Steve Aoki, aka Kid Millionaire is steadily building a rock n roll empire growing from LA to New York, and more recently shooting out to London and Japan. Steve sets up some of the best party club nights in LA, and somehow manages to nab all the hottest visiting bands to come and guest D.J. His newsletters and website are the bible for what’s up in LA every week. His indie record label, Dim Mak is the tiny label that roared as it seems to be hitting home runs with the U.S. release of the likes of Bloc Party, the Kills, the Rakes, Ben Lee, and Blood Brothers. He picked the worst possible time to visit London, during the bombings!

We chatted after he returned. First off I wondered, how was the London crowd compared to the LA crowd for you?

Steve: “The biggest difference between the London scene vs. the LA scene or the U.S. scene for that matter is that British people are more accepting of new young rock regardless of how much money is behind a song or behind a band. It’s about bringing in more music, more bands - and what I noticed in the short week I was there is that with that kind of environment better music will be created because it will get love in the club or on mtv2, or at a place where people can hear what’s current.

All I played in London was fast, up-tempo rock, and a lot of Epworth Phones remixes... too many! But Phones is my favorite remixer right now. Plus he’s a good buddy. And people danced their shit off to the rock. That is exciting. In L.A. I mix the rock and the hip hop a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I love hip hop and sometimes all I want to hear is Mike Jones. But I don’t think you can do that in the UK in a dance crowd. Can you?”

Because of the bombings that week, what was the feeling towards you as an American?... friendly? suspicious?

Steve: “Before I came out to the UK, people around me, even some of the most liberal heads I know, were putting fear into me. It was so apparent to me especially when I came over and saw that no one was talking about it or let it even disrupt their lives. The next day I had to go on the subway and same with every other British bloke. Americans are paranoid.”

What do you see as future ways that the London and LA music scenes can converge more?

Steve: “The US government to give money to bands to travel outside the US especially the smaller bands. They do that in Sweden, Canada, and some other countries. Same with the UK. Or some entity to start helping out smaller labels to get bands out to the UK or vice versa. That would be nice. I’m all about the smaller labels.”

Any other thoughts you'd like to convey to readers about spending some time in London?

Steve: “I want to come to the UK every 6 months to get inspired by how people really get behind music and to hear new bands from London. I’m really excited about some new bands in London right now, namely the Rakes who Dim Mak has recently signed in America, White Rose Movement who I love to death, Scanners, another great new band I saw when I was out there… AC and Terra is a new grime group that I was checking out as well. I have infinite amounts of love to my best friends the Kills and Bloc Party. These two bands I give all my heart to in believing in a small label like Dim Mak and growing with me. I love the UK and want to come back at least once or twice a year. My favorite environment for rock music and right now my favorite rock bands are coming out of London.”

-June Caldwell
 

June Caldwell lives amidst drawers stuffed with an array of earplugs, clipped wristbands, and notes scrawled on ticket stubs… splitting her time between concert reviews, and doing radio airplay promotions for Indie bands at Bryan Farrish Radio Promotions. She covers the LA music scene for artrocker.com, the largest bi-weekly new music publication in the UK, and www.fly.co.uk with her shutterbug hubby Rodger.

June’s always interested in Indie bands looking for promotion, and can be contacted at: junejer@gmail.com.