I grew up listening to a lot of Ray Charles and ’60s rock, thanks to my father, and then my brothers got me in to KISS and whatnot, so I guess that’s where I got my first taste for music.
When it comes to electronic music, I started listening to a lot of Daft Punk, way before I knew what house music was, and then progressed into a lot of Steve Angello, Eric Prydz, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Laidback Luke.
If I wanted to make a quick buck, there’s far easier ways of doing it. What I want is to provoke people. If you want a hit song, all you need to do is rewrite an old song. It might have been proven to work, but you won’t be remembered the same way.
To me, I’m always trying to look for the energy, to imagine in being played on the dance floor. I guess that’s the most important thing in making music for me.
I’m good at melody – I’ll write the top-line melody and ideal words I want to go with it. But I’m not that good at writing lyrics. I bounce those back and forth with songwriters or someone who can sing.
I travel with a bunch of battery packs because I don’t always have time to charge my phone at the hotel room when I’m traveling. I always change them, so I never run out of battery.
