30 Things You Should Know About Skrillex

Following a Grammy win, glowing endorsements from Dave Grohl and, um, Ellie Goulding, we present 30 need-to-know facts about dubstep phenomenon Skrillex.

Born on January 15th, 1988, his real name is Sonny John Moore but ‘Skrillex’ was a nickname he’d had for a while. “(It) really means nothing. Throughout my teen years my friends would call me ‘Skrillex’ or ‘Skril’ or ‘Skrilly’.”

The first albums he ever bought were Marilyn Manson’s ‘Antichrist Superstar’ and Nine Inch Nails ‘’Broken’ EP. Angsty!

He says his big musical turning point was discovering Warp records when he was 12. “I discovered Aphex Twin (and) became obsessed with glitch, acid house, IDM, Autechre, Squarepusher,” he says.

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.

From First To Last, minus Skrillex

Signed to the legendary Epitaph label, From First To Last released two albums. One of them went by the ludicrously emo title, ‘Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count’.

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.

“Skrillex” wasn’t his first moniker. Early on he was known as “Twipz” (not “Twerpz”).

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.

His ‘do’ is so famous that there’s a fake Skrillex hair Twitter. @Skrilleyshair Tweets stuff like: “Ahhh I love NYC. It makes me greasy in a very good way.”

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.

He’s done quite a few ‘not cool’ remixes, including Bruno Mars’ ‘Just The Way You Are’ and Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Rock That Body’. Those decks don’t pay for themselves, you know.

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