Ideally this post should be titled Know Your Artists, because Skazi is a duo, not just a single psy God. Asher Swissa goes by the moniker DJ Skazi, but he and band mate Assaf B-Bass created the psy music project Skazi in 1998. Having met in the trance scene in their native Israel, Skazi are among the pioneers of psy music – so classic that they have a Myspace account. They’ve come miles in 15 years, from performing at gigs worldwide to owning their own ‘hardcore dance floor electronic music’ label, Chemical Crew.
DJ Skazi is uniquely a product of his time. Easily mistakable for a Guns N’ Roses guitarist, his roots lie in hard rock. After leaving Israeli punk rock band Sartan Hashad to develop both his style and career, he revolutionized trance music by incorporating live electric guitar riffs into his sets. Aside from Psytrance and Hard Rock, he masterfully mixes different genres into his music like Hard House, Techno, and more recently, Dubstep. “Music is the food for the soul,” says Swissa. “It brings and stores from within, moments when you truly celebrate your life or life memories in sync with the whole human sensory experience. It’s the whole idea of the right tune at the right time.”
Skazi’s ability to blend different genres into a solid, signature sound makes their music playable at either Curlies or Blue Frog, where DJ Skazi is performing on the 6th of next month. Though he debuted at Manali’s Frost Bite Festival this year – “I’m coming to India for 24 hours”, he told Rolling Stone India in June – DJ Skazi has performed over 20 times in India. “I expect smiling faces, beautiful Indian people and the good vibes that they used to have all these years. I don’t want anything to change”, he said prior to arriving to play a solo set. With quarter of his fans based in India, he’s psyched about the EDM revolution in India – “You can go to events and festivals all over the world from Europe to South America and even India; you can feel the vibe and energy like never before.”
However, don’t be fooled – his unpretentiousness doesn’t make him any less of a boss. DJ Skazi brings his swag wherever he is, taking a page out of David Guetta’s book when he played a set in the air on a flight to Greece in July. After the ‘highest party in the world’, next on his agenda? Playing at an underwater party.
Wishlists aside, in their heart of hearts is the love of music. “We don’t really have the issue of making our music to suit the particular atmosphere we are going to play in. Basically, our agenda is to spread love for music worldwide in the name of the beat”, says Swissa. The only question left is, as he puts it on Facebook, ‘INDIA ARE YOU READY????????’ If he’s as enthusiastic as he is on social media and his ideas are as sick as stratospheric parties, DJ Skazi will not disappoint.
#Skazi – Davai Davai
#Skazi – I Like To Move It