On his way to Australia again for the We Love Sounds, Winter Sound System and All Our Friends festival parties, Steve Aoki is sitting pretty as one of dance music’s current big guns. This time he’ll be coming over with his personal posse of artists from his Dim Mak imprint, including SonicC, AutoErotique, Felix Cartal and Joachim Garraud, all playing together in the Dim Mak arenas.


ITM’s Dave Ruby Howe caught up with the Hollywood DJ don after completing a successful stint at the Winter Music Conference earlier in the year to talk about rappers, his album and coming back to Australia.

Hey Steve, what’re you up to today mate?

“I just got back to L.A. from Miami, down at the WMC. It was incredible, man. We did a Dim Mak showcase and had about 15 Dim Mak artists down there. It was cool because it wasn’t just the big artists who’ve released albums on Dim Mak, but some guys who we’ve just put out a single or two for.”

What’s your process when it comes to recruiting artists to the label? How do you think about about who will work on Dim Mak?

“It varies with every artist, really. Sometimes I hear a track that is just so awesome that I know that it’s got to be a big single, and that I have to release it. But then there’ll be other artists that I want to work with over a few albums and really develop like The Bloody Beetroots and MSTRKRFT. It was in 2007 I think that we drew up all the paperwork and got a deal squared away for those guys on Dim Mak.”

Who are some of the other artists that you’re working with that you think might hit the levels of MSTRKRFT and the ‘Beetroots in a year or two?

“There are a couple of acts who we’re going to be developing, like Felix Cartal, an electro producer from Canada. And another guy I’m really excited about is Rob Roy, who we’ve just signed to Dim Mak. He’s the first rapper on the label and we’ve got his first album finished and ready to go now. For the second album who knows, we’ll get a lot of producers into the studio to work with Rob, including me.”

Speaking of albums, how’s yours going? Will we see it this year?

“Yeah I hope it will be out this year, I don’t want to put a time frame on it because there’s still a lot to do with it. I’ve got a lot of the tracks finished, it’s just a matter of clearing all the guests on it. I’ve got Rivers Cuomo on there, Lil’ Jon, Kid Cudi, Romanthony, Sky Ferreira from L.A., and I will be doing something with Ebony Bones. I’ve also got Blaqstarr from Philadelphia on one track that I really love. He’s such a great rapper, but he’s also got an amazing singing voice, and that was something I wanted to really get on the track. It’s a bit of a sleeper track, and I don’t think people will even believe that it’s one of my tracks.”

That sounds pretty wild, is there anyone else you want to work with?

“There’ll be some more big names guests on the album, but we’ve only just verbally agreed to do everything, we still need to do all the paperwork and work it all out, so I don’t want to talk about them just yet.”

I guess that would be one of the downsides of doing so many big collaborations, everybody wants a cut and to have their interests fulfilled. Have you found that being a headache for you at all?

“Yeah, that’s the nasty thing about making an album with a lot of features, I could have all of the production work finished, all the vocals recorded from all the guests, but there is months of legal work between labels and managers that you have to sit through.”

So you’re heading back to Australia for the second time in less than a year, what is it about the crowds here that bring you back so frequently?

“Yeah I’m really excited about coming back there. I always love coming to play in Australia, it’s seriously one of my favourite places to play. Whenever my tour manager tells me we’re doing Australia I’m like ‘yes! Let’s fucking do this!’, you guys are great. And this time is going to be even better because I’m hosting my own Dim Mak stage at your We Love Sounds festival, which is awesome. I think outside of L.A., Australia is the place that really clicks with what we’re doing with Dim Mak and the artists on the label. So I’m really pumped up to bring out some of my guys for the festival.”

Is there anyone that you’re looking forward to partying with when you come down here for the festivals?

“Oh man, everyone. Definitely all the artists on my Dim Mak stage, I’ll be representing down there all day. Other than that, I’d say Laidback Luke. He’s such a cool dude and we just finished a new track together. It’s a bomb, man. We played it to our audiences the other week and it just went nuts. It’s incredible.”