SKRILLEX and friends
Friday, January 21st 2011
King Cat Theatre – Seattle, WA
BUY TICKETS HERE!

The guy’s got it… all of it. With naturally adept musical talent crossing multiple genres, the unadulterated will to put in the painfully time-intensive work necessary for success, a unique and enticing counter-culture image capable of pulling in masses of new fans, and a dance-floor / meat-butchering sound all of his own Sonny Moore is primed for climbing the ladder to the top and skipping more than a few rungs on the way up to Valhalla.

With a storied musical background that goes back to at least his teens, Sonny Moore has lived a life centered on musical production and performance. Impressive in its own right, the notoriety of his past is now taking the back seat to his currently blistering popularity as the producing/performing moniker “Skrillex”. Prior to signing with Joel Zimmerman’s (Deadmau5) Mau5trap label, he was already a beckoning figure in the underground electronic dance music scene with festival-worthy originals, collaborations, and remixes with some of the heavy hitters of the music industry including Lady Gaga and Haus-favorite Los Angeles based dubstep producer 12th Planet. It is safe to say that his recent tour with Deadmau5 boosted his fan base and increased the visibility of his music and combine that with his October 2010 major release of “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” being one of the most successful albums of all time on Beatport, his growth is as explosive as Bernie Madoff’s personal bank accounts in 2006. The “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” album was actually the highest charting dubstep album of all time on Beatport; menacing to consider due to the fact that not every track on the album is considered dubstep.

His sound is raw – it’s dirty, like Jurassic Park but with lasers, subwoofers, and hints of vocal modulation from Optimus Prime; but it can also be breathtakingly majestic and progressive. Widely considered to be mainly a dubstep producer, it should be an offense to limit him to this genre. Yes, we all know “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” along with his remixes of iSquare’s “Sexy Lady” and La Roux’s “In For The Kill” are dubstep masterpieces packed with melodical distortion aplenty. However, as much as those track’s do their best to outmuscle the rest of his musical concoctions, the beauty of “All I Ask of You” and “With You Friends (Long Drive)” seemingly entrap the listener in a peaceful bliss that make you forget all about the word “dubstep”.

So what’s next? What’s this mythical legend of loudness got up his sleeves for the upcoming couple of months? I had a chat with Skrilly, who by the way is one of the most approachable and down to earth people I have ever encountered, in anticipation of his show here in Seattle this Friday, the 21st, to see what’s made him tick in addition to some other bullshitting (sorry, I got greedy – Skrillex = wannabe bromance #1). Make sure to get your tickets if you haven’t already, this show is going to be one of the best of 2011 Seattle – mark my words. Kaos Theory, GREAT work on bringing him to Seattle. Skrillex, Sonny, Dude… we can’t wait for you to bring the city to its knees.


HAUS: So first off, last time you were here with Deadmau5 and Die Antwoord they put you on at 7pm
– there are so many people out here that were depressed they didn’t get to see you that night. What was up with that scheduling?

SKRILLEX: They put me on at doors and sound check took a while but they had to keep doors, like,
they had to keep people on as planned in relation to then the place opened up so I went on right when the doors opened around 7pm, you know what I mean? Yeah it sucks but I’m coming back in a little bit, so its ok.

H: So you just got back from Hawaii; you have a good time over there? Did they treat you well?

S: I had an awesome time man, really great time in Hawaii. Didn’t catch a tan in case anyone’s wondering but yeah, I had a great time man.

H: What have you found has been the most challenging aspect of performing and producing since signing on to Mau5trap / Ultra?

S: You know what man it’s all stayed the same for me, I think the most challenging thing for me… well not the most challenging, but the most exciting thing for me is that with all this success that comes, it makes me just want to make better tracks and become a better producer and performer in every way. The minute everything started to happen it made me go back into the studio right away to make better tunes and to prepare myself so I’m ready sooner than later rather than just waiting around.

H: So it’s more of like an inspiring thing, you don’t find it as inhibiting you in the least bit?

S: Some people I guess have some success come and then they like sit back and let it cruise. But no, I’m like in overdrive mode right now, always working. I fly back right from a show and into the studio and I’m in, you know what I mean, and I’m constantly perfecting my craft. I don’t want to have this EP and sit around for a year and have nothing come out. I’m going to have a new release by the end of summer… Actually I’m going to have a couple new tracks in February coming out.

H: I was going to say, I feel like every time I hop on the internet man, there’s always a new Skrillex track. We definitely notice that. I’ve got another question for you though… Where did you meet Satan and where did you guys record your vocal samples. Those are just out of this world.

S: (laughing) where did I meet who?

H: Satan. Some of your vocals are killing me.

S: (laughing) Yeah man, a lot of the vocals are just me that I’ve treated. A lot of the stuff that sounds like vocals are actually synthesizers and different things that I was going to mix with vocals. I just kind have done whatever and experimented and it came out pretty fun.

H: Yeah, with that “Oh My God” sample it took me forever to figure out that it came from that viral video of that crazy fast cup stacking chick. I knew it sounded like this guy was seriously having a great time in the studio. Speaking of the studio, what is your recording studio like? Do you have an absolutely crucial snack?

S: No dude, my studio is like a laptop, it’s nothing, it’s humble and if you saw it you’d go, “What, that’s it?” I mean, not to like blow smoke up my own ass but I don’t use any outboard gear, it’s all in the box – Ableton Live and different software synthesizers.

H: Some people have their battle stations that they like to go into and others are pretty versatile and they can pretty much do it on the fly with minimal gear…

S: I definitely have my space I like to work in, but like right now I’m over at 12th Planet’s house and I just brought my laptop over and he has his rig and we’re just kind of collaborating.

H: Kind of on the same token with your humble studio, what’s your take on the explosive growth of technology and software?

S: It’s amazing man, it’s incredible that ten years ago all the sounds and songs I’m making, especially like twenty years ago, there’d be so much gear to making them. You listen to original electronic producers and there was so much gear to make these what now are simple sounds, I mean you needed a lot of shit. Now you can just use a laptop and pull up Ableton Live or Logic and just go to town on pretty much everything, it’s incredible.

H: It’s kind of telling too though because you can tell who is really pushing themselves by looking at who is altering those sounds instead of just altering the composition. When you get kind of experimental it makes it a lot of fun to listen to.

S: Right, man, right.

H: Your work with Bare Noize that led into Scatta, I mean it sounds like a lion is roaring.

S: Yeah, that one was fun. That’s all synthesis. Like, some of my cool sounds are definitely in that track. They sent me this crazy circus loop - I don’t know if you hear at the front of the track it sounds like a carnival, you know – evil. It actually started with this other version that we haven’t released yet, it’s a drum-step version, like 175 BPM version of that same song. I took the organ loop that they made, which is this crazy programming, and we’re going to mix it with my tracks for the Scary Monsters EP version. We’re going to release another version soon that has their take on it – its faster. More of their synthesizer programming is really cool too which will be coming out.

H: One last question and I’ll let you and 12th Planet keep the creative process going, but what’s one piece of hardware or software that you can’t live without – I’m not trying to delve into secrets or anything but what’s your most essential utility tool?

S: Oh don’t worry about it man. To be honest, Ableton Live. Ableton Live alone as a piece of software, even with all their synths, and their suite I can use Operator, which is their basic FM synth, to make great sounds. Ableton in general, I swear by it. Couldn’t live without it.

H: Thanks for taking the time man, we really appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you out in Seattle soon.

S: Sick man, awesome. Thanks for giving me a call!