Seth Troxler

Todd L. Burns

Welcome to today’s first lecture. A nice bit of synergy in a way, I suppose, because we started the Academy with Richie Hawtin and today I’m joined by a guy who once said, “He’s my favorite DJ ever,” Seth Troxler.

Seth Troxler

Yes, that’s me. Hello. How you guys doing? [applause]

Seth Troxler

Full circle.

Todd L. Burns

The circle is completed.

Seth Troxler

Like a dark… What’s the Star Wars…?

Todd L. Burns

I don’t have…

Seth Troxler

Lost for words.

Todd L. Burns

Good start, good start. [laughter] You just came in from Detroit.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, I just came in from Detroit.

Todd L. Burns

You were at the Movement festival.

Seth Troxler

We were at the Movement festival.

Todd L. Burns

And you throw a party every Movement festival, a party not at the festival proper but outside, called Need I Say More?

Seth Troxler

Yeah, I’m actually originally from Detroit. I live now in Europe, just kind of on aeroplanes and in hotels, but for years before I started my career – if you guys don’t know me, my name is Seth Troxler. I’m a DJ, I have a record label named Visionquest. I also kind of make records on occasion, but recently have been more known for voiceover work, kind of like being an actor that was once great and now you’re only Garfield. So, I do that, but years ago when I was living in Detroit Ryan Crosson and some other partners of mine who had this label Visionquest, we were promoters. And it’s kind of funny, this guy back here [points to back of audience], Will Calcutt, used to go out and there was kind of local scene stuff and we had this party that another person here [points to audience], Wendy, little did she know that some of the people here that work here, actually, used to be really fun [laughs]. We threw this party outside every Monday at this club called the – not a club, it’s a veteran’s bar…

Todd L. Burns

It’s definitely not a club.

Seth Troxler

It’s a really kitschy veteran’s bar called The Old Miami, kind of like the closing Monday of the festival, and we had Mr Gerd Janson, who is one of the main guys here, was DJing with Ben UFO and we also had Tale Of Us and Soul Clap, so it was a great weekend. The first time it rained but [hiccups] – excuse me, I’ve had a little too much Red Bull. That berry stuff, really, it’s like pancakes in your mouth. [laughter] Caffeinated pancakes. [laughs]

So, yeah, it was a great weekend, I mean it was amazing. It was amazing to see all the people out, and just to see the crowd at the DEMF [Detroit Electronic Music Festival] this year had become a lot more mature. It was brilliant. It seems like there’s been a real divergence, and the people who are going to real niche festivals that are musically curated to that… Or I mean, a couple of weeks ago I was in New York playing at EDC [Electronic Daisy Carnival] and the crowds were so completely different. And at one stage at that point here, playing on the CNTRL stage with Richie Hawtin, we were kind of exposing people to that stuff [gestures], from the other side, and then [laughs] we’re in Detroit. It’s like everyone was, you know, just like us.

Todd L. Burns

It must be quite interesting to see electronic music – some electronic music – blowing up, in a way, because when you were growing up in Detroit – you’d moved there from Kalamazoo early on – that was totally a niche thing.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, definitely. Maybe a lot of participants here – I don’t know where all you guys are from – but growing up in Detroit, which has this very rich history, we actually had a very small musical scene. It was kind of funny, at the time when I was growing up, I was in high school, I was playing music, I was working at this record store called Melodies and Memories. Terrence Parker and Theo Parrish used to work there. It’s a fantastic, fantastic music store. And funnily enough this guy I said earlier, Will [Calcutt], he was in college with Matthew Dear, and Matthew Dear went to the same school as me, and we’re this kind of ending generation of Detroit. Magda, Richie Hawtin, these guys had just started coming back. Magda was still in Detroit before she moved to New York and then to Berlin. But overall the entire scene was about 250 people, and this is Detroit, like classic Detroit. All of the scene that was combined was some college kids and some old DJs, and then the whole time, coming up at that time, electronic music was in a bit of a lull, also being there you had no view of the outside world. You know, you thought, “OK, we collect records, we’re all really into this music, but there’s nothing outside of just being a local DJ and maybe playing before some out-of-town headliners.” Until at some point, I was a junior in high school, I think…

Todd L. Burns

Sorry, but you’re a junior in high school and you’re thinking, “Boy, we’ll never get to Europe.” You were quite young.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, I was quite young, but also it wasn’t until later that I even realized that. So many people in that city are in that mentality, and also with electronic music I didn’t realize how big the European market was, because we were never exposed to that. If you’re coming from a small place and – like our friend here is from Istanbul, or let’s say you’re coming from somewhere in Venezuela – and things there may seem very local and small. But one of the biggest things you have to start thinking and looking at is the global community that your genre of music may sit inside. It wasn’t until I had gone to Sónar – which funnily enough I’m playing at, I’m closing this year – again full circle – but I went to Sónar with Matt Dear and Will back here, funny enough, and I’m like 17, 18. I’m outside, I’m lost, I’m going to India with my family and just had the chance to stop off there. This guy I know, who actually went to the same high school as me, his wife’s little sister’s locker’s next to mine, I just know him from local bars or coming to play with them at this night they did in school, to being on a stage and there’s 10,000 people and he’s playing after Richie Hawtin or Ricardo Villalobos. It wasn’t until then that my mind was like, “Boom! Whoa, this is real. This can be real.” And I mean, everyone here who’s been accepted into this program, I hope this experience is putting that in your mind, that this… This can be real. You’ve already taken those steps. I know when I was younger, also around the same time, I really wanted to come to this programme. I tried to sign up, I did the paperwork, but I was too young. Then I was old enough and then it came to America and then I wasn’t old enough again, and then I started university and I was doing parties and making music and just got on with it and gave up on the dream. And kinda…

Todd L. Burns

You gave up on this dream.

Seth Troxler

On this dream. [laughs] It was like, whatever, I’m just going to do it myself and persevere to do everything. I mean, that’s one thing about this career – [addressing audience] I’m sorry I’m having such a long-winded speech, but some of this stuff is a bit important and I’m just trying to make you guys realize that things are possible. And one thing that is really important for everyone to know: if you want this career and if you want this to be your life, you have to give up almost everything for it to be your life. It has to be an absolute. There is no half-stepping, like, “Oh, I’m going to have this little side-job now and be comfortable with that,” or trying to keep certain parts of your normality in life. To keep that dream or to really excel in it, you have to go full, 100 million % or else you won’t make it. There is no time for half-stepping. And even later in life, let’s say, once you start to become a little bit more successful, a D-list celebrity like myself, [laughs] once you start to get to this point where I’m out on the road maybe five, six days a week, and giving up some of your old, past life… I mean, it’s good to know exactly what’s in store, or what can possibly be in store for you. One of my good friends, Benoit & Sergio, this guy Ben, this kind of group, they’re on my label and also on DFA [Records], he used to be a professor at John Hopkins and now he goes and sings pop songs at raves. [laughs] He once told me, “You know, one of the funniest things is when your dreams come true at some point it can become your greatest nightmare.” You know, you change life. Your dream becomes something new, something that you’d never imagined. That’s something that you guys should really think about, what life do you want to live? What is the goal of being invested in this? And really get to the brass tacks of it, not the fame, not money or anything. That stuff doesn’t really happen anyway. I mean, you get some cash here and there, you can survive, but what’s your real goal, the real point of doing what you’re doing? And really think about that, a lot.

Todd L. Burns

Was there a moment at which you consciously made that decision, or was it just, “I’m working in a record store, here’s the next step, we’re throwing parties”?

Seth Troxler

No, we did make that very conscious decision. I was just finishing university and Visionquest, that’s the record label I have, there are four of us – my friends Ryan Crosson, Shaun Reeves and Lee Curtiss. Shaun had already moved to Europe, he was the first one to go, and then Ryan was working for his father. They had a company that they bought and sold used machinery, he used to drive around America and buy industrial machinery from companies. And Lee was a used car salesman, and I was in university studying graphic design. At some point we had been going over to Berlin every summer for years and playing over there and bringing back ideas and doing things. Then at once point we said, “You know what? Let’s do it. F— it, let’s drop everything.” So we planned that next summer we were going to move, so we got up all of our stuff and we were like, “What’s the worst that can happen? We move back to Detroit.” So we moved to Berlin, as you did at that time and I met you [gestures to Todd] there, and we were just some young kids with a dream, trying to make it happen, you know, and just kind of jumped in. I mean time in Berlin then was a lot different. This is like 2006, 2007. I think 2007 was the year we first came over… Yeah because I’ve been here almost seven years, I’ve been living in Europe for about seven years. That was all happening and we just dove in. Lee, he lasted a couple of months, went back. It was kind of crazy, we were living with our friend Shaun. At that time Gadi Mizrahi was there that summer, who’s Wolf + Lamb. Lee, Ryan and I sleeping on a futon together in Shaun’s living room. [mimes being crowded] There’s some point when you’re broke and your best friend wakes up with his arm around you a couple too many times and you’re just like [groans], you’re eating Döners every day, but we had a dream, you know? It was like, “This is what I have to do until I can make it to get something that’s working.” Luckily we didn’t have to do that for too long, but it was a couple of months trying to find a place and get some money together to do something and make it happen, but that’s the kind of thing you have to go through, to really get there, to get to the point, you know?

Todd L. Burns

I want to go back a little bit to Detroit, your time there. You said you were working in a record store at a very early age. How did you… Why was that the first job that you wanted?

Seth Troxler

Well, actually it’s kind of funny how I got the job. I was just there the other day with Ben UFO and I took him into the old record store and it’s actually one of the greatest record stores in America. We had the biggest 45 collection. I was just a kid who was coming in, I was a dork. I didn’t get any social skills until later in life, so I was really introverted, a record kid. My parents were into house music, so I’ve been listening to dance music since I was about eight. My dad had a radio show when I was younger. So, I was this kid, I would come in every weekend with my little cash, whatever I could scrape up, and buy records every single week. That’s all I thought about, and the Internet on message boards…

Todd L. Burns

What kind of records?

Seth Troxler

At the time it was kind of the same music I play now, which is really funny, and actually deeper house. My first record was on Omar S’s label FXHE, under the name Young Seth, so I was into really deep house. After going to raves in Detroit at that time and the people I was involved with, with Magda and Matt Dear and these other people, getting more into the minimal scene, there was a party at the time called Untitled – that was really the last decadent period in underground Detroit dance music. That kind of brought me more into minimalism and Perlon – this record label of Zip, Dimbiman and also famed for some of the earlier Ricardo Villalobos releases – was just happening, in its infancy. But at the time I was just going to this record store every weekend. The guy Gary, my old boss, was telling Ben and I, “Yeah, it’s really funny. This guy would come in all the time with his godfather and he’d buy these records.” And just by my taste alone and the fact that they had lost a techno buyer and I was this geek, he was like, “So, do you want to work here? You’re really nice.” He said I was a nice kid who spent money, I had good taste, so for him it was perfect. I got this job working three days a week. I’d work Thursday when the records came in and then on the weekends, just selling records to anyone of any genre. I would listen to every record that came in and try to listen to every record in the shop when I was sitting around, just so I could know. Even though you may not like some music or other music, you still know if it’s good or bad within that genre. I hate going to a record store and you go in and, people, like… You know you get this arrogant record store guy? It’s kind of funny, like at Hard Wax, which is funny enough – I’ve been going to Hard Wax for years, which is this old, famed record store in Berlin, and the guys know me there. No matter what – they know what I play – no matter what, they pull me this stuff and you’re like, “Eh, why did you just spend all that time pulling these records that you know I will not buy?” You should go to a store and there should be some type of connection, where someone just picks you records that are good for you and are good for whatever you’re saying. But I’m kind of diverging into something else.

Todd L. Burns

You mentioned Perlon and obviously you were listening to all the records, but I feel like that record label you’ve talked about before is particularly important to you, in a way.

Seth Troxler

It’s been the hugest influence, I think, on my musical direction and life. I don’t know if anyone here knows the label. It seems like there are a lot of different people here from different backgrounds, but I find that as far as electronic music goes, or abstract electronic music, it’s almost the Blue Note of our time. They did a lot of concepts and released a lot of music that was so ahead of its time – and still is – using micro-sampling, using old dub influences, bridging some gaps between what is minimalism and house, and also experimental music. And at that time, especially when they were starting, the ideas were so new. And you know, when you’re young, these new ideas are happening, it’s really like, “Wow, I can’t believe this is true.” And also coming from Detroit, having some kind of faceless – I mean, again, not knowing about the DJ culture and everything that’s going on that made people big – but just having these faceless German labels when you’re like 16 and everyone’s listening to hip-hop and you’re into these weird German people who you don’t know. It’s kist like, “This is incredible.” I remember there’s this record cover on Playhouse for one of my favorite songs ever, “Warriors” by this guy LoSoul. “Where do I belong” was the lyrics, and it had all these pictures from this old, famous club, Robert Johnson, with him and Ata and all these people like Roman Flügel and stuff. I just remember looking every day on my bed at these pictures and these people and coming up with these huge fantasies of what was actually happening. It was a small, 300-person club and it was them and their friends, but to me it was this huge idea, it was this huge dream. You know, “Oh, these guys in Frankfurt, they’re so crazy and German.” [laughs]

Todd L. Burns

It’s amazing because I think for a lot of people overseas, the perception about Detroit was the same way.

Seth Troxler

Exactly. It’s funny you say that, because when I was bringing Gerd over the other weekend or Ben, for them, just to be in Detroit was this big, wow, it was this epiphany, because for their whole lives they had always looked up to the musicianship of the city, whether it be in techno or hip-hop or whatever. There’s a lot of Dilla fans all over, and the record store I used to work at was the same record store House Shoes, who was one of the main DJs who represented that music from Detroit, worked at forever. They were like, “I can’t believe all this stuff happened here.” For us, growing up in that situation, you don’t really realize until you’re gone how much of an effect it has on you or it’s had on the world, much like them in Europe. Like, Gerd’s from Frankfurt – he’s like, yeah whatever, Robert Johnson. He’s the main resident. But for me… Actually, one of the first gigs I played in Europe, I was 18, I went with Omar S and played at Robert Johnson and Panorama Bar for him.

Todd L. Burns

Did it live up to the fantasies?

Seth Troxler

Yeah, it was kind of funny. I was really nervous and I had dreads and Omar gave me this really big T-shirt. I wear kind of not big T-shirts and I had this over-large T-shirt I ended up giving to one of his friends, like three times my size. But it’s funny how all that works out. Sometimes as well, let’s say if you’re in the middle of a movement or something happening – let’s say with you and your friends, right now you may not realize it, but maybe a few people in this room have a connection today where in 30 years, it’s like Brian Eno meeting someone else. It’s like that was the spark, that was the period, that’s when it happened. That’s stuff that you have to keep in your mind, and kind of think in the long term as well. You don’t realize it until later, but it’s kind of funny how all these things, all these experiences that you’re having now, will actually have a huge effect later, in your life.

Todd L. Burns

You went on tour with Omar, who you said put out your first record. Did you meet him at the record store?

Seth Troxler

I met him at the record store, it’s kind of funny. I’ve just gone back to playing records only, and there’s something really important about, I think, the communication that happens at a record store, and record stores being cultural places. That’s something you don’t get online buying records, being at the store, talking to people who come into the store, talking to the store clerk, making connections to other people who are into music at the store. I met Ryan Crosson, my partner who’s been my number one, we’ve done everything together, businesses, everything, and he was the first customer in the record store the first day I worked. There’s these small coincidences, there’ll be a lot of coincidences in your lives that are actually a lot more than coincidences – I think in many ways they’re fate – that you shouldn’t overlook. A lot of small meetings that become quite large down the line. It’s funny, at the time it’s like, “OK, I met this guy,” but life puts the right points in front of you and it’s your… It’s up to you to grab those moments and grab those connections and those meetings. Those are the meetings that take you on later on life, so be open to everything. When you’re meeting people, it could be a guy you may be sitting next to and just say hello to, maybe your future partner or maybe the love of your life or whatever. Everything is intertwined in a way and it’s something you have to really realize early. And then when it happens, and the more you start to realize these things, the more when things happen you’re like, “You know what? I will call you back.” Or, “Thanks for this card, let’s have a beer or something,” being polite and nice. Be nice to everyone. Huge point. Don’t be a dick. [laughter]

Straight up, because a lot of music is almost like a country club. Word gets out fast if someone’s an asshole, and it’s like, “Yeah, that guy’s cool but like, doneskis – we ain’t featuring him no more.” It’s straight up like that, if someone’s got really arrogant or anything. It’s kind of funny with arrogance or whatever. People who are just starting to do things, let’s say, in music – your first little single comes out, you get a nice review, cats be like, aw yeah, and then start acting funny. It’s like, the more success you get, the more you realize it doesn’t matter, just be normal. At some point you just want to go back to being normal. That’s kind of one thing with our party we do in Detroit. It’s the one time a year where I get to throw a party, I work the door and I’m just a normal guy again. You got to keep as long as you can being an artist or being a producer or whatever, just to be kind to people, be open for things. And don’t bust people’s balls for nothing or kind of position yourself in different ways, because everyone really is equal, no matter how great of an artist you are. And you find that people who are the best artists and the biggest artists are also the most humble, so keep that to yourself, that’s a good one. That helps a lot. [laughs]

Todd L. Burns

Why don’t we play a record really quick. This is not your first one, but early on. Let’s play a snippet of it.

(music: Seth Troxler – “Aphrika”)

Seth Troxler

This is a record that was out on a label here. This is a label here from Wolf + Lamb. This was my third record, I think? A tribute to my grandma. Later on some Moog stuff comes in. It’s kind of funny, there’s a guy back here, a Venezuelan kid back here, [points into audience] we were talking earlier. I think a lot of music that’s for mixing it’s kind of hard to judge that stuff where you’ve just got a beat, but progression of your tracks is huge. I mean, I have a record label – I’m actually about to have three record labels and we’re signing tracks. Musical progression and also simplicity of a song is something that you start to recognize a lot more and more. Don’t throw loads of stuff in your tracks just to throw loads of stuff in your tracks, tricks and that. As long as it flows and works, that’s are the tracks that normally sell the best and also become the best songs in your own discography.

Todd L. Burns

That particular track, there’s this one moment in there that’s like a glitch, almost.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, yeah.

Todd L. Burns

I was really interested in why you left that in.

Seth Troxler

I think mistakes are cool, whether you’re DJing or whatever. Perfection – no one really likes perfection in any part of life I find, whether you meet someone and they’ve got funny teeth, you’re like, “Oh, that’s cute, what’s up?” [laughs] That search for perfection is kind of pointless. I think in music as well, if things are over-produced it just doesn’t sound human. You miss that... That realness, you know? That’s always been a difference between my production style and my best friend Ryan. He tools and tools over stuff forever and at some point you lose some of the essence, rather than just being like, “Yo, that’s good. F--- it, let’s roll.” I think that’s kind of cool about music at times, you can just have a tune. Don’t be sloppy, but a little sloppiness, a little mess-up or off rhythm here or there is kind of what keeps things original in a way. I think when you’re listening to music or hearing music – and right now with the digital age a lot of people are going back to older production techniques that are more human, and perfection’s a bit over. Perfection was last season. I like polka dots now. [laughter]

Todd L. Burns

Your record label Visionquest that you run with Ryan, Shaun and Lee – one of the things about it is that you pay a lot of attention to the art and the... The branding of it, I suppose, is the maybe dirty word for it.

Seth Troxler

[violently coughs] Excuse me. I’m dying!

It’s kind of funny that you say art and branding, because I pay extreme attention to detail. One thing that I wanted to talk to you guys about, is some realness that goes along with being polite, is being extremely mindful of your personal brand. Who you are and building a personal brand, or just an image of who you are as an artist or as a studio producer. Well, mainly an artist, behind the scenes you don’t really need to build that personal brand.

Todd L. Burns

How do you do that without appearing as though you’re building a personal brand?

Seth Troxler

It’s kind of funny, that’s what I’ve made a career out of in a way. But it’s just being mindful of how everything is, how everything looks, especially with the digital age today and Facebook, MySpace, all this stuff. It’s about putting out something where people can look at you, can look to your music or can kind of date back, but it’s always there. It will always be in public forever now with the Internet, it’s forever stamped. Earlier you kind of build an image for yourself, whether it’s really tongue in cheek, whether it’s just yourself, or just what people know you for, the more that your fanbase becomes familiar with that... For me, in many ways, it’s a way to distance yourself from your real self and your artistry, because at times the more you get in, it’s hard for those two things to come together.

Todd L. Burns

So would you say Seth Troxler, the artist, is much different than Seth Troxler, the person?

Seth Troxler

It’s not so much different, that’s how you keep it real, but also it is a bit played up. At the end of the day it’s entertainment, so when you’re creating these images for these people you have to be a bit more outgoing. No one really wants a super-introverted, dark, “I wear my jacket at night with my mother”-type vibes. I was just trying to come up with something really Norman Bates, I don’t know. We were talking about that earlier.

Todd L. Burns

It is interesting. Like, Richie Hawtin, Plastikman, that’s a dark, introverted character.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, but also with Rich, one thing about that character is, I don’t know if you guys know who Richie Hawtin is, but there’s few people in this industry who are on top of every single point of everything. It’s that meticulous nature of what you’re trying to create. Who is the character or the general art concept? Being conceptual is everything. That’s more the point with personal brand-building. I mean, if you look at labels like Ghostly or M-nus, there’s a huge, deep concept behind that. Even Visionquest, there’s a concept behind things, and I think our label would have been even bigger if we had more precise with the art direction. The earlier you can lock into that art direction, either your artist or your label, and create a clear, precise vision of what that is, then I think the more success you’ll have in either field. Just being precise and being on top and involved with every single decision like, “Boom, no, it’s like this.” Create a vision, not just, I’m making music because it’s cool. If you’re going to go for it, go for it. One person who’s really great, and this is an example, but Lady Gaga, she is so precise. I know some people who know her and work with her. Or Daft Punk – Daft Punk’s great because they’re so big right now – they’re so precise behind every decision that they’ve made. The music’s always been okay, but the success kind of breaks down to their personal brand-building and their personal image. At some point they were like, “We’re going to ditch just being two geeky French guys, put on these masks and create a whole fantasy.” Because in some ways my own personal success has been behind the fantasy that people believe that I may be. I can be a loose guy but I’m also a very organised, precise person. By people in some ways living out their own fantasies through your music or through your person, as a character, or through your label’s vision, and then being able to identify their own selves through that brand... I liked, when I was a kid, let’s say Ghostly, Spectral. They’ve done an amazing job with linking alternative, young art student kids or college kids to their brand. It’s like you identify yourself – I listen to this music because it’s the kind of person I want to be. The kind of clothes that I wear, from every single point down. That’s really important, that’s how the world works and this is a truth. With artists, let’s say this kid right here, he kind of looks like someone who likes minimal techno or industrial. [laughter]

Todd L. Burns

You need to hear his music.

Seth Troxler

But at the same time, if you look at people like, let’s go back to Richie Hawtin, a lot of the people who go with that brand, with that music, they had created a perfect imagery where everyone going to those parties felt like they were inclusive into that idea, into that style of living, and that’s important.

Todd L. Burns

One of the things you’ve tried to do, kind of in the style of Rich’s lineage of throwing parties and building spaces, is these Visionquest parties. One of the biggest ones you did was at DC10 last year in Ibiza. Can you talk about what you did to the space and why it was so important to you to transform it?

Seth Troxler

So, right now I’m doing a project called Visionquest 13. Visionquest is the label that we have, and we’re doing 13 events. Coming into this, we were thinking, or I was thinking, I was like, “OK, what hasn’t changed in our music or events?” Basically, dance music events have been in the same space or the same format for 30 years. Nothing’s really changed, you’re in a dark club. Then I was like, “OK, musically things have changed, but I’m not a crazy musical innovator.” I know in my heart I’m not going to make the best album ever that’s going to change the world, that’s just not going to happen. So it’s like, “How else can we produce change?” So we thought, OK... The best idea that I came up with, the environment of clubbing, club culture hasn’t changed. I thought back on experiences I had in my life and I was like, “Well, the experiences that did affect me the most in my life, that changed my life really, were the experiences where both the environment was almost a one-off.” When the environment had changed for that one specific time, only that once could you experience it. Also there some things going on with immersive theatre in London, like You Me Bum Bum Train, or there’s a group here, Sleep No More, where you go to these warehouses and you’re kind of in this pop-up environment space. So we were like, “OK, let’s make pop-up environments.” A one-off event where you can go into this entire living environment, experience these things and then only for that one night would they be there. So, DC10 for a decade it’s always just been this outside and two inside spaces and that’s it. Sometimes they put a stage up, but it’s never actually changed, it’s always exactly the same. To add effect we made the whole outside almost carnival-y. There was these teepees everywhere you could go into, huge balloons, oil lamps, a real spectacle. Then you go inside and it was like this Twin Peaks-type situation, red curtains everywhere, draping. Then you went into the back room – that’s normally the huge terrace – and it was like this maze that you had to go through and there were these boxes where you could relax in, that were made of triangles. There’s huge fog everywhere and velvet and stuff. You could go do all these things. There’s a telephone in a corner with a light on it, very Lynchian, that you could pick up and then on the other line there’s another phone outside in the garden that had other people on it. Trying to create experiences, you know? At the back of that we were like, “Wow, we should do some more of these.” So then this year we took 13 gigs around the world and found spaces that were like that. We tried to do one Fabric and we did one at Warehouse Project, a big party in Manchester the other week, and tried to take spaces right now that were very normal. People had been going to Warehouse Project, it’s been open for how many years, no one’s ever changed it. You can make a huge impact by doing small things. Let’s say if you’re a promoter – this is also another huge point if you’re making music or trying to start something, is getting involved in your local scene. Like my man here from Turkey throwing events, making your own culture happen. That’s a big way how we became successful. Creating our own... You know, no one’s going to give it to you. There’s enough cake for everybody but you got to go get your cake. You got to get that cake on your own. You’re not going to horde the cake. You got to be like, “Yo, I’m going to bake my own cake and then when I want to give somebody else some cake, they can have some cake. It’s my cake.” But you made that cake, you made that piece of the pie for yourself, you created that niche. You know? Creating that niche is something that’s always yours, that’s something that can be really strong, so that’s something we’re trying to capitalize on. I’m going to have to cut somebody if they come in here steal my ideas, but creating something new, and we want to start creating immersive-environment events because it’s something that’s not really happening yet. Being from marketing, one of the biggest things is the ‘law of first’. If you’re the first person to do something... Coca Cola was the first cola company, forever they’ll be number one because they were the first. If you look at Kellogg’s for cereal, forever number one. It doesn’t work like this in all industries, but in most. Like Red Bull, first energy drink, leaps and bounds ahead of every competition. If you can come into something and be the first to do that and really push out like, “Yo, boom, I hit first,” as Kendrick Lamar or whatever that dude was saying. People are like, “That dude, you did hit it first,” and people remember that. So, that’s an important thing to do, whether it’s throwing events, making music, coming up with ideas first and then really putting down your plot. That’s your personal brand, this is our brand idea, this is what we stand for. It’s important.

Todd L. Burns

Speaking of first, you were voted the number one DJ by the Resident Advisor readers last year. How have things changed since then?

Seth Troxler

It’s kind of funny. This is back to the thing, your biggest dream may become your worst nightmare. Success is a funny thing. It’s something that you strive and strive for and then once you have it, it becomes a burden more than anything else. So, it’s been cool, but it’s also been a bit funny. The two previous years I was number three then number two, then number one. Before that, when you’re number three and number two, you can just do your thing and people come to your parties and you’re cool. As soon as you become number one people start gunning for you.

Todd L. Burns

Who’s gunning for you? [laughs]

Seth Troxler

I don’t know, but it just seems different. It’s just weird. Also people start going to your events or your parties knowing nothing really about you, just the fact you’re quote-unquote number-one, and that’s uncomfortable. That’s the wrong side of the hype-train that you want to be on. If you can live in this world that’s kind of in between, doing your thing and whatever, it’s cool. It’s also depending on what you want to go for. I mean, Jamie Jones and I – I don’t know if you guys know this, he’s another electronic music artist – actually, last year he was number one and I was number two – but we were also on the same agency and doing a lot of stuff together. We played together all the time. After that year I broke off to leave to William Morris, a different booking agency, and he stayed with his crew. And also he’s trying to go down a bit of a pop route, where I’ve turned ‘round like, “Well, I’m going to go back underground,” you know, it’s just more comfortable for me. It’s making that choice of where you want to be and what you want to do, if you want to be an underground artist or an overground artist. He’s always looked at this level of success and he’s more comfortable with it, where for me it’s uncomfortable. That’s a big point, finding what you want to do with this whole thing, where you want to go. Like, I know at 15 I had a point in my mind, almost this point, it’s almost like, that’s where I’m going to go by this age. Define what you’re going to do. Be like, for real, this is it, I am going to eat, live, die, do whatever I can to get there – besides being a dick. Whatever I can do, I’m going to get there by all means possible, because that’s why I’m here to do this. This is what I’ve put my life into and you give everything for to reach that level and that’s it. That’s kind of what’s up.

Todd L. Burns

You said you wanted to go underground in general terms, but specifically, what do you mean by that?

Seth Troxler

By going back underground. I mean, at some point it was kind of funny trying to reach number one or whatever.

Todd L. Burns

Was that a goal, a specific goal?

Seth Troxler

At some point it did become a goal, because I did number three, number two and I was just like... Actually, last year before I got to number one I was like, “Maybe we could try to do something to stay at number two,” because I didn’t want the pressure. I was like, “How can we lose but just by a bit?” [laughs]

But in the back of your mind it becomes a thing. There’s something about being an artist, this kind of narcissism, which kinds of feeds you, but you can’t let out, which is kind of funny. It’s being completely comfortable with being uncomfortable. I heard this great thing from Deepak Chopra but I forgot the quote, but he was saying something about really talented people. He was like, “They are comfortable with knowing that they are uncomfortable or uneasy around people.” It’s a weird thing but there is definitely this tic I find with successful people that’s different, there’s a drive. All the people I know in any type of business that are really successful have this same kind of, not narcissism, but the same thing that makes it work. It gives them this extra drive level; believing in yourself a lot, but not believing in yourself, which makes no sense but it really does work. It’s like – oh god, this is another great quote. It’s about New Order. I read in NME, they had this big piece on them and they were saying, at the time when New Order was really happening, journalists had never met somebody who was so shy, yet so confident. That’s pretty huge, being in the back but knowing, boom, it’s happening. This is legit. But not being outspoken like, “Yo, I’m the best!” That’s not cool. But being in your mind humble and kind of reserved, like many of the artists you’ve seen here have all been really cool. I know Kieran, Four Tet’s been in here and Mat Jonson and they’re all really humble, nice guys but still forever have known they’re some of the best in the industry.

Todd L. Burns

Why don’t we play another track, because I want to use it as a jumping off point to talk about partying.

(music: The Royal We – “Party Guilt”)

There’s a voice-over on that track, obviously. Is that you?

Seth Troxler

Yeah, it’s me, it’s kind of funny.

Todd L. Burns

You’re talking about, every time someone wants something, or every time you come to me you want something.

Seth Troxler

I’m talking about kind of scene shit, or this party bullsh--, I guess. [laughs]

Todd L. Burns

The track is called “Party Guilt”.

Seth Troxler

Which sometimes you get as well if you go out too long. You feel like, “Why did I do this? What am I doing with my life?” That is something that may come to all of you as well, this big doubt phase. Like, “What am I doing with my life?” – which you have to overcome, I guess.

Todd L. Burns

Have you overcome it?

Seth Troxler

No, you never really quite do, which is funny enough. I mean, I’m doing well and everything but even now there’s many times – my tour manager over here can attest to that – where I’m like, after a gig, it may be a huge show but I wasn’t really into the crowd or the people and stuff and you’re kind of in this thing. Like I said, I’m trying to go back underground. The other weekend when I played at EDC and I’m playing for these kids and stuff, I was like, “What am I doing with my life? Why am I here?” There’s like 3000 people in front of you but you’re still, “I’m never satisfied.” This track I was talking about, at that time I was living in Berlin. I liked to go to parties, I liked to hang out and have a good time, but there’s a thing within scenes where you meet scene people – every scene is like that – and they just start asking you for things, or they just talk about parties or talk about everything else. It’s important to have – this more than anything – it’s important to have a real life, or try to keep a real life. Even though I was saying dedicate everything in your life to this, it’s also pretty good to have a little...

Todd L. Burns

So how do you get that balance?

Seth Troxler

I don’t know, I’m trying to figure that out, really. Stick with some of your crew, stick with some of your friends. All the people around me have been around me for over a decade, basically. All my friends, even my girlfriend, I’ve known for like seven, eight years. The more you can keep of your old life... It’s a funny thing, because you have to at some points ditch your life to become successful, but there’s also some points you want to keep from that to keep you grounded. So, it’s up to everyone but it’s hard living your dream and being a musician, especially being a travelling musician, is something that if you want to do it, it’s really extremely difficult. It’s a life that’s not for everyone. Knowing that it’s going to be like that, or it can be like that, is a good way for you to judge how you want to use your skills and your talents. If you want to stay in one city, maybe trying to go out to be in a huge band or something isn’t the best of ideas. Or if you’re pretty homey, even one of the guys from Visionquest, Lee, he doesn’t like touring, he doesn’t like going out on the road, he likes sitting at home and drinking beer and barbecuing and chilling in the studio. He’s made that choice and that’s how his career panned out, whereas I live for the road – I mean, I don’t live for it, but it’s something I’ve become accustomed to.

Todd L. Burns

So, does everyone in Visionquest sort of have a different function, in a way? Like, Lee is this guy who likes the studio, you like to go out and DJ all the time...

Seth Troxler

Yeah, I mean we all have different roles. A lot of the label and everything is run by Ryan and I. We come up with a lot of the concepts. I’m like a conceptual guy, Ryan is a business major, so he does a lot of the accounting and other stuff. Coming up with a crew or a business behind you is really important as well. If you’re going to do something, having a team. I mean, I now have maybe, at this point in my life, including the label and my management team and everything, about nine, ten people who work with us, around us. That’s even a small number.

Todd L. Burns

What was the moment at which you said, “I need a manager”?

Seth Troxler

Actually, kind of funny, my original manager over here, my friend Mike, he was my agent and then someone who just helped me along with things. But then, technically I got a manager manager, I switched to a larger agency, William Morris, it’s one of the bigger talent agencies in the world. To work with them you have to have a manager. But let’s say if you’re a rapper or a pop person, it’s important to have someone, have that team out there representing you and making deals that you actually don’t have the time to do. It comes under time management.

Todd L. Burns

How did you choose them? Because, I think obviously having a manager, time management, but trusting them enough to make those decisions...

Seth Troxler

I always work with friends. Go on impressions, go on first, second impressions. Work with people that you actually trust. Some of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life have been not on-paper the best decisions, but they’ve been decisions that were good in my heart. Not the best decisions on paper, but, let’s say, a couple of big labels have approached me, or big agencies, and they’re like, “Come with us, let’s do this.” And we were like, “My guys over here and we looked at how everything played out and it wasn’t the best for you.” Even though on paper it’s like, this looks money, this could be good, or I’m about to join these hype people or whatever, it may actually not be. And that’s actually ruined a lot of people who took that decision, and I went the other way and then at the end I was like [grins] happy I went the other way, happy I took my own route. Going your own way and making your own thing is everything and goes back to the cake thing – like, why should I go and get somebody else’s cake, when they can kind of give you cake when they want to, when you can go and make your own thing. Stay close to those other people, you know, be polite, keep a working relationship with them, or a polite openness in case you guys do collaborate later. It’s cool and that’s one thing I’ve found with all those people who once offered me work or kind of wanted me to come with their crew and I was like, “Nah, dude, I’m straight.” They still will work with you because they still want something from you. They still want to be involved with you. However, taking that step back and being like, “Yo, we can be involved together but I need to be in control of my own stuff,” they respect that at the end. At the moment, a lot of those bigger artists or agencies are like, “F--- this guy, I can’t believe he just said that or led us on.” But then at the end of the day, we’ve always stayed in contact and they’ve been like, “Hey, would you come do this for us?” So, you still get to do those events or work with those artists, but you’re still in control of your own destiny.

Todd L. Burns

I think the point you say of them respecting your decision to control your own thing is an important one.

Seth Troxler

It’s all about doing everything; any business decision you make can be looked back at. Like I said earlier, about the country club thing – it’s about doing things respectfully the entire time, [from when] you take the step into this business to the point you take the step out, doing things the right way, with the right intentions. Don’t screw up your old friends or your old business partners, because a couple of years down the line those decisions are things that may really come back to bite you. When you treat everyone with respect, do everything the right way. Let’s say if you leave an agency, do it the right way. Like, “Hey, thank you.” There’s a proper way to do this. Just never be wrong.

Todd L. Burns

Don’t be a dick.

Seth Troxler

Don’t be a dick. I think that’s biggest thing. Do not be a dick. Seriously, it’s really important and it’s easy to get wrapped up in stuff. You’re like, “Yeah, this is cool,” and a couple of times I’ve started to be a dick and people are like, “Yo, you’re being a dick.” And I was like, “Maybe you’re right.” [laughter] But having the comfort in yourself to realize that, and when people give you suggestions, people that you trust, to take that and not having the ego and having a low ego to accept those ideas, that what really makes you and takes you to the next level as an artist, or whatever you want to do, is being humble and taking advice from people. Good and bad, but just take that advice. Listen when people talk to you, especially when people who have been working in things for a long time and who you respect tell you something and it’s like, “Maybe dude’s right.” You know? You can’t do it all on your own and you should make your own eyes and visions about things, but take advice from people. A lot of times people want to help you and want to help you for nothing else than just helping you. Also times, I think this is one thing you’ve got to really know, it’s like A Tribe Called Quest said, “Yo, the record industry is shady, so watch your back as well.” Look out for contracts, look out for clauses. This stuff is all really mega-important down the line, because loads of people get caught up in deals that, like I said, look good on the paper and at the end of the day, it’s not good. You’re stuck and then you’re kind of pigeonholed. It’s happened to Prince or whatever, he had to change his name and stuff. It’s about being mindful about everything.

Todd L. Burns

I know earlier you said you’re quite eager to take questions from the audience.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, definitely.

Todd L. Burns

You’re wanting to give back, so why don’t we go ahead and open it up?

Seth Troxler

Please, that would be great. Do you guys need to take this microphone or do we share one? Does anyone have any questions? I don’t want to talk about myself too long.

Audience Member

Hey there.

Seth Troxler

How you doing? What’s your name, dude?

Audience Member

Alan.

Seth Troxler

Alan, how you doing?

Audience Member

Good, how are you?

Seth Troxler

Very well. I’m cool. Talking a lot.

Audience Member

Too much Red Bull, eh?

Seth Troxler

Yeah, it’s like my first one in years, but that blueberry jam, I was like, “This tastes like some cheap blueberry pancakes.” It does. Anyway, whatever.

Todd L. Burns

Expensive. [laughter]

Audience Member

I actually have a few questions. The first, you mentioned, you talked a lot about having respect with everybody when you’re dealing with contracts or...

Seth Troxler

Just life, from like the doorman to the guy in the bathroom to the guy throwing the party.

Audience Member

I find it’s been quite difficult to say no to people and maintain a good relationship with them afterwards. Even if you do it in the most respectful way, you hear things afterwards, like they started talking sh-- about you, if you say no to them. Or if you decline a proposition they’ll think you’re against them. So, how do you approach saying no to people?

Seth Troxler

That’s a funny one, because I’ve also had that same situation. It’s kind of funny, because at some point the people who really talk bad about you when you say no to them when they’re propositioning you, are often people who... I don’t know, in these situations where this has happened, have they been local people or more high up labels or other things like that?

Audience Member

I don’t know, it just seems to happen, not just to me, but I’ve seen it happen to a lot of people as well. If you just express that you’re not interested, but that you respect what they’re doing, there’s always like...

Seth Troxler

Just that, saying thank you, but no thank you, if they can’t respect that then it’s not someone you should be working with anyway, at the end of the day, because there’s going to be trouble. It’s a bit funny – this is really kind of tacky – but, it’s later on and it shows if things are going to be tidy when you’re working with someone. If someone can accept that you said no, maybe right now you don’t want to work with them, but later on you may come back and be like, “OK, actually let’s do something together now.” Where I have in my rider – this is really cheesy – I have Pimms and one pair of socks, that’s all I have. Pimms is this drink you can mix or whatever. And I got this thing out of this, I think they’re not Mötley Crue but...

Todd L. Burns

It’s the blue M&Ms.

Seth Troxler

The blue and red M&M thing. Everyone knows this? David Lee Roth had said that when they were doing their shows, they had this thing about two red to every blue M&M. And it’s not about the M&Ms or anything, it’s about the fact that when they showed up to those gigs, stadium-packing gigs, they realized that when they showed up and there was blue and red M&Ms, they knew the whole night was going to be sweet. They showed up, there was M&Ms, they were like, “These guys are paying attention to detail but not total attention.” Then they showed up and there’s no M&Ms, they’re like, “Yo, there’s going to be problems.” It’s like me showing up to a gig and there’s socks at the beginning and Pimms. I’m like, “Yo, cool, things are on point.” And 90% of the time the whole night goes without any issues, because I know these people are paying attention to detail, they’re always polite and nice. It’s kind of coming back to this. Finding red flags, I think is the biggest point. The more red flags you see, if a mouse looks like a mouse eating cheese, he might be a mouse. [laughter] The more red flags you pick up upon meeting someone, or upon your business dealings, notice those and maybe feel them out. Take that as, maybe this isn’t as good as it looks on paper. That’s a big thing, that’s really big. So, maybe these people are like, “Yo, I can’t believe that.” I also don’t know how you’ve said no to these people, but you seem like a really polite guy, so it’s just like, hey, they’re already tripping on you. Then later on, in your working relationship, they’ll probably have that same kind of possessiveness, which is something you really don’t want as an artist because it makes you feel trapped, I think, in many ways.

Audience Member

Second question: you’re on the road quite a bit and you have a girlfriend as you mentioned. How do you handle that?

Seth Troxler

[exhales]

Todd L. Burns

Maybe you should ask her.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, how does she handle it? Actually, it’s more on her side. I mean, I had a fiancée before this and this is when I was shooting for number one in a way and I was really, really determined on work, and she was a ballerina and she was really determined on work, and we couldn’t find time for each other. I’ve got to say, if you’re really working and travelling a lot, having a relationship is a horrible idea. This is bad to say, but it really doesn’t work and you don’t have that time to be attentive to another person. If you can see someone three times, four times a month, that’s not really a relationship in many ways. I mean, I’m in a situation now where something happened and I’m dating one of my oldest friends, so we’re taking the opportunity and working with it. But also, she works in our industry, she does all the logistics for Richie Hawtin, so she knows how things work, she’s comfortable with that. I mean, if you’re trying to have a relationship with someone, generally in life, find someone who’s comfortable with you, and knows you and likes you and knows what they’re going to get. At the beginning I was like, “This is all I can offer. This is all it’s going to be, and this is how it’s going to be maybe for another ten years. Sorry.” [laughs] But they know. And transparency in anything in your life is really important. That’s, I think, everything if you’re trying to have a relationship, working or physical. Transparency is the point. Like, what are we working for? What’s going to happen here, what’s the future? This is what we can offer, are you comfortable with that? Maybe that sits well with saying no to people. Be like, “Hey, I’d love to but this is all that I can offer. Currently, at this time, it’s not possible, but maybe let’s look towards the future and keeping this going.” That’s a good way to say no. I say that a lot; “I’d love to but I can’t, and have you met Alex my tour manager? Maybe talk to him a little bit more. I got to go.” “I’ve got to go,” is a good one. “I just farted,” as well. [laughter]

Todd L. Burns

Transparency, I appreciate that.

Seth Troxler

See? I farted, I told everyone. Transparent. [laughter]

Audience Member

OK, last question. You’re on the road, you said, about five times a week?

Seth Troxler

[addresses tour manager] Alex, what are we doing right now, four, five gigs a week? Four or five a week.

Audience Member

You’re staying up late, you’re probably consuming alcohol or whatever.

Seth Troxler

I don’t know, I feel I get loose, but other times I don’t get loose at all, so it’s about the balance.

Audience Member

OK, but you’re staying up late and then you have to wake up early to catch a flight with a germ-infested aeroplane. How do you stay healthy? Do you have any rituals to stay healthy when you’re on the road?

Seth Troxler

Kind of funny, we don’t. [laughs] We eat right. We eat real good, I eat constantly, as you can tell! [laughter]

But no, I think one of the things is training your body to fit with your lifestyle. You know, some people go one route where they have to be really healthy. I’ve kind of just raved every weekend since I was 14, so my body’s kind of used to it. [laughs]

Todd L. Burns

So you need a decade-plus of experience to do it properly.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, no, but it’s kind of funny how your body changes. My body clock now knows that on the weekends it’s not going to really sleep, so even when I’m not doing that, my body knows at that time that it will be up for a long period of time. It’s training your body. It’s hard. I actually don’t get sick that often, which is really incredible. [coughs]

Todd L. Burns

He says, coughing.

Seth Troxler

Besides this cough that’s lasted my whole life. But it’s just about finding some balance and whatever works for you, in any way possible. I mean, touring is extremely hard and it’s not for everyone. That’s something people need to realize, because it’s easy to break down and it’s easy to wear yourself out. Like, right now I even think I’m touring too much and I’m trying to cut it down for the next quarter, for the final quarter of the year. It’s strong, it’s very hard. What a lot of touring people don’t really understand is, let’s say you play until five AM, six AM or whatever. You’re done, your flight’s at ten, 11. Let’s say it’s ten. Six AM, you’re not really going to get to bed until seven, if you’re good. So then you’ve got two hours in bed, then you’ve got to pack your stuff, go to the airport. And then you fly, transfer, get to the other city. You’ve got a couple more hours then you go to a dinner. You’ve got an hour before the show, two hours before the show, then you’re back in. You have a whole day and it seems like a lot of time, but it’s actually not a lot of time to just relax and lay down. So you’ve got to learn how to sleep on planes and buses and every single place you can, and rest when you can. Days when you’re off it’s like, “Yo, I’m just going to post up in room, watch crappy TV and sleep forever.”

Todd L. Burns

So, what are your travel essentials? Fresh socks?

Seth Troxler

Fresh socks, yeah. Straight up, fresh socks when you’re travelling all the time. If I could wear new socks every day, it would be like magic. Fresh socks at the airport when you’re looking horrible, your shirt’s open, you’re sweating, but you’re like, “I got new socks on, this is incredible!” [laughter]

Todd L. Burns

What else are the most important things you’re taking when you’re going on tour?

Seth Troxler

Alex, my tour manager, [laughs] I think is pretty important for me. Just basic stuff. I have loads of toothbrushes all the time. Any time you get a dental kit at a hotel, grab one, put it in your bag, eye mask. It’s pretty basic stuff. I don’t know how many people are touring here, but coming up with ways to make it comfortable for yourself, whatever it may be, bringing a friend, doing whatever you can just to be comfortable, living and easy.

Todd L. Burns

Did that answer your question?

Audience Member

Yes.

Todd L. Burns

Excellent.

Seth Troxler

That airborne stuff, what are those things called? Everescence, those are really good to have as much as possible.

Audience Member

What’s that?

Seth Troxler

Evanescence, they’re these kind of Alka Seltzer type tabs with loads of vitamins and stuff. Drink one of those every morning, twice a day. It’s kind of all the nutrients and calcium and all that stuff in it. Water. I don’t drink enough water, but if I drank more water I think I’d feel better and not be fat. Just eat well, drink a lot of water.

Audience Member

Vitamins.

Seth Troxler

I don’t really mess with vitamins so much, but those drinkable ones kind of work. I figure if you expose yourself to a lot of bacteria and then don’t allow it to live in your body, then your immune system builds. But if you take too many vitamins and stuff... I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.

Todd L. Burns

Did you have any more questions?

Audience Member

No, I’m good.

Todd L. Burns

OK, does anyone else?

Audience Member

Hey, how’s it going?

Seth Troxler

Yo, what’s up?

Audience Member

I’m just wondering, have you got any plans to get back in the studio and make some more music?

Seth Troxler

Yeah, definitely man. That’s one thing as well, this is a really good question. When you have time to make music, let’s say before success is really popping off, make as much music as physically possible. Because if you’re touring all the time, getting in the studio and just having the drive to want to make music, it gets lower and lower. And that’s something I don’t think a lot of people really understand. Some artists are great about that, they can multi-task and be on the road. Like Jamie Jones, he can be on the road five days a week, then those two days be up in the studio. I got two days off, I’m sitting on the couch. I’m going to my room and eating my motherf---ing Chinese food. [laughter] I don’t know if anybody watches Curb, but yeah. [laughs] It’s about finding time to really do your craft. I spend a lot of time on buying records and looking for music and then over the past, I think, two or three years, I’ve only done collaborations. Also, because I’m always away, I don’t like making music in headphones. It’s hard to get studio time or rebuild your studio. I’ve moved and done all these things, lost things, broken computers and then just building a new studio again’s been kind of hard. I’ve kind of recently built a studio in London and we’re going to build one this summer in Ibiza to work on music, and I’ve got a project coming up where I’m doing a remix for Wild Nothing. I’m getting back in the remix game, I just did a remix for Matt Dear, slowly, because it’s a bit easier to work with parts than to come up with new concepts. Also, I took a bit of time off to really develop what I wanted to do with music. It’s good to make music to make music, but it’s not good to put out music just to put out music. That’s something that’s important. Just because you’re making loads of stuff, doesn’t mean everything has to come out. Put out stuff when it’s really good. That’s one thing that’s helped, I think, my career in many ways. I’ve always put out music that was good on bigger labels, or projects that were worthwhile, rather than, “Alright, I’m going to find so-and-so, like, some cat on the internet wants to put out some tracks of mine.” Sure, just doing a bunch of stuff with small labels, it doesn’t really have the impact for you as an artist that takes you to another level. If you’re going to put out music, if you put out music on bigger labels, instantly you’re in the same tier as the other artists on those labels, so you’re looked at, at that tier. One thing with music is, and being booked as an artist, there’s about five or six different tiers or levels that you go in. There’s the booking fee, the guy you can book at your local bar for like 100 bucks, and there’s the 100 to, let’s say, 300 dollar range, and there’s like three to seven, and then 700 to like 1500, and then there’s 2000 to 3000, and three to five, and then five and up. These are kind of the tiers that things go in and when you’re in the five to tens then you’re just kind of there and your gigs range between three to 30, 40 grand. It just depends on what your standing is.

Todd L. Burns

Going back to the releasing music thing, what if these big labels aren’t calling?

Seth Troxler

If the big labels aren’t calling, and you’re sending stuff out – this is the thing, they don’t have to be majors, but respected labels. That can be a small, independent label like my own. Independent, respected labels is a lot better than putting out a record on an unknown independent label, because you’re still crawling your way up. They’re even fighting to get any exposure, so you’re not going to get any exposure. Even if it may be a great tune, it still may not hit like it can. And being really conscious about where you put out your music, when you put out your music, how often you put out your music... One mistake a lot of artists have, “OK, I’m going to put out a lot of music on a bunch of different labels and it’s cool because all these labels are hot right now.” It doesn’t really build you as an artist. It’s better to pick, let’s say, a couple of crews you’re down with or one crew, hopefully... stick with them, build something, build a plan. Let’s say you want to have three records a year. You shouldn’t really put out more than four singles, five singles a year. Five is a lot already. Three, four is good. Quarterly is alright, but I think three good records a year, maybe a couple of remixes... Being out in the press is good, but not having loads like people who’ve put out a record every couple of weeks on a different label. It doesn’t really help your discography much and also the quality control isn’t as high. Quality control is so important, and sitting on music until the quality is good enough. So what if people aren’t calling right the next day? If you keep keeping on, and you keep those relationships open with these labels and the people who work there, go out and be part of things. One thing that’s super, super important is being involved in the scene, and going out, going around the world and meeting people. A couple of people who are in here, I’ve seen around the world and they’re out. There’s this guy in Detroit, this kid Ted Crisco, he’s started this group. He’s like a new Detroit kid and one thing we’ve really noticed is, for the past two years... I mean, we didn’t really know Ted, I knew him a little bit before, but now we see him everywhere, and he’s grinding. He’s there, he’s at every festival, he’s there meeting people, he’s having a good time, and everyone starts to know him. You’re like, “Woah, there’s that kid again.” I mean, I was that kid forever. I was that kid, I was everywhere, never really talking about myself but just hanging out. You meet people and they’re like, “What’s up? It’s you again.” You start to talk and things start to naturally progress and happen. That’s a lot of things in life. It’s not what you do but who you know and that’s a truth in life. You can have a great degree from a great school, but if you have horrible networking skills and aren’t the best person to be around, chances are things aren’t going to go so well for you. You can have nothing in life, but if you’re out, you’re meeting people constantly and people are remembering you, the chances are the quicker it will be that they want to ask you to do something for them. I know with our label, we don’t sign anyone that we don’t really know, because also at the end of the day, when you’re having a label or building a family, you want the people on your label to also... They’re people who are going to represent you as a label worldwide. You don’t want some kid who’s screaming your label’s name all over the world and being a dick. You just like, god, because people are like, “That crew, they’re suspect.” It’s about going out, meeting people and going globally, thinking global. Thinking global is everything. Don’t think local, think global, and get involved. The more you get involved, the more you meet people, the easier it is to place your music in places that are of status. I never sent out a demo once in my life to a label, I had just met people around the world. Or even my DJ sets, I just met people from going out and they’re like, “Oh, you’re cool, I heard you play me cool music,” or, “Hey, send us something, I’m really interested,” because you’ve already taking that step. You’re already in, rather than blind sending people stuff. This is something I wanted to touch on earlier; if you’re sending music out, do not send links to your SoundCloud. It’s, as a label, instant no interest. It’s cool but once you click on a song, and it’s not out, but it’s been heard by 2000 people or whatever, you’re like, “I don’t want that. I have no interest in that.” Even though it might be hot, you’re just like, no. It’s not there. Personalize things. Make things for that label. Start to meet the people first, from those labels. Build some interest with them so that you guys are talking and then be like, “Hey, I’m making this for you, even though it may not fit at that time.” We’ve got artists who it’s taken a year, two years of them sending us music, where we’re finally like, “Yeah, this is right.” And then they come into the family. We’ll be like, “Alright, so we’re going to put you out on this compilation now, then we’re going to make a plan for you to have a single then and then it’s like boom, boom, boom, boom.” This is the natural progression of how a lot of labels and things work; truly this is how the game works, so getting out there and just being involved with those things is really what’s going to push you further.

Todd L. Burns

So to answer your question, he’s working on some remixes.

Seth Troxler

Yeah. [laughs]

Audience Member

Thanks. [laughter]

Seth Troxler

Yeah, I got some new hot jams.

Audience Member

Are you feeling a bit more pressure now that you’re Resident Advisor number one and a lot of people maybe looking at you more?

Seth Troxler

Completely, and that’s one reason why I kind of stopped making music in a way. Because the more success you get, the more people want to judge you, in one way, but also, if you make a couple of wrong steps then it’s gone. That’s music, people are fickle, things are forever changing. You do kind of get this thing in your mind where you’re like, “Woah, if I mess up then it could be over tomorrow.” That’s a lot of pressure in itself, especially the higher you go, just falling is a fear. Let’s say, I make this single and I think it’s cool and then it gets horrible reviews, and then I do another single and it gets horrible reviews – two or three of those in a row, you’re not the flavour of the week anymore, you’re something that people used to know. That’s scary. That also goes back to the whole thing of releasing too much music. You might have put out a couple of tracks in a row that were hot and then you put out three that weren’t. It completely erases the build or the pressure that you got from the couple of tracks that were great. Journalists really want to report on you when you’re starting, but as soon as you f--- up they stop talking about you, and that’s not what you want as an artist. You just want to kind of put your foot in the water of media. Your foot’s always in the water; you’re around, but you’re not down, and that keeps you in the know or people remembering you and that’s really important. I mean, to be always in view but not like, [stands and waves] “Hey, it’s me all the time!” It gets annoying for anyone in any scene in any type of genre of music. You don’t want to be annoying, but you want to be there.

Todd L. Burns

You, last year at WMC, I don’t know if you knew what was going to happen, but Resident Advisor followed you around the entire week and you basically said, “Yeah, no problem, follow me around the entire week, say whatever you want about it.” Was that a conscious decision? Was the timing right for you?

Seth Troxler

It was a crazy time. It was like an exposé. I was going through a really weird period of my life. My fiancée at the time had just left me a week or two prior. I’m like this emotional breakdown of touring too much, as well as heartbroken, and then I’ve got this guy trailing us around. And I’m also into transparency. Some artists don’t want the media to know anything and that’s really your own choice, but my whole thing has been like, “I’m a normal guy, what you see is what you get,”, type of thing. The guy Will, who was doing the article, was telling me the ideas behind the whole thing and I think part of the reason why you guys chose me was the fact that I’m so open. So it ended up working out really well to give a true artist profile, what it’s like to be in someone like myself’s shoes. It’s kind of funny since after the article, because sometimes people can be really invasive into your life and really grabby, people attacking me and stuff and they touched on that in the article, and after that now people are really polite if they want a picture or something. They’re like, “Hey, is it cool?” At some point, at that time it was like success for me went very fast. I think it’s better if things go slower and you slowly make your way up. I mean, I’ve been in the game for a while, so it was like, [mimes a progression] “duh-duh-duh”, and then it was just like, “boom!”. Which was surprising and it’s hard to adjust, I think, in many ways. Some people can adjust. I have the sort of personality where it’s been easier for me, but at the same time at some points you can’t deal with it. I mean, that weekend I’m trying to deal with my life and you have to be on all the time, trying to personable to people. Your life is basically just been destroyed in front of your face and you’ve got to smile when you’re playing six parties, but all you want to do is go sit in a corner by yourself and be alone and cry. And then people are asking for pictures and you smile and you’re like, “Hey, yeah, great!” But [mimes holding a phone] your ex-fiancée just left you the most horrible, damaging message of your life, and you’re like, “Wow, thanks for calling me right before I play in front of 2000 people.” It’s trying to keep on your own game and staying there, and being aware of that. There’s your personal life and then there’s work. Life can be hard, man. The game’s not easy. You guys have all signed up for something that few will attain, and once you attain it is a different life, but it is all you’ve worked for. I think many of you have worked your whole life to get to this position now, or to be in this room, and that’s special and congratulations. I couldn’t make it to this room and I tried, so it’s kind of funny, but it’s important to realize what you have in store and what life can be, or what this world can be like.

Todd L. Burns

Are there any other questions, or did you even have one more?

Audience Member

That’s it, thanks.

Audience Member

Hi.

Seth Troxler

Hi, how are you doing?

Audience Member

I’m pretty good. You mentioned playing Ibiza, EDC, and all these different things, and as a DJ I feel like you go from playing some after-hours with your friends, with like 100 people, to then the next day playing for 10,000 people somewhere. Where do you stand on how you modify your set to play, let’s say, something like EDC, which is maybe 6,000 American younger kids, versus then going to play at Space in Ibiza versus then going to play at Berghain or something like that?

Seth Troxler

It’s funny that you say that, because at the beginning of the year I took this conscious decision to go strictly back to vinyl. I was like, “Yo, I’m number one, I’m about to get real! This is what’s up.” Trying to almost defend myself to my friends who constantly make fun of me, which is what your friends do. It keeps you grounded. So I was like, “Yeah, you guys want to blag me? Bam! How you like me now? I’m going to play records.” And it was a great idea, still I’m playing records. I had to learn how to use these guys, [points to desk] the CDJs, recently because I didn’t have that versatility any more. I think as a DJ, the biggest advantage you have is being able to play different music at different times for different situations. And playing all music – I mean, that’s something I’ve always prided myself on. I play so much different music. Whether you’re playing at a restaurant really quietly, playing jazz music to people eating, or you’re playing at a rave to 15-20,000 people, having the music that fits and curating music that fits that situation is technically your job. A lot of DJs pigeonhole themselves, or no matter what, they only play one style of music. I don’t think that really works. Either way, back to your question. At the beginning of the year, I was playing – I had two huge record bags, you know – and I’m playing situations where sometimes the night before I’m playing an underground club in Amsterdam like Trouw or something, where people are there for that music, and then I get on a flight and I come over here or go somewhere else in England and I’m playing to younger kids, who are also maybe deeper than the EDC crowd, but also young kids and want the hits. And I’ve got all these obscure records I bought from the ‘90s, and kids really started blagging me. Some people really got it but some people were like, “What’s this guy up here doing playing all these acid records? I want to hear some hits. Supposedly, mister number one isn’t so good at all.” And the records don’t work and you’ve got hums and stuff, so I had to change up again and bring in the CDJs [points to desk] to fit those situations, you know? It’s about using the technology that we have today to be able to have music for every situation and to fit every crowd, and having that intuitive feeling with people to know the music to play for that time period, and for that space. That’s the biggest thing, I guess, really using a mix of technologies to do what you can do best in whatever that is that you’re doing; playing music for the time, and having the right amount of... The more you play out, the more experiences you have, the more you can judge crowds and you can judge the situations that you’re in. So that helps a lot, experiences. Also going out to a lot of different parties and a lot of different events and experiencing things helps a lot with your musical taste and how you perform at different shows. But yeah, just having a lot of music on you. And don’t limit yourself, because once I limited myself I couldn’t perform in the same way that I used to be able to perform and it was a big challenge for me. I started getting down and I was doubting myself and everything. That self-doubt, that inherent, forever self-doubt keeps you driven as an artist, but you’re also in this place, you’re like, “Wow, what’s happening?” You’re trying to keep it. So, have just a lot of music on hand. I know when I was using Traktor I had over 10,000 songs on my computer, meticulously organized in different genres of music, so I always had music for that period of time. Then when you switch from 10,000 songs to 150 songs it’s hard to make things work. But just having a lot of different music I think is the best way to do things. I now use two turntables and a USB, so I keep the new bombs, unreleased stuff, hands in the air stuff; if it’s 5,000 people, EDC crowd, some stuff that’s a bit more pop... One big point too is, just because playing a bigger show, never compromise. It can be a big, hands-in-the-air type of song for a certain crowd, but it still should be something that you like, not something that you’re just playing because you know the kids will like it. Also, this goes with having a wide range of taste. I’m sorry for being so long-winded on these questions you asked. I’m getting anxious as well, but yeah, having a wide range of taste. But don’t ever be like, “OK, I’m supposed to play this stuff to these people, because this is what they’re supposed to like, so I’m going to do that.” That doesn’t really define you as an artist and that’s how you start to sell out. It’s all about playing what you like but playing it in the right way to the right people. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I think you guys get my point.

Audience Member

This is just analogous to that or like an add-on. Is there ever a situation where like... I see a lot of artists come and play, and I feel like people want to hear the kind of music that they put out on their records or whatever. And they come to the club and they play not even just a more amped-up version of that, but literally completely different music. Is there ever a situation where it’s too confusing for people? Like, if you’re in a bar playing house but you make the hardest dubstep, is that not a problem?

Seth Troxler

Yeah. I’ve let a lot of people down and got boos and all sorts of stuff.

Todd L. Burns

I guess that’s the advantage of not putting out records for you. No one knows exactly what you sound like.

Seth Troxler

Exactly, that is kind of an advantage. It’s kind of funny, the records I do put out I still don’t really play. There’s this track I did recently, “Caller #7”, this remix, and people were like, “Play “Caller #7”!” I’m like, [whispers] “I don’t have it...”

Or that track you played earlier, that “Party Guilt”, I never played that song. My friends were making it in our house and I helped them with the bassline and then I talked over it and I went back to my room and took a nap. Then it came out and it did well and people were asking for the song all the time and I was like, “I don’t like the song, personally.” That’s the worst, is when people expect something from you, and then they’re like, “Why didn’t you do that?”, or whatever. “That’s kind of not what I do. I hope you enjoyed it, but... Sorry.” [laughs] It’s a lot of times. I’ve had times when I’m playing and it’s been booked at the wrong club or whatever or something’s happening and no matter what, it just doesn’t work. You’re like, “Bam, this one, ha!” And it’s like, nope. You’re thinking like, “I got – bam! Ha, this worked last time.” Nope. It just doesn’t work sometimes. Sometimes it’s really hot and sometimes it’s just like, “Man, people hate me.” And that’s just part of the game. If you look at it like baseball, batting 300 is really good, so if you’re a DJ or a musician, let’s say you bat 700, or 80% of the time it’s really good, there’s still that 20% of the time. There’s still some nights that are just not good and it’s not going to work no matter work. It beats you up and you beat yourself up about it. That’s one thing about being an artist, you’re never satisfied. On occasion you’re like, “That was good,” but at the end of the day, sometimes too just know that it’s not going being a good night, the cards may not play together. That’s part of the game. Trying to bat as high as possible, or trying to do as best as you can, that’s the main point, but sometimes it’s just not going to be good. You’re not going to make everybody happy, and that’s just how it is. If you can do that, wow, you’re going to be the best ever, but no one can do that. That’s just not how it works as a DJ. Maybe as a live, but even as a live sometimes things just don’t go right, and the night’s just not working out, the vibe’s not there. There’s some type of distance and you’ve got to get through that time as best as you can, but sometimes it’s just sh--. That’s just how it works.

Todd L. Burns

Are there any other questions?

Audience Member

Hi, nice meeting you.

Seth Troxler

Nice to meet you as well.

Audience Member

And thanks for being here.

Seth Troxler

It’s my pleasure, thank you.

Audience Member

You’ll be playing at Sónar festival in Barcelona in a couple of weeks. You mentioned that you tour a lot, so are you in the position that you can actually stay at the festival and enjoy it, and see some other artists?

Seth Troxler

The thing with Sónar, normally I go the entire weekend, the whole week I stay. This is the first year I think in maybe four or five years that I’m not going to be there the whole time. I’m going to be there the Saturday night and then the Sunday I’m going to do a secret, pop-up type thing. But yeah, that’s a really big thing, seeing other artists and being open to other music and going and seeing people play. That’s something that a lot of people stopped doing.

Todd L. Burns

What was the last best DJ set you saw, from the crowd?

Seth Troxler

The last best DJ set I saw? It was really great seeing Gerd and Ben the other day at our party in Detroit. I mean, that’s why I brought them in, I was like, “I really want to see Gerd and Ben play.” It’s dope music, so that was great. Other shows that I’ve been really excited to see...

Todd L. Burns

Is there are particular Sónar moment that you can remember from years past?

Seth Troxler

I’ve only gone to Sónar by Night like once or twice because – this is also really funny – I really have problems with big crowds. [laughs] If I’m in a crowd I freak out and get really panicky, which is kind of funny because I play in front of crowds all the time. But if I have to be in the party, I get weird, which is odd.

Todd L. Burns

That’s a DJ thing.

Seth Troxler

Yeah! [laughs] It’s funny because you go from being completely alone and then in front of tons of people. That’s a life that it becomes. But going back to your question, I wish I had more time to stay. I’ll get there early in the day, check out as much of the festival as I can. I like Sónar by Day quite a bit, Sónar by Day is amazing. There’s more experimental things, a lot of art. It’s about finding people that have concepts and that you can kind of draw from, repeat and come up with ideas. It’s truly important, also to stay current, seeing what else is in your scene. [sneezes]

Audience Member

Bless you.

Seth Troxler

Yeah, a little bit of action here.

Todd L. Burns

Yeah, for a guy who doesn’t get sick you’re certainly playing your A-game here. Well, you’ll be around today for a little bit, so...

Seth Troxler

Yeah, I’ll be around, so if anyone wants to come up to me and ask me any questions or anything, feel free.

Todd L. Burns

Definitely.

Seth Troxler

I’m gonna go wash my hands, so you can shake and we can talk.

Todd L. Burns

Yeah, do not shake his hands right now. But, please give a hand to Seth Troxler.

Seth Troxler

Thank you so much.