“Some songs, I’ve probably spent like 600 hours on - you don’t clock out, ever”: It’s not just you who can’t finish tracks… Steve Aoki on his obsessive tendencies

The hugely successful superstar DJ Steve Aoki has been talking about his obsessive, workaholic inclinations when it comes to finishing tracks.

In an interview with DJ Mag, Aoki confirmed he doesn’t work usual work hours. “As a producer, you don’t say, ‘OK, I worked from 8am to 5pm, I’m clocking out’. You don’t clock out, ever. Nope. You’re done when a song is done. And I don’t count the hours: some songs, I’ve probably spent like 600 hours on.”

That’s the equivalent of 25 days of continuous work. Or three and a half weeks of solid graft on one track.

Elaborating on this, he said: “This is how my brain works. I need a challenge. Once I have a challenge to create, my creativity starts flowing, and then my focus starts honing.”

Steve Aoki & Lil Jon - Get Lower [Official Music Video] - YouTube

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And Aoki isn’t one of those ‘take five years to write an album’ artists. His current album Paragon is his third in three years. Both its predecessors contained over 23 tracks. To add to this he’s also found time to write a graphic novel HiROQUEST, which ties in with those two previous albums Hiroquest: Genesis and Hiroquest 2: Double Helix.

On top of his production work there is also a commitment to DJing which is mind boggling. “I haven’t DJ’d below 200 gigs a year since 2006,” he told the magazine. “It’s what I do. It’s my career, my love - what I love to do is touring. I just love playing.”

He also had some advice for aspiring artists and producers: “When you’re a young artist, you don’t even know what your f***ing core is. You have to find that sound, you have to find your signature, it takes time. And then when you find it, you can hone in on it and sharpen it and become a warrior, the best warrior on the battlefield.”

Steve Aoki - Drive ft. KIDDO [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO] - YouTube

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Aoki has been one of the top names on the dance battlefield for quite some time. A key figure in the rise of EDM a decade or so back, he’s known for his showman-like approach to DJing, which has at times included crowd surfing, spraying champagne bottles and his signature move, throwing cake at the audience. 

This hasn’t always endeared him to the traditionalists in the dance community, but it has made him enormously successful – he has over 3 billion streams to his name and since 2013 has been a consistent presence in the Top 10 of DJ magazine’s coveted Top 100 DJs list.