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Moving Units & Steve Aoki: Scratch Punks :: DJ and rock star Blake Miller interviews rockstar DJ Steve Aoki about dance music’s new punk breed.

By Lauren Mooney   Photography by Hellin Kay

11/07/07 :: URB web

Steve Aoki is for sale: in the form of parties, sneakers, headphones and now a mix-CD on Thrive, Pillowface and his Airplane Chronicles. But what makes the selection from this hipster dance pioneer stand out from the scores of hot nu-rave mixes filling the blogosphere is the help Aoki has enlisted from friends: Kid Sister, Har Mar Superstar, Uffie and half-a-dozen more who contribute “drops’ to the mix.  So whether it’s Pase Rock rapping over Erol Alkan’s remix of Justice’s “Waters of Nazareth” or Todd Fink of The Faint inventing an extra verse over Goose’s “Bring It On,” Pillowface is something a little different from what you’ve heard before.

Blake Miller is the lead singer of LA-based band Moving Units, who just put out the best album of their career, Hexes for Exes. Miller also DJs (of course) and along with Aoki does remixes under the Weird Science moniker. So while Miller will spend the next few months performing in front of thousands of screaming girls with Units, Aoki keeps up his constant touring DJ schedule, which finds him crowd surfing from LA to Ibiza.

URB caught up with the rock star and the rock star DJ in LA’s Chinatown.

Blake Miller: Where is the craziest place you’ve DJ’d recently?
Steve Aoki: In Ibiza. There was this party at Pasha. It was this awards thing and all those old people were there, Paul Van Dyke, Tiesto. . .It was crazy, I don’t even know how I won. Every billboard in Ibiza is a DJ who is over 45 years old. And I won best set of the year or whatever. Amnesia was crazy too; I’ve never seen that many people in a club.

Blake: What kind of music did you play?
Aoki: Electro and house, classic house songs and some more punky electro.

Blake: Spoon-feed the new generation.
Aoki: Yah, well Ibiza, that’ll be where we [Weird Science] go next. We’ve got to do Europe soon.

Blake: We got to do a lot of stuff soon.
Aoki: What is the difference between DJing and performing with a band for you?

Blake: As the singer in a band you have to somehow suppress the control freak in you. But when you are DJing you are in control. You have to take all the credit, if you do well or fuck up. All or nothing, ultimate risk maximum reward. When it’s a band, it’s a fraternal thing.
Aoki: What is the biggest high, singing or DJing?

Blake: Singing is like a waking dream, outside of reality, floating, in the moment, aware but not able to process it, like a drug; you blackout in a way. And when I DJ I feel more aware, such a direct connection, controlling every second of music, using a part of my brain that is more technical, more being in the moment, aware of that moment. Comparing the two is like the difference between peyote and angel dust.
Aoki: That’s a good analogy.

Blake: OK, here is a question for you, what is the trickiest part of balancing all the different aspects of your career—label, DJ, clothing line, interface marketing—without being overwhelmed?
Aoki: Develop a team that makes sure it’s right without me being there all the time. It seems to work.

Blake: From an outsider point of view, how can you juggle?
Aoki: At the end of the day, it’s time management. I have a plan and point people know my schedule. My manager Matt [Colon] knows my schedule; Jacob [Lee, his assistant] makes sure I get to the places. I’ve partnered up with people recently, my sister and I have partnered up for my clothing line. Dim Mak has partnered. And then I can focus on production; I go into the studio as much as possible. The mix CD, Pillowface and his Airplane Chronicles, was great, as far as getting my feet wet.

Blake: OK, are you a punk with a businessman’s heart or a businessman with a punk’s heart?
Aoki: I don’t know. . .well, I’m definitely a punk.

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