Backstage Stories: Kaskade Discusses the Winning Formula for a Great Music Festival

As both an icon and a trailblazer in the world of electronic dance music, Kaskade has some fascinating stories and insights from his three decades in the music industry.

Just before his headlining “Redux” set at Nashville’s Deep Tropics festival, we caught up with the electronic music superstar, whose real name is Ryan Raddon, for an interview on the current state of the dance music scene. He’s humbly snacking on Sour Patch Kids in his trailer as we sit down to chat.

Raddon has long-positioned himself at the vanguard of live performance, a reputation that reached new heights in February after his historic performance as the Super Bowl’s first in-game DJ. With so much major experience under his belt, we were curious to hear his thoughts about what makes a great music festival.

“There’s a lot of good festivals out there, and only a handful of great festivals,” he tells us. “I think stage is a big deal, location and ambiance. I mean, that already is half the battle. If you’re sitting at downtown and you have the skyline, like Lollapalooza Chicago, every picture you see from there, you’re like, ‘This is insane!’ That already is ahead. So you need top-level production and a great location.”

When traveling for festivals and shows, the chart-topping producer says he always seeks out local food to get a taste of a city’s authentic culture. One thing that only his tour manager knows about him is that there’s certain hotels he simply can’t stand while traveling. Kaskade’s tour manager laughs in agreement off-camera.

When it comes to the music, Raddon recounts experiences of being thrown out of establishments back in the day for blaring his tracks. Now, performing at major festivals and high-flying Las Vegas DJ residencies, he doesn’t have to worry much about the volume.

“I’ve had so many noise complaints throughout the years,” Raddon says. “I’ve had to move before, I’ve been kicked out of apartments and I’ve been kicked out of studio spaces.”

But that wasn’t the craziest thing to happen.

“In college, I was throwing a massive party,” he recalls. “We had so many people, it was on the second floor, and we cracked the floor… our ceiling was going to cave in.”

Once Kaskade’s career started to skyrocket, he says he didn’t go crazy with lavish purchases or big shopping sprees—although he did go on to buy “a nice car.” He does, however, vividly remember the moment he collected his first big paycheck from music.

“I remember I laid the two checks out on my kitchen counter and I took a picture of them,” he says. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m actually making money doing this!’ When I did one of my biggest Vegas deals, I signed the lease shortly after that for my studio in Los Angeles, in Santa Monica. That was a big deal because it was a very big purchase, and not really like me, but it’s been awesome. I’ve been there for seven years and I love it.”

We were also curious to hear what Kaskade would do for work, had he not followed his path as a DJ.

“If I wasn’t out performing every weekend, I’d be writing and producing music for other people, which I did a little bit before my career took off,” he explains. “I’d still be doing something music-related.”

Kaskade’s “Redux” set at Deep Tropics was the unquestioned highlight of Deep Tropics’ first day. The dazzling Nashville festival took place August 16-17. You can learn more here.

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