(NYTimes) Your music is full of thumping bass. I feel for your poor neighbors.
I don’t really have a home yet. I live on airplanes, so there’ve been times where I’ve been making beats with headphones, and there’d be an old lady next to me in economy, and she’d tap me on the shoulder.
I don’t really have a home yet. I live on airplanes, so there’ve been times where I’ve been making beats with headphones, and there’d be an old lady next to me in economy, and she’d tap me on the shoulder.
Steven Ackerman for The New York Times
Didn’t you buy a place in L.A. somewhere?
I haven’t even set foot in it. I’m at my two-year anniversary of living out of a backpack.
I haven’t even set foot in it. I’m at my two-year anniversary of living out of a backpack.
That sounds terrible. Do you actually enjoy living out of a backpack?
Do I enjoy it? People live in bunkers in Iraq for years, you know? You can put yourself through whatever to attain what you want to attain. We’ve accomplished great things, and that’s kind of what it took.
Do I enjoy it? People live in bunkers in Iraq for years, you know? You can put yourself through whatever to attain what you want to attain. We’ve accomplished great things, and that’s kind of what it took.
People love to dismiss electronica as inferior to music that’s produced by real instruments.
The Ramones played four chords and took their Marshall cabinets and jacked everything up to 10 with bass, treble, mid, gain, volume. That was their sound, and people called them illiterate musicians. Leonard Cohen writes lyrics, but musically it’s not, like, the most challenging in the world. That’s the real art, not how technical something can be. It’s where it comes from and the effect it has on you.
The Ramones played four chords and took their Marshall cabinets and jacked everything up to 10 with bass, treble, mid, gain, volume. That was their sound, and people called them illiterate musicians. Leonard Cohen writes lyrics, but musically it’s not, like, the most challenging in the world. That’s the real art, not how technical something can be. It’s where it comes from and the effect it has on you.
As a teenager still known as Sonny Moore, you were the lead singer of a so-called screamo band called From First to Last. How did your vocal cords survive?
I had to cancel a couple of tours from losing my voice back then. That was partly just not knowing what I was doing.
I had to cancel a couple of tours from losing my voice back then. That was partly just not knowing what I was doing.
You had vocal-cord surgery?
Yeah, I got my nodules removed.
Yeah, I got my nodules removed.
Your music has been criticized for being too full of testosterone. Do you produce too much of the hormone?
No. Look at me. If anything, I’m more in touch with my feminine side.
No. Look at me. If anything, I’m more in touch with my feminine side.
The kind of music you make has been associated with the drug culture of raves. Do you like Ecstasy?
I don’t do hard drugs. Music can electrify you without any substances. We played a festival in Argentina that was 100 percent dry, and from families to kids, old people, everyone was just expressing themselves. That’s my goal: to make music babies can dance to.
I don’t do hard drugs. Music can electrify you without any substances. We played a festival in Argentina that was 100 percent dry, and from families to kids, old people, everyone was just expressing themselves. That’s my goal: to make music babies can dance to.
Kanye West flew you to Vegas in a private jet. What’s it like?
It was big, and it was fancy, and it had really hot stewardesses serving food, and his entourage was basically similar to mine, a bunch of guys on laptops working nonstop all the time, and so was he. He works hard, too, man.
It was big, and it was fancy, and it had really hot stewardesses serving food, and his entourage was basically similar to mine, a bunch of guys on laptops working nonstop all the time, and so was he. He works hard, too, man.
You get something better than a cold sandwich on Air Kanye?
They brought out a lot of, like, decadent desserts and definitely really fancy-looking stuff, sushi and tempura and filet mignon, if you wanted.
They brought out a lot of, like, decadent desserts and definitely really fancy-looking stuff, sushi and tempura and filet mignon, if you wanted.
You grew up in a household with very few rules. I’m curious what your parents would do when you threw a temper tantrum.
I didn’t throw temper tantrums. My dad treated me like a friend. If I was excited about something, he would give me undivided attention or sit and watch me play guitar for an hour. That’s true parenting. I wouldn’t want to throw a temper tantrum and let my buddy down, you know?
I didn’t throw temper tantrums. My dad treated me like a friend. If I was excited about something, he would give me undivided attention or sit and watch me play guitar for an hour. That’s true parenting. I wouldn’t want to throw a temper tantrum and let my buddy down, you know?
At 16, you learned that you were adopted and that your biological mother was a family friend. I gather you took it hard.
It was nothing that anybody meant to harm me, but it made me rebellious. I wanted to find the first train out of there and find some people to play with so I could travel around and do what I always wanted to do.
It was nothing that anybody meant to harm me, but it made me rebellious. I wanted to find the first train out of there and find some people to play with so I could travel around and do what I always wanted to do.
You’ve gone from broke to wealthy in just a few years. Have you splurged?
No, man. On tour I have two pairs of jeans and a couple of H & M shirts that are, like, $5. I don’t spend money at all. I don’t really know what I need extra.
No, man. On tour I have two pairs of jeans and a couple of H & M shirts that are, like, $5. I don’t spend money at all. I don’t really know what I need extra.
You could start by having all your teeth capped in gold.
Maybe I’ll do that. Maybe that’s my next move, to spend crazy money to get a built grill, get it blessed by some crazy shaman and import it overnight. I don’t know.
Maybe I’ll do that. Maybe that’s my next move, to spend crazy money to get a built grill, get it blessed by some crazy shaman and import it overnight. I don’t know.
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