Kaskade is responsible for some of the greatest house songs of all time. Room for Happiness, Turn It Down, 4am, Angel On My Shoulder, Eyes, this list could fill the entire page. The iconic producer has also worked with the biggest names in music. Names like Deadmau5, Skrillex, again that list could fill a page as well. I was lucky enough to sit down with Kaskade, moments before he performed what I thought was hands down the best set of the weekend, at this year’s Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas Nevada. It is not often I get to sit down with such a legend in the industry. One of the most humble, kind, and down to earth people in the business. Here is what Kaskade had to say.
Congratulations on the success of the Redux 002 EP. How will this one compare to the 2014 Redux tour?
2014 it was still a new Idea but now people are like oh yeah another Redux cool. I think people better understand. At first, people were like “oh house music like you used to do.” Now people understand and it‘s made it a lot easier.
Redux 002 tickets flew off the shelves even quicker than expected. I saw you rescinding scalpers tickets on twitter (which was awesome btw) I know you had said that this tour is meant to be seen by hundreds not thousands, what are some of the ways you are ensuring the right fans get tix in hand?
I did it all through social media by my Twitter and Facebook. So, they would have to register on my website then we would email them. A few thousand showed up and everyone is buying 2 tickets “I am bringing my wife or girlfriend or boyfriend” so I felt going through my social channels was the best option. But it’s still hard. There are still people who will take advantage of the situation but I feel that 95% of the tickets sold ended up in the right hands.
The new ep contains songs with Late Night Alumni, Lokii, and Mr.Tape. You have worked with other huge artists such as Waka Flocka, Swanky Tunes, and obviously Deadmau5. Can you tell us about the difference between working with other people and working alone on a track?
Well when I am on my own I am sitting in a room going does this sound good I think it sounds good… I LIKE IT! I will put it down and then like a week later I will play it for my wife or my kid and they are like yeah that’s good. When you are working with someone and they are in the same room you can say hey what do you think, less of this more of that and you get that real-time feedback. I think it means a lot. Sometimes they see things from a different perspective and it's cool to have a little bit of friction… Sometimes it’s cool to be like nah I don’t think that do you think this (he said mocking two people having a conversation.) That makes it a true collaboration and that’s when you come up with something special.
So you do bounce things off of your wife and kids? Do they ever say NO we don’t like it.
Oh all the time of course! I mean they have never changed anything but more times they are like oh you need to get this out right away. My daughter, my oldest daughter is very much like this is gonna be huge!
I saw that you were handpicked by Spotify to provide content for the MINT (formerly Electro NOW) playlist. What has that experience been like?
It was cool, they came to me and that is what kind of sparked the second Redux EP. They said hey we are rebranding this list and we are picking a handful of guys to push this out… Do you have any material? I was like actually… I have quite a few songs that would make a really cool Redux EP. And then I just came up with some playlists. After they were doing their thing. (Spotify) I forget who was on there, there Deadmau5 and me, a couple other guys… ZHU was on there, they had really cool artists doing it.
Playing Life is Beautiful here in Las Vegas had to be a no-brainer for you since you have such a history here. Is it true that you were the first DJ to land a residency here in Vegas?
Yeah, I think technically the first American DJ to have one. I think Paul Oakenfold was doing a thing here but that was a monthly show. In 2009 Wynn called me up, I said we should do a seasonal thing here. Summer is very busy let’s do something from Memorial Day to Labor Day… A pool party. And people were like my mind is blown, I’ve never thought of that. So, 2010 was the first year and it was a massive success and now every casino has a pool event.
Nine studio albums six Grammy nominations, please don't take this the wrong way I mean it with the utmost respect… How much music could you possibly have left in you? Where does your inspiration come from?
Well you are never standing still in life, right? Things are kind of switching and changing. You see things from a different perspective. There are always different things to write about, different things that will inspire me. 20 years ago I was writing songs about being newly married and now, I don’t know I may be writing about the pressures of life. There is always another story to tell.
Are there any songs of yours that you did not expect to get the attention either Positive or Negative that it received?
Yeah, there are a lot! I can tell you 10 different stories but the one that will always be on my brain is It’s You It’s Me. That’s the title of my first album. That wasn’t in the stack of songs that was going on my first album. I took it to the label and said hey why don’t we make this a bonus song, I feel this a really strong and it was tossed aside. So after they heard it, and heard it again, they said this needs to be the lead single. I was like what are you sure? I didn’t have any expectation with that song and when it came out it was really loved and I was like man it’s a good thing we called the album It’s You It’s Me. It was just totally unexpected, it was an afterthought that could be included on the album and the whole album became about that song.
I then thanked Kaskade for his time, walked out to the crowd and watched him lay down the best Kaskade set I have seen to date.
Featured Image provided by Life is Beautiful.
