The past few years have been quick on the come up for Boise native Kai Wachi. The bodybuilder DJ is known for his hard hitting drops, intricate sound design, and immense stage presence. His ability to command dance floors and festival stages is no joke. After dropping his debut album DEMIGOD via Kannibalen Records in 2019, his growth has seen a meteoric rise and there’s no sign of stopping even in 2022. His track ‘Run‘ with Dylan Matthew is his biggest track to date which has garnered almost 10 million views on Spotify.
Earlier in June, He dropped his 8 track SKINS album which has solidified him as bass music’s most promising talent. Showcasing his unyielding craft and masterful production techniques, SKINS represents the next phase of his career. Kai just kicked off his biggest headlining tour to date at the Brooklyn Mirage and we had a chance to speak with him at the show to see what he’s been up to.
You have definitely been cranking away at the studio this year. Your SKINS album dropped earlier in June and after listening to it, you incorporate way more melodic elements compared to your previous album, so how about you tell us more about your style?
My music has always had a melodic element to it. You can even go back to the OG Kai Wachi fans. We’re talking like 2011. Like, before, all the people that are showing up tonight probably didn’t know I existed until 2019. If you look at my music way back, I’ve always had a melodic element. In 2020, I came to a point in my career where I was like, I feel like I’m losing substance in my career musically. And I was like, why is that? After thinking about it, maybe I’m not giving the fans all of me in every part of me artistically. So I decided to explore melodic music, not in a way to like, oh, I’m going to do melodic music because it streams better, not like a sellout way. I genuinely like it, but I make my melodic music my way. I don’t do it anyone else’s way. I do it my style.
Why did you name your album SKINS?
I named it SKINS because it relates to me in how I’ve lived my life wearing different skins that have gotten me into trouble, like, with drug addiction and other things in my relationship. And it’s kind of a representation of how if you don’t get certain emotions in check, they will run you. They’ll be at the forefront of your skin, right? So you’ll be making your decisions based off of whatever traumas or stuff you haven’t dealt with. So that’s where the name came from. The album includes an element of darkness and emotional aspect, and it’s just working. It’s working really well. And I just find the more that I follow my heart artistically, the more my career is just working better. It’s because that side of me is resonating so much more with people than my hard music. My hard music still resonates with people, but there’s a kind of duality within myself that I need to pursue both artistically.
Are you more of an indoors or outdoors type of person?
Yeah, I’m like a little of both. I mean, I don’t go outdoors enough, but I love camping and being outside. That’s just how I grew up in the Northwest.
What’s your current workout split and diet goals for the summer?
Right now I’m doing arms, shoulders & abs, legs, chest back, arm, shoulders, legs, or arms, shoulders & abs,chest back, legs and a day off. But when my schedule gets a little busy, I don’t really get to go as much. I try to do half an hour stair master four times a week. And I just started dialing in my macros and now I’m trying to do a cut. I don’t even want to call it a cut because then it gives my brain the idea that at some point I can just start eating like a fat ass and become overweight. My goal is to get down to 12% body fat myself.
Would you ever want to compete in bodybuilding or powerlifting?
I would just body build and take my diet and workouts way more seriously. I would definitely compete. I’m still thinking about doing it, just a local show. Just one time. See what happens.
Besides bodybuilding, do you have any other interests that your fans may not know about?
I like to play video games. But now I don’t play as much because I’m an addict. So anything that has a huge dopamine reward can become addicting. I know I’m playing too many video games when I’m like oh, I have to get this set ready for Bass Canyon which is in 3 days but I’m going to play video games anyway to escape the stress that it’s bringing me.
Tickets for Kai’s headlining tour are still available here.
