Kayzo talks about his Unleashed XL tour and what it means to headline The Forum in Los Angeles [Interview]

Kayzo’s humble beginnings as a pupil of Icon Collective in Southern California seem to be a lifetime in the past, now that he’s simply introduced his Unleashed XL tour for 2023, ending with a headlining efficiency on the iconic Forum in Los Angeles. Since he began the undertaking in 2012, he’s hit each marker of progress and has steadily grown as an artist and individual, main to this really monumental event.

The Unleashed XL tour is on sale now. We caught up with Kayzo over the telephone this week to discuss about his largest headline present to-date, reigniting the Unleashed tour after COVID, and what it took make this all occur.

So I’ve identified you for I believe about seven years now, since that first interview in the pizza store in North Hollywood.

Oh, my God, dude. Yeah, that’s such a throwback. I forgot all about that setting till now.

I used to be at your first Doghouse takeover at Avalon in 2016. I believe I used to be at your first EDC too while you went again to again with Protohype and Lookas in 2015.

Oh, yeah, the bassPOD, we opened it up at doorways.

Now you’re headlining one of the vital iconic venues in Los Angeles, The Forum. When that supply got here via, what was going via your head, particularly wanting again at the place you’ve come from?

You mentioned it greatest. It’s one of the vital iconic venues in Los Angeles and one of the vital iconic historic venues round simply judging by its historical past. It’s been 5 years, occurring six subsequent yr, from my final headline play in LA which was on the Palladium.

Was it actually that lengthy?

Yeah, dude, isn’t that loopy? Yeah, it was like 2017 after I did the Palladium. And so, clearly, with COVID our plans that we had at the moment acquired pushed again, so it’s been 5 years for the reason that final LA present, , LA being type of sentimental for me. It’s essential to me as a result of it’s the place every little thing began musically for me again in 2012 so ensuring that we placed on the most important, greatest Kayzo present that we are able to presumably do in Los Angeles is type of like high precedence, proper? It’s type of like, you set the tone with it. It’s like a mile marker and type of efficiency in Los Angeles, all the time for me. So after we had been type of determining the place we needed to play, what our goal was, and what our objective was for the present, The Forum all the time caught out to me as a result of, , I’ve been to different exhibits on the Forum. Non-dance music exhibits particularly. And I keep in mind the final rock present I noticed there. It was Bring Me The Horizon in 2019, and I noticed Fever 333, and I forgot who performed in the center. But it was the primary steel and rock present that I noticed at The Forum. And there’s simply an power in there that was –

That present was with Thrice. [laughs]

Yeah. Okay. It was with Thrice. Yeah, present was unimaginable. And, for me, it’s simply, , rising up, listening to all kinds of completely different rock, steel, pop punk, various, type of hardcore stuff, publish hardcore, and additionally coming from a sports activities background, via hockey, that kind of sports activities/area type venue, these kinds of venues in basic, I all the time type of gravitate in the direction of as a result of it’s a great illustration of my life with sports activities and my life with music now, since they usually home these kinds of occasions. So, the power in these kinds of arenas, particularly The Forum, like after I noticed that present, I type of knew proper then and there that was like– I keep in mind, I used to be with my supervisor at that present. I used to be like, “Dude, we will play this venue one day. We need to play here,” like there’s one thing about this place that simply units it aside from another venue that I’ve been to in LA for music at the moment. And so when that supply got here in, it was type of surreal as a result of I knew it was attainable to do The Forum. I simply didn’t know when, and I simply didn’t understand how it would come about. And so when that possibility grew to become accessible, it was tremendous full circle for me. I began to keep in mind all of the exhibits I’ve been to there and simply having that dialog with my supervisor like, “We’re going to do a show there.”

I’m so excited for the present and it’s been one thing that we’ve been engaged on for months, and we’re nonetheless engaged on, in phrases of creating it excellent for everyone by the point May rolls round.

So you’re now the third EDM artist in the previous yr to announce or play on the Forum. You know, Subtronics and RL Grime. And you talked about that you just haven’t seen any EDM acts there. The solely ones I’ve seen in the previous 5 years had been Armin van Buuren and The Chainsmokers. What do you assume is going on that artists, notably, it appears, bass artists, at the moment are enjoying The Forum? Are they opening up to it or is bass getting to that crossover space the place The Forum is now like, “Yeah, we can do this.”

Right. It’s a great query, I believe a bit little bit of each. I believe sure acts such as you talked about a minimum of in the final couple of months, and I used to be on the RL Grime present too, which was nice, actually, actually dope present. It’s a venue the place an artist that basically takes pleasure in the imaginative and prescient and the storytelling behind the model and the showmanship of the present, it’s a great place to showcase that story exterior of the everyday membership and even regular venue. It’s only a larger stage, and it’s a distinct kind of viewing expertise than different venues that you may go see. So I believe The Forum, clearly they’re coming round to see extra dance music in there. Dance music is at a great place for these like massive scale exhibits. The exhibits that they placed on there, whether or not they’re digital particular music, or with myself who does a mixture of rock and digital that’ll deliver, like with out giving freely an excessive amount of of who we now have and what we’re doing, like we’re bringing a whole stay expertise exterior of simply DJing to this present and to the tour that I simply introduced even exterior of LA for my set. That type of resembles what I did in 2019 with Unleashed however on a bigger scale in a distinct format, and additionally, , there’s going to be help bands and completely different stay parts to the present that type of deliver it full circle, make it really feel not much less like a rave, however it brings the the storytelling and the backstory of the place I come from musically, what I get pleasure from exterior of dance music to the desk.

I believe they see this as a great alternative for artists to take larger dangers. And attempt various things out that aren’t simply the conventional, normal, large LA present. So I believe The Forum provides us a platform to take larger dangers. And I believe they’re excited about showcasing that with the newer era and the newer kinds of music like digital music and not simply being so band-centric and , “We only do bands, we do live music,” they’re now type of shifting and diverting in the direction of additionally having extra digital music in there. So it’s type of simply coming with the occasions. Just like another main metropolis venue, pageant. We’ve been seeing it for the final 10+ years, the illustration of dance music artists or levels at main crossover festivals are just about normal at this level. So I believe you’re beginning to see that bleed over into the exhausting ticket touring facet of issues with artists, , digital music doesn’t have to simply essentially be in a membership or a venue that homes simply digital music. Now you possibly can take it to The Forum or, , you see acts play at SoFi Stadium or Allegiant in Vegas like with Illenium. If there’s a narrative to be informed, and there’s an viewers for it, I believe these venues are far more welcoming to it now.

Absolutely yeah. You kind of already touched on my subsequent two questions a bit bit, however I’ll simply preserve it transferring. Previously, you talked about the RL Grime present on the Forum, and I keep in mind seeing you there the evening earlier than Escape. And I type of talked about to you want, “Oh, you’ve got a big announcement at Escape, huh?” I clearly had no concept it was going to be about the Forum on the time. I don’t know in case you keep in mind this.

Yeah we had been on the bar speaking about it.

Were you making an attempt to, like, conceal a smirk the entire time, such as you knew?

Yeah. I imply, it was simply type of like I used to be making an attempt to preserve it beneath wraps simply solely as a result of like, not that I used to be afraid of anybody saying something. I simply was excited; we had already filmed this actually, actually, actually cool promo video that I premiered at Escape to mushy announce the present to everybody in LA that was at my Escape set. So I simply needed like that to be like, exterior of the promoters that booked the present and my managers, I needed even like mates and those who I preserve in contact with in the trade to be fully shocked and additionally blown up, like, let that be an enormous second, so I used to be making an attempt actually exhausting to simply preserve it beneath wraps till that second occurred at Escape. You know what I imply? But I used to be positively excited to be there for that present and type of simply get a great perception of like, what’s to come and what the capabilities are from a manufacturing and showmanship standpoint at a venue like that, and it was actually, actually thrilling to see what may be executed in that venue.

We had been additionally speaking about your Unleashed tour. I used to be wanting up earlier than this, , for the in your final album, you introduced that tour. I believe it was like January or February, 2020. And that was like simply a few months earlier than the pandemic, and now you’re doing the Unleashed XL, even larger than earlier than. So, I imply, such as you’ve come out of the pandemic, , completely leveled up. How does it really feel to, for lack of a greater phrase, overcome that adversity and come out the opposite facet on a a lot larger stage?

Yeah, that was type of a bummer again then. I keep in mind saying the Unleashed tour that we had been supposed to do. We introduced in the beginning of 2020 and then, like, actually, like two months later, like a month after saying or no matter it was, had to pull it all down. I simply had such large aspirations for that tour as a result of I had simply acquired executed doing the Unleashed, large one-off solely exhibits in San Francisco and Chicago and New York, Houston, the place we had been testing the thought as a result of we had been enjoying Coachella in 2019. So we needed to deliver a stay facet to Coachella, and that’s what type of sparked the thought of Unleashed to start with, with a number of the exhibits. So, we introduced that large tour. We had been so excited coming off Coachella and these exhibits and then the pandemic occurs. And, , I by no means knew if I used to be going to get one other alternative to do the Unleashed present or one thing like it. You know what I imply? Didn’t know what got here out was what was going to come out the opposite facet throughout the entire expertise with COVID.

And then popping out of it and then getting the alternatives to proceed to grind and work exhausting on my craft, and proceed to push this sound and this narrative that I’m doing with my music with rock and digital, getting the prospect to, deliver again Unleashed and do Unleashed XL as a result of larger, higher manufacturing and type of a distinct story. I’m identical to tremendous, tremendous lucky and grateful for it. Because that unique tour concept was such an essential piece to my storytelling and I didn’t know if I used to be ever going to inform it. And now I get to deliver it again to life in a distinct, modern manner for 2023. It’s like full circle, and it comes with loads of different progress, private progress, artistic progress, progress in my relationships and my girlfriend, household, and every little thing from the pandemic. I want I’d have been in a position to do the tour again then. But I’m virtually happier that I’ve been in a position to type of undergo much more private and artistic progress and I believe I’ve been in a position to type of put myself in a significantly better and completely different headspace that I believe will solely profit the tour and the present and all my followers that come to these exhibits. I’m excited that we lastly get to inform it and we get to deliver it throughout the US and Canada and then finish it off in LA on the Forum.

The lineup for the tour simply acquired introduced as effectively. It’s actually superb to see who’s gonna be supporting and enjoying with you on this run. The Forum help remains to be TBA. But , you already type of touched on this, with loads of your LA exhibits we are able to anticipate one thing actually particular. I do know you possibly can’t actually get into too many specifics, however is there something you possibly can possibly, like, tease?

For certain. We have one date nonetheless to announce in the tour that’s like type of spray painted out proper now, and then we now have these TBA helps, not as a result of we don’t know what we’re doing, however as a result of we’re type of identical to ready to announce these at a later date, as a result of, yeah, they’re they’re going to be larger than a standard present. Obviously, venues like The Forum are large, proper? So we wish to actually come out the gate swinging and deliver one thing particular. And additionally like I alluded to earlier, exhibits just like the Forum and a few of these larger exhibits like we’re bringing a stay facet to them. So like we now have bands, and bands as in plural, on these exhibits, So, I don’t need to give away an excessive amount of of like, who and what, just like the specifics as a result of we’ve acquired a while till then, however like I’ll say there’s going to be an enormous stay facet to that present particularly that may separate it from something that I’ve executed in LA and additionally something that I’ve executed in the previous to this point with another Unleashed present. Stay tuned for that one. It’s going to have some issues that individuals have been asking for out of doors of the band. I get hit up on social media on a regular basis, and a few of these requests are lastly going to come to fruition on the Forum so I believe individuals will likely be pleasantly shocked and excited for what we now have deliberate.