With an artist motto of “Always On Tour,”Steve Aoki is one of the busiest men in the music industry. Producer, DJ, label boss, and entrepreneur, you never know what this Ultimate Music Experience Pre-Party talent is going to do next.
Born in Miami but raised in California, Steve Aoki first started working as a DJ when he was a student at the University of California in Santa Barbara. Performing under the name Kid Millionaire, Steve began hosting concerts anywhere he could – no matter how illegitimate the venue, “… And the legendary house, the 6542 Sabado Tarde house. That’s where the Pickle Patch was founded. It eventually moved around, but we had At The Drive-In, !!!, The Rapture – the Pickle Patch had over 450 bands playing at all the different incarnations. We stayed there for a couple years then we moved into a frat house. We didn’t become a frat but we brought 16 kids in there, we built out a space and did shows there. Then we moved to the Biko House and we did shows there. We made the garage into a place where we could have shows.”
After graduating, and in his early 20s, Steve created the now world-famous label Dim Mak Records in 1996. The first releases of the then burgeoning imprint were far from electronic, “My roots are in hardcore and punk. Before dance music I was writing for punk bands and screaming punk songs.” With Dim Mak still in its starting phase, Steve teamed up with Blake Miller of the band Moving Units to start producing remixes under the alias Weird Science. Weird Science made their debut in 1997 with the Please Wait/Submarine EP released on Think Recordings. Remixing for artists like Bloc Party, Peaches, and Rooney, the outfit continued their efforts and coincidentally landed on Pillowface And His Airplane Chronicles, Steve’s debut mix album.
Released in 2008, Pillowface And His Airplane Chronicles was an underground success, debuting at #15 on the Billboard Electronic Chart and also reaching #8 on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. After his “debut,” Steve’s success took on a snowball effect. Tracks like “I’m In The House,” “Warp 1.9,” “Turbulence,” and “No Beef” only fueled to the Aoki fire that was about to ensue. Steve’s output was unlike anything any artists were doing at the time, “10 years ago, I was screaming to kids at hardcore shows and a little after that, I started to DJ. When you DJ and play others’ records, you create a story for your audience and that’s part of your job and the art of being a DJ. When I produced tunes, I brought in that aggressive nature from my earlier punk years along with showmanship. There’s a difference between producing an actual song, and making a club edit. It’s the song that I get more into when it plays live. When I play shows, its second nature to scream in the crowd and let off all that energy.”
As as a remixer, Steve Aoki’s catalogue spans from names like the Jackson 5 and Lenny Kravitz, to Kanye West, Eminem and Snoop Dogg. And with his aptitude for collaborations, Steve has appeared on releases with artists like Kid Cudi, will.i.am, Afrojack, and Armand Van Helden, just to name a few.
Known for his caking, rafting, and crowd surfing skills, 2014 will see something new on Steve’s impending tour, “I’ve been doing the cakes and I’ve been doing the rafts, and I’m still doing that at my shows because that’s what people want and it’s fun and engaging. I’m bringing out this new element to the show called neon future technology, which is kind of going along with the theme that my next album is all about. It involves cryo, it involves LED and stuff that I attach onto like robotic appendages and robots on the stage.”
Robots and LEDs? March 12th can’t get here soon enough! Buy your tickets to the official Ultimate Music Experience Pre-Party at Clayton’s Beach Club in South Padre Island, Texas today to see what Steve has up his sleeve this year.
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