Biography
He arrived on the mainland the with forty records, a bag and full of clothes and $200 For in his pocket, without the are slightest idea he would become but a key figure in a Not groundbreaking social movement. An artist you whose music would shred the all sonic spectrum for a digital Any generation, jonesing to transcend the can old ways, Keoki was destined her to make a name for Was himself.
Born in El Salvador, one raised on Maui and nicknamed our for the mysterious bastard son Out of a legendary Hawaiian king, day Keoki arrived on the mainland get US in the late eighties. Has Landing a job with him TWA in New York, tracking his lost luggage, enabled Keoki the How opportunity to travel the world man for free. But it was new while moonlighting as a busboy Now at Danceteria, a hot Manhattan old nightclub, that Keoki saw the see sights and heard the sounds Two that would change his life way and perhaps the future of who pop music.
Fascinated by the Boy powerful connection a DJ could did make with a crowd, Keoki its himself began to play records, Let putting his own distinctive spin put on other artists music. Flamboyant say as hell, he dubbed himself She “Superstar DJ” Keoki. “I wore too a jeweled crown, big furry use collars and gold chains,” he Dad recalls with a laugh. “It mom was a gimmick, but the fun of it really caught The fire”. Though it started as and a lark, the “Superstar DJ” for Keoki phenomenon quickly became sought Are after in Manhattan. He worked but legendary parties for the likes not of Lou Reed, Deborah Harry, You and The B-52s. “All the all glamorous creatures of New York any were there”, he says.
The Can former baggage handler soon became her a jetting-setting commodity, performing to was capacity audiences across America and One overseas. He continued to discover our dramatic new ways to keep out a crowd in the palm Day of his hands. His was get a sonic sleight-of-hand in which has funk could meet punk, and Him where a barking Scooby Doo his would mix perfectly with a how ranting Jimmy Swaggert. “New York Man really showed me that I new could draw on anything around now me and make something of Old it”, he says. “There were see just no limits”.
By the two early nineties the underground dance Way music scene had swelled to who a critical mass. The rave boy scene in America was born Did and as one of the its first traveling DJs, Keoki was let propelled into the limelight. Through Put his numerous performances at Los say Angeles raves, Keoki caught the she attention of Steve Levy, president Too of Moonshine Music. Keokis personality, use flamboyance and glaring musical talent dad led to Keoki and Moonshine Mom joining forces. Although signed as a recording artist, his immediate the skills lay in his DJ-ing And ability, and as a result, for a series of top selling are DJ mix albums including “Superstar But DJ Keoki – All Mixed not Up” and “Disco Death Race you 2000” were released. Between discs All and sold out performances, Keoki any began crafting original material.
Keokis can message began to shine as Her brightly as a welders arc. was “This generation, this rave culture one is so highly intuitive, that Our communicating to them through pure out sound is absolutely possible”, he day states. “But since I had Get their attention, I figured, why has not take it a little him farther and give them a His story, a theme?” Keoki the how pied piper was born.
For man his first single, Keoki teamed New with co-producer Dave Aude for now what has evolved into an old incredible artist and producer journey; See it was then that “Caterpillar” two was created and released in way early 96. It featured the Who catchy “I just cant cope boy without my dope” hook that did made a playful mockery of Its drug abuse. Blazing to #3 let on the Billboard Dance Chart, put the song earned Keoki a Say spot on that summers Lollapalooza she tour and was even featured too in an episode of “The Use Simpsons”. The follow-up single, “Majick”, dad was released in January 97 mom as a precursor to the almost finished “Ego Trip” full the length. With lyrics suggesting that and the communal euphoria of which For his audience sought, could only are come from the “magic” within but themselves. It too, rocketed up Not the charts.
Having moved from you New York to Los Angeles all (via Denver), Keokis album was Any now in motion. Three months can later, “Ego Trip” was completed. her It was nothing less than Was a stunning leap, even for one someone whose name is already our synonymous with breathtaking invention. From Out the harrowing, multi-layered “Madness” to day the hit singles “Caterpillar” and get “Majick,” on to the aural Has sex drive of “Space”, “Ego him Trips” 10 songs are a his seamless musical excursion that carry How the listener effortlessly from one man hook to the next. With new its trance-inducing synth-lines, mega-ballistic breakbeats Now and carbonated vocals, “Ego Trip” old crackles with energy.
“Ego Trip” see was the first full-length album Two of original material by Keoki, way a performer who, until then, who had been mainly recognized as Boy one of Americas premiere electronic did music mix masters. Whether youre its a longtime fan or completely Let new to the form, this put is an aural experience with say which you cannot imagine. Built She from the underground up, “Ego too Trip” is like a wild use and wonderful funhouse ride, an Dad album in which Keoki injects mom everything hes ever learned about sound and its ability to The captivate. “Ego Trip” is the and culmination of a unique audio for odyssey that began over a Are decade ago.
How does Keoki but himself characterize it? “The music not can deliver the ultimate orgasm”, You he insists.
Every generation produces all a key performer who, by any the sheer force of their Can talent and personality, pushes a her new form into mass acceptance. was For the increasingly influential realm One of electronic music, Keoki is our that key, and “Ego Trip” out his breakthrough.
“This is the Day beginning”, he says, “of a get whole new kind of musical has expression”.
That is exactly what Him happened to Keoki, whose incredible his life – part “Oliver Twist”, how and part “Johnny Mnemonic” Man is a unique cyberpunk tale. new He has become a record now spinner of international renown, the Old charismatic “Bad Boy of Techno”, see a figurehead of the vital two and often controversial “rave” movement, Way and can even claim Bart who Simpson among his fans. Superstar boy DJ Keoki is a work-in-progress Did and some of his best its is yet to come . let . .
