Katie Couric Interviews Skrillex, Talks Justin Beiber, His Hair, & So Much More

The full extent of this elaborate endeavor can be found here, also embedded at the bottom of this interview. This is the cliff’s notes version, if you will.

Of course, I get from this interview with Skrillex, that Katie and the rest of the world are mostly concerned with the working with Justin Beiber that took place between Jack Ü and the Beibs, but it is nice to see one of electronica’s favorite and indubitably most mainstream artists show his stuff in this stupendous interview. It reminded me of the scenes in the Made In America documentary where Ron Howard was asking Skrilly about how to DJ. Sonny even let him wear his headphones. He records Couric’s vocals and shows her how he makes a track. It is cool that he is down to earth enough to understand that there is a generation gap, and an overall lack of understanding for this music outside the dance community. At least they are trying, as Katie Couric sits down in the studio with Sonny Moore to find out where and how all the magic happens, so to speak.

Couric was a good sport about all of it, even calling Sonny Skrillix, as everyone knows it should be pronounced.

Katie pulled out all of her journalistic stops, making reference to Skrillex as the most well known face and haircut of EDM. She must have bogarted that from Pete Tong who has been calling him the most famous glasses and hairdo in the game for quite some time. It is okay. The rest of the world is finally catching up. Just as she calls Jack Ü’s collab with ‘the Beibs’ on “Where Are Ü Now?” Skrillex’s entrance into the mainstream, the face and hairdo cut is only about two years behind. He shuts down so many stigmas in this interview, including those about drugs and his hair, saying that he just did it one day.

Regardless of that, I am never not impressed at the humility and good nature of the mega super duper star. He is fun to watch, whether he is making music or not. Honestly, this interview had me in tears, choking up quite a few times, but mostly when he says his ‘hardcore fans get what [he does],’ and that he is not afraid to fail or do something everyone doesn’t like. Weirdos everywhere unite when they hear the words of Sonny “Skrillex” Moore, who came from a liberal upbringing and was an emo kid, bullied like the rest of us. For those that don’t know how he got his start, a still Sonny at the time found From First to Last on the internet, and became their singer for an album and two years of touring. This was long before his days as the EDM prodigy we know him to be.

This interview was pretty perfect, down to the Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff reference when asked about people who call him a mere button pusher. Lucky for him, his parents do understand. His mother passed away months ago, but both of them seem to have instilled the values he holds on to as a musician today. It is the rest of the world that may not seem to understand the work and the love that is Skrillex. It really helps you realize how he got from a kid banging pots and pans to this.

“I have always made music for the 16 year old me…In ten years you are going to see babies making good music.”

He talks about hearing music for the first time, where it all began with those pots and pans, was when he heard ‘Riders on the Storm,’ by the Doors. I wonder if that had a direct influence on his sampling the Doors in ‘Breakin a Sweat,’ and using Jim Morrison in the longer cut of the track. I imagine so.

When he talks about what it feels like to be on stage, he said that it is ‘the most energy you could ever see.’ Can you feel that? I surely can.

He is so obviously one of the smartest men alive. Watch this interview and there is no longer cause for wonder about all this praise for Skrillex.

Shouts to Marshmello for his ‘Where Are Ü Now’ remix, and his voice making it into the interview tape.

[via Yahoo]

Katie Couric Interviews Skrillex, Talks Justin Beiber, His Hair, & So Much More