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You Tweeted that you're done with your label, Ultra Records. What'd they do?
They're like your phone company: There's always something to bitch about. They do good things from time to time, like give you phone service, but their goal is to make money. My big thing is when I upload a video, I say, "Listen, whoever puts an ad on this, I’ll ****ing kill them." But Ultra — and I don't even know if they're to blame — if you want me as a client, you've gotta put up with this. I just need everyone to know [putting ads on videos] isn't my idea. And my contract is up with this record.
Were you aware of Dave Grohl’s seemingly anti-EDM rant before you got up onstage together?
No! He came into the dressing room afterwards and said, "I think I said something stupid." And I'm like, "What’d you do?" I didn't find out until I was watching the video online later and I was like, "Dave, oh my God, really?" But he's like me, he shotguns his ****. It's a quality — maybe not the most admirable quality — we both share.
You know you gave Madonna a pass for pandering to the EDM crowd with her MDMA references, right?
I should have been more relentless, but I thought it looked like
I was after attention, and then it became an exercise in futility dealing with her fans. There's no such thing as winning against 10 million idiots. You're farting against thunder on that one.
Still, you've got sway. The day after your "We All Hit Play" essay where you talked about what producers actually do onstage, Swedish House Mafia announced that they were quitting music. You're responsible for that!
[Laughs] I don't think so. They'd had some management issues. But what I did see was a ton of artists writing articles justifying that they actually do something on stage. Sometimes you just gotta kick over the beehive and it brings up **** like that. It educates and infuriates, but what better motivator to get somebody to do something than to piss them off?
Last month, you said you were miserable and needed to unplug.
Why? I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one. I was just in a dodgy-ass relationship then.
You've been pretty public about your new relationship with Kat Von D.
I'm super ****ing stoked to be with Kat. It was such a breath of fresh air to find someone who's creative, who's got ambition.
There's a great amount of deceit that comes to someone with stature and wealth, according to Forbes, and yeah, you could walk into a nightclub and find some blonde who's like, "Check out that $11 million dick," but I'm ****ing over it. I'd much rather be happy with someone who's on par.
Mainstream interest in electronic music has come and gone before. What's your contingency plan if this all goes to ****?
One Direction. That ****'s still hot. The industry has always had a problem with the 18 to 25 market, but EDM is perfect — a unique identifier for a group in that mental and fiscal state; in their youth, but free to do whatever they want. We filled that void. But the industry knows they've been missing this market, so they're taking what we have and mixing it with what they're doing. Plus, the scene is going to oversaturate within itself anyway. Dubstep totally did. So that hole will close and then be open again for a new thing. It's just the wax and wane of that odd ****ing middle zone.
Have you ever considered releasing a compilation of your greatest rants?
Nah. You know where to find them. That whole thing stemmed from me being in a bad mood with an annoying lady from the Irish Daily Star back in 2008 [when Zimmerman referred to DJs as "****ing ****s"]. That kicked it all off. Honestly, if I had just had a good day that day, I would be Richie Hawtin right now: Cool as ****, no opinions, just like, "Hey man, I'm in a beautiful place. I'm in Ibiza having a great time."
