Skrillex SA: What his PR people say

For whatever reason, just like Lady Gaga, dance wunderkind Skrillex isn’t doing press interviews. Which is fair enough, in my book, since he clearly doesn’t need the publicity, and why should he care about the mainstream publications his fans probably don’t read, and who pay scant attention to the music he and his peers make. Also, Niskerone, is interviewing him during a workshop in Langa, Cape Town, that’s being intro’d by Sibot. If that is made publicly available, then what more could fans want? However, the PR folks at Electric Music – who’re organising the Cape Town leg of the Mothership Tour along with Samsung Galaxy – sent over some “inside scoop”. Sortof. Here it is:

Skrillex delivers a workshop for Bridges For Music in Langa, Cape Town on Thursday 28 February, 2013

All time party rock star

“He’s inhuman,” says Skrillex European booking agent, Simon Clarkson. “We gave him only one night off in Europe, and he calls and tells me he’s putting together a party that night so he can DJ. He doesn’t stop.”

Three-time Grammy Award winner in 2013, Skrillex aka Sonny Moore, is an all time party rock star, operating with no sleep, no silence and no pause. It’s his all-embracing, non-stop attitude that helped Moore become one of the biggest electronic dance music names in the world.

He played over 300 shows around the world last year and has become the face of today’s exploding electronic dance music scene, taking dub-step to new heights. Moore’s crazy touring schedule has him, on average, spending a minimum of 8 hours in transit a day and has come to a point where jet lag has become a norm.

“I’m always on tour so I’m always trying new tracks out live before they’re released. That’s more necessity than anything, because I don’t get a proper chance to sit in a studio and work on tracks like other producers do,” says Skrillex.

From garage to Grammys

At the 2013 Grammy awards, Skrillex managed to score his second hat trick in two years, sweeping up all three of the EDM (electronic dance music) category awards. Having made his name on the road and releasing EP’s to the public for free download, many people find it hard to believe that he rose to stardom so quickly.

“I’ve been dabbling in making electronic tracks on programmes like Fruity Loops since I was 14 years old,” says Skrillex.

The first records he ever owned were ‘Fat of Land’ by Prodigy and ‘Come To Daddy’ by Aphex Twin.

He was considered “emo” when he was a teenager, but with good reason. At 16 he discovered he was adopted, and that everyone except for him had known. It was from there that he decided to act upon his passion for IDM (intelligent dance music) and joined a band, From First to Last. This was to kick-start a life of touring whilst taking dubstep to daytime radio and the pop charts. Unfortunately for Moore, the first stage of his touring life would come to an end because of vocal problems, forcing him to leave the band.

In 2008 he went from post-hardcore front man to solo artist, creating his now infamous DJ name, Skrillex. His songs were entirely written, recorded and mixed on a single laptop loaded with software and “synths” that were available to anyone with a credit card and an Internet connection. He produced a lot of emotional progressive house and trance music, such as “Slats Slats Slats” and “Make Things For Smile“. By 2009 he had remixed the likes of Lady Gaga, ‘Bad Romance’, and Snoop Dogg, ‘Sensual Seduction’.

From that point Skrillex began to make a name for himself and the next four years would see him rise to heights no one would have anticipated. He self-released a digital download EP called ‘My Name is Skrillex’ in 2010 which combined Benny Benassi and Deadmau5 styles of electro. Unlike any other artist that had previously attempted this he had massive success, and it got people to acquaintance themselves with his music for free. It consisted of 6 tracks and the first signs of his dubstep productions appeared in this EP with his track “F***ing Die 1“.

Mau5trap

In that same year he signed Deadmau5’s Mau5trap label where he released his second EP, “Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites“. The song was a raging success and the one that got him famous with the video on YouTube reaching almost 70 million hits.

In June 2011 he released two EPs, “More Monsters and Sprites EP“and by December “Bangarang” after which the new year saw him playing at over 320 live shows and producing music on his tour bus. By 2012 he had won three Grammy awards: “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” won Best Dance Recording and the entire EP won Best Electronica Album. Never having considered he could be awarded Grammys in the first place in 2012, he surprised himself and the rest of the world by winning three more in 2013.

Skrillex has been an inspiration for this generations music industry, showing us that it is possible to make a difference in the industry on one’s own terms. For years people in the music industry claimed that artists needed record labels but Skrillex disagreed, and has proven himself right:

“I have been 100% independent until now, I think it’s so important to be self-sufficient as an artist and working with Atlantic / Big Beat, and cooperating with Mau5trap, allows us all to work as a team and expand on what’s already been built.”