deadmau5 has shared yet another hot take, this time admitting that he doesn’t really enjoy EDM as a genre. Instead, he says, it’s the process of creating dance music that excites him.
Last week, in an interview with the CBC, the famed DJ and producer behind colossal EDM hits like “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff” and “I Remember” told Q’s Tom Power, “I don’t really enjoy dance music.”
“I don’t partake. I don’t pump it in my car,” he continued. “I don’t walk it, I don’t talk it, I don’t breathe it, I don’t get excited about it—but I love the process of making it. I like the technical challenges. I like sonic development.”
Though likely a minority sentiment among dance music producers, deadmau5’s statement should come as little surprise to his biggest fans. The outspoken artist—real name Joel Zimmerman—has become additionally famous for his polarizing statements on topics ranging from pre-recorded DJ sets to Grimes’ technical difficulties at Coachella.
Explaining that his esteemed career sort of happened by accident, Zimmerman went on to share that his love for electronic sounds began when he heard Tears For Fears on his father’s CD player.
“There was so much accompaniment to it that just wasn’t somebody beating on a drum or playing a guitar or a keyboard or something like that.” he recalled. “There’s always just some underlying machine behind it.”
Eventually, Zimmerman would go on to intern at a recording studio in his hometown of Niagra Falls, Canada. Earning a reputation as a skilled studio tech, he eyed a career as a sound engineer as opposed to a world-famous DJ.
“I thought, ‘Wow, what a really great thing to pursue a career in—working in a studio,’” he said. “I wasn’t having these dreams of being a DJ or a producer or a creative. I wanted to be just in the rear with the gear.”
Watch the full interview below.
Featured image from deadmau5.
