Director Justin Krook’s energetic documentary “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” follows EDM’s hardest working and most prolific DJ— Steve Aoki. Before the premiere, I sat down with Steve, Justin, and producer Matthew Weaver, to discuss the deeply personal film.
Ryan: The idea of legacies and fathers and family is a huge part of this story. What was it about that that spoke to you and why was that important to the film?
Justin: Well when we were talking to Steve and conceptualizing the film we didn’t just want to make a doc that speaks to EDM fans. Because while that is a big group of people it’s really limiting the audience at the same time. So what we wanted to do is use the dance music scene as the backdrop because it’s sexy and fun to look at and the live performances are great, but find a universal theme that will resonate with people of all ages and all races. And I think that everyone around the world can connect with having expectations placed upon you. I think everyone can understand these kind of different family dynamics, whether you live up to them or whether you don’t. Whether its your high school soccer coach, or your parents, your teachers, everyone understands what it is to have these kind of expectations. So I think that was the genesis of it. And if we could connect with people it wouldn’t matter if you were a dance music person or not. At the end of the day this film is an introduction into who Steve is and an introduction into the dance music scene as a whole. So I think that people that don’t know much about the scene can come into it and understand it a bit more and at the same time enjoy the film on a more emotional level.
Matt: During the early phases of the film, one of the producers mentioned that he knew the team who worked on that “Jiro” movie (Jiro Dreams of Sushi, TFF 2011). I thought about that and it’s like well if I told you “Jiro” was about sushi then you’re missing the point. So if I tell you this movie is about dance music, your clearly missing the point. And that’s why I thought they were perfect for this because they took what was sort of an interesting subject but would really only appeal to foodies, and they found a story there and I thought that those would be the right people.
Ryan: Steve, why was it important for you to reveal this aspect of your character in such a personal way?
Steve: I think in the beginning it was a bit difficult for me to decide weather I wanted to do this because I’ve never done this before. I felt like if we’re going to make a documentary, and it’s gonna be telling this more human story, rather than telling this Dad story, then we might as well go all in. Especially when you have people outside of my space making the film. I also didn’t want to make it an EDM doc because they’re already out there, they already exist. And also, when I think about my father and my mother, there is such a great story there. I think as time goes on it gets forgotten and it’s nice to bring it back to a new generation who has no idea. The older generation, the parents that are older than me, they know of him. And it’s like that story stays in that bubble. So it’s nice to bring it out into this new space. I mean, as a Japanese person, in america, a few years past World War II, when discrimination against Japanese people was on red alert, somehow he made a business that actually was apart of popular culture in America. His story is incredible. He was an ice cream man in harlem in his twenties when he first moved to New York. He then got a loan to open his first restaurant up, and the hardship that he was was faced, it’s hard to relate to what that is now. Someone like him really opened up a lane for other Asians to be able to have this feel like they can have an identity and be heard or do something where they can affect people. So when I think about what he did, then it’s all worth it in the end. To be able to bring that back into this film and show that is very important.
Ryan: Where do you see yourself in the larger music and entertainment culture and how does that relate to the overall message and ideas in the film?
Steve: I started DJ’ing in 2003 and before that I was in bands, so I went from being in bands to touring to realizing that I enjoy developing younger artists and helping to get their music out there. So that’s always been my life blood. Even through the course of me DJ’ing, I realized that I could really help artists that are much better producers than me. So I always have that as something that is part of my role. How can I give back, how can I build artists and build a culture that is more self sustaining. That’s what’s exciting, when your apart of a group that doesn’t need other peoples input, money or influence, that’s and exciting world to be in and that’s something I’m hoping to make bigger and bigger.
-Ryan Brown
Photo Credit: Ryan Brown
