INTERVIEWYOUTH

He started DJing in 2017 and quickly rose to become the main DJ on the B3 floor of Camelot with his unpredictable and creative play style that makes full use of four beats and bass music, as well as his own edits and original tracks. In August 2021, he will release his debut single on Beatport's top-charting international label, and his future career is highly anticipated.
Behind his meteoric rise to fame lies a bitter memory of frustration during his student days and before his debut as a DJ. In this interview, YOUTH candidly explains how he got started as a DJ, his obsession with music production, and his thoughts on the current DJ industry in Japan.

How did you become a DJ?

When I was a college student, I saw a DJ when I went to a club for the first time and began to genuinely think it was cool.

Did you start DJing right after that?

That's right. But at first I didn't know how to get started, so I found a Twitter post like "DJ wanted" and took the plunge... and ended up getting scammed for about a million dollars.

Is it a scam? One million yen is quite a lot of money for a student.

I found out later that the equipment I bought at that time was also sold at a very high price from the market price...and the equipment was good for what it was (laughs).
I felt that I needed to collect the money, so I studied DJing hard. At that time, TAKUMA of RESIDENT DJ asked me if I would like to join him as a part-time DJ at camelot, the main floor on weekends, and I immediately took him up on the offer.

I see that you have been able to make it to where you are today because of those hardships.

Yes, I am. I myself am a very competitive person.... I wanted to be better than the DJ who perpetrated the fraud. When I was a young DJ, there were a few times when I stopped the sound while I was DJing... I felt really frustrated at the time... so I think I have a lot of desire to surpass my seniors.

About the past of YOUTH

Actually, I played soccer all through my school years and was pretty good at it, if I do say so myself (laughs). (laughs) I always wanted to become a professional. In my last year of high school, I participated in a national tournament and made it to the last 16, but I saw players my own age who were better than me...so I gave up.
At that time, when I looked back on myself, I thought that I had nothing to offer except soccer, so I decided to seriously study for a year anyway. I failed to get into the university of my first choice, but I was accepted into the university of my second choice.
However, since my goal was to get in, I didn't have anything in particular that I wanted to study, and I felt bored. I got into dance music from there, and after college, I finally found something that I was 100% passionate about.

That's quite an amazing life.

I think I have a personality that requires me to be passionate about something... I thought that "a life spent in idleness" during my college years was very unlike me. So I am glad that I found a place where I can put my passion.

The Origin of YOUTH

When I first started DJing, I used to wear a brand called "YOUTH MACHINE" a lot, so I took it from there. Also, YOUTH means "youth," and I thought that was cool in my mind, so I chose the current name.

Music that you have a special feeling for

I have listened to so many songs since I started listening to dance music, but I have a great love and attachment to Avicii's "Fade Into Darkness", banvox's "Watch Me", Skrillex's "Summit", and Porter Robinson's "Shelter", these four songs.
Especially when I heard "Watch Me" by banvox, I was shocked to know that someone in Japan could write such an amazing song.

About Music Production

In recent years, you have been putting a lot of effort into songwriting.

Originally, I had no idea about creating music at all. However, as I became more deeply involved in dance music through my DJ activities, I began to create EDITs for my own DJs, and I started creating music from scratch, which is how I got started with music production. Currently, I mainly produce bass house music (a subgenre of house music that is a fusion of dubstep and house, or music that is similar or very similar to dubstep and house). I try to create music with the theme of "how to move people's hearts" as an important theme. I think that the real pleasure of creating music is to deliver an emotional experience to people far away, and since I have experience playing in front of an audience as a DJ, I hope to express the image and atmosphere of that time in my music.
When I started out, things did not go as smoothly as I had hoped, and there were many songs that I had to reject, but last year I was able to release a song on an overseas label, which was one of my goals, and I felt it was very rewarding for me. In the future, I would like to release my music on a larger overseas label to increase my name recognition and let more people know who I am.

Are there any DJs that you are currently aiming for?

I don't have anyone who wants to be this person, even if only partially. What I am aiming for is to be a "first-rate DJ" and a "first-rate artist. I know this may be difficult for the general public to understand, but the nature of an artist and a club DJ is completely different. I honestly believe that club DJs do not need to produce music, and artists do not need to spin like DJs at clubs. I want to be a person who can be in between the two. I want to be able to create music and be appreciated by people around me.
I like to change the music to match the mood of the audience (DJing), and I would like to add my own music to the set (remixes, edits, etc.) so that I can excite the audience with my own music.

What is your outlook for the future?

In terms of music production, I would like to release my music on a larger international label. I would also like to be as good as a DJ, and become the one and only person who can both produce music and DJ. Three or four years ago, EDM was in its heyday and people were dancing hard, but recently there has been no dancing at all.... Japanese people don't have a culture of nightlife, and as a DJ, I think it is difficult to create a trend in Japan. However, overseas, there are people who dance and a night economy culture has developed, so I wanted to compete outside of Japan. I feel that if I succeed overseas and gain recognition, I will be able to take the Japanese market a little higher when I return to Japan, and that is what I would like to achieve.