Following a Grammy win, glowing endorsements from Dave Grohl and, um, Ellie Goulding, we present 30 need-to-know facts about dubstep phenomenon Skrillex.
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- The first albums he ever bought were Marilyn Manson’s ‘Antichrist Superstar’ and Nine Inch Nails ‘’Broken’ EP. Angsty!
- Forget banging out a tune on a old Joanna, he got started making music by downloading the programme ‘FL Studio’ when he was 13.
- When he was 16 he contacted Matt Good of emo rockers From First To Last about playing guitar for them. Somehow he ended up becoming their lead vocalist.
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From First To Last, minus Skrillex
- They weren’t just also-rans in the alt.rock world; they were a pretty big deal, playing on the Warped Tour bill as well as opening for Fall Out Boy.
- Skrillex quit From First To Last after suffering from ‘vocal chord problems’. He later said: “Singing’s not my real passion.”
- In a move he couldn’t have made in From First To Last, the first time he performed live on his own he played with a harpist.
- Determined to do things in DIY fashion, he sold his demos at shows all packaged in blue envelopes featuring unique drawings he made.
- It’s not all funny hair and ‘banging tunes’, he’s a pretty earnest guy. He says stuff like: “I don’t like hype cluttering art.” Woah. Deep.
- His first official EP was called ‘My Name Is Skrillex’ (A lie. It’s ‘Sonny’).
- Although his music is considered dubstep he himself thinks it’s broader than that. “I guess you could say that it’s a mixture of dubstep, electro-house, fidget,” he said. (We’re not sure what ‘fidget’ is either, don’t worry).
- His biggest hit ‘Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites’ has had over 60 million views on Youtube.
- He described ‘Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites’ as “’Transformers’ meets Final Fantasy’”. However his own favourite films include Children Of Men and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (*sci-fi geek klaxon alert*).
- Meanwhile when Facebook counted their “most played” songs on their site in 2011, two of his tracks were in the Top 10.
- Like Jennifer Aniston’s ‘Rachel’, his haircut has become famous in its own right. Shaved on one side and hairy on the other, it became quite the barnet of 2011.
- The band Electric Valentine have even written a song ‘Girl, You Got Skrillex Hair’ about it.
- But it isn’t just his hair that’s popular. His ‘unique look’ has been noted on-line, not least of all the Tumblr ‘Lesbians Who Look Like Skrillex’.
- He is BFF’s with J-Lo. No, not that one, but rather actor and 30 Seconds To Mars ‘dude’ Jared Leto.
- Skrillex is the king (as far as one can be) of the celebrity death hoax. One of the most famous ones involved a freak yachting accident in Bermuda. ‘RIPskrillex’ became a popular Twitter hash tag for a while.
- Much more respectably, he’s also collaborated with the surviving members of The Doors on the track ‘Breakin’ A Sweat’.
- He produced some tracks on Korn’s ‘Path Of Totality’ album after admitting he’d been a fan of them “since I was 9.” He first met Jonathan Davies when he was in From First To Last and did an ‘artist to artist’ interview for Revolver magazine.
- Another famous fan includes Kanye West who Tweeted: “TONIGHT I’m definitely playing Skrillex.” In typically non-OTT style, Yeezy claimed that his remix of Benny Benassi’s ‘Cinema’ was “one of the greatest works of art ever made.”
- Nevertheless, his video for ‘Rock N Roll (Will Take You To The Mountain)’ was a virtual who’s who of the current dance music scene. These included Diplo, Deadmau5, Rusko, A-Trak, Tommy Lee, James Shaffer from Korn and others with names like ‘Zedd’ and ‘Penny’. Phew.
- His forthcoming album disappeared when his laptop was stolen out of his hotel room in April last year. He wrote on his Facebook “I spent a week pulling my hair out, but now I’m just focusing on the future and re-making my album.” Literally the “a dog ate my pencil” of “album delayed” excuses.
- He got punked by Deadmau5 at the recent Grammys, when the mouse-masked DJ wore a T-shirt with Skrillex’s personal mobile number on it. There was also a caption which read ‘u mad bro?’” You guys!
- Of course it’s really all about the lyrics…
Via Metrolyrics
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