| Round Two with DJ SKEET SKEET! |
| Written by Shahlin Graves | ||
| Saturday, 20 August 2011 18:41 | ||
 Earlier this year, twenty-five-year-old TREVOR MCFEDRIES - a.k.a. DJ SKEET SKEET - rolled back into town as the worldwide opening act on Katy Perry's 'California Dreams Tour'. We caught up with him again and went on a bit of forest hike... COUP DE MAIN: What have you been up to since last time you visited us? DJ SKEET SKEET - TREVOR: That was about a year and a half ago huh, 2009? I have been working on a ton of music for a ton of people - I produced a song for Chris Brown on his last album and been writing stuff for all kinds of popstars and people. CDM: What was it like working with Chris Brown? TREVOR: Actually, I sent a beat to him/his people and he liked it, he cut it and that was that! But I still had crazy Chris Brown stalker fans hitting me up online trying to get a hold of him and I'm like "I didn't meet him! I just sent a beat over and they liked it and that was that..." but that was cool. I've been working on all kinds of stuff for this group DWNTWN that I'm producing [and] this girl called Gumshoe, this R&B thing. Her stuff's kind of coming together and coming out now, the 'What About Us' video is pretty cool and a lot of fun. And then a couple of months ago I started working on my kind-of album, a collection of songs that I want to do. I want to get into the studio with friends that I know and put together songs and see what happens. I got these two singles, one with Dev and The Cataracs, and then another one with this guy named Adonis from Atlanta and this girl Nadia Oh, and those are coming out in a month or so. CDM: Nadia is rad! TREVOR: Yeah! She sang the hook on it and this rapper Adonis is rapping on it, it's been fun just going in and being like: "What do you guys wanna do? I don't know... let's make a poker song? Alright, rad." And we do it, and that's kind of the way it's going. So there are songs that are straight up country songs, there's rap songs, there's electronic songs. It goes all over the place. Maybe I'll throw together a punk song just to round it out, for epic weirdness.  CDM: Last time we talked, you said you were really pro free music so you couldn't really see yourself releasing a commercial album. Are you still on that train of thought? TREVOR: I'm definitely still on that train of thought, I still try and put out as much of my stuff out for free as possible, but I think [that with] so many big labels approaching me about doing stuff and just to get the exposure that I want, they gotta have some kind of return... and so that's the idea. I'm working with some big indie's to get some stuff out there on a major level and to shoot videos and to do all that, but they can't dump $100,000 into a song without seeing some kind of fiscal return. So, hopefully I can get everything out there for as little or as cheap as possible and get some really cool, creative stuff out to help give back to people... I feel like they could get something out of that music instead of just getting a ninety-nine cents download that exists on a hard-drive - I want to put out some cool content, some t-shirts, some media... and kind of change music as like a 'physical'. I guess the physical side of music gets lost, people are only buying albums when they're buying vinyl - at least my friends - to have something big, tangible to hold onto. So I want to put out these digital singles and stuff, but put out shirts and cool videos and collaborations with friends and different products - make something a bit different and cool. CDM: How does it feel to be a man so much in demand? TREVOR: I don't know! Am I? Demand... I see Katy [Perry] and I'm like: "Dang, Katy's busy - she's in demand." I'm still just having fun and figuring out how long I can do this music thing, 'cuz I still feel like: "Wow, making music? That's got to end soon right? Can I kinda keep making music? When do I gotta get a real job?" CDM: "...am I still dreaming?" TREVOR: Yeah exactly! "I'm in New Zealand again? How did that happen?" Playing music... that doesn't make any sense. But it's been amazing, to be able to make music, play music and travel the world, it's such a rare awesome thing that I just kinda keep pinching myself and hope that I'm not dreaming.  CDM: How's the tour with Katy Perry been going so far? TREVOR: It's been great! I didn't know what to expect crowd-wise but everyone's been really really cool and even in like, Zurich or Lisbon - places where I'd never been before, people knew who I was - people were really excited and feedback's been awesome everywhere so it's been great. And Katy's been such a sweetheart, making sure everything goes well for me and New Young Pony Club or Zowie or whoever's been opening, she's really made a point to make sure everyone does well and has a great experience, so it's been awesome. CDM: You even have your own little sweet light set-up on stage in the show... TREVOR: Yeah! It came together last-second, I was helping Katy with some music for the show - like remixing some things and making some of the more rock songs a bit more dance-floor and 2011 - and she asked if I wanted to come out and play, and I was like "absolutely". I kinda didn't want to be up there in a cardboard box DJ-ing, so a buddy of mine Rusko, he was having his current tour stuff built and linked me up with his production guy and he put that together pretty quick. Two weeks and I was on the road with it and it's stood the test of time, so not bad at all!   CDM: Last time you toured New Zealand you pretty much just pressed buttons and let 3OH!3 do their own thing, and now you're here dancing on stage... how do those different roles compare? TREVOR: I think the 3OH!3 thing was cool because in Australia I was opening for them and set it off, but these [NZ] shows were already built-in before I was added to the tour so I was here just DJ-ing for them, which was great and it was a really cool way to see New Zealand because I was with my best friends traveling and seeing this beautiful country. This tour has been great because I get to do what I do, and have a ton of people that never thought they'd be able to see me because they live in New Zealand and haven't been to L.A. to see what I do, so it's been great to come out here and play music and have a great time and show more-so what I do, which is not that far off from 3OH!3 I guess... <laughs> Party times, good times! CDM: What's it like having seen Katy grow career-wise, from when you first met until now? TREVOR: It's crazy, she's like the biggest thing in the whole world... and still when I walk by magazine stands and I see Katy I'm like: "Oh WOW there's Katy on a magazine!" Everyone's like: "Yeah..." And I'm like: "Ohhh yeah, this is not a rare thing huh?" Crazy. But I think it's amazing. You have to give up so much to get to that level, you have to put so much of yourself into it, spend less time with others, family and friends. But she's found this really great balance where her and Russell [Brand] are totally healthy and awesome, her and all her friends are still all really close, she's put out a ton of hits and touring like a mad man and doing interviews and press - flying back to 'Oprah' from Germany at seven in the morning and then flying back that night for her next date in Germany. Just like being a zombie but still crushing it every night on-stage, she's crazy. She works harder than anyone I know for sure and still has time to have fun and have a relationship and do all that stuff! I don't know how she's doing it when I can't even make time to like... eat. She's impressive. CDM: What's your favourite Katy Perry memory? TREVOR: That's a good one... we went to Coachella in 2007 and a magazine threw this party, my best friend Ronnie was working it and shooting it and Katy and I went together. It was just one of those times where we both finally had enough money to take care of ourselves, we both had these little careers starting to happen, we still had enough downtime to really have fun... we went to Coachella and this party, it was amazing, and Daft Punk actually DJ'd, Daft Punk were 'secret guest' DJ's. They started their set playing 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' by LCD [Soundsystem] and I was like "WHAT-THE-FUCK IT'S PLAYING AT THIS HOUSE!" Me and Katy were hanging out in the pool - there was this inflatable pool bus and we were just sitting in it just having a good time, looking up at the sky and being like: "Dude, life is good, we're at Coachella, Daft Punk is playing this pool party, you just got a record deal." It was one of those moments where we were like "Whoah, life is pretty rad!" and that to me was something I will remember forever. That was kind of the pinnacle for me, watching Daft Punk DJ a house party! It doesn't get much better for me.   DJ SKEET SKEET'S FIVE MOST-FAVOURITE THINGS:  CDM: What's coming up for you, what's next? TREVOR: Putting out these songs, touring the U.S., doing radio promo and hoping they do really well... then coming back here with my own huge show! <laughs> CDM: We look forward to it... TREVOR: That's the plan. CDM: What are your main priorities or goals for the next year? TREVOR: I think just putting out more music and keep having a lot of fun - that's the goal, I think when it stops being fun I won't want to do it anymore, like I have moments when I get sick of the music industry side of things, dealing with labels and clearing stuff, getting single rights, publishing and all that. It looses some of the allure, but right now it's still fun and playing music is still fun and meeting cool people like you guys is still fun! So that side is good, but I always want to keep it moving so I don't know how long I'll make music for. I have this new itch to direct music videos and commercials and movies all of a sudden, even though I know nothing about it. CDM: Just pick it up, just pick up a camera! TREVOR: You know what? Yoann [Lemoine] who did the 'Teenage Dream' [music] video, he was like: "You could do it, you could be a director! Why don't you just post me something? I'll do it, I'll do anything - come up with an idea." And I'm like: "Oh really?" So now it's kind of put this bug inside me, I'm going to get some books, start reading and figure it out and see if I could do it. I was a graphic designer for the first part of my adult life, now I'm a DJ, so I think I just always have this bug and I just want to do new different stuff, which is kind of a blessing and a curse for DJ-ing and as a musician. People want to see you do stuff that they know - if you go see Deadmau5 you know what you're going to get, if you see Rusko, you know what you're going to get. You go see me and I play a Britney Spears song and you're like "Whaaat?" So it's a great thing but I also have this itching desire to do all kinds of different stuff. CDM: Just keep evolving like a Pokémon... TREVOR: Like a Pokemon! I actually have this avatar that I use for most of my message-boards and it's like: "I'm not gonna - and then it's a picture of Raichu - love song." It's so amazing! <laughs> I'm not gonna Raichu love song. I think it's the funniest thing in the world... and I show friends AHH AHHH! And they're like: "I'm not gonna... weird-looking-thing love song... I don't get it?" I'm like: "RAICHU?! Pikachu's evolved Pokemon state, Raichu! You don't know? You're not familiar??" I'm far too dorky to be a public figure. I'm glad I'm not Katy 'cuz I'd do interviews like: "Yeah you know I stayed up all night playing [Nintendo] DS. I got beat by a seven-year-old kid playing Mario Kart in an airport." Whatever... rock and roll man. When 3OH!3 were here we went out maybe one night, I fell asleep reading on Sean [Foreman] on a couch and woke up at four in the morning being like: "We are the worst rockstars ever. Did we just fall asleep reading on each other? We're terrible." Good times.  Click HERE to read our 2009 interview with DJ SKEET SKEET. Check out DJ SKEET SKEET's 2011 New Zealand Polaroid Tour Diary HERE.
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