Borgore made his much anticipated stop in Chicago on Saturday, February 7th on his \”Buygore Show\” tour. The concert sold out months ago, and has been one of the most talked about events in the city\’s EDM scene recently. The tour is immediately following the release of his album, The Buygore Album. Following opening performances by Sikdope and Jauz, I got to sit down with Asaf during Ookay\’s set right before he went on stage at 12:30. After requesting a shot of Jager from his tour manager, he was ready to go.
How’s your night been so far?
Perfect. I just woke up.
Where were you guys last night?
We were in Detroit. I slept for an hour, and then I went to go play paintball until 2 or 3. Got my ass kicked….it looks like a wasp’s nest went hard on me, dude. All these fuckin\’ marks.
You have some great variety on Buygore and this tour right now. Tonight we got Ookay, Jauz, and Sikdope. All great producers in their own unique ways. Great DJs as well.
Amazing DJs, dude. I almost shot myself in the foot with bringing like, my favorite DJs. It’s not like I pick like DJs that would be like openers. These DJs, I vouch for every single one of them being a headliner at a festival. They go so hard. They always wanna play the songs I wanna play.
So how’d you find those guys and what qualities do you look for when you’re signing an artist?
I just look for personality. It can mean someone’s actual personality, but actually, in the music you need someone that has something more than just like….that has like…. has more levels to it. I don’t know how to explain it, do you get what I mean?
Yeah totally, it’s a hard quality to explain. So how’s the tour been so far? What have been your favorite cities?
Dude, every stop on tour has been insane. Just like unreal, I\’m speechless.
They\’ve mostly been sold out too right? This show\’s been sold out for a few months now.
Dude, I love it. So most of its sold out. I thought it was gonna be a good tour. But this tour is over my expectations by far. But also the tour itself, like us as people on the bus. We’re just getting along so good. There’s been no drama. Honestly, I could do this for two more months, easy. And usually after a month on the bus it’s just….fuck this. But I’m just chilling with my best friends every night, for months, just playing music.
In general, what are your favorite cities to play in? Where is Chicago on that list?
There’s really no favorite city to play in. People ask me what’s your favorite this, what’s your favorite that. Like, what do you prefer? A sushi or a steak? One day you wanna have sushi, one day you wanna have steak. Every city has its own like….some cities are better with this, some cities are better with that. You get to enjoy everything. And Chicago is definitely up there.
What’s your all-time favorite collab that you’ve done, and who would you like to work with in the future?
Miley Cyrus. Nah, I don’t know dude. I’ve had a lot of really fun collabs. I loved working with Carnage, love working with all my crew. Back in the days, my best friend Tomba, I used to love working with him. Loved working with Dan Farber. There’s not a lot of collabs I didn’t enjoy doing.
Speaking of Miley Cyrus – where did the inspiration for “Bitches Love Cake” come from and what was it like working with her?
I actually explained it yesterday in an interview. Bitches love cake is a sentence you can interpret in so many ways. Who is this “Bitches” ya know? It might be bitches, it might be dudes that are being little bitches, it could be actually anything. And what is cake? Cake can be money, cake can be ass, cake can be fame, cake can be philosophy. Maybe all the chicks in your philosophy class fucking love philosophy. So all these bitches love philosophy, you feel me? It can be anything.
Your new Buygore album’s been very successful. Do you have a favorite track on the album?
I honestly really like all of them because they’re so diverse. And because none of them are filler. Every song is….a song. There’s nothing where we just put another song in to fill an album.
Going off of that, you’ve made a lot of different types of music in your career. You\’re one of the first EDM artists that I got into, and you\’ve been successful for so long now. How have you been able to stay this relevant? What’s your secret?
I just know music. I didn’t just pick up a computer, press a couple buttons, make one song and then go on tour with it. I’ve studied music my whole life. Put me on a piano for half an hour, and you’ll have good times listening to me in the background. It’s not very tough. All you need to be a better producer, in my opinion, is to study music. And it doesn’t take a lot. Even if you studied ten minutes of a day watching a YouTube tutorial of what is tension, chords, condensing. It’s just simple stuff, dude. Just if you have the basic knowledge, it’s gonna help you so much.
What was the first instrument you ever played?
Piano. But the main instrument I played in high school was saxophone. Then I went into drums, and now I’m mainly on the piano again.
You’ve been able to utilize social media so well throughout your career. What’s your opinion on social media in the industry, and how are you so good at it? Your pages are hilarious, everyone loves them.
I know a lot of DJs today, and a lot of them are way more fucked up than me. But with how they want to present themselves, they try to have a very clean approach. They’ll send you the most fucked up video in text message, but their Twitter is just like, very corporate. I’m just trying to have fun. I’m just chillin.
If there’s one song that defines you as an artist, what would it be?
Guided Relaxation Dub. My first song. Without that song, I wouldn’t be here.
Congrats on playing Spring Awakening this year. It’s a huge festival for the city, and I think 2015 is a great year for EDM. What else are you looking forward to this upcoming summer and festival season?
I don’t know, dude. I just live in the moment. Right now, the thing I’m looking forward to the most is half an hour from now I go on stage in Chicago.
Well the people out there can’t wait to see you. What\’s your current take on the scene and EDM in general?
Last year, I was very into big room house. Now I’m kinda taking a step back to other stuff. I feel like…big room house cannot stay the way that it is. Festivals cannot stay the way they are. People were over nu metal. Papa Roach and Linkin Park were huge, but people were done with it. Punk rock was huge. Blink-182 and Sum 41. But people were done with it. The last thing I wanna do is be part of a bandwagon. So right now, I’m kinda taking a step backwards and trying to do songs that are just like, they are songs. They will stand the test of the time. Because some of my songs, like Decisions or Love or Nympho, five years afterwards, you play it to a kid who’s never heard dubstep and he likes it. Because there’s something to it. It’s not just like I made the song to be a festival banger.
You’re definitely a polarizing figure in EDM. Because of your personality and lyrics, many fans have a very strong opinion about you, one way or another. Anything else you’d like to say to your haters or your fans?
People cannot judge me until they\’ve had a conversation with me. And I think it’s very funny how people are so passionate about hating what I’m doing. Because I think I’m doing a great thing. People come to my shows and it doesn’t matter if they’re dudes, or chicks, or in the middle. They can just come here, have the best times of their lives. No one’s gonna judge you, you can do whatever the fuck you want. As long as you drive home not drunk, and don’t rape or murder anyone, everything’s a go. And I mean, this is 2015. This is modern approach to life. Saying that chicks should not act like this is kind of a thing that’s going backwards. It’s kinda like the Middle Ages. Like, cover your chicks. If you wanna cover your chicks, move to ISIS. They cover their chicks well, dude. Chicks have no freedom of speech there. They can’t go to shows. They can’t do whatever they want. If this is what you’re looking for, Iraq is open for you, ya know? But we’re in the Western World and America in 2015. Chicks can do whatever the fuck they want.
And you can say whatever the fuck you want.
Yeah exactly dude! And also, me and Abe [Ookay], during my set, we jump on the poles and dance too. We don’t discriminate anyone.
