The Straight Edge Mormon DJ Taking Over the World
This article was originally written for The Daily Beast by Marlow Stern. The following is an excerpt.
Kaskade has been DJing dance parties for 20 years, and last year was the No. 8 highest-paid DJ in the world, raking in $17 million. But he isn’t like other DJs.
“I don’t know what day it is, truth be told!” says Kaskade, surging with adrenaline.
It’s 4:30 on the morning of July 5, and the acclaimed DJ has just rampaged through a three-plus-hour set at the Encore Resort’s XS Nightclub—a 40,000-square-foot Dionysian dancehall in Las Vegas that’s half-nightclub and half-nighttime pool party, lit up by a plethora of pyrotechnics.
“There are 10 different parties going on at once,” he says, flashing a boyish grin. “The scale of this is freaking bananas. There are 5,000 people here tonight. It’s really more like a festival. There’s fire off the roof. When you call this a nightclub, it’s insulting to nightclubs.”
When you watch Kaskade manning the decks, he looks like a kid in a candy store, smiling from ear to ear; a single raise of the arm sends a shockwave rippling through the crowd, inciting blasts of air and confetti, accompanied by wild paroxysms of dance.
So you’d be shocked to learn that this fresh-faced, vibrant man, who Forbes ranked as the No. 8 highest-paid DJ in the world, raking in $17 million in ’14—and who doesn’t look a day over 30—is a 44-year-old married father of three daughters.
Read Stern’s full artile at thedailybeast.com.