SKYKO // Artist Profile
Today (October 27th 2018) I read over this old bio I had written back in 2012 when I was trying really hard to “be” someone else. I was trying to be the EDM guy, neglecting much of a previous two decades (or more) spent trying to figure out the whole songwriting / film-composing / recording studio thing. I guess I was feeling my age and trying hard to fit in. I left that bio here for you to have a laugh… All of the info there is true, but the way it was worded makes me smile at my own expense. :- )
I feel a lot differently about things now! Honestly I see how the whole EDM / dance craze got swallowed up and transfigured by the mainstream vampires. They totally tore it to shreds! Slapping together rappers and Pop R&B singers with one or two of the electronic music's “studio guys’ who write a good deal of the actual music. It sickens me and I can’t see myself ever calling myself an "EDM Artist" ever again. When I first got involved back in ’93 EVERYTHING was different in the electronic dance community and 'round 2012-13 when Clear Channel, Robert F.X. Sillerman and Live Nation got involved, the game forever changed.
I like to refer to the corporate entertainment elite as “The Mainstream Music Mafia” but their fangs go deep into print, film, news media… Well, you hopefully know the rest by now. I trust that the coming years will expose this virus for what it is and us real musicians / entertainment entrepreneurs can get back to work making real music about things that matter.
Skyko
I would like to add to this bio that I’ve spent literally hundreds of thousands of hours practicing the violin, guitar, piano, drums and singing, songwriting, recording… It’s truly the part that keeps me going. Back in 1978 at the age of twelve I was the youngest member ever auditioned and accepted into the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. I toured across America in 1983 with the company Young American Showcase’s band "Free Fare” and in 1984 I moved to LA and lived in the back of my Chevy Nova, in the attic of a Gym in Studio City and in a dilapidated rehearsal warehouse in South Central LA so that I could start my own bands and play the famous Sunset Strip venues such as The Whisky a Go-Go and The Roxy among many others.
It’s been a long arduous journey and it’s only now that I can look back and comfortably say that there are few if any changes that I would make knowing what I know today. The entertainment business has been a cesspool of dirty-dealing, sexual harassment, drugs and shady characters. Hopefully those days are over as the new era of The Great Awakening dawns before our very eyes!
.......aaaaaaaaaa and here's the old bio!
Skyko
Being an East Coast man on the West Coast does not influence ones sensibilities as much as relocating and spending time in different parts of the world. Probably the largest influential factor that shifted Skyko's taste for EDM into overdrive was the move to Europe in 1993. He explains, "I was writing music for a stage show that was debuting in the West End of London. Someone took me out to Elephant & Castle and I was transfixed by what was happening there. The Ministry Of Sound? - Whoah! I had never heard music like that in my life!"
A year in England, a month in Amsterdam and another year and a half touring throughout Europe planted an aural seed that began to flourish upon his return to Los Angeles. The quest for the ingredients to compose these warm, lush, analog sounds had begun.
A couple of friends had also recently returned from Europe and were as fired up about the music as Skyko was. Both Steve Castro and TJ Hoban opened a few very successful clubs in Los Angeles and Skyko had the pleasure and privilege to perform at them regularly from about 1994-2000. Skyko recalls one show that had a particular impact, "We did an ongoing live, electronic show at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas in '97 that was off the hook! I wrote 45 minutes of original music that was a mix of house, trance and breaks. We had computers, keyboards, guitars, live and electronic drums onstage with a cast of 10 professional dancers, lasers, costumes and props. Man, those two guys were like 10 years ahead of their time. What an amazing experience it was to be a part of that back then!"
In 2000 Skyko moved to Japan and added DJ to his list of accomplishments. It was then that his electronic productions began to take shape. Skyko relates his musical progress, "I had classical violin training from a very young age and I also began writing rock music early on as well, so the transition to dance music was not one without it's share of difficulties. In many ways all the prior musical experience helped, but it was also difficult to break out of that rock & roll mold. Now with the addition of Dubstep into the electronic arena, I can delve back into those roots and grunge it up a bit . . . you know, get my hands dirty again!"
In this new controversial world of monstrous 50 foot LED screens and pre-mixed DJ sets triggering massive lighting arrays - Skyko is one performer that has been on a 20 year quest to entertain the dance community not by pushing play, but by pushing the parameters of what can be expected of a veteran EDM musician, DJ and performer.
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