Steve Aoki Flys High With Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles

If you haven't yet heard of music tastemaker Steve Aoki, you will. With the inception of his debut mix CD "Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles" the owner/creator of indie label Dim Mak Records is guaranteed to become a household name with teens looking to shake what their mama gave them. Cleverly mixing the greatest hits of electro (MSTRKRFT, Datarock, Justice) with cheeky voiceovers (from Har Mar Superstar, Mickey Avalon, Spank Rock) Steve has created what could, arguably, be called one of the most stimulating mixed CDs of recent memory. We caught up with Steve in Miami to talk shop about life before DJ-ing, raging dance parties and the contemporary fusing of the electronic and hip hop genres.

TeenMusic: How did you get your start spinning records?

Steve: It was a reason to promote my label. We started throwing these Dim Mak parties in L.A. and I was just playing records. I would have never considered myself a DJ back then. I was inviting bands to come play records. It wasn't even about the DJ then; it was about the party element. It was like 'Oh we have Modest Mouse coming though, Interpol, Yeah Yeahs Yeahs, The Killers'; all these people were coming to DJ even though they weren't DJs. The parties were historical, memorable. So eventually I learned to DJ because I was always doing it. I got obsessed with learning and as our party scene in L.A. grew, I started expanding out as a DJ and it took off on its own.

TeenMusic: You majored in women's studies in college. What kind of career did you envision for yourself then?

Steve: I did a double major in Women's Studies and Sociology at the U.C. Santa Barbara. It was a big part of my life. It was a very politically active school and I was involved in a couple of groups. I was just so totally involved in school and academia. It was strange because, at that time, I was putting on shows in my living room. I had 450 bands play there and I was in a band myself. I was so involved in both the music scene and school. Then I was accepted into two PHD programs where I was going to do research. That's what I had planned anyway. It was at that time I heard The Kills and decided to stay with the record label.

TeenMusic: How did you become friends with Mark "Cobrasnake" Hunter?

Steve: Well, he had just turned 17 when we became friends. I felt like one of those older weird guys that hang out with young dudes. We connected at a show; one of his friends wanted to be an intern at Dim Mak so I met him through her. He was just shooting photos everywhere for "Polaroid Scene", that was his first website and I was DJ-ing. We started traveling together and realized that we can be together 24/7 without fighting; we get along amazingly well. He's my best friend. We're inseparable and I love that guy to death.

TeenMusic: What differentiates a good DJ from a not-so-good DJ?

Steve: There's a couple things, like selection, that's very important to me. Creativity and flow. You have to flow through the songs, it doesn't matter if you're going from Neil Diamond to Dolly Parton or from Boys Noize to Soulwax, or from Eazy-E to Kanye West. You want to have the flow hit you in the right way. And that's the strange thing about trance music, I never really got it until I saw it. Trance music is all about flow and energy, if you're able to create it, it becomes a psychological thing. That's why those DJs are massive, because they're able to get into that groove.

TeenMusic: What's a typical day like in the life of Steve Aoki? Are there any typical days when you have such a busy schedule?

Steve: Right now, I'm in my bed with a blanket over my head and my eyes are closed because I just woke up. But as of late, I fly to about five cities a week. My life literally is airplanes, airports, hotels, pubs, that routine. I'm buying a loft in L.A. just so I can give some time to L.A. I love it, it's a different world for me there. I have an office and five full-time employees; I have my label Dim Mak records that I've been nurturing for the last eleven years, and the Dim Mak clothing line that has been going for the last two years. I've got my own line with Kr3w and I do shoes with Supra. I have time in the studio and have to finish three remixes in the next three weeks! It's just constant work, and I love working. I feel very fortunate to be in a position to always be creative. It's been a wild ride, but the ends justify the means.

TeenMusic: Tell us about the title of your CD, How did you come to choose "Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles"?

Steve: Pillowface is a character that is constantly rolling in my head about a man that travels so much his face turns into a pillow. I always draw this guy with a pillow for a head. I was drawing him while my partners were asking me what the name of the album should be. So we decided on "Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles" and we'll create a story about him. I started to write a narrative about him, but I fell asleep (laughing).

TeenMusic: Who did the art direction for the cover? It's amazing.

Steve: The guy who actually drew it is named Brian Rottenger. He's been working with me for the last ten years on Dim Mak covers. He's one of my oldest friends, and was in a band with me called, "This Machine Kills". He's just a great designer.

TeenMusic: How did you go about choosing the tracks for the album? Was it a difficult task?

Steve: The whole mix album has two parts to it. It's an introduction to this sound. With electronic music, there are so many factions and this one is so separate from everything else. You can't put this particular sound next to Paul Van Dyke or Dead Mouse. This is a story of what this culture is about, that's why I purposely picked two tracks from Justice, two tracks from MSTRKRFT, a track from Soulwax. They're very popular and people who are involved in electro should have all these tracks. I wanted to make them fresh and 2008 and merge the sound of hip hop and electronic music. I asked all these different singers and rappers to jump on these tracks. It's pretty exciting to have, for example, Green Velvet, a classic house producer mixed with Kid Sister representing the Chicago hip hop scene. I think it's historic. It's a story of now, a book on tape.

TeenMusic: Can you tell me about one of your most memorable gigs to date?

Steve: Singapore! For this festival, 25,000 people were there! When I played my stage there was 15,000 people watching, I filmed it while I was DJ-ing, so I could see it again. I couldn't believe the people, not only watching, but raging! It was just a sea of hands. It was one of the most powerful experiences I've felt in my life.

TeenMusic: Can you tell me about some of the big up and comers from Dim Mak in 2008?

Steve: I wish I could. There's one big one. It's a secret. There's Sh*t Disco that we just signed. We have a bunch of others coming out, we just did a joint venture with Downtown records. We have some more muscle with our fire power and better develop our artists. We can get their music out to more people; we're just in a really good position right now.

TeenMusic: You've got a lot of other projects on the go, including becoming a character in an NBA video game. How did that happen?

Steve: I don't know how that happened! (laughing) I just got asked to be in a video game and I was like 'holy sh*t I would love to be in a f*cking video game' . I wish I was in Grand Theft Auto, where I could kill people...It's so random. You never know what's going to happen. I can shoot a hoop though! In ten shots, I could probably make one shot!

TeenMusic: Anything you want to leave your fans with?

Steve: I could talk forever. There are so many great things going on to give light to. If you want to know where I'm playing at, all my tour dates are on my My Space page. It's sad when you go to a city you don't really go to like Berlin, Germany. All these people are like 'I can't wait for you to come to Berlin!' I tell them the dates, and then three more kids after that are waiting for me to come there, and I have to say 'I was just there!' It's a fun time if people want to come dance and get sweaty. And for more information about the clothes and the music, you can always go on Dimmakcollection.com and dimmakrecords.com.

***

Copyright 2008 Lyn Kenney