SKRILLEX, ON TRACK
Revived Full Flex tour bound for Bluesfest
In 2012, Skrillex, aka Sonny John Moore, organized a tour across this country and he brought along a bunch of his friends. For the young superstar of electronica, the idea was to recreate the Festival Express which, in 1970, carried rock stars of another generation, such as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and The Band, on a similar journey.
The first trip was a great time, so Sonny figured he’d do it again. It took a few years, but the Full Flex tour is back on the rails this summer and headed to a handful of Canadian festivals, including RBC Ottawa Bluesfest on July 8.
“Being on a train in Canada with your best buddies is one of those things you can dream about,” says Skrillex/Sonny. “It’s one of the few times that we can take touring to the next level and make it a real experience, not just for the fans, but for the artists who are putting on the show and all people involved.”
For Diplo, Skrillex’s partner in the collaboration Jack U, this kind of tour is, “more enjoyable. You can sleep better. You can think. It can be hard to take time for that on a tour.”
Diplo’s non-DJ name is Thomas Wesley ‘Wes’ Pentz and he’s a former teacher from Philadelphia.
He was on the first train ride when, “I ended up making a song called We Make It Bounce on the 2012 tour, which ended up on (DJ) Dillon Francis’s album. I don’t think there is a song I have worked on that I didn’t touch in some way on the road. It makes sense to work on (music) when you’re in a car or on a train.”
Out such journeys partnerships form, although neither Sonny nor Wes attribute the 2012 tour to the formation of Jack U.
“We never talked about Jack U until we accidentally had four or five songs together and realized holy s**t and then we started playing together,” Skrillex said.
As for Diplo: “Me and him always had a relationship. Where we were, all came together last year and we decided to do something on a bigger scale. It was more advantageous and that’s what Jack U is. Collaboration is a regular kind of thing for DJs. It’s what makes it go. It makes it faster. The music evolves more quickly. I’ve worked with people like Max Martin to Skrillex to Suzy Beats from Philly. I have learned so much from just being open (to other performers).”
It was at this point that Diplo entered airport security and was lost in space. Skrillex carried on.
The tour, in addition to travelling across the country, has a Canadian contingent in the form of Calgary’s Kiesza and the Toronto-based duo Zeds Dead.
“It was a super natural decision,” Skrillex said. “We have been friends with Zeds Dead for a long time. Diplo puts them out on his label and I played my first shows in Canada with Zeds Dead in 2010. We’ve been playing shows together all over the world. Kiesza, we did the (Jack U) record together, and it all made sense.”
At the centre of Full Flex is Jack U.
Where that collaboration is going, though, is a subject of some mystery.
“It’s hard to say,” Skrillex says. “It’s always been very spontaneous and kind of like going with the flow and hasn’t been premeditated at all. Prior to the release of the album (Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack U released in February) and Where Are U Now (with lyrics by Kiesza, vocals by Justin Bieber), industry people and record labels did not understand what it was. We were always excited and passionate about the music on a personal level, but it’s such an organic grow.
“The distributors and people behind the curtains didn’t get the fact we were doing records together.
“When everyone is in a room, there is always a vibe. You just try to capture that on tape or whatever.”
As one discovers quickly in conversation with Skrillex, he is a musical butterfly, tasting many different flowers all at the same time.
“There is no routine or certain method to how we make the songs. Every one came about in a different way.
“We met Kiesza in Ibiza when (the massive hit single) Hideaway was just blowing up in Europe. It had not hit the charts in the States and she was still coming up. We thought she was really rad and wanted to go see her live. We met her, went to a hotel after that, set up a studio in our room and wrote that song (Take U There) with her.
“That’s what I love about this platform of music. Wes and I are nomadic and love to travel and still we always want to express ourselves with music and we wouldn’t be able to do that 10 years ago. We would have had to hire other
producers. Now we are our own producer/artists. We are collaborative all the time; that makes for spontaneity and being able to work in the moment.
“If you look at the old Festival Express videos with Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, they were writing songs together and jamming and who knows if anything came out of it. It’s just fun to do. That’s what this tour is all about. There is never any pressure to release anything, it’s just like whatever is fun.”
That said, Jack U has about 30 song ideas on the go and another album soon is almost a certainty.
Skrillex at age 27 has become a worldwide phenomenon.
“I definitely reflect at times, you know. I’m really grateful and I’ve
When it becomes too premeditated and just a job and a calculated thing, that’s when you lose your edge.
always just had good people around me and stuck to my roots. I was doing this before I started travelling the world. I do this because it’s fun and I have kept that attitude and it has always led me to where I need to be.
“When it becomes too premeditated and just a job and a calculated thing, that’s when you lose your edge. I just want to have fun and have a free mind.”
It makes sense then that Sonny Moore, as a student, despite the fact that he loved music class, “I was so bad. Sorry to all my teachers.”
As a teenaged musician, though, he was dedicated. He started in bands playing guitar and piano.
“No matter what the instrument was, I just wanted to make music and whatever was around, I just used it. I never learned theory, I just hear in my head what sounds good and put it down in whatever medium I have nearby.”
He has returned to the guitar, even playing in the Bonnaroo super jam last year. “It was definitely fun, but I don’t have any plans to start a band, but I don’t have any plans not to either.”
When he turns 30, Skrillex intends to be doing what he is doing right now — only more.
“When I started doing music professionally in 2004 in my old band, it was a means to start creating. My journey since I released first Skrillex record (2010) has been ever evolving and expanding. I’m really involved now in all the videos I do and film is something I want to continue in. love music and visuals together. Some of the greatest songs aren’t complete until the right video is made.”
How music is made has been transformed by technology and, no matter the direction, Skrillex, the traveller, seems intent on making the journey.