Steve Aoki ON: How To Aim High But Manage Expectations & Never Allowing Doubt To Stop You

Can a person combine science and literature with music? This interview between Jay Shetty and Steve Aoki, the two-time Grammy-nominated producer and DJ, proves you can. From his start as a women’s studies major to his rise in the music industry, Aoki has never stopped aiming high and giving 100% to everything he’s working on. You'll learn exactly how he turned Dim Mok into a successful business, his fascination with the human brain, and his new album, Neon Future IV. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Value can be found anywhere, even in the clothes sitting untouched in our closets. That's where Vinted comes in. Vinted is a secondhand marketplace app where you can sell clothes you no longer want and get more value out of them. Whether you're running out of space, moving, or simply updating your wardrobe. Listing items is a quick and simple process, and once something sells, Vinted creates a prepaid shipping label for you. And the best part, there are no seller fees, so you keep what you earn. It's a simple way to clear out your closet, be less wasteful, and maybe make some extra money along the way. And if you've been thinking about a wardrobe refresh, this can make it feel a little more worthwhile. You're not just letting go of clothes, you're getting more value from what you already have.

• 0:43Jay Shetty?

  Give your clothes a second life with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start selling with no seller fees, so you keep every dollar you earn. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop.

• 1:26Jay Shetty?

  AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements, and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 2:01Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised to yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet,

• 2:45Jay Shetty?

  AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Every contribution I made to the community was meaningful. So I learned at a very, very young age, when I got into hardcore and punk music, the contributions I made to the community were my cool points. They're the way I got respect.

• 3:30Jay Shetty?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health and wellness podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every single one of you who turn up every week to listen, to learn, and to grow. Now, I know that my promise to each and every one of you is making sure that I find guests who help us innovate, who help us think differently, who shape culture and redefine the way we live our lives. And today's guest is going to do just that. He's none other than Steve Aoki, the two-time Grammy-nominated producer, DJ, one of today's most successful American cross-genre artists, collectively counting 2.8, listen to this, billion music.

• 4:10Speaker 02

  extremes on Spotify as the founder of the trend setting record label events lifestyle company and apparel line which he founded in nineteen ninety six Steve Aoki has helped launch the careers of global acts like the chain smokers block party the bloody beetroot the gossip and the kills among many others Steve welcome to the show thank you for being here and I did to talk about your new album and much more neon future for available everywhere but thank you for taking the time to do this man

• 4:40Speaker 01

  yeah absolutely absolutely

• 4:42Speaker 02

  yeah it's a pleasure to sit down with someone who I truly believe has just got this incredible mind where you're able to find juxtapositions and connections and things that most people wouldn't be able to find similarities and synergies which which is what I find so fascinating about you so I'm really excited that we get to dive into that

• 5:03Speaker 01

  yeah yeah I I feel like um you know when you whenever you um you're fascinated about like a genre a topic that that you like someone might not know so much about but the person in the middle is doing things like wow it's it's like magic well it's like the same thing as when you are doing your own thing you know and and you know you know everything around your your little corner and uh it's same it's same kind of thing you know it's like my my whole my whole life is is music um as my platform is kind of like everything that I that I like live and die for

• 5:42Speaker 01

  my passion my what my what I bleed for and so um you you uh try a couple of things one of them hits you know then you start finding that success in that pattern and then and then uh you know things things are happening

• 5:57Speaker 02

  yeah absolutely man now I know we were just checking in a bit earlier you were saying you're in your Vegas playhouse it sounds like the best place to be quarantined in the world tell us about the inspiration behind it and how you've been moving through this time

• 6:11Speaker 01

  yeah um so I uh I bought my house in twenty thirteen I moved out here from LA I was living in LA for a good amount of time over thirteen fourteen years and uh it was very difficult for me to leave Los Angeles because that is where my career really broke that's where uh I you know started to DJ um

• 6:34Speaker 01

  All my connections in music started to grow. And, you know, it just like I had so many heartstrings being pulled when I was leaving. But um, I was barely even there. I was there like towards the end of it. I was there maybe sixty days, fifty days of the year because I was touring so much. So um, and then I signed a residency in Las Vegas here. And uh, so I was like, well, it just makes sense to move to Vegas. It's a forty-five minute plane ride back to LA where my whole team is. Dimak is still based out of LA. My management's still based out of LA. I still have a lot of my friends there. And um, and I was like looking for a place in Las Vegas. And I realized, you know, not just is it a great place for me to get away from everything?

• 7:20Speaker 01

  Because that's what sort of what sort of happened when I, when I was in LA. I, I, in the beginning, I was like in the thick of it. Like I was at every single party. I was doing every little thing I could just to get my, you know, brand out there and do what I was supposed to do. And then towards the end, I was like, once I built enough of a stable career, I didn't want to be in the thick of it anymore. I just wanted to dip in and dip out whenever I needed to do, to be. So now Vegas is kind of like my, when I was living in the Hollywood Hills at the end of it. I was, this is like my Las Vegas Hills, you know? Because I still go to LA and work, you know? Not so much anymore. But um, yes, when I moved out here, um, the residency was great because I was doing, you know, forty shows a year here. I, you know, still am, but not anymore.

• 8:05Speaker 01

  But um, and it's a suburban community here. It's strange. It's like these people think of Vegas, they think of the strip. You know, think of craziness and city. It's like, it's just pop in twenty-four hours, you know? But really, it's a sprawling desert. And there's track homes everywhere. There's just small little community outfits all over the place. And this was a perfect place for me to, to um, have my mom, you know, and I was crossing my fingers to see if my mom would move in my neighborhood. Because I never get to see my mom, you know, when I was traveling. And she lives in Newport Beach and I can't always get down there. But she said, okay. You know, she dropped living in Newport Beach for forty years and moved to Vegas.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  And uh, and I, I, I, one of the best investments I made was buying her house. Hmm. Um, and uh, and then I bought her a nice house. She lives like fifteen doors away. Actually, I can see her. Oh, that's amazing. You know, and then I see, you know, I, I don't see her as much anymore because we quarantine the hell out of her, make sure she is like bulletproof, you know? Yeah. Uh, or, or micro proof, whatever, whatever we can do. But um, a- any case, uh, so when I got the house here, um, I didn't realize how big these homes could get. That's the other thing. It's like Los Angeles, there's a limit. You know, if you have like a four thousand square foot home, that's pretty big in L.A.

• 9:30Speaker 01

  And that's, that's like a multimillion dollar home, depending on where you live. So you could only get so much for the money that you spend. But here, for a couple of million dollars, I was able to buy this home, which was sixteen thousand square feet. Wow. Way, way more square footage than I can even imagine to, to deal with, you know? But it was, it was a scoop. Like, I was like, I have to take this regardless of that it's so big. Um, and grow into it or something, uh, because of, of, you know, the opportunity that, that was in front of me. So, um, now, I, I spent like two years building it out, um, and developing it, like turning it into what, what is now called Aoki's Playhouse.

• 10:12Speaker 01

  And it really is a playhouse. It's like, got a foam pit and a trampoline and a gym room. I put a DJ booth in there. So I do my DJ sets. I have my live stream set up there. Um, I do all my workouts there. I work out pretty much every day. Um, I got a barrel sauna. I got a cold plunge, uh, situation inspired by Wim Hof and Larnham Hamilton. Yeah. And, and then I have, like, I have a really great kitchen. I got, um, this room right here, which, which doubles as like my design studio, fashion design studio, where I, like, you know, do all my clothes, uh, design and, and all my meetings with my team, which

• 10:51Speaker 01

  is now just me, you know, zooming. Um, and, and I, my, I stream out of here. I got my studio downstairs. It's just like, uh, like now my day is so full and I just go from one room to the next room, to the next room. And, uh, and it's just become, you know, the best quarantine house. I just, I don't even feel like I'm in quarantine. So, so I, just because I have this luxury, right? I'm trying to, at the very least, one, entertain, you know, anyone that's watching my streams or live. And two, just inspire, inspire people to like, you know, do your workouts. Um, here's the wads.

• 11:32Speaker 01

  And later on, I'm gonna do something that, um, I haven't really announced yet, but I could talk here about it. It's, um, I have a foundation called the Aoki Foundation and we focus on the brain. Our whole mission is about the human brain. Uh, learning about the brain mainly, learning about it in every aspect. One, to find cures for degenerative diseases. Uh, that's, that's like, uh, the main goal, right? Obviously, just to find cures for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, um, even to the point of depression, like, understand what that's all about, anxiety, all those things. Um, and, and work with organizations that do that. And then, and then two is, you know, unlock the mysteries and the doors of the brain that, that we can,

• 12:15Speaker 01

  if we, if we got into, we could do things that would be science fiction, you know? We could start inching our way towards turning some science fiction concepts into science fact, which is really, that's my passion point, right? You know, like, do things like, you know, live through our technology, you know? You know, at, at the extreme, live forever through our technology, things like that. So, um, and work with, with, with, uh, researchers and, and orgs that do that. So, with, with the Aoki Foundation, our whole mission at this point, which is about the brain, is mental health. So, we're gonna be planning out, um, doing this kind of challenge

• 12:53Speaker 01

  and almost like a noob, noob instruction to certain things that, that, that people can do while they're stuck at home, you know, like breath work, um, even a cold plunge, because everyone's got, you know, if you don't have a bathtub, then I don't know, then... Yeah, cold shower, yeah. Your trash, your trash can too. Well, that works. Or, or, yeah, obviously cold shower, um, you know, meditation, yoga. Um, I already did the exercise, so, and nutrition, obviously. And then bring on experts and talk about these things to the fans to, you know, especially to the younger demo, because I feel like as you get older, you, you pick these things up at, you know, as our mortality starts in- increasing.

• 13:37Speaker 01

  But, uh, when you're young... When I was young, I thought I was invisible. You know, invincible, not. Invincible, invincible. You know what I mean? So like, it's kind of like feeding, feeding the right stuff then. You're just gonna, you know, you're gonna have, uh, you're gonna have, you know, it's just better for you.

• 14:00Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. Home should be a place that feels like a sanctuary, a space that truly reflects who you are. But it can be challenging to balance style, budget and endless options. I was looking to create a dedicated calm space for my morning meditation and reading, but I was struggling to find pieces that felt grounding but could also stand up to daily use. I went on Wayfair and found a beautiful, solid wood accent chair and a bookshelf. Now that corner is my favorite place to anchor my day. The quality is incredible, it's built to last, and it completely shifted the energy of the room. Plus, you can shop with Wayfair Verified, where product specialists carefully vet items for quality and functionality, so you can shop with more confidence. And if putting it all together sounds like a headache,

• 14:45Jay Shetty?

  Wayfair can handle delivery, installation and assembly. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W A Y F A I R dot com. Wayfair, every style, every home. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. We talk a lot about intentional decision making, and that extends to the practical stuff too, like making sure your coverage actually works for your life. State Farm is there to meet you where you are, and they know how sweet it is to feel good about your decisions. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

• 15:29Jay Shetty?

  Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

• 15:39Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. If you're talking about quality food, you can't forget Whole Foods Market, who've been holding themselves to the highest standards since they opened in 1980. That means you'll see thousands of organic products across their stores, from the produce department to the aisles. It also means you'll never see certain ingredients. They've banned artificial sweeteners and colors, high fructose corn syrup and more, so you can shop with peace of mind. Shop Whole Foods Market in-store or online.

• 16:13Speaker 02

  I think that's good, that's really good to hear. And I like how much synergy there is in the AOK Foundation and the work that I'm trying to do. Because my book that comes out in September, it's called Think Like a Monk. And what I've done is I've found, so I lived as a monk for three years in India. And so I've got every lesson that I learned as a monk, but I've found all the modern science that backs up those statements. So I don't know if you've ever seen any scans on monks' brains. It's phenomenal, like the neuroscience behind a monk's brain that's meditated for four to five decades is just phenomenal. To the point that, to the point that you can, there are, there are studies done where monks have been put under physical pain, where the parts of their brain that show physical pain light up,

• 16:57Speaker 02

  but there's no emotional pain associated with the physical pain. So for most of us, we experience two forms. We experience the pain of burn or hurt, and then we associate pain with that physical pain. So it hurts us mentally and emotionally. But for these monks that they scanned their brains, they found that they only felt the physical pain, but zero emotional pain, which is, which is like insane to comprehend. And I talk about it in the book, so I'm excited to share that. Yeah, I'm excited to share that with you when it, when it drops.

• 17:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I love that, like what you just said, that combining the science, you know, behind the practice, you know, because, because like, obviously, like with other science, it already looks really great because you're just so relaxed. But I want to know what's happening up here. I want to know what's happening in the body.

• 17:47Speaker 02

  Me too.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  Because like, once you know that kind of information, that raw data. I mean, then, like, you could do so much more. Like, how do you do, you know, you can, like, ask the questions that can actually dive deeper into our uh into our psyche, deeper into finding that place that we're trying to find. So it's, uh, it's, the data is incredible. I mean, that you're combining both of that.

• 18:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, I find that the parallel, the juxtaposition between timeless wisdom and modern science is so fun because there's, there's a great thought from Martin Luther King where he said, "If you want a new idea, read an old book." And, and I love that kind of like finding that synergy between like, this was said 5,000 years ago, but it's being proven through data and insight today, and therefore it's relevant to you and me, and it's repeatable and scalable, and we can share it across the whole world, right? And like, I love what you said about turning science fiction into science fact. I think that's, that's brilliant, because I think you're so right that so many of us, when we're watching science fiction,

• 18:50Speaker 02

  even if it has a message, or it has powerful storylines, or plots, or characters, we all go, "Ah, but that's fake, right? That's not real." And, and I think you're so right, that if we can try and push people along the way to show them that it's actual fact, it's actually possible, that makes it possible in their own lives.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  It, it's, that, that's like, science fiction is our imagination on steroids, right? Science fiction is like, it's like, what, like, what can we, what would be the wildest dream scenarios? And let's put that into, you know, illustration, or comics, or a TV show, or, you know, animation, or whatever it might be. And you just take that, that imagination that, that we all have, that we're all excited about. We all, I, as a species, we were here 2020 alive, out of all the other bipedal species, because of our imagination, large part, you know, because we're, we dream for more, you know?

• 19:50Speaker 01

  We imagine things, and some of those things can actually happen by doing the right steps. So it's like, you know, just, just like the, like, certain ideas, like, uh, telekinesis, you know, moving things with your mind. You say that to someone, and they're like, "Well, that's obviously impossible." You can't just be like, "Mm," and then like, you know, my, my keyboard lifts up. But you can, actually, telekinesis exists now.

• 20:20Speaker 01

  But in a different context, in a way where, you know, people that have paralysis, that are paralyzed, have technology in their brain connecting to a computer and it's able to, what their thoughts were able to move, you know, the machine that they're sitting on forward or to the left, or bring like a robotic arm with food to their face.

• 20:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:52Speaker 01

  That's moving with your mind. You're moving with your mind. You're not saying anything. You're not moving with your hands. That's telekinesis. That's our version of telekinesis.

• 21:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:01Speaker 01

  You know, it's just like those kinds of things that like, we use technology to actually make some of these imaginations into reality. And whenever that happens, whenever those two things happen, they collide, I want to be there. I want to see it, you know? Or I want to participate somehow, you know?

• 21:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, you want to be a fly on the wall. But you want to be involved.

• 21:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, in some cases, I want to be the test dummy, you know? I want to make anything, like, you know? Not all cases, but in some cases, I'm like, let me try this out.

• 21:38Speaker 03

  Now, more than ever, we need someone on our side. But Rob Whitman? Whitman's votes drove up costs, cut Medicaid, and risked 350,000 Virginians' health care to pay for tax breaks for himself and his donors. He's not on our side. Shannon Taylor will fight corruption, cut taxes, and bring down costs. This November, vote for Shannon Taylor. She's for us. Paid for by HMP, the House Majority PAC dot com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

• 22:08Speaker 04

  Mr. President, my company tore me of the explosion on our rig on October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me. Tom Cruise is.

• 22:18Speaker 05

  Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 22:24Speaker 06

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stall, you freeze in there, that's what.

• 22:28Speaker 05

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 22:32Speaker 06

  I'm not the first then.

• 22:33Speaker 05

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.

• 22:40Speaker 07

  It's me, the.

• 22:43Speaker 07

  We don't need the jingle twice.

• 22:46Speaker 07

  Stop it. This is about vacation inflation and how Priceline negotiates amazing deals on hotels, flights and rental cars.

• 22:55Speaker 07

  Yeah, but I didn't mention that you can save up to 60% off hotels in the Priceline app.

• 23:01Speaker 07

  Fine. No one deals more deals than Please stop. Touche. Priceline.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  I love that, man. Tell me, tell me about the imagination because imagine going back into that mindset when you were saying like, you know, LA is where you really broke through, but those early days of your career where it's almost like all you have is your imagination of where things can go to, to where you are now. And I don't know if you superseded your expectations or met them, but you know, I think as, as someone who's trying to make it, trying to break through and a lot of people listening and watching, they have that. And today, you know, you're buying your mom a home and she's close by to you and you, you have this incredible world that you've created. What was it that was getting you through that time? What was the mindset that you believe served you so well in that journey to where you are now? What was it that you were doing differently that allowed you to break through the noise

• 23:54Speaker 02

  and the clutter? Because you're so much more than a DJ, you know? And, and, and I think that's why what you do is so attractive and so iconic to so many people. Tell me about what that was like on the come up, which people don't see anymore. We just see Steve Aoki, the icon. You don't really see that journey.

• 24:12Speaker 01

  So, um, when I moved to LA from Santa Barbara, um, I made that, I made a, I had a fork in the road at that point because I graduated from college and I was, and I was in love with academia. And I really wanted to pursue that as well. So I was a women's studies sociology major. And with those majors, you could either go into like social work or something like that, or you go, you go right back into academia and do more research. So, um, and like a lot of my colleagues in, in the class, they were going right back to academia. They're going, they're going for their PhDs, their masters.

• 24:53Speaker 01

  So it just seemed like, well, I guess that maybe this is the route I'm supposed to take when I was in college is, you know, so deep down this track now. And I'm like respected in, in, in my, in my small circle that it allowed me to, you know, like, let's go for it. So I did all the application process. And I think I applied to like fifteen different schools or something. And and I got rejected to literally almost every single one of them. I was I realized I'm like, I think I'm hot man, you know, like in front of my fifteen other, you know, especially women's studies, it's like it's all it's all women except for me and this other guy.

• 25:34Speaker 01

  I'm like, you know, like they all love me like I'm gonna make it, you know, like through whatever field I'm gonna do outside of this. And I, you know, it just it was like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, rejection, rejection, rejection. I did get accepted to two, but they're almost like pity, like it was like a pity, it felt like a pity call. And and then at the same time, I was on my thirty sixth release on Dimak. So so I was already pumping out music and I was doing well in college in Santa Barbara. I had a distribution deal, so I didn't have to pay for anything. That was the best thing that could possibly happen to me at that time, because I didn't have any money.

• 26:15Speaker 01

  So the only way I can make money is if I can deliver good music to the distributor and they produce everything. They produce the vinyl, they produce the CDs, they distribute it for you and they give you a check. And then that check allows me to use that money to give to artists so they can record their music, future artists. So I was like, sweet, I have a great situation because I signed some other bands that that actually worked out for this distributor. And and I was just pumping out music and then I found this band that was a friend of mine that played in my living room. Because I used to put on shows in my living room at the time. I mean, this is like I'm I'm I'm gonna zigzag a little bit, but. I love it, zigzag as much as you like, man, it's great. So during this time, which is quite interesting, in in college, I had a small apartment.

• 27:00Speaker 01

  Our living room was like maybe two hundred, three hundred square feet, so I I could be a little bit off here, but it was very small. But we had. Maybe twenty shows a month in that living room. So we would have, we would have like maybe, uh, you know, eighty bands, because it'd be like four bands a show. Every single month, like clamoring in there with like twenty people, like moshing and, you know, whatever. Give five dollars, uh, five dollars at the door to the band. And, um, and I'd be bicycling and doing deliveries, you know, getting paid minimum wage, like, tell the fraternities delivering food. So that's why I, I was a, I was a telemarketer.

• 27:41Speaker 01

  I was on the phone like cold calling, you know, poor people that to, to like, you know, try to do something for UNICEF or something. I don't know what, what I was, I forgot what it was. But I was doing telemarketing, getting paid that way, and I was a bike messenger, a bike delivery guy. And then I would put on shows. So the reason why I would talk about this is that there, like, a lot of that ideology, that, that ethos that I had when I was in college, when I was in high school, putting on the shows, because at the time I was putting on shows, I was in bands. Whenever we put on shows, we didn't make a dime. I wrote for a zine, this punk zine, for seven years.

• 28:23Speaker 01

  I had a column, I'd write a column about whatever I wanted to write about. And then I wrote, and then I reviewed everything under the sun. So whatever, I'd go in there, there'd be a box of demos and zines and cassettes. If you can remember that, like vinyl, I would review, I would say, give me everything, I want to review it all. So I'd review sometimes between fifty to a hundred reviews for the zine. And I'd do this all for free, like you'd never get paid, no one got paid there, because it's like punk zine. But it's the bible for, for our hardcore community. So I, I wrote for that zine for five, five to seven years. And, and when the bands I was in, we weren't getting paid. The whole point of this is, is that I grew up in this culture, uh, in the music world.

• 29:05Speaker 01

  I grew up in this culture where you're not supposed to profit from what you do. You, you're supposed to like give everything and not actually get anything financially in return. It is not a business. Like the world I was in is not a business and you couldn't even actually make it a business. There's like, there's like, it's just, it's, it's like pure passionate people playing to pure passionate people. And it's a very, very like small, it's a small little community. And um, it's, it's small in that you can't scale it out so much because the music was so like niche. But it was, it was small enough for me, and this is where also where I learned something really valuable.

• 29:50Speaker 01

  That every contribution I made to the community was meaningful. So I learned at a very, very young age, you know, when I got into hardcore and punk music, that the contributions I made to the community were my cool points. They're the way I got respect. It wasn't like, um, you know, like wearing the fresh Nikes, going to school and getting that respect. Or, or like having a girl like, you know, talk to you in front of your friends, getting that respect. It, it's literally you, you make a zine, you do, you spend the time, you do the interviews, you go to the Kinko's Copy Center, glue it, glue it together and then make a zine, Xerox everything out,

• 30:35Speaker 01

  or start a band, or like, you know, whatever it is to contribute to this little world. It's like a religion almost. And we're like, you know, Jehovah's Witness going out there like letting people know about our world, but not to other people, just to our inside circle.

• 30:51Speaker 08

  Yeah.

• 30:51Speaker 01

  Right? So I learned that and there's no, there's no financial return, right? And as a kid, you, you don't care about financial return because all you care about is quarters playing in, in Street Fighter. That's all I care about. I just needed enough quarters that after every, every day after school, I would go to, to, to Mo's Pizzeria, get my slice of pizza and then, and pump in like three games of Street Fighter and I was happy, you know? Because that's all my mom would ever give me. It's like, here's, here's money for a slice of pizza and some quarters for your video games and um.

• 31:23Speaker 01

  So I learned that at a young age and I followed that through with all my friends into college or the community that was was global but small, nichey. And and I would tour and it just became my life and I never expected to make money. So after I left college and I and I hit that fork in the road, we're talking about academia or music, and decided to go down the music route and do my label. I was like, I have something set up. I don't need to expend too much money and I can and I could build this band that I just found called The Kills that were my friends and like they're they blew my mind. They were so different from all the punk and emo and the other stuff I was putting out that that that I love.

• 32:07Speaker 01

  This is like, this is a rock and roll band that's like, you know, kind of velvet undergroundy, got this whole thing to it that can like, I want to blow them up. I had this passion and I just literally hung up the guitar and the microphone. I'm like, I'm going to focus entirely on Dimok, my record label, this band, move to LA and make it happen. So I moved to LA, but I still had the same ideology, right? So really, I had zero business acumen. I had no business history. I was, and this is where the double edged sword begins, like, I have zero business skills whatsoever. I don't know what the hell I'm doing about making money or how to, you know, I didn't understand what ROI meant.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  I don't understand how to to save money. I just like, was like, I'm going to give a hundred percent and I'm not, I don't really care about the return, right? So that was, that really affected me later on, a few years later, I was, I was in like major debt. But but the the other, the other edge of the sword is that I'm, I know what I'm doing is what I need to do because this, I, I will live and die by this, by what I'm doing.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  You know, regardless of the money. The money was like so not important to me. I didn't, I didn't, I, it is definitely not the right business to make money in. Yeah. Especially for a young kid that has no idea what he's doing with that world. And that's why at that time too. Another parallel. My father, who is a successful restaurateur. Yes. Uh, and he, he founded Benihana's and he was very wealthy and he's very, uh, you know, showy with his wealth. He actually never gave me a dime. Wow. Never gave me a dime, never gave, well, I wouldn't say just me. He never gave any of his kids a dime. That's like how he was raised because he was raised.

• 34:01Speaker 01

  He, he wasn't, he wasn't necessarily, he was a working class man when he was, his family's working class when they were in Japan. My mom was, was broke when she, when she was in Japan. So my mom was very thrifty already because she grew up that way. My dad was just like, one, what you're doing is a, is a distraction to what you need to do is get a real job. You know, uh, like working nine to five. Life is, is supposed to be boring. You're supposed to deal with it because that's life. You can't just have fun all the time and think you're going to get by and you're going to, you're going to be broke. And, and guess what? No one's going to help you, Steve. No one's going to help you. You need to learn your lesson. I'm not going to be throwing you a lifeline. You better figure this out.

• 34:46Speaker 01

  You better get a job. And like, and I'm, I'm an adult now. You can't tell me what I can't do. Yeah. Where are you finding that courage from? Where are you finding that confidence from to kind of? I've been reared through my whole, like, this is exactly why I went back to like my, my high school and college days. I've been reared. I am like, like a, I'm steel. Like I, no one could take me away from this. I don't care if I'm broke. I really don't care. I don't care if I was living in a small apartment. I'm like, when I moved to LA, me and my girlfriend moved there together at the time, my ex-girlfriend. And, uh, it was $900 apartment. We spent $450 each and, um,

• 35:25Speaker 01

  You know, my cost of living was so low, it was like top ramen and you know, just like whatever we could do to get by my my phone bill, my car insurance. So like my total cost was like eight hundred bucks, you know, so I was like, okay, I can handle that. My mom did help me out a little bit with that part because I I just I had no money. So, um, you know, and my dad would not help me because that's just that's just how he is. And I and I applaud him and I thank him. Uh, he's passed away, but I thank him so much for that because I learned myself. And, you know, he was very much that tough love kind of father and I'm so, so, so grateful for that. That's one thing I'm going to take with me when I have kids too, is uh, they need to learn on their own. They need to figure that out on their

• 36:09Speaker 01

  own. So in any case, when I started Dimok and I started, you know, hustling, um, no matter what the the the the records I put out would sell, I was also expending just the same amount. So the business side was was to shit, you know, and I was learning far beyond the hard way because I was losing so much, you know, I was like my credit cards were were were uh, maxed out. I was getting on more credit cards and and there's no way out. Like at one point, after a few years, and this is after I signed like some huge bands like Block Party. Like I I after I found Block Party, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna make it. It's not like I'm gonna be rich because I didn't really care about being

• 36:53Speaker 01

  rich. I was like, I'm going to be a self sustainable label. I wanted to be a self sustainable business that can run and have employees because I didn't have any employees. Yeah. I just had a bunch of interns. I got my first employee in two thousand and three when we found Block Party, you know, and uh, and I was like, I need to pay her and I gotta pay, I gotta deal with this. And like my poor girlfriend is like, like thirteen interns in the house, you know, in the apartment when she comes home from work. So, um,

• 37:26Speaker 01

  So anyways, you know, fast forward, I'm signing some really big, big acts and still I am not, I, I am like, now at this point, ten cards, uh, maxed out, hundred thousand dollars in debt. And, and then I started throwing these Dim Mac parties. Because what I did was like, oh, I'm gonna replicate. And thi- this is like the, the, the, this is like what the Saving Grace situation. So I'm gonna replicate the same thing I did in my living rooms. And in my, in high school, at these, at these house parties, but I'm gonna do that in L.A. At these bars. And I, I can't, I'm not gonna be in a band because that L.A. culture, nightlife culture, if you wanna do it all the time, it's, it's like these little bars, right?

• 38:11Speaker 01

  So, um, I learned how to DJ, my friend, friend, uh, got me my first gig. Just playing some vinyl records and, uh, and then I started DJing at these, these small little, little bars. And we would make them these Dim Mac parties and then we would bring Block Party in, we would bring The Kills in, we would bring in other bands too that I was friends with, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, to, you know, Mars Volta, to, you know, at the drive-in place in my, my apartment. So like Mars Volta was that, their new band, they would come in, to The Shins, to The Killers, I mean, before they blew up. And then we would have them DJ for literally a hundred bucks. And I was the opening DJ because I was a nobody, right? So I was getting a bar tab at first, just while people were trickling in.

• 38:56Speaker 01

  No way! Now, at, at the beginning, I was, I was, I would set up because I didn't have a, I didn't have a setup. I didn't have turntables and I was DJing vinyl. I had vinyl records because that's what I did when I collected records, uh, as a, as a punk and hardcore, uh, kid, what you do, part of the culture is you're, uh, you collect records. So I had a bunch of records and I was playing those records and I was like, I gotta buy hip-hop records, I gotta buy indie records, uh, I gotta buy electronic records. And so I started buying records and I was playing them, you know, learning how to beat match before the doors opened. And as people would trickle in, they would hear me train wreck and just be like the worst DJ on the planet. But I was promoting the party so they couldn't kick me out, right? And I'm only doing it for bar tabs, so they just have to deal with me for the first thirty

• 39:40Speaker 01

  minutes or first hour. And, uh, and I did that over and over and over and over again. And I finally got better at DJing. I went from playing, you know, like opening to like one slot up, getting, you know, fifty to seventy-five bucks, uh, including my bar tab, very important at the time. And, and, uh, and then we started building a network of bands coming through. Every time a band would come through, MIA to whoever, we would have their party. Um, and then, and then I was already doing my label, so I was already connected to so many other artists and managers and, and other record labels, that we started growing a little culture in LA.

• 40:20Speaker 01

  This Dim Mac culture, this culture that where we were, we were helping foster and be a developing platform for, for up and coming artists. And then soon it went to hip-hop, soon it went to Kid Cudi. Kid Cudi was coming through, Kanye West was coming through, Lady Gaga did her first shows in LA, to Skrillex, uh, to LMFAO, Will.i.am was always there. Um, uh, it just like, it's so like, the Black Eyed Peas was making those hits ten years ago. They were at our party every single time we threw a party. And, and soon I was making, you know, from fifty to two-hundred to five-hundred. And, and then I was, but I was DJing like four times a week. So you gotta think, I eventually did pay off all my debt, but it wasn't from,

• 41:05Speaker 01

  it was from like some offshoot that I did not think was gonna happen. And that was DJing and becoming, you know, I wouldn't say the DJs, DJ Steve Aoki saved the day. It was really the Steve Aoki that's trying to, to, to help build this small culture outward, but realize that, you know, this culture has, it has no boundaries.

• 41:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, what were the values of that culture that you were trying to build? Like what was in your mindset? What was like the, the underpinning foundations of that culture that was so powerful to you? Like what were those values?

• 41:41Speaker 01

  Um, the, the under, I guess the underpinning, uh, ideology of the culture is that.

• 41:49Speaker 01

  For me, as someone that's involved, that wants to be involved, is it's the same feeling of signing a brand-new act that you want to share to the world.

• 42:00Speaker 01

  So it's like when you really break that down, when you boil that down, it's the excitement, just like when you're a kid and you share something to a friend. It's like, "Yo, Eddie, I just found this toy."

• 42:14Speaker 02

  And, "Ooh, Zee."

• 42:15Speaker 01

  You gotta like, fuck with this toy. And then Eddie picks it up, "Oh, my God." I'm like, "I can't stop playing with the toy." It's that ability to share, that excitement to share with people, that is, that's where I feel like my strong suit is. Like, behind all this stuff, it's all I care about is sharing things I love. Okay, and then now I'm finding ways to monetize that. But if you put money in front of that, then like that ability to share doesn't have that same feeling, right? You have to share first, right? You have to share first, and if they, if they love it, then like, then it's just part of how it works.

• 43:00Speaker 01

  They should pay for it, you know? Or they should taste it and pay for it, you know? Like, you like a piece of the pie, here's a sample, but you can buy the whole pie if you like. But this pie is the motherfucking best pie you'll ever eat in your goddamn life, kind of pie.

• 43:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that's it. If you believe in, and I think that's half the challenge, is when you're trying to sell stuff you don't believe, or you're just trying to sell for the sake of selling, it doesn't have that effect or impact, because people can feel that, right? When you genuinely are obsessed with something or excited about, like you said, the kid's example is perfect, because whether it's a new video game, or a new movie, or the latest thing that happened, that infectious feeling that we all get as children. Tell our best friends about that. But you have this, you have this really interesting perspective of aiming high but managing your expectations. And I wonder how you were doing that at that time and how people could do that, because obviously you've exceeded and superseded many expectations, like you said. And I love what you said about your father, because...

• 44:00Speaker 02

  It's so beautiful that you've turned that into gratitude and that you're seeing it from a grateful angle because, you know, it's it's so easy for so many people to be bitter towards their parents for not supporting their dreams and not giving them money or not believing in them. But but I think that you're teaching us a really valuable lesson here because actually you're so right that because of that lack of support. And and it's interesting for me to think about that because when I when I came back from the monastery and and any other people that came back too, we were all in the same position, I had zero. And I came back to parents who didn't have a lot, who couldn't give me a lot. And a lot of my friends came back to parents who had lots of money. And it's really interesting to see the trajectories of of the two types of people that often that can be so crippling.

• 44:45Speaker 02

  When you have many resources. So I love that perspective of gratitude. But tell us about how you've always been able to aim high but manage expectations and what does that mean now and how has that evolved for you?

• 44:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, I I I'm I'm actually trying to think about the the first, you know, striking time of aiming high. Um, and and managing your expectations. I mean, I I I think, um. Let me let me tell you a story first before.

• 45:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, tell it.

• 45:15Speaker 01

  It's it's it's like second nature to me. So for me to like, understand like why or how I do it is, um. It I need to tell a story first. So I remember, you know, like, you know, like, I guess when you when you sign certain, before I was a DJ, when I signed certain acts that that blew up, I wasn't necessarily aiming high. I was just working with other underground talent, right? Um, so that wouldn't be a good example, but one would be, I remember I only managed one artist in my whole career. I've only actually managed one artist. It was in two thousand and four and there was this young singer. And she had this video that just blew my mind and she got already on the cover of Fader Magazine.

• 46:00Speaker 01

  So, and Fader Magazine is like the ultra cool, like, okay, you gotta check out this artist. And my friend worked for Fader, he was the editor there, editor in chief there, and he interviewed Dimok as one of the rising labels at the time. So, he's like, you gotta check out this artist. You know, she needs help in America. She's like just blown up in England. And I listened to her music and I saw her video and I was just like, holy shit, she's a superstar. She's a superstar. She's gonna change the world. Like, I just was like, I've kind of fell to my knees like this. You know, first of all, I need to sign her if possible, because I already got Block Party. So I'm like, I have like some cachet.

• 46:43Speaker 01

  So, and then I reached out to her and I was like, can I sign you? She's like, no, we're already signed to XL for the world, can't do that. And XL, you know, they sign Adele. They have like, they're one of the giant indie labels. Great, great, amazing indie label. So obviously, I'm small. I'm just like, I just believe in you so much. I might not have the infrastructure, but I have my passion for you to like help you grow to be who you want to be is like insane. I will topple everyone on that energy level. And she's like, well, I love your energy, but you can't sign me, but you know, we can do something else. I'm like, okay, can I manage you then?

• 47:25Speaker 01

  I've never managed a single artist in my life. I just like, I need to work with this woman, you know? And then she's like, I love that energy and I haven't felt that energy, so yes, you can manage me. America. And I was just flipping in my head, like, oh my, oh my God, I'm a fucking manager now. This is amazing.

• 47:44Speaker 02

  Did you play it cool in person or were you as excited in person as well?

• 47:47Speaker 01

  Ah, yeah, I was playing it cool, but like, I was definitely, but I was showing it for sure, you know, but not to the level that I should. That would like throw her, you know, tell her to have a walk away. Anyway, so I started, started like working with her and, uh, and it only lasted for three months. Because I mean, I knew it was to a certain extent what I'm supposed to do. But I did aim high, I, I did aim high there. And, and you know, I tried my, my best to the skill set and level that I knew. And I, and I did like, I have to say a little bit of it came from me in the very, very beginning. She did it all herself. She's a incredibly intelligent.

• 48:31Speaker 01

  She's, she's just like an amazing, absolutely amazing inspirational woman. And, uh, she goes by the name of MIA. No, wow. So, uh, yeah, I just was obsessed with her. But she, you know, but like I, I'd say that was like one of the first times where I really aimed high. But the, my, I felt confident that I could do it because like I would do absolutely anything. To make it happen, you know? So I think that, that, that's where it is. That's, that's the soul of what we're talking about is that. If you really, really, truly believe that you're the best person. That you could apply something that other people can't apply.

• 49:15Speaker 01

  And it doesn't necessarily mean like you're the most well-rounded. You have the best infrastructure. You have the most money. It's more about like, you have the heart. You're really taking it to the next level. Aim for that, you know, obviously aim for that. And then, and then realize when, when, when, um. As someone on the other receiving end, if I see a kid coming at me with that same kind of heart. I mean, I'm going to feel him. I'm going to feel her. I want to be like, okay, I want this person on the team, but not necessarily as a top. Yes, yes, yes. But I'll find a way to include them in and that's where the managing expectations comes in. You, you fight for the top and then you, you, you will understand what your level of expertise.

• 49:58Speaker 01

  Is in that space. So that's when you're like, okay, understandably, I'll start at level one, but I'm at least in and then you grow up.

• 50:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, man. Thanks for telling that story. That literally that story crystallizes the point so well. And it's brilliant. And anyone who's listening, you can tell that Steve's a phenomenal storyteller and his memoir, Blue, The Color of Noise, which he recently released, highly recommended because it's the same, these stories that you can dive into with much more depth and you get to extrapolate them. So for anyone who's listening and going, wow, I need to know more about this incredible person's life, then make sure you check out Blue, The Color of Noise. It was recently released. It was Steve's memoir. Steve, I want to talk a bit about Neon Future Four because, you know, it's out right now. I believe it's streaming and people can listen to it and

• 50:48Speaker 02

  get it. It's got 27 tracks on it. Now, now what stood out to me is that I know that Sapiens is one of your favorite books. Now Yuval not only is a good friend, but he also came on the podcast and I find him fascinating too. Tell me about how the song Homo Deus came about because I wouldn't really think of Yuval and music. You know, it's brilliant. That's why I love it. It's so cool. So tell us about how that comes about and where that originates from.

• 51:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. So it's also, you wouldn't think about Yuval and Neon Future so much because his version of the future is not neon.

• 51:27Speaker 02

  No.

• 51:27Speaker 01

  Utopian. So that's where I definitely allowed for various kinds of voices about what the future looks like that are very, that are different to mine. Because up until this time, an exception to like J.J. Abrams, who like was more vague about, you know, Neon Future, it was, it was very much like along the same lines. Like the Ray Kurzweil was very much along the same lines as Neon Future. Neon Future is kind of based on Ray Kurzweil's singularity approach. And Brian Johnson, definitely, he's a

• 52:05Speaker 01

  Head of Colonel, and he's like, he's got the incredible brain technology. So he's, he's talking about the same kind of thing that, that I've been saying as well. But Yuval is, you know, reading a second book, which is also extremely incredible. You know, it's interesting that like, you know, technology for us, for the, for Homo sapiens will, will, um, we will take, we will take, take it for granted or take, take advantage of it in a way that's not, not good for us. But, um, yeah, anyways, uh, I, for every album on Neon Future, I'm approaching scientists,

• 52:48Speaker 01

  authors and people that have some, some like level of, or some, uh, some story that they've, they're talking about the future. And, um, and I needed to get Yuval on this after I read Sapiens. I had to get Yuval on this after, actually, after I read Homo Deus. But, uh, you know, um, it was a bit difficult. He wasn't like coming with ease, you know?

• 53:14Speaker 01

  It wasn't like pulling teeth so much, but it was definitely like, I don't know if this is gonna happen. Yeah. You know, like, I'm still crossing my fingers kind of thing, like, until it happened. I'm like, did, did it really come in?

• 53:28Speaker 01

  His, uh, you know, his voice bite, did it really come in? I was, um, I mean, and when it came in, it was like, it was as if like Drake vocals came in. It was like, it was as if like Post Malone's vocals in my inbox. Like, I'm like, I have Yuval Harari on the album. So, um, yeah, that was, that was heavy for me. That was, that was really big. Cause like to me, yeah, it's just, you know, I, I go, just like you're talking about, I go for the heavyweights as high as possible. You know, and Yuval is my, my favorite author. Yeah.

• 54:05Speaker 01

  So I go for as high as I can go and then, and then kind of like step sideways and then step down sideways down, you know what I mean? Yeah. You know, and, and I feel like, um, the thing too is I'm confident about me. I'm confident about my, about my music. And, and more importantly, music connects the world.

• 54:28Speaker 01

  That's one thing you can't take away. That's one thing that has nothing to do with opinion. It just.

• 54:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:33Speaker 01

  Music is the world's language.

• 54:35Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 54:36Speaker 01

  It's an emotional language.

• 54:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:39Speaker 01

  That's the thing. That's the thing about music is it's an emotional language and depending on the song, it could change your life.

• 54:45Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 54:46Speaker 01

  You know, so, um, an artist have changed my life, you know, like I know songs that have taken people from the gutter and made them feel alive.

• 54:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:56Speaker 01

  Changed their entire life, you know, and um, I think we can all appreciate that. So it's like, uh, you know, i- if, if like, you know, I'm not sure if he's a Stevie Oki listener, but

• 55:12Speaker 01

  but I think he, I think he agrees on the, the music portion, you know.

• 55:17Speaker 02

  Oh, for sure, for sure. The fact that he came through means that he believes in you and, and your work and that he believes that, you know, music's gonna, music has the ability to transform the world and, and it's, it's so thrown around, but you're so right about it being an emotional language and te- tell us about that. Like what, because it's so interesting, especially we're talking about it right now. I think sound and, and this, I talk a lot about this during our time is, is living as monks, like sound and sound design was so important to how we lived our lives. So we always woke up in the morning to nature sounds, whether it was a stream or whether it was the birds or whether it was, you know, it was always something natural. And then our meditation were full of gongs and cymbals like, and they were tuned perfectly to

• 56:00Speaker 02

  a, a resonance that was helped to get you into a deeper state of meditation, right? Each of the mantras that were chanted were chanted at a specific vibration to have a physical, emotional and mental and, and deeper effect. And so I, I'm totally sold on sound design, especially when I lived in New York City. And all I heard was drilling and digging and and all of that. And you're like, wow, this sound design or this sound distraction is really messing up my brain. Whereas sound is that so and and right now, I think because people are stuck in their homes, sound is so important. What is the sounds of Neon Future? What is your goal? And what kind of feeling or what emotion are you trying to bring about in people through the music, through each of the tracks?

• 56:45Speaker 01

  I want a dynamic experience with the album. You know, I want to bring all the different colors to the table, different personalities. And that's what music is. It's just like all these emotional personalities. So that's why when you if you listen to the album from front to back, it's it goes through all these different tempos, these different arrangements, moods, and it changes up. Like, some songs are extremely like Blind Happiness, you know, like I Love My Friends, and and some songs are just dark and visceral and

• 57:27Speaker 01

  and like, you know, should be in a, you know, a thriller or a sci fi film or something, you know. I really want to take people on that kind of journey because it's 27 songs. So if you're gonna really sit there and you're gonna go into this album, then yes, I need to like, give you a lot of texture, you know. And, you know, like my previous albums, I consider them chapters, you know, they're like between 10 and 14 songs. This is 27. And it's also just different genres. I mean, it's just

• 58:00Speaker 02

  So different.

• 58:01Speaker 01

  Right. So like on just on that note alone, just on like outside the feeling perspectives that we're talking about, it's, you know, having, you know, Spanish on there, having a K-pop group on there, Maluma on there, you know, to, you know, Zooey Deschanel, to, you know, just like all these different kinds of artists, it just like throws curve curve balls at you, which is what I prefer. Instead of like, you hear four or five songs into it, and you're like, wow, they all sound the same, you know, in the end, because they all have they're all the same tempo, the same arrangement, the same like You know, punch, punchline, the same, whatever it is, then you start kind of forgetting.

• 58:44Speaker 01

  So I kind of, well, I mix it up. It's like, almost like a DJ set, like, you know, like, back in the day when I used to DJ before I was producing so much, I would play Dolly Parton into Daft Punk into, you know, Elvis Costello into Lock Party, but actually mix them, find ways to mix them into like the Ramones, you know, like, you want to mix things up in a way that makes people go, oh.

• 59:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:13Speaker 01

  Have fun and go back into their childhood, go back to, or like a song they heard yesterday to like, you know, um, you know, and that's like, it's like, what I've learned about being a DJ is the attention span of crowds and how to get their attention if I'm losing, if I'm losing them, you know?

• 59:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:35Speaker 01

  This album is like a very similar approach, but they're all brand new songs. So I have to find new ways to keep them engaged, um, because it is a book. It's like, it's a heavyweight, you know, 27 songs, it's heavyweight. And then most people, majority of people won't be listening to it straight. But I made it so I made these songs, the grout of the songs, the songs that glue Neon Future together, not just as a, as an album, but as a whole series, are all my science-based songs, all the, all the songs with Yuval, Brian Johnson, Ray Kurzweil, J.J. Abrams, Kip Thorne, Aubrey de Grey, and so forth.

• 1:00:13Speaker 02

  Yeah. Do you, do you ever experience a creative block ever? And, and if you do, or how do you process that? What do you do to get out of those? Or do you go into them? Like, what is your process? Because I, I love asking that to highly creative people who are, who are able to, like I said, connect all these ideas, but, but what does a creative block look like for you? And how do you process it?

• 1:00:35Speaker 01

  Creative blocks, um, they're camouflaged.

• 1:00:40Speaker 01

  They're harder to discern and and they're they're tricky beasts. Hmm. They're tricky cuz like I um I'll work on a record for a long time and I'll think I'm getting there and then like the at like the 12th hour, I'm like, I have to restart the whole thing. This is like, literally, it just keeps like the carrot still at the end of the stick going, keep going, keep going, keep going. And then I'm just like, why is this not sound right? What the like, you know? Yeah. And and like you go back into it again, and you don't want to give up on all that work. You spent 12 hours on an idea and it's so fleshed out and you literally might have to restart the whole thing again. You know how painful that is? Yeah, that is.

• 1:01:23Speaker 01

  No, that's like the the thing with like music and this kind of art creation. It's like depending, if you're experimental, you can kind of flow with it, I guess. But if you have a certain goal in mind that's very specific, you know, especially with collaborations. Hmm. I have to, I have to tend to the other artists that are involved. I can't just experiment. You know, and also like my soul won't let me just be like, oh, I'm okay with it's fine. I I just like my, my, my, my gut is like, you better start again. You you have the work ethic. You better start again. Yeah. So I mean, like, that happens a lot more than you think. It happens a lot.

• 1:02:07Speaker 01

  And you have to, that's, I think the, one of the um understated qualities of a great producer is dealing with that, uh, managing that, managing that you have to restart and be okay with that and not give up and not like, you know, it's frustrating. It's it's a frustrating situation that you have to deal with regardless of the situation. Totally. I I have songs on Neon Future Four that the the the one beat, one music, the like the whole melody, I I, you know, I changed the drums, but like the drum arrangement, the the melodies, everything, I wrote in 2013.

• 1:02:46Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:02:47Speaker 01

  Until 2020.

• 1:02:49Speaker 02

  That's crazy.

• 1:02:50Speaker 01

  And that was done. It was done in 2013. Actually, I'll tell you right now, I haven't told anybody this. That beat was for Kendrick Lamar.

• 1:02:57Speaker 02

  Oh, no way.

• 1:02:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, because we did a tour together for three weeks and so we were working in his studio on the bus. And he's like, he's like just on it, you know, and, and I made, I'm like, yo, I got the specific beat just for you. And I played it for him, but I don't think he wanted it. He was like, oh yeah, it's cool. And then, you know, you know, we went on our ways. But I, I made it for him and then I sat on it and I kept on trying to revisit it through the years. And then, and then finally I got, you know, a great vocal on it and now it's put out. So there's that, there's like, there's two songs like that where on, in the reverse side of things, I had a vocal top line. Cause I have so many vocals in my computer from so many different sessions I've had.

• 1:03:42Speaker 01

  And this one I just can't toss. So it's been sitting there for seven years and finally was able to turn into a song.

• 1:03:50Speaker 02

  That's amazing. Yeah, I find, what I find fascinating about that is your ability to build something for someone and not going as predicted. And then you're able to still let that live for seven years and then have its own moment that it obviously deserves. Like what's going through your mind at that time? Like how are you, how are you focusing on failure or rejection? And then going, oh, actually this still has a place and it can evolve into something useful and great and beautiful.

• 1:04:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:20Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:04:20Speaker 01

  Failure, rejection, working with artists.

• 1:04:26Speaker 01

  That takes time. That's just, that's just like, I mean, how do you deal with that? You, you, you just deal with it the best you can. I mean, like the first times you, you, you, it hits you, it hits you hard, just like anything. And then like you just get kind of, you, you get okay to it later on, obviously. That's just with anything. But like, there's times when I have had songs with huge artists that literally were about to come out and boom, nope, it's not coming out. So I've had to get to that point where, you know, like I am dying for this record to come on. I'm like, please, just like when the clock hits 12, it's out, I'm like.

• 1:05:07Speaker 01

  Okay, no one stops it because anything can happen, like especially with big artists that you work with. Management, maybe the artists themselves, they're like temperamental, they're like, no, I don't like you, I don't want to do this, you know? I mean, even Kanye's done, he's like changed music after he's dropped the records, you know? He's like, the albums out and he's like, taking them down and retooling them and putting them back up again. So, it's like, you know, there's a lot of different possibilities that can stunt or like stop something from happening. And you can have an incredible relationship with an artist and you have that bond and make music,

• 1:05:46Speaker 01

  which I've had, tons of the songs, and then all of them get locked up, all of them, all of them.

• 1:05:54Speaker 02

  That's a lot to deal with.

• 1:05:54Speaker 01

  And then the artist goes like this, and you're like, we had, like, we have hits, we have hits, you know? And it's like, that hurts, no matter, no matter if I've been doing this for, you know, now, or if I just started producing, it's like, it just hurts really bad, you know? Because these are testaments of your life, that you can get out, get out to the world that like leave, like, my, like, why I do this is I want people to like vibe on it, I want people to feel it like the way I feel it. And I, and like especially the combination between me and this, this particular artist, like, that's gonna blow people's minds away and just, nope, sorry, ain't gonna happen.

• 1:06:35Speaker 01

  And I still have songs that are like, I'm, I'm like, doing this right now, and that I've done, finished, finished songs with artists that are just massive. I can't talk about, and I'm just like, please, have it come out because it's just been radio silence, you know?

• 1:06:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, no, no, I get that, and that's, yeah, that, yeah, I, I feel you on that, just hearing, I can hear how much is in your voice and the way you're sharing it like that. And I love the, I love the honesty and the genuineness of you just saying it still hurts, like, it's not, because it's your, it's your heart, like, your heart's in it, so it hurts. It's, it's not like you're putting out stuff that you don't care about, it's, there, there's meaning attached to each of it, and there's a part of your life in each of those songs. And when it doesn't come out, that feels like a part of your life that's been missed or lost and, and left.

• 1:07:22Speaker 01

  So, so to somewhat answer the question, because I just talked, I just complained a lot, but like...

• 1:07:26Speaker 02

  It was great, it was a great answer, but go on.

• 1:07:28Speaker 01

  But I, I, I say the only way you could deal with that is by doing more.

• 1:07:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:07:34Speaker 01

  You know, the only way you could do, deal with it is just by just being, you know, i- it's like, you've just gotta be active, you've just gotta keep going, you can't just sulk. That's like, that's life, though. That's like, that's just a lesson of life. It's like, don't sulk.

• 1:07:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:07:50Speaker 01

  Just move forward, move forward, do things, just... I, I don't even know if that's the right answer, cause like, you know, talking to someone like you, you might be like, you've seen me meditate, and let, let, let the emotions not affect you. They're just feelings and thoughts that aren't real, you know? With me, like, the way I am is kind of the opposite. I'm like, everything, let's go! I'm just like, running, and like, I'm, and then my therapist is like, you can't just run, and like, go through life like that. You need to sit and like, face it, confront it, and know that it doesn't affect you. And I'm just like, I just wanna do another song, right now. I'm gonna do another song, I'm gonna call this artist, I'm gonna be like, you know, it's like, uh, it's like, if someone, you know, if you go through a breakup, you're like,

• 1:08:33Speaker 01

  I gotta call the girls that like, that liked me once, you know, or whatever.

• 1:08:38Speaker 01

  Can I get that, I need to get, like, my ego back up again, or something.

• 1:08:42Speaker 02

  Uh, I love that, man. No, it's great. And, and I think it's a bit of both, you know, it's, there's sometimes you gotta sit with an emotion, and you gotta deal with it, there's sometimes you gotta push through, like, it's different, right? It's never, there's never one size fits all for every challenge. There's different.

• 1:08:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, that's true.

• 1:08:56Speaker 02

  You're creating the failure. So I think you're spot on. I, I, I agree with you. It's, you know, it's what works for you and what, what helps you shift. There are times when, there are times when sitting with something that's been, I think when something's recurring, when there's an emotion that's recurring, and there's a feeling that keeps coming back, that's like a repeated lesson that we're not learning, and so that's something you wanna sit with. But when it's just random things going on, you just gotta dive through sometimes. I, when we, when we talked about your foundation earlier, I was fascinated by what piece of research or insight that you've learned about the mind or the brain, that has changed the way you live in a particular part of your life? Like, is there one insight, or one, one study or research that when you heard that, you're like,

• 1:09:38Speaker 02

  oh, that's gonna change how I live? Because, you know, you've lived a crazy, you've traveled a lot, like you said, you've done like, three hundred shows in a year, or, you know, crazy amounts of shows in a year, you're always on the move. What has been that one piece of research that has changed a lifestyle habit, or changed a practice in your life, that, that you are really happy that you found out, discovered about the brain?

• 1:09:58Speaker 01

  I think one of the first things I learned that that was profound to me was just the your the brain plasticity. Just that general understanding that you're not necessarily fixed to what you think you're fixed to. You know, you can change things around and be agile and and change bad habits and create good habits. That that that basic understanding is I think has been really important to my life, you know. And um, it allows me to like always uh think about things like, why am I always doing the same thing? Why do I always do that? I'm gonna change it. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna eat like the same breakfast every single morning because I I'm just so used to it.

• 1:10:42Speaker 01

  I'm not gonna sit in the same seat when on the couch, you know, like you always sit in the same area of the couch. Yeah, at the dining table in the In bed, in bed, like, you know, like, I might, I told my girlfriend, hey, I'm gonna sleep on your side one night. What did she say? She's like, no. No, but I'm just like, it's just like, you always do the same things. It's like, I think it's good to like, kind of be like, no, we're gonna do something completely different just to with our brain. Yeah. And like the idea, I like the the the the the idea or the visual of you have like your brain's got these neurotransmitters like just flying across everywhere. And when you do something over and over again, it just becomes this freeway. Yes.

• 1:11:26Speaker 01

  This like canal. Yes. Dug in from the wind of, you know, just all of a sudden, it's just like firing. And you, in order to change that, it requires one little canal to be built up on the other side. You gotta create that freeway and then soon this like becomes a drought. Yeah. Fills in, the sand fills in and it's no longer a freeway anymore. I love that, you know, that like visual of like Yeah. yellow, blue lines like

• 1:11:57Speaker 01

  And you're like, bad habit. That's a bad habit. And it's stuck in there real good. You gotta like, start creating this little, but it's gonna, it's gonna take time to start shoveling through that area. And it's gonna take a lot of manpower to get through that, you know?

• 1:12:13Speaker 02

  Hundred percent. Yeah, I, I always describe it as like, when you first have a Thor, and it's a baby Thor, it, it starts off as like, a wooden bridge. And then that wooden bridge turns into a stone bridge, and that stone bridge, as you cross it more and more, it turns into a steel bridge. And now you've got this steel bridge of conditioning and the pattern that you can't break anymore. Until, like you said, you've got to start building that little narrow, that, that, that walkway, that little, you know, it's gonna start. We're gonna start taking that one and building that one. And so we've got these steel bridges, like implanted into our mind that are doing the default version of our unconscious life. And, and you go right that sometimes we try and bulldoze it, and we try and get like a destruction company to come and wreck it.

• 1:12:56Speaker 02

  It's kind of like Inception, you know, that scene where they've got that train that flies through the city? And it's like, it doesn't work like that. It just starts with a little, like you're a perfect way, just like a little walkway, just to keep strengthening that. No, I love that. And that's a, that's a great, great one for everyone to think about because we, we want this big change to happen, but, but that big change starts with just finding that small connection in our minds. So I love that, man. And tell us about, so we were speaking about earlier that, you know, we, we have a mutual friend and obviously one of your partners, Tom Bellew, who's awesome, uh, done interviews of Impact Theory and, and Quest Bars as a co-founder originally, but also both of you

• 1:13:35Speaker 02

  built Neon Future together. Tell me about how music and comics came together, and why you saw that as such a fascinating form of storytelling.

• 1:13:43Speaker 01

  Well, Neon Future definitely is a story that needed to be told. It, it's, it started as a, um, a music narrative in the beginning, because that's just how I, how I'm creative. So, um, and, uh, I'm obsessed with this idea of, you know, our humanity converging with technology in a way where we just do all these amazing ideas that we're talking about, science fiction and science fact. Um, and, uh, and I was talking about this with Tom on his, on, uh, impact, or not, not. In fact, three. And, um, And we sat down, actually we just before that was for Quest, Inside Quest.

• 1:14:24Speaker 02

  Oh yeah, Inside Quest, that was where it was cool before, yeah, yeah.

• 1:14:26Speaker 01

  We talked on that show and we were talking about all kinds of stuff like that, like living through our technology, you know, uploading our consciousness, stuff like that, like, you know, sci-fi stuff that potentially, who knows, could happen. And then I told them that I'm getting cryonically frozen. So, you know, just despite insurance policy, that if, if we don't reach it to that place in our, in our, in my timeline, and I die, then, you know, I'll just come, I'll come back. And when that time happens, so, I mean, I'm already dead, so you have, the way I see is

• 1:15:07Speaker 01

  like you're dead anyway, so I'll still have like a graveside or, you know, whatever people can see with like my hair or something, you know. I mean, no one's gonna see the body anyways, whether you're cremated or you're buried. So I'm already dead in life, but I'm frozen, so.

• 1:15:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's amazing, man, I love that, that's creepy.

• 1:15:27Speaker 01

  He was, he was like shocked by that, but in a, in a, in a good way. And then we just sat down, we're like, yo, we gotta build out this neon future idea. We gotta do something together. And I'm like, this is exactly what I'm looking for, a partner that feels the same way, that can help put this, put this on paper and build out a storyline that, that we both agree on, that, that it's like, we're flipping the whole, you know, the traditional sci-fi storyline on its head. Because the robots are the bad guy, the bad guys, you know? The technology is killing you. And then like, you know, one human saves the day.

• 1:16:11Speaker 01

  Whereas the augmented, the humans that have, you know, technology in them, because essentially we will become more like that.

• 1:16:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:16:20Speaker 01

  I mean, we are, we are like a, pretty much, you know, half, half android, you know, by the way we use our technology or phones, so soon it'll be in our bodies.

• 1:16:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:16:30Speaker 01

  And we'll be okay with that. And, and, and that's what, the place that I want to start is that those are the good guys and, and we're trying to, you know, you know.

• 1:16:44Speaker 01

  Do good for the world kind of thing and then the story and then the story evolves from there.

• 1:16:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, good man.

• 1:16:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's an incredible storyline. Um, we've produced six comics. Um, we did, we just dropped a trade paperback edition, two hundred and forty pages, which is awesome. And then, um, and then we were just on the phone. We're just on Zoom just recently because we're, we're, um, we're, we're getting, getting through the next five issues. So six, six issues. So, um, excited for the, the next series of Neon Future to come out.

• 1:17:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, me too, man. I'm, I'm always glad I get my delivery. They look great. They're, they're, I mean, congrats on all the awesome work. This has been great, Steve. I want, we, we end every On Purpose episode with two segments. One's called Fill in the Blanks in the final five. These are our fast fire, quick fire rounds. So they're one word answers, maximum three words, one sentence. No one ever follows the rules, but let's, let's see how it goes. So this is called Fill in the Blank. So I'm going to read a sentence and you just got to fill in the blank at the end of the sentence. So it goes, "The human experience is based on..."

• 1:17:53Speaker 01

  This is harder than it looks, by the way.

• 1:17:55Speaker 02

  It is. It is very, it's much harder than it looks. But I get it from the answers. It's like, okay, "The human experience is based on..."

• 1:18:04Speaker 01

  "The human experience is based on..." Just one word?

• 1:18:09Speaker 02

  Or like finishing off the sentence, you can fill in the blank.

• 1:18:11Speaker 01

  I might, I might just play dumb here. I'm just, "The human experience is based on..."

• 1:18:18Speaker 02

  Take as much time as you like.

• 1:18:20Speaker 01

  "The human experience, human experience." This is like, it's like writing a caption.

• 1:18:26Speaker 02

  Literally, literally.

• 1:18:27Speaker 01

  You know how hard it is to write a stupid caption? I'm like, uh, delete, uh, no.

• 1:18:33Speaker 02

  That's exactly what it is.

• 1:18:35Speaker 01

  "The human experience is based on, um, our connection with each other."

• 1:18:47Speaker 01

  Through our shared experiences.

• 1:18:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, beautiful. That makes sense. Alright, second one. My music will never.

• 1:18:58Speaker 01

  My music will never not inspire you.

• 1:19:03Speaker 02

  Beautiful. Building a community starts with?

• 1:19:08Speaker 01

  Good grit and Scotch tape.

• 1:19:12Speaker 02

  I love it. Connection to me means?

• 1:19:17Speaker 01

  Absolutely everything that I do.

• 1:19:20Speaker 02

  I wish everyone knew.

• 1:19:24Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:19:28Speaker 02

  I love how seriously you're taking this. I really appreciate it. I want you to know that. You by far have given us no soft answers. It's great. I respect it and I want to point it out.

• 1:19:38Speaker 01

  I'm not a fast, fast one liner guy.

• 1:19:42Speaker 02

  It's good, it's good.

• 1:19:43Speaker 01

  What's the statement again?

• 1:19:45Speaker 02

  I wish everyone knew.

• 1:19:49Speaker 01

  I wish everyone knew that this hair is not real. It's a wig.

• 1:19:55Speaker 02

  You're joking. Now you're playing with it.

• 1:19:57Speaker 01

  I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

• 1:19:59Speaker 02

  Now you're playing with us. Now you're playing with us. Okay, good. These are your final five. So these ones are questions, one sentence to, sorry, one word to one sentence answers. What have you been chasing in your life that you no longer pursue? So what had you previously chased in your life that you no longer pursue?

• 1:20:15Speaker 01

  The need to be... Actually, I love playing shows. I always pursue that. I was gonna say the need to be around lots of people.

• 1:20:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:20:25Speaker 01

  I like thrive off my live shows. I love it.

• 1:20:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, you can tell, man. When you watch the footage. Yeah, it's a good thing.

• 1:20:34Speaker 01

  Okay, I want to say this. This is more personal. Not emotional, but um what have I been chasing in my life that I no longer pursue? The the need to um like crazy sports activities.

• 1:20:49Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:20:49Speaker 01

  I just like, because as a kid, I would always like try to do, you know, the, I mean, I still do the backflips, but I, you know, uh, in the snow, snowboarding or.

• 1:20:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:21:00Speaker 01

  Like, I need, I don't need to jump the highest or farthest off a cliff. I can do ten, twelve meters. I'm happy. I don't need to go fifteen or eighteen meters, you know?

• 1:21:09Speaker 02

  That's cool, man.

• 1:21:10Speaker 01

  I'll go pretty high, though. I still, I still do. I still do twelve, fifteen meters, though.

• 1:21:15Speaker 02

  But it doesn't have to be the highest. I get it.

• 1:21:17Speaker 01

  The highest. Yeah, yeah, because like, I'm going, I gotta protect my brain and.

• 1:21:23Speaker 02

  Absolutely, man. Good answer. Okay, next one.

• 1:21:27Speaker 02

  Oh, if you could only leave one song of yours behind to be remembered by, which would it be?

• 1:21:33Speaker 01

  One song um to be remember remembered by Pursuit of Happiness.

• 1:21:37Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:21:38Speaker 01

  A remix. It's it's not even, it's not even my song. It's a remix I made, but it's such a classic song.

• 1:21:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, nice. I like it. Okay, third question.

• 1:21:49Speaker 02

  What is, this, I really like this question. What is one thing you believe a hundred percent when it comes to making music that other people may disagree on? So what belief do you have about making music that you're so convinced about? But then if you share it or or making art, but then other people are like, I'm not sure with you.

• 1:22:11Speaker 01

  Be one of two things. One, one is um

• 1:22:16Speaker 01

  that my my need to collaborate with the world.

• 1:22:20Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:22:21Speaker 01

  Because there's a lot of, a lot of purists that that just obviously frown upon that.

• 1:22:26Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:22:27Speaker 01

  I get a lot of, a lot of flack on that.

• 1:22:29Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:22:29Speaker 01

  Whenever I work outside my genre, people are like, why are you doing that? Oh, my God, it's horrible. If you go through my comments on Instagram, if I work with like a different artist, people just, there's a lot of people going, oh, my God, what are you doing? Go back to this, you know, so.

• 1:22:41Speaker 02

  Interesting.

• 1:22:43Speaker 01

  So I'll I'll leave it with that one, actually.

• 1:22:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, that's a good one. I like that one a lot because I get that sometimes by interviewing people that I find fascinating, but people would be surprised to see me next to and I've always.

• 1:22:53Speaker 01

  Like me. People will be like, why the hell you interview this guy? You should be interviewed a neuroscientist or something.

• 1:23:00Speaker 02

  And we have plenty of you, but it's like for me, I'm fascinated, like I've always said that, you know, for me, I want to sit down opposite, like I'm only using this as an example, but it's like, I want to sit down opposite like Cardi B. And talk about mindfulness and your sense of the mind. Like to me, I, I get excited by the fact that me and you are connecting on stuff that I don't think people from the outside would know.

• 1:23:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:23Speaker 02

  And to me, that's where I get my kind of bumps. I get you. Okay. Last two questions. If you could create a law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

• 1:23:32Speaker 01

  Oh, wow. Wow. I, I mean, I'll, I'll, I'll try to answer this quickly, but this is definitely a good one to like sit on because if there's a law that like everyone must do, there's like a lot of things that everyone should, must do. You know what I mean? Like,

• 1:23:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:23:48Speaker 01

  And I'll probably, I'll probably be like, ah, I should have said the other one, but let me, let me come up with something quick. Um, you know, it's the kind of thing about, you know, the first thing I think about is like, what, what, what do I want in the world? Like, you know, you don't want, um, you want world peace. Those are like the, the, the most general topics, like,

• 1:24:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:24:10Speaker 01

  you know, um,

• 1:24:13Speaker 01

  saving the world, saving, saving ourselves, saving animals, so many things like, you know, gruesome torture of animals. I hate that. Oh my God.

• 1:24:29Speaker 02

  So what would be the law? Kindness to all or?

• 1:24:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. I'll say that kindness to all.

• 1:24:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:24:35Speaker 01

  Kind to everyone.

• 1:24:36Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:24:37Speaker 01

  Or else you, or else, or else you're going to be put in jail for a long time.

• 1:24:42Speaker 02

  Love the threat as well. Yeah. Awesome. Last question, Steve. What was your biggest lesson learned from the last 12 months of your life? What's the biggest lesson you've taken?

• 1:24:52Speaker 01

  Well, okay. So coronavirus is probably what we're living in right now. So, um,

• 1:25:00Speaker 01

  I'd say the lesson I've learned during this time is, you know, something that we can all, you know, that we should all, that we're probably all feeling right now. And that's like, that's just being connected to our families.

• 1:25:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:25:20Speaker 01

  Especially people that are really busy in their lives. Now they can't do that. So.

• 1:25:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:25:24Speaker 01

  I know. I just see it. I just hear it from my friends. I see it from my friends. How they're like zooming with their family members that they have never, that don't talk to at all.

• 1:25:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's true.

• 1:25:34Speaker 01

  So I need, I'm still reaching out to my family members, but like, I'm so glad that I'm close with my family and I'm so happy. I don't have to have any regret that I didn't, you know? And I just, that's like very, very important, very important, more, more important than anything.

• 1:25:51Speaker 02

  Awesome, man. That's incredible. Steve Aoki, everyone. Make sure you go and listen to the album Neon Future Four. And as I mentioned before, his memoir, Blue, The Color of Noise. Steve, thank you so much for doing this, man. Thank you for being so generous with your time, so vulnerable and open with your answers. And this was a lot of fun, man. I, I love this. I really enjoyed it. And I hope we can, I hope we can connect in person when this is all over, but thanks again.

• 1:26:17Speaker 01

  All right.

• 1:26:18Speaker 02

  Awesome. Thank you, man. Thanks, Steve.

• 1:27:11Speaker 04

  Mr. President, my company told me of the explosion on our rig. On October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me. Tom Cruise is.

• 1:27:21Speaker 05

  Digger got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us out. From the director of Birdman and The Ravenette.

• 1:27:27Speaker 06

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You start, you freeze to death. That's what...

• 1:27:32Speaker 05

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:27:35Speaker 06

  I'm not the first daddy.

• 1:27:36Speaker 05

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle without parent.