You have a close relationship with Slander and several others in the industry. Fans see their favorite DJs hanging out as friends, but can you tell us what it’s actually like and talk about the value of industry relationships?

EDM industry relationships in general are that we’re all trying to make some cool music and make some money and have fun together. I feel like in the pop and hip-hop world it’s much more cutthroat. I haven’t really met that many people in the industry who have huge egos. In general everyone is really nice and easy to get along with and not as protective as other music industries. Same with promoters, too. I haven’t worked with hip-hop promoters, but it seems like everyone [in EDM] is a bit more about moving music forward and having a good time and a little bit less about making sure you’re the one that gets to the top.

What’s your advice to other introverts like yourself, trying to break into the industry?

In general, I keep to myself, and I had to practice to be able to get in front of people and perform on stage. You kind of have to get up there and just force yourself to do it a few times. One of my strategies with my management team was to not do shows until I could play my own shows and be the headliner for wherever I was playing.

If you’re playing a show, and people are there to see the show, no matter what you say, they’re pretty much going to respond. A lot of times, what made me nervous was wondering if I said something on the mic and people didn’t hear it or didn’t respond. The thing that got me into everything was the whole sound design idea. I would hear things on the radio and think they were super fucking basic.