Skrillex INTERVIEW: Dancing Astronaut EXCLUSIVE

The newly crowned king of dubstep is ready to take over the electronic dance scene and he may not even know it. His recent destruction of Beatport’s Top 10, in which he held an unprecedented 8 spots, is evidence of that. No other artist has ever shown that kind of chart dominance, not Afrojack..not even Guetta. Sonny Moore, once a vocalist of post hard-core band From First to Last, has injected a raw energy into the genre that hasn’t be seen since the days of Justice. So has all this recent success gotten to his head? Not at ALL.

DA: Where did the name ‘Skrillex’ come from?

Skrillex: It’s just a name I made up…has no meaning really.

DA: How exactly does one go from Warped Tour to potentially Electric Zoo in such a short amount of time? Has the success been overwhelming?

Skrillex: Ha, I don’t know if there is a basic formula for that. And no, I wouldn’t say the “success” feels overwhelming yet. To be honest, I don’t really feel like I am super successful or anything. My goals really exceed what I have going on now, which is exciting. I still have plenty more albums in me!

DA: How do you feel about the over classification of electronic music?

Skrillex: I don’t really pay attention to it unless it’s brought up. I just make what I feel at the time I’m making it.

DA: What genre would you put yourself in if you had to?

Skrillex: I guess at the moment, dubstep/electro blah blah blah…

DA: Your solo album Bells is set to release in 2011, do you find it hard to balance your solo projects and your electronic projects?

Skrillex: I have no plans to release that album now. There’s nothing else for me to focus on really. I love everything about what Skrillex is and am putting all of my energy into that.

DA: Is Skrillex going to be your main pursuit or do you plan to continue working on traditional forms of music as well?

Skrillex: Ha, I guess I answered that in the last question, but yes. Skrillex is my thing. And I don’t know what would be considered a “traditional form of music”? If you mean by a band or something, I don’t have any plans in the near future to put together a “traditional” band or anything.

DA: Who has influenced your electronic music the most?

Skrillex: Hard to say. I guess you could say the dream has been there since my early teen years of being obsessed with everything on Warp Records like Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher and all those guys.

DA: Is there any DJ you really want to work with?

Skrillex: That’s a hard one…Too many great producers out there!

DA: Do you think that your time spent in From First to Last has affected your sound as Skrillex?

Skrillex: I guess you could say any time spent doing any music will affect what you do after that. All experiences have an effect on what you do after, so I guess my answer would be yes, in that sense. But if you are asking whether I am making the music I am making now as an effort to either retaliate against post hardcore, or to use the influences of post hardcore and apply it to electronic music or whatever, then the answer would be no. I don’t ever think about From First To Last when I’m making music.

DA: You released your EP ‘My Name is Skrillex’ for free on the Internet in June 2010, how do you feel about what the Internet has done for music? Would you say a large part of your success is due to the accessibility and the added exposure the Internet provides?

Skrillex: Absolutely would say it was a large part of my “success”!

DA: What DAW do you use to make your music?

Skrillex: Ableton Live all the way across the sky!

DA: How have your peer’s reacted to your sound?

Skrillex: I’ve gotten a lot of respect from my peers who up until recently were my heroes–pretty awesome.

DA: How big of role has Deadmau5 played in your development?

Skrillex: He did a Facebook post about my free EP. Fucking awesome. Really helped tremendously!

DA: The Electronic music festival season is months away, but have you begun planning which of the major festivals you’ll be attending?

Skrillex: Yes! Nothing is booked yet, but hopefully they’ll take me in!

DA: What are you currently listening to?

Skrillex: Phonat “Cockroaches” EP. Most UNDERRATED EP of 2010 by far! Check it out for sure.