In search of Steve Aoki
Dale Johnson
Issue date: 3/1/10 Section: Music
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It was rudely and prematurely waking me from my Sunday slumber, painfully reminding me of last night's shenanigans. I rubbed my eyes excessively as if the rudimentary action would miraculously wake me up and at the same time alleviate my excruciating headache. I hit the snooze button a couple of times, and when I was finally ready to wake, I grabbed my phone and the alarm said only one word on it, "Aoki."
Today, I'm trying to track down DJ Steve Aoki, one of the busiest and hardest working DJ/ record label owner/ clothing line designer/ producer/ and a whole bunch of other things out there. Aoki seems like he is everywhere at once, which he literally was on this day.
"Hello?" Aoki says with a confused voice, not recognizing my out of town area code.
I tell Aoki I'm from DIG Magazine, and I'm calling for his 11 o'clock interview.
"Yeah man, I'm about to board a plane," he says with a reluctant sigh. "Is it cool if you call me back in like three hours?"
Yeah, sure it's cool Steve.
Three hours go by, I call again. This time Aoki recognizes my number, so at least I am spared the awkward introduction.
"Hey buddy, I'm actually boarding another flight right now," says Aoki with the standard airport terminal voice in the background. At least I knew he wasn't lying. "I should be there in like two hours, but then my phone is going to die, so if you call me in like two and a half hours, I should be ready."
I followed his instructions, and his phone certainly was dead. It went straight to voice mail. I didn't know if I should leave a message, so I didn't really notice that the record your message after the beep had beeped, so I sat there for 30 seconds before I started talking.
After waiting a few more anxious minutes, Aoki called me back. I thought about telling him that I was boarding a plane, but I didn't know if we were at that stage yet.
"I just finished a little Canada run, and now I'm in Las Vegas," says Aoki. "I'm playing here tonight and then tomorrow I'm in Orlando and then I come back for a studio session in LA to work on finishing my album. I have Lil Jon coming in on Tuesday to do his track and then Wednesday I fly out to Europe."
Canada. Vegas. Orlando. Lil Jon. Europe. No big deal. It just seems to be one thing after another, after another, after another for the 32 year old Aoki, who grew up in Newport Beach, Calif. before heading to UCSB for college where he earned two bachelor degrees, and in his spare time founded his Dim Mak record label.
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