. Later on, Rolling Stone did a full-page photo spread like, “This is Coachella.” It was like, Paul McCartney… and me on the raft. It's an interesting way to have fun with the fans, and it’s safer for me because previous to that I was stage-diving—not the safest way to jump into a crowd. But if you have a raft you have some sort of soft suspension and cushion.

What are three things that the public doesn’t know about you?

I was big into the punk rock scene as a kid. I grew up listening to punk rock and hardcore and was a vocalist for This Machine Kills, a punk band from 1997 to 2000.

In college I lived a straight-edge lifestyle, not touching alcohol or drugs. And though I’m knows today for spraying crowds with champagne, I do not drink alcohol these days.

While I admit I’m awful at basketball, I featured in the 2K8 and 2K9 NBA videogames as a mystery player

I opened a restaurant last year, a Korean BBQ restaurant called “Shin” and I’m opening another restaurant in June that’s close to my house. It’s all about locally grown foods, organic foods, and the menu is more of what I would eat so I’m really excited about that. In general, my life in the last three-and-a-half years has been on the road. I’ve been away from home so much that it just makes me miss being here, so I’m looking forward to just doing more LA activities.

How do you unwind? What are your hobbies?

Actually, right now in my life, I’m so busy with work that I have no time for a hobby. I run a record label, a clothing line, and deejay. I also travel a lot and a music producer too.  So I guess, that sums up all my time. But I love what I do. So that works well.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira

Photos by Nirav Mehta