Since 2012, Kai Wachi has been thrilling bassheads with his hypnotic sonic textures and brain-melting bass. The Idaho native has released various EPs and remixes, which caught the attention from other major DJ’s including Borgore, UZ, Dirtyphonics, Bro Safari, Ookay and more. Following his debut album DEMIGOD, the prolific artist released his latest EP, All My Demons, featuring his signature minimalistic bass sounds. Even though he’s currently focused on his DEMIGOD Tour where you’ll hear synths revved up to thrash-metal speeds and beats dropped with a screech of filthy static, Kai Wachi promises that he has a lot more incredible music coming up in 2020.
To find out more about Kai Wachi’s tour, new music and what makes him such a unique bass producer, Bassrush managed to chase down the bass demigod before he hits the stage at Academy LA on December 14th (lock in your tickets here) so check the in-depth Q&A below as Kai prepares to unleash his inner demons on the dancefloor.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got started as a DJ/Producer.
I originally got into music production from wanting to make rap beats. I had heard about electronic music, but wasn’t really into it at all until I heard Cookie Monsta and then I was completely blown away. I shifted my focus on trying to blend my hip-hop roots with this new crazy, heavy stuff I was getting into like Excision, Chasing Shadows, and 16Bit.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Definitely the names I just mentioned, as well as guys like Uppermost, Moody Good, and also just a lot of my friends in the scene in general.
What do you do when you come across a creative block?
Well for anyone that knows me, I’d say one of the most common things I’ll do is get a nice workout in. A little pump or run usually refreshes my mind and gets me into a headspace where I can get past any creative block. Other than that, I’ll just take a few days, sometimes even a week, off of music production.
What would you say separates you from other major bass producers on Kannibalen Records such as Black Tiger Sex Machine and Apashe?
Everyone on Kannibalen Records is so talented. I’m happy to be surrounded by people like them. We push each other and share some similarities, but what I would say makes me unique as a Kannibalen member is my distinct style. All of us infuse some very cinematic musical elements and a lot of heavy sound design with various styles of music, but for me there’s a signature cerebral sort of darkness that I feel a lot of my tracks have, even when I do something a bit more light.
You most recently released your “All My Demons” EP which explores a variety of different sounds within bass music. What was your inspiration behind creating the EP and where do you see the direction of your sound going in the future?
After I released my debut LP DEMIGOD, I was still cranking out tunes. It was festival season, so I was just making these big tracks that I wanted to add to my sets. I didn’t think anything of them because they were just short original edits at the time and then after a while I had all these singles sitting around, so I figured we’d just drop them all for the fans during my tour.
For someone who’s never been to your show, what can attendees expect?
They can fully expect to be obliterated. I try to make most of my set my original music plus music you probably haven’t heard before. The sets I’ve been playing have been some of the heaviest ever. Each show has felt a bit like a festival in that the fans have just been going hard from the start of the show to finish. I’ve been blessed to have talented openers like the homie Sam Lamar crush it too!
What are some upcoming projects that you’re currently working on that fans can look forward to?
Well, currently I’m focused on the DEMIGOD tour until the end of next month. Other than that, just working on a lot of music and prepping some big things for 2020! I can’t say too much but just be ready for the next evolution of Kai Wachi!
Before we go, tell us three unique things that we don’t know about you.
- My real name is actually KAI WACHI, I didn’t make it up.
- I used to actually hate dubstep when I was younger.
- I’m not Kevin from Shameless. 😉