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In this episode, hosts Tony Technique and Tim Pinner, along with guest Kaÿ Wagner, delve into the rising DJ's inspirational journey in the electronic music scene. Originally from Frankfurt, Germany, Kaÿ Wagner discusses his roots in techno, the influence of his grandmother, and his unique heritage from Greek and German parents. Kaÿ shares his trials and triumphs, including overcoming health issues that shaped his music and mindset. The discussion also covers his creative process, the importance of staying authentic, and insights into global techno culture, with a focus on inclusivity and passion. Whether performing in underground clubs or dreaming of large-scale festivals like Tomorrowland, Kaÿ underscores the significance of mental health, being clear headed, and balancing personal struggles with professional growth. Join us as we explore the life and work of a DJ committed to making a lasting impact on the world of electronic music.
- (00:00) - Introduction and Guest Welcome
- (01:20) - Kaÿ Wagner's Background and Influences
- (03:53) - Challenges and Overcoming Adversity
- (06:57) - Musical Journey and Performances
- (11:45) - Industry Insights and DJ Philosophy
- (17:05) - The Reality of Touring and Running a Label
- (31:00) - The Art of Visualization in DJing
- (31:34) - Taking Risks and Track Selection
- (31:58) - Managing the Vibe and Crowd Interaction
- (35:06) - The Importance of Sobriety and Professionalism
- (42:24) - Overcoming Challenges and Personal Growth
- (46:52) - Future Plans and Global Ambitions
- (48:22) - Connecting with Fans and Upcoming Tours
- (54:53) - The Underground Scene and Secret Warehouse Parties
- (58:11) - Final Thoughts and Advice for Aspiring DJs
Creators and Guests
What is The Vinyl Underground?
Welcome to The Vinyl Underground, a podcast created by fans, for fans of electronic music in North Carolina. Hosted by Crowd Control, this show dives deep into the local and regional scenes across Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, and Wilmington.
Our first series, Behind the Decks, showcases the hottest emerging DJs—sharing their stories, musical styles, inspirations, and favorite dancefloor moments. Whether you're Gen Z discovering the scene or a seasoned Gen X raver revisiting your roots, The Vinyl Underground is where beats meet community.
Tune in, get inspired, and stay connected to the movement.
001 The Vinyl Underground
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Tony Rivera: [00:00:00] I'm your host, Tony Technique, along with Tim Pinner. Joining [00:01:00] us today is Kai Wagner, a rising DJ in the electronic music scene, who is not only making a name for himself here in the us, but is also recognized internationally in continents such as south America, north America, and parts of Europe Welcome Kai to the show.
Kaÿ Wagner: Oh, first of all, thank you guys for having me. Really appreciate it. Like the opportunity. You guys are like amazing and the entire team has been really working on this. , so my name is Kai Wagner. Um, I am a DJ and producer in the techno realm, I'm originally from Germany, Frankfort, to be exact. Um, I come from a background of like collective mix. You can call me the German Shepherd in a way. You know German Shepherd. Yeah. You know, I grew up in the underground pretty much of the techno scene in Germany, um, with my grandmother, as I mentioned before on my mix Mag interview.
My grandmother was a huge, like, electronic music person back then, , when electronic music was just like still starting. And I think that from her background of like metal and rock kind of brought her [00:02:00] in and that she brought me into this as a kid, you know, it's, and when you're a kid, like frequency sticks right?
She was a survivor from World War ii. Mm-hmm. I admired her a lot and I still look up to her. I mean, my parents did amazing job in raising me and my grandmother was basically the one that kind of got that into my brain. And up until today I owe her everything.
So what's your
Tony Rivera: background like, um, you know, you, you say you were born and raised in Germany, but were your, your parents, you know, from different ethnic upbringing.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah. Yeah. So my dad is German. My mom is from Greece.
Tony Rivera: Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So this is why I see the, that's, I say that's
Kaÿ Wagner: it. The German Shepherd.
Tony Rivera: Oh, German Shepherd from Greece. Right, right, right. So this is why you travel. You just came from Greece? Actually, I just came from Ros, yes. Oh, okay. Good, good, good. It's
Kaÿ Wagner: a beautiful place, you know what I mean? Um, so we go all the way back then my mom is like Greek Egyptian. Mm-hmm. My dad is like German and he's got some Holland and Dutch kind of background.
So it's like, like I said, it's a mix, you know? Yes, yes. And then. That's me right here. Right,
Tony Rivera: Germany is like techno's influence is [00:03:00] everywhere pretty much, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's so true.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah. It's, it's everywhere. You know? Um, I think it, it's mainly was made in Detroit, right? Mm-hmm. That's the mother of them. But I think we embraced it a lot more and developed it, you know, and now Berlin became a hotspot for techno culture, right? Yeah. , if you want to experience techno, as you know, Tony, you, you just got back from Germany as well, right?
Yeah. Yeah. You gotta go there and just see Yes. For yourself, you know?
Tony Rivera: Exactly. It's, it is a whole other, you know, environment there in which you just en enveloped in the music. So, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Piner: I've known Kai, I've been to a lot of his shows.
He knows I'm an avid supporter, and I think it's important to say he stands out amongst his peers. He is one of the nicest guys. He's authentic. Mm-hmm. He's good people. He's a good human. But I love his music too, thank God. And and I think we've always had a good vibe together. So. Thanks for being our first guest.
Tony Rivera: from what I've seen, um, I know that, um, you've had a kind of a rough, a rough start with not only, [00:04:00] not with the DJing part, but I know when you first really started getting into your music production, um, you had some health issues and stuff like that.
And, um, you know, let's talk about that. Like, you know, what was that like, you know, kind of, you know, struggling with past those challenges in your life and also, you know, getting to the point in which you had a vision and you wanted to execute that vision. What was your passion that just drove you, that drove you there?
Okay,
Kaÿ Wagner: let's give it real. I'm not gonna give you the version of the podcast. Let's do, do it. Do it. Yeah. I'm gonna keep it real. It was depressing to be honest. Ah, it was, it was day by day, a rough day where you, your lifespan is sleeping by the day and you don't know what to do about it. Mm-hmm. Right? So do you have two options to sit by the wall and cry, which I really did.
And there is the other option of like, um, screw it. You know, I'm just gonna go live my life. And you don't know who you're gonna meet and what kind of connections you're gonna do. Now was that a healthy mindset? No. Did I ask for support?
No, I did not, because, um, I was just raised that way. Mm-hmm. You know, I'll just put it this way. And I did not heal until recently. Mm-hmm. [00:05:00] Um, but it definitely, those challenges made me who I am today. I wanna say that the pain and the sadness, and it became a part of my drive. You know, I'm not gonna tell you the passion and all this stuff wasn't part of it, but it was not the main driver.
It was the pain. It was, it was all that the passion was driven from it. Right. It's like two sides of the coin. Um, right. And then it, I won sitting down and, and diving deep into the music. Yeah. You find that all these emotions kind of collectively come together into one baseline. Sure. Right. And it's your job now from experience how to navigate through that baseline.
Mm-hmm. And I've had over 150 projects that I just have not released with the world just because I thought that they were not good enough. Mm-hmm. And, and I'm gonna tell you right now for everybody's watching this. If you think you're not good enough, you are okay. Just where's the wisdom. Don't listen to that.
You just, it's, it's a voice. You know, and that voice is coming from, I don't know, where maybe a place [00:06:00] back then that was told, did not, maybe not recognized. Mm-hmm. Maybe not approved. You had to work hard to approve it, to get approved or something. Just heal from that. Mm-hmm. Yes. Before you try to project that into the world, you know what I mean?
Tony Rivera: And it show, it shows, it shows in your music and your performances, especially in your performances. You, you look like you're really enjoying life and you're really trying to live life to the fullest. You know? I even feel your, your, your energy through the performance that I've seen, like on YouTube and stuff like that.
You're just having so much fun. You're so enthusiastic. Right. And, and, and also you, you're down to earth guy and I, and I think a lot of that has to do with, um, you know, your struggles that you've been through, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, and, and what, what it took to, to get to, to where you're at. Right. Um, which, which, you know, people for, people don't know you, you know, they can, they.
Just assume that that, you know, you have a lot of positive energy that you're just trying to bring forth to the world, right? I mean, is that that something that. Especially with your DJ performances, you know, [00:07:00] um, you're trying to, um, and, and, and one of the ones that I was actually watching was the one at the club input, was it in, in, in, um, in Argentina.
Yeah. And then Brian. Yeah. Yeah. And that was that was an interesting one. I don't know if you see you. Oh, of course, man. I sent it over to you. Right? Exquisite.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah. You play some Dark techs world class production. Yeah. Brand new video. Yeah. Really cool stuff there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, you know, um, I, you do know me it from the techno side, right?
Mm-hmm. But I think in a lot of ways, um, like some, a lot of DJs like, or a lot of, like, even artists, some, sometimes they like, oh, it's about me. I'm here. I'm just doing my art. Either will we stay or you don't, I don't really care. I'm just gonna continue doing my thing. Mm-hmm. I don't really agree with that kind of mentality because at the end of the day, it's our job to be entertainers.
Mm-hmm. It's our job to make sure people are dancing.
Joe Woolworth: Right.
Kaÿ Wagner: And if I'm doing something and people are not dancing to it, you know, you have to options continue on that route. And then until, you know. Like, yeah, okay. That's me. Or like, okay, you [00:08:00] switch a little bit, will you still keep your identity? Right? Yes.
Yes. And then provide something to people that can vibe with, and now you both meet in that journey. 'cause at the end of the day, you're taking them on a journey. Yeah. That's correct. But yeah, that was a, that was an interesting one for me, honestly. The club input. Yeah. I had to dig a little bit deeper. Yeah.
I, I think the nor the normal in order for me to bring that energy forth mm-hmm. In a way, even like just standing on the top right. And just trying to vibe with people. And sometimes that's, yeah. That's what's needed, you know?
Tony Rivera: Actually I've seen a lot of your performances, your techno performances and stuff like that on, you know, I even, one time you had played, I was at, it was at a, one of the after hours place.
It was before they had the new warehouse placed. Now. At the arcade, I think. Oh yeah, the arcade live. Yeah. That was a good one. Yeah, I remember that. And you played this like remix of um, um, gosh, what song is that? Um, my girl Wants too.
I was like, [00:09:00] I was like, I'm old enough to remember that one. Right.
Kaÿ Wagner: That's the idea.
Tony Rivera: Work. Yeah. Right. The work. So, so it was fun and um, and then I was like, that was like one of the first times I started hearing about you and, you know, I bumped into you every now and then in, in the London Bridge. I bumped into you and stuff like that.
Mm-hmm. Um, but, but then I seen, you know, then I actually saw the interview, um, at the 88.1, how you mentioned, um, you know, playing some dark tech, you know, dark tech. And I was like, dark tech house. I know what you love. I Dark Tech house. Yeah. I was like, lemme see what this is about. Right? Yeah. Looked, looked it up, looked the video.
I was like, oh, all right. And then he was like, really banging. I was like, that's so solid genre, man. Yeah.
Tim Piner: Also, can I, I think you also were telling me at another time that Argentina, some of, so. Prefer kind of a melodic style and maybe not just a, so it's, it's almost like a genre within a genre. Yeah. So I don't know if that was true or progressive melodic, if I recall.
So
Kaÿ Wagner: yeah, I think it's like the, the melodic techno, they love it there. Um, they also love the tech house, the normal commercial [00:10:00] has. Yes. Yes. Because, you know, at the end of the day there are, like I said, there're happy culture and then they have a lot of reggaeton, you know what I mean? Yes. 'cause of the part of it.
So it's like similar to that, but they also like, dive into the dark part of music mm-hmm. And not, not too dark, you know, but dark enough to keep them moving and vibing. Yeah. Because there is a lot of energy. Yes. Right. And they need that, an outlet for that. Right. So it's a lot of DJs, um, or artists overall, they go there and sometimes they don't fit.
I've seen it with my own eyes. Yeah. Like, like much bigger DJs, you know. Mm-hmm. They don't, they, we were like, this was not good. We have local talent and they have a lot of really local talent, like there, to be honest, across the world, in every country I've been to, um. The local talent have always, like, just, I've noticed that captivated, you know, like I, sometimes I'm like, I am like, I am technically less gifted than you.
You know? And they're like, they're like, right, they're open enough for me, like direct support. Like I'm, I'm technically less gifted than that person, right? Like, and I'm, I am, [00:11:00] I've got no ego enough to just say it like, Hey, I, like you are way more qualified to be where I'm at right now. You know what I mean?
I'm just. We, we, it's, everybody has their own journey. Sure. But if it was up to the talent, like you would be up there. Yeah. You know what I mean? A
Tony Rivera: great talent coming out like Columbia and like Argentina, all these pieces.
Kaÿ Wagner: Crazy. Right? Crazy man. Crazy. I, I, I've seen it. Yeah. You know, I've seen it. I'll vibe to it.
I dance to it. Sometimes I would just wear a hat like just unrecognizable, just wanna go dance, taking notes and whatnot. Just taking notes, like, all right. Yeah. Yeah. You, you know what, man? If you. In any kind of way and not just the music. Yeah. If you are unable to be inspired mm-hmm. By anybody that is doing a good job because your ego's not letting you Yeah.
You shouldn't be in that area. You
Tony Rivera: know, that's, that's one thing that we noticed in one of your interviews. He's talking about being a selfless versus a selfish dj. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. And, um, and, you know, expand on that a little bit so the audience can understand what that means.
Kaÿ Wagner: A selfish dj, it's somebody that is going to be better set.
I'm not saying there's [00:12:00] nothing wrong with preparing the set. Sure. But somebody's gonna be better set. And it's just like, this is my direction from zero to 100. Mm-hmm. Right. And even if the crowd is not dancing for 20 minutes, there. It's okay. I'm on that mission and dude, it's not about you.
I know some people pay tickets to come see the show, you know? Maybe you, yeah. And at some point, I don't know, maybe the experience and this and that, but it's just not about you anymore, right? Mm-hmm. Don't get me wrong. There is, there is a direction to the party. There's a techno party. We're not gonna play reet tone.
Right? Right, right, right. But there is an area where you can dig deeper a little bit, find something where people love, where you can bring your idea and style into the, into it. And now we have a, a fusion Yeah. Right. Of an art happening right in front of our eyes, right? That cannot be replicated into other places because this is an experience.
But if you boot it and you practice it and this and that, and they'll. Okay, now you're just a robot. Because if I bring a spot, a Spotify playlist and I just let it [00:13:00] play. Yeah. You know, that's the same thing you're doing. You know, you're not putting your whole, like
Tony Rivera: emotional. Like you, you, you want, you have a plan, you wanna execute the plan, right.
Because you have a vision of how you want the crowd mm-hmm. To react, right? Yeah. That's, that's, that's, you know, I can feel that. Yeah, definitely.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah. Where are you in that blend, right? Mm-hmm. Because you prepared the blend was sitting at home. Mm-hmm. Right? But now the entire thing is in front of you. It's, you predicted yellow, it's green.
What you gonna do? You gonna continue with yellow? Okay. That's a selfish dj. You feel me? Like a dj, that it kind of goes into the color a little bit. Like, okay, yeah, yeah. We're here together, let's, let's make sure we all going home satisfied.
Tony Rivera: Right.
Tim Piner: You know? I know, I know. I crave newness. I, every now and then you hear certain DJs and they play the same stuff.
And I mean, that's fine to an extent. 'cause probably 90% of the people there maybe haven't heard it, but you're kinda like, I. It's nice when you guys treat us to maybe something even a little different than your own and you bring it back home and that's probably why we're still there to see you. Yeah.
Yeah. But yeah, at the end of the day,
Kaÿ Wagner: without you guys, [00:14:00] you know, without the dance floor, the, the, the entertainers, the people and, and the dance floor and everything, all that. You bet, you bet. We do not exist. You know, we just do not exist. What are we gonna play to play home?
You know what I mean? Okay. Exactly. When a lot of DJs these days, they complain about the, the dance floor being empty or, or the clubs. Are you losing their clubbers or the, the industry is dying. Have you looked at yourself? But you're providing, right. You are asking for a $50 ticket for like a, a mild experience?
Yeah.
Tony Rivera: Oh, why? I just read an article about that recently, how the, even like in New York, some of the club clubs are dying and whatnot, you know, and they're just not pulling in the crowd. And I'm like, what is that? You know? And, and a lot has to do with that man, that the DJs is go in. They're not really, they're all about probably more the more than the recognition than actually the attention.
Provide the attention. The attention rather than providing an experience. Right. And that's, that's the thing.
Kaÿ Wagner: So the attention is, is, is is something you're gonna get, you know what I mean? That's not, that's not like it, it's gonna get it. Right? Yes. Um, I think, I think the [00:15:00] club culture right now is dying.
That's my personal opinion. Mm-hmm. First of all, you got the bouncers now these days treating people like shit. Yeah. You know, and outside, you know, like, gimme your idea. Like, dude, can you, can you be a little bit nicer to our people? 'cause you know, there are the people that bring your salary. Yeah. That's one.
Right. Second, you've got overpriced drinks, right? You can barely get any water these days Right. Into any place you go to. Right. And you have to wait on this and that. And then on top of that, now you have to face like a DJ that is playing whatever you are playing or whatever the club tells them to play.
Right. And the club is just like, you play this or not, you play this or not. I understand. But how about we diverse it? Mm-hmm. Yes. So people can do that. Right. And like I said, it's a collective experience. And then when they clear the club, you be treating people like sheep.
Tim Piner: Yeah. Like, you know, like, dude.
Yeah. Why that's not good. They're the face of the franchise in some way. They're the host of the restaurant. Like smile joyful every now
Kaÿ Wagner: and then, obviously. And then you've got the festivals. Right. I love the, like I'm a [00:16:00] part of the festivals, you know? Yeah. Um, but recently I think James Hype and a bunch of other DJs Oh yeah.
Have been talking about breed recorded sets.
Joe Woolworth: Mm.
Kaÿ Wagner: Right, so what's the prerecorded set? That's a set that you've already done at home with it's high cues and everything, and now we're not dressing play, and now you have to act that you are doing, like you doing
Tony Rivera: something. Yeah. Okay. That's okay. That's not a music journey anymore.
Right.
Kaÿ Wagner: Where are we? Where, you know, we're not robots, right? Just doing something, act for the camera. That's what actors do in front of cameras. Yeah. And guess what? They have to do it so many times over so many days. Yeah. To get the try shot. Right, right. You see what I mean? Like this is not how it is if we're unable to do that.
Yes. Just sit home, let somebody else that is working hard, more talented, willing to put yes, their blood, sweat in tears into the set, even if they're going to mess up. You know what, it's a part of the human experience. Right?
Tony Rivera: Exactly. That's exactly, I mean, you, you have to, you know, um, being too perfect, you know, it just, it makes it boring, [00:17:00] right?
I mean mm-hmm. Yeah. Seeking perfection. Yeah. Yeah, seeking perfection. It's,
Kaÿ Wagner: it's
Tony Rivera: always, it's a
Kaÿ Wagner: downhole
Tony Rivera: man. So tell, tell me what, what is, what is the biggest challenge in the industry that you face, you know either performing or touring or recording? Ooh, wow. That's a good question.
Kaÿ Wagner: I'm gonna try to answer it as much as I can.
Well, first of all, um, I'm st I still work outside of my job. I still, I've still been a DJ and a producer. I still have a job, right? Um, 'cause, you know, I. The expenses of that and the investing of that, it's needed. Mm-hmm. Right. I'm not, I'm not, where I'm, I'm at the point where there are DJs asking for $40,000 per show, you know?
Mm-hmm. We're not there, you know, that's like two, two, 3% of the DJs. Everybody below that is grinding. Right. Um, and I'm, I'm part of that grind. I wanna continue grinding like that, and sometimes I'm mentally exhausted.
Tony Rivera: Yeah.
Kaÿ Wagner: You know, you, you, you travel 14, 15 hours and on an airplane and you're like, you're sitting on an airplane and [00:18:00] dumb dollar said it one time, like, if you wanna do this, you gotta be comfortable sitting, sleeping on a chair.
I'm telling you guys right now. That is so true. Wow. It's not even funny, you know, like you, your lower back is going to suffer for a bit. I hope we take care of that. Sleep is probably an issue too. Sleep, definitely an issue. I've got back, that's why I'm wearing these. Oh, so, so you travel,
Tony Rivera: then you come back for work, you work here, right?
I
Kaÿ Wagner: work from home. Okay. Alright. So you travel and
Tony Rivera: you have to come back from work. Okay. Well you working from home, so yeah, so
Kaÿ Wagner: I'm like, I'm, I'm basically based between NC and Miami, so I travel a lot between the two of them. Mm-hmm. Right. Um, and either way really, I can tell you right now, like you travel, you finish a show and then you want a day to recover, but you don't have that.
So you come back. Mm-hmm. And then you continuously working. So I'll tell people I'm working from nine to five. I'm five to nine because we have a record label. Yes. Me and my team are con, continuously working, trying to open. Opportunities. There's always something to do. Yeah. And a team of Berlin records.
Thank you guys so much for everything, by the way. I love you guys, but [00:19:00] yeah, yeah, yeah. True. So it's like without that team we can't do anything, you know? How long have you had the label? The label have been established for four years now, but we have been independently operating for two, that label was produced in Germany, founded in Berlin by Dova. And, um, you know, we had to, um, operate under him, under that label with him for a while.
Um, due to international matters and, and not being able to be here, be there at the same time. I was like, okay, we will separate for a little bit. Berlin Records became an independent label under myself. Mm-hmm. And then now we have the Canada branch, we have the Argentina branch. We even are opening the Cairo branch in Egypt right now when we still have our German branch.
So it's, it's, it's, we're expanding Right. And we're growing. Um, and however, there are a lot of C challenges in it. Right. Obviously. Are you guys financial challenges? Mm-hmm. You've got, um, you know, it's TAF [00:20:00] challenges, right? Everybody's in, have their lives 'cause we not. We're not operating our full-time you know, staff all the time.
Yeah. Right. So you have to work around. Everybody has their lives. Right. So we have to wait. Um, yeah. But I think a big challenge for me right now to be honest, is, um, I am mentally kind of fried in a way. Yeah. You know of, um, exhausting sometimes trying Yeah. Trying to do so much. Yeah. And I'm an ambitious Capricorn.
Oh, you know. Oh yeah. And I'm an ambitious cap Capricorn. You
Tim Piner: need rest every now and then. Tell that to my maybe, maybe not
Tony Rivera: as much as some, but what's your birthday? What, what? January. What?
Kaÿ Wagner: January?
Tony Rivera: Fifth. Fifth.
Kaÿ Wagner: Okay. Yeah. Tell that to my Capricorn side, you know, that doesn't wanna sit down.
Tony Rivera: It's like my mom, she's a Capricorn.
She's the same way, but she is, but they're good with money. Capricorn's are excellent. More money. But lemme tell you, that's, that
Kaÿ Wagner: makes all Capricorn like accept me. I'm not that kind of Capricorn. I'm trying though.
Tony Rivera: Um, but yeah. Yeah. That's, that's awesome, man. Like, the [00:21:00] challenges. Yeah. I mean, 'cause I hear stories and stuff about, you know, people get into the industry and they get to certain places and whatnot and they see, you know, the politics and all that stuff that happens with labels and releases and mm-hmm.
You know, trying to get people to, to to, to book them. Yep. All kinds of stuff, you know, and, um, you know, I was wondering, you know, exactly, you know, what you've seen in that, in that regard. But, um, we're trying to change that.
Kaÿ Wagner: Um, so the idea with us is how we work is right now is that, like I told you at the beginning, before even the recording and everything, um, we love to work with people that have done something for themselves, right?
So the minimum when you do, when you come to us is more like, okay, do you have a breast kitt? Right? That's like the least you do. I have a breast, kitt have a resume, right? I can look at yes. And then have maybe one or two tracks, maybe they're not perfect, but the sound itself at least fits right? Mm-hmm. So you've researched my sound a little bit and you're like, okay, these guys do this, so I'm gonna maybe try to go with them.
Right? So you're not, um, you're not in the tech house and you're trying to go into the tech area, right? Right. So it's like, it's like, okay, [00:22:00] there's, you gotta find the balance. Yes. Mm-hmm. These are the little things we look for. Outside of that, everybody's welcome because the music is to be shared, you know?
Right. And if we cannot do that, then we should just close and Yeah. And do it. You know? But, um, everybody have their way. Everybody has their thing. I we're, what we're trying to do, we trying to live an impact. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um. Leave something behind, make sure that people going home happy from our parties.
Yeah. And they do.
Tim Piner: They do. That's what's, that's what's fun about you is and your track selection's always good, your own productions. Thank you. So yeah, it's, that means everything. Berlin Records. That sounds epic.
A hundred k file, you know, Berlin records. How'd you pull that name off? Honestly, like I said, it's, it's, it's, um, like somebody would've thought of that great name. Yeah. That
Kaÿ Wagner: wasn't me, to be honest. Yeah, well, either way. Yeah. It, it was it stuck. Yeah. It, it was a collective effort between me and Dario.
Um, we were just sitting down one night after a show in Berlin and we were like, you know what? It would be cool if we have something in Berlin here. And we were like, yeah, we, we could [00:23:00] go borrow it to a record shop. Yeah. I was like, Hey, bro, that's right there. Berlin records. Yeah. You know, it's running, you know, that's a great, it's
Tim Piner: international and it's, it's thought provoking.
You're like, oh, I wanna learn more about this.
Tony Rivera: I noticed some affiliation with some other labels that you've been working with, probably like techno crew though. Is that, is that something you guys work with as well, or,
Kaÿ Wagner: yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So actually it's, it's, it's affiliation we have, we've. We've collaborated with a bunch of labels.
Oh, okay. Um, recently, honestly, the biggest achievement that I've had so far, it's like on the label side, is tragedy. That's a, um, a label from Teenage Mutants. Okay. Oh yeah. They're, they're huge. They are. They're huge. Yeah. You know, so that's good tracks. Yeah. So they, um, I've, I'm going to release with them when my brother from Italy, Danny Fontana.
Yeah. We're gonna race a Starlight, um, on April 11th. Nice. Um, and that track honestly means a lot. You know, we've been working on that track for quite some time. Um, we've done a lot of work. And Danny, thank you so much again for doing a [00:24:00] lot with me it's all coming together, you know, and, um, obviously like, um, the, the Mix Mag interview that I just did across five countries and across South America had been, I. Incredibly life changing. Like I've done it a year ago and then I've done another one this past month.
And honestly, I like, I couldn't do it without you guys. Like I'm talking about like their support and, and you know, the recognition and, and all these things, you know. Um, so again, thank you guys so much for like, inviting me here to be able to talk about my journey. Yes. That means a lot. You bet. You bet.
Yeah. Thank you.
Tony Rivera: One of your, one of your releases was for the song Wanted, you did a music video. Yeah. Tell me about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kaÿ Wagner: I did that actually in Buenos Aires. It was a, it was a, it was a, it was a quite interesting one 'cause I met a couple from Brazil and Italy.
Right. The he's a photographer and videographer, right? Mm-hmm. Very talented. Oh God. Yeah, so it became a collective where, where an [00:25:00] American, a German, and a Brazilian, an Italian came into one place and not argentian, you know? And like we were all thinking like, how can we pull this off? We heard the song like 15 times.
We're like, okay, you know what? From drones. Let's drone. Yeah, it's drone shots, right? Let's
Tony Rivera: Let's get yeah, let's, let's, let's, I was trying to figure out the angles. It was like, all right, he's walking and stuff like that. Yeah. It's like running away. It was like running away and finding myself into nightclub, into night club.
It was like, oh, he in around now? No, we're going. And that
Tim Piner: club was off the chain. The lighting was, it looked like it was kind of
Tony Rivera: shut off because he was walking in the club and then somebody was looking at, in like, who's this guy? Right? And then, then you get it behind the, behind the decks and like, all right, he's rocking it.
So yeah, it was production
Tim Piner: man and track.
Kaÿ Wagner: Of course. That whole thing was just like, yeah, it just staged that way. And honestly it was natural because, you know, bueno, Buenos Aires has a huge energy. Yeah. And you can feel it the moment you land in it, you know, really. Yeah, so like in Palermo and I'm, I'm [00:26:00] gonna do a show there soon, next week.
Did you say Palermo in Sicily? No, Palermo. Oh, Ermo. Make sure
Tim Piner: you're jetting around. Yeah, well maybe Palermo one day. Yeah. I think I need to specify specifically because I got that question about that equally international and awesome.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Italy is yeah,
Tony Rivera: yeah, we were talking about actually Berlin earlier in regards.
I mean, I, have you been there recently or have you I know we were talking about the music scene over there and everything like that, but what do you, um. What do you think about the scene over there and how you fit into that?
Kaÿ Wagner: Insane. It's, it's crazy. Yeah. I go there every now and then, but when I go there, I'm just like not announcing that I'm going there a lot.
Mm-hmm. Because I want to experience the, the underground, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. And I do have fans there and stuff like that. And it could be sometimes hard when you're like doing shows and stuff like that. Everybody wants to do something. You get preparations, you don't get to enjoy much. Right. You know, especially going back home, it's just like, yeah, I want to go back home.
Like, yeah, I go home and just [00:27:00] enjoy the time with my mother or, or stuff like that. Of course. Yeah. But yeah, I stay low key. Yeah. Stay in low key, very much stay in low key in it, but like, it's insane. Like the, the, the culture there have incredibly evolved. Yeah. And I'm so proud of it. But I think it needs some sort of, um, honestly, protection recently because, um.
A lot of people are trying to commercialize it. They're trying to profit off of it. Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Berlin. You know, like, no, let's just leave the culture as it is. Yeah. Let's, we love, we love, love, love, love. Low cost. Mm-hmm. Entry to free entry. We love great vibes, we love great dj, love great music.
Close a lot. Closed a lot of clubs down too. Yeah. We love, we love we love the underground.
Tony Rivera: Yeah, the underground. That's, yeah. Let's keep it politicized and all that. You go
Kaÿ Wagner: do around. It's like I in Berlin doing this and I'm like, I love it so much. Thank you so much for that. But we also love the culture.
Yes.
Tim Piner: On that note, I was [00:28:00] gonna ask, you know, um, having traveled to Germany as a kid, but um, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, are these, is there a city kinda like Seattle hits different than Boston, which is different than Miami and you know, great DJs traveled all these places, or Denver, whatever. Are these are the other cities, do they have a sound or is it a kind of a mimic of Berlin vibes?
'cause collectively Germany probably falls into that category. Is that something. You could answer.
Kaÿ Wagner: I wouldn't be able to answer it collectively. Just curious. Up, up, yeah. Yeah. Like, I've been living here for quite some time. Obviously things change. Yes. However, going back to Frankfurt, I think I saw a lot of like involvement in the sound.
Yes. That definitely the techno side, right? Yes. There are a lot of, like, I wanna say, like in Frankfurt there's a lot of, some, some top 40 clubs, obviously, like everywhere. Sure, sure. Working about the money and stuff like that. But the underground, it's still the underground. You'll find amazing clubs everywhere you go in Germany.
That's awesome. Because, um, the sound itself is, is refined, right? Yes. And you'll find a lot of [00:29:00] authentic. Yes. And I wanna say authentic dancing culture Yes. In, in the country, regardless of, regardless where you go. Yeah. The vibe is kind of Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good at wherever you go. Yeah. Beautiful. You know, it's, it's, it's beautiful to witness and also precious to, to protect.
Yeah. Yeah. So like that's, that's kind of what I mean by protecting it. Yeah.
Tony Rivera: And, and, and Europe too, you know, you have a lot of, I mean, it's Europe is, I mean, it's not as small, not as big as United States, almost as big United States, but you have different cities. Like you have like maybe the German sound like Berlin.
And then you also have, um, Amsterdam, their sound, and France actually French. Yeah. French, they were off the chain. Yeah. In Italy and, you know, all these places. So I've, I know I've experienced some different sounds in those areas. So, um, you know, it's a little bit more probably widespread in regards to, you know, different sounds from different places.
'cause you mentioned like New York as compared to Miami as compared to la, you know? Yes. So, um, yeah, I'm, there's, there's, it's interesting to hear, you know, to hear all those different, um, um, sounds coming out of those cities. Um, but yeah, but your performances, man,
[00:30:00] what do you do? Pre-performance. Like what, what gets you hyped? What, what, what? Say, okay, I'm gonna go out there and rock this place. What is it? I like that question to be honest. Um,
Kaÿ Wagner: I think first of all, I like, whenever I'm going to a place I'm not familiar with, take me to a club. Take me to a place where I, first of all, let's, let's walk the city second, take me to a club where I get to see the people, what they vibe to, what they're dancing to on the culture.
I'm an observer, you know, I just walk back and observe, like, just observe, right? Because that it's like a data, it's like a data storage, right. Research, he is a boom, you know, you
Tony Rivera: get that. He start geeking out on it. Like, like my, my man over here, he kicks on everything, man. Yeah. He was deep Dive into something.
He'll just talk about it for hours. But that's awesome. Love
Kaÿ Wagner: nerd fest. Yeah. Love it, nerd. Love it. Yeah. I, I, I, I observe, you know? Mm-hmm. Did go home, do some research on my tracks. Okay. What could fit, what's not? And then start visualizing, right. Visualization is like a huge thing for me. I've played professional football.
For a while. So visual about that. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Piner: Maybe [00:31:00] whenever you want. But that's very curious and intriguing.
Kaÿ Wagner: Visualization has always been a thing on the field. Mm-hmm. It's off the field. Right. The same thing. Mm-hmm. And now visualization in the club and outside of the club, so you visualize the track mm-hmm.
That you can play, how people are gonna react to based on the experience you have in the dance music. Mm-hmm. And I think that's something that is missing, you know? Mm. Because you visualize that and you're like, okay, I'm gonna visualize myself laying that check once, 2, 3, 4 times. Now that's the preparation you want to do.
Mm-hmm. Right? And you're like, okay, I'm willing to give it a try with this and, and see how it is. And I think. Also not being scared to take risks. Mm. A Yeah. It's a T track you never played before. It's okay to bring it in in the right moment, obviously that is up to your experience. Right. And then we can see if the people vibe to it.
If not, then you know, we could take back a step. Mm-hmm. But if not, if yes, then you just took a risk and you know, it worked out if, yeah. If you don't take a risk, then you never know you're scared. You know, if you are scared, you shouldn't be up there. Right. Okay. Because you are [00:32:00] there to take people's fears away.
Yeah. Not to project it on them, you know? Right. So, um. That's something that fuels me. And I think that is along with visualization, like I said, um, I think track selection, right? Mm-hmm. That's very important to me, um, a lot together. It, it brings an, now I have an idea where I'm going. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah.
What happening inside that idea? We leave it to the people to decide with us. Mm-hmm. We have a structure, but we don't have a map. Mm-hmm. You know? Got it. The map will be drawn as we walk together. Right. But I have the route. I know where we want to go, where we gonna end, but where is the inside? You guys let me know, right.
And then I will, I will, I will take that from you. Yeah. Make it into my style and bring it back to you. Ah, got it. Where you get to enjoy it and I get to feel like I'm bringing myself to you. Yeah. And we both are happening having a great time. It's a reciprocal thing,
Tony Rivera: right? It's a reciprocal thing. Amazing.
And you feel the energy from the crowd, then you get the energy back and then you, you project it back to them. [00:33:00] Mm-hmm. And then you see how that's, that's gonna work out. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tim Piner: you'll have builds 'cause you'll make a. Kind be a three song collective.
Maybe it's start to finish, but you know, not every song has to be a banger. Right. There's a transition and a journey, how you mix it all together. And, um, I think you're good at that. Albeit, I want to shake my booty to every track you play, but I, but I've noticed that, and I think that's, thank you. You do premeditate and Yeah.
Ways, and then you mm-hmm. Chipped on the fly as needed.
Kaÿ Wagner: Thank you, Tim. Thank you for realizing that. I'm a big fan of like letting people breathe, you know, even on the dance floor, just let them breathe, you know, like, okay, you brought a couple bangers and now people are dancing, dancing, dancing.
Yeah. Yeah. It's time to just give them something, give 'em a break. Just let them breathe. Let them let them feel. Give a break. Yeah. Let them breathe. Let them dance. Let them, let them enjoy. Let them talk for a second. Right. Let can get on their phones. Yeah. Let them do their thing. You know, don't try to control it.
Right. Because the more you try to control, the more it's gonna slip away. Mm-hmm. You know, your ability as a DJ or as an artist is to let people be. Then [00:34:00] bring him back when you want them to come back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. And you have to have the ammo to do that. Yeah. Without the ammo. What are you doing on a battlefield?
Right. Right, right. It's, it's like, yeah, what are you doing? Right. Just let people breathe, let people pee. Then be like, okay, guys, enough breathing. Come back, come back. Come back. It's time to dance again, because that's what you're here for. Mm-hmm. So it's like it's you. You are a guide throughout the night.
True. And I think that's one thing that a lot of DJs, a lot of artists these days just forget.
Tony Rivera: Yeah. Vibe management is what I call vibe management. Yeah. Managing the vibe in the room. That's a real term, actually. Management, let's manage the vibe. And it's perceptive. It's exactly, it's not being selfish.
You're engaged. You're engaged, right. Yeah. I mean that's the engagement, right? I mean, it's like, like you were saying earlier, you know, they have DJs that go up there, they may have some prerecorded sets, whatever. They're not engaged at that point. You know, they're playing what they think, you know, is gonna be good or whatever, but in order to engage with the crowd, to get the energy back and say, right, maybe we're gonna take 'em this way [00:35:00] now.
Maybe we're gonna take 'em that way now, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, that's what a real DJ does and interact, interacting with.
Kaÿ Wagner: I think being sober also helps a lot. I
Tim Piner: wanted, that's a big one, man. So I wanted to ask you, um, on that note, um. Straight edge, your whole life evolution from days of past partying and staying up too late or, because either way it's an amazing accomplishment and I, I know that adds to your focus mm-hmm.
And allows you to be the concise, crisp brain that you have.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah. Um, you know, we've all done a bunch stuff, you know. Fair enough. Thanks for telling whatever. Nobody's ain an angel. No judgment. That industry. Come on now. You know what I mean? All three of us probably. Yeah. Everybody, we share, everybody that walked into a party a couple times, like, I am gonna try that.
You know, you
Tim Piner: know that essential. Sometimes we just, I
Kaÿ Wagner: mean, we tried a bunch of stuff. Some some yes, some no, but yes. Yes. Fair. Fair enough. At the end the day, um. You find what works for you and what doesn't. Right. And for me it found out like just nothing works. You know, [00:36:00] I thought nothing works, but a diet Coke, water's.
Yeah. Water, a diet Coke. Not even water. This point is just a diet Coke. You gimme a Diet Coke next to me and I promise you, I'll give you the best performance ever. That's all you know. I mean, I've, I've, I've seen experiences with DJs like the come in fucked up. Right. And excuse my language. Correct. No, it is, it's, they come in with like a bottle of tequila, half gone.
Right. Wow. What are you doing? Like, I can, I can hear it in your voice, not smell it. I can hear it. You know, it's talking to me like, calm down. Like you have a responsibility. Like if you can manage yourself, that's cool, but
Tony Rivera: what are you doing at that point? You know, if you get like that, you're pretty much inside your own head.
And you're not really engaged, right? Because you're just, you know, telling yourself, damn, I'm kind of messed up or whatever. Or, you know, looking, looking to see, you know, if you can take that next drink or whatever. Yeah. And, and I, I get what you're saying, man, because you know, the focus and, and the interaction, it draws a lot of energy from you as well.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, I mean, I mean, you have to be, you know, that, that focus to, to, to say, [00:37:00] okay, this is the performance I wanna bring, you know, and, and, and the engagement I wanna bring, so.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah. It's, it's, it's that, and I think it's, um, it's also responsibility, you know, like how responsible you are and how professional you are.
True. Some people are taking this as a hobby. True, true. Some people are taking this as a job. Yeah. And I think for me, even like, even as a, as a professional as a dj, as a producer, as a label head, and Yeah. As a, just a dancer. Yeah. If I see a dj, like I just standing there, I'm, I'm drinking water while I'm in a rave.
You are getting messed up in front of me. And you are supposed to be guiding night. I'm trusting you. Yeah. You know, like, I love you, but Right. Very few can be functional. Yeah. This is the fifth drink, bro. Like, come on now. Yeah. We can party toe, we can party, but you don't show up to the job. No.
Tony Rivera: Waste it.
Kaÿ Wagner: You feel me?
Tony Rivera: Like I agree a hundred percent, man. Yeah. And that's, that's something that in my professional life, 'cause you know, I, I've never, ever like decided, ever said, oh, you know, I'm gonna have a [00:38:00] whatever drink before I go to work. Whatever. Never, man. No. That's, that's just, that's just correct. Hi. Hello. Just, that's that, just make no sense.
Right. Just Jan as
Tim Piner: a party vibe. And they may be party and that's a, it doesn't, you know, it's a job. Right, exactly. Or a hobby. Hobby. Love. I love you guys for saying
Kaÿ Wagner: that. Thank you. Like, thank you for like, being even like part of the dance floor and recognizing that because of course, um, I always tell my team and I tell, like, people that come and ask me for advice sometimes, and by no means, like I'm nobody to give an advice to nobody.
Like, if you come and ask me, I'll give you my peace of mind, you know? Mm-hmm. But if you treat this as a job mm-hmm. Yeah. You will grind. It'll be hard, you know? But eventually it'll pay off like everything else. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But if you disrespect yourself, how are people going to respect you? True.
Tony Rivera: That is a, where's a wisdom right there.
You, you have to show respect for yourself.
Kaÿ Wagner: Nobody, look, nobody's perfect. Yeah. We all gonna make mistakes. Mm-hmm. You know, and I've made a lot of mistakes, but I learned from them. Mm-hmm. I really, really do. And, and, and. [00:39:00] Um, I'm, I'm hoping to every DJ out there, like, if you're trying to make it, look, I have not made it yet.
Nobody makes it. Yeah. Do we really make it? 'cause we always have to like work.
Charlene Rivera: Mm-hmm.
Kaÿ Wagner: But if you like, even want to get close to the point where like, I'm doing something right. Yeah. Do something right before you get on so you can do the right thing when you're on. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because if you don't, it's all gonna just come together then.
You know what? Somebody's gonna see a bad performance 'cause you messed up. Yeah. Or you are wasted your whatever, reliable or something. Exactly. Boom. Your career is, it's before it started, it ended. You know, now you gotta go back to perform in a bar where the bar owner have to tell you what to play. Right.
Can you play Beyonce? Okay. Well there's nothing wrong with playing Beyonce, but if that the kind of DJ you want to be wedding set.
Tony Rivera: Tim likes Beyonce. Beyonce is a great
Tim Piner: artist. Love Beyonce. Love Beyonce. Alright, I'll fake it. There's gonna be a remix. We'll do one day. [00:40:00] Yeah. And it'll just be 1000000th of her input.
But
Kaÿ Wagner: I would be honored to do Beyonce, do a remix for Beyonce. I would be honored to do a remix for Beyonce. It's not even funny. That's true. Of course. Course. You know. But that's what I was talking about. Beyonce is a great artist, has their own style, have their own, have their, you know, like amazing fan base.
Sure, sure. Enormous good is good. Exactly. Whatever. It's, but would I, um, would I play that where I go perform? Absolutely not. It's a different thing. Right. But that's what I was talking about, of bringing maybe that into my style and making a remix for it. Yes. And now we can present it to an a way where I could play it.
Right, right. Exactly. You know what I mean? Exactly. But again, that's the idea. But if you playing like all the single ladies. The truck by itself, the record by itself or ocean, A mix That's jam. You come, come play that. That's jam relentless. That's jam,
Joe Woolworth: not
Kaÿ Wagner: me. I'm just kidding. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I know you're, I know you're, I would love to that a five in the morning, but I get No, I just wanted sincerely, but yes.
Tony Rivera: No, but yeah, I get it. Keeping the focus because yeah, if, if you're the type who's gonna be doing [00:41:00] stuff, whatever, and, and going into your job, you know, you're not in that right frame of mind. It's mental health as well, too. Mental health is important, man.
You know, I'm, because mental health, you know, if you're going up there and you're constantly, you know um, drinking or doing whatever, you know, your mental health is already shot and now you're thinking about trying to. Take it to the next level and be, you know, successful and all these things, you're gonna have a hard time.
Right. Self love. Right.
Tim Piner: I mean I think it also, you know, I think, so a lot of us would be self-critical 'cause we know we're not really living our best life. And it may not be that bad. Some people are semi-functional and probably gonna have a beer at the end of a set maybe or something. But that's unimportant.
Um, I know when I'm dancing, say in front of you, or two hours could go by. And even though I like to have a few, maybe I feel loose, you know? It's not important, man. I'm having fun and you got me sober, but that's, I don't wanna leave, you know? Might be guests. Hey, do you want to go get the next three? No, I'm chill.
But even if you wanna let
Kaÿ Wagner: loose completely Yeah. You, that's what you are there [00:42:00] for. You don't need it. You know what I mean? That's you No. That you would love, I would love for you to be, it's okay. Right. Course I'm talking about it's my responsibility Yes. As a job to let you be that way. You know what I mean?
Sure. Super or not. It's, it's, it's entirely up to you. Yes. Yes. But you are coming here to have an experience. I am here to provide the experience. Yes. Yes. Right. If it, if so, if I am here to provide the experience and I'm messed up. How are you, how am I supposed to provide something for you that is worth it?
Tim Piner: If I can say this, I mean, I'm, I was so impressed about just his going through the tough times. I don't have to say what it is, but guys, what he went through, I mean, it is a coin toss, 50 50 chance you, one you
Tony Rivera: wanted to find out about the soccer.
And the soccer too. Yeah. I mean,
Tim Piner: if I recall Dubai was in the mix in some way. Was it a soccer team that was a semipro team? It was a guitar. It was, oh, it was guitar. Okay. Yeah, it's guitar. Yeah, right. Guitar. Yeah. So, well, I'm kind of close to Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right next. That was overly specific, but yeah. Um, that was intriguing to me.
He's an ex-athlete. Injury can it was cancer. I, I don't think that's the worst, bad [00:43:00] thing to say, but that can just hit outta nowhere and you can have a brilliant mind and I. Your life changes. And so everything, I think your, the strength of your parents, as you've said, did you, you don't always follow everything your parents say.
That helped. And then you challenge yourself, which is you dug deep. Yeah. I could crack a lot of people. And not everybody has that after it did,
Kaÿ Wagner: did did for a while, man. Yeah. To be honest with you. Yeah, it did. It did. Like I said, it was, it was a, you had to bring strength out of nowhere. Mm-hmm. And sometimes in a lot of ways, you know, and as an immigrant, I've been living here by myself for nine years now.
Mm-hmm. God. Time passed by man. Oh wow. Um, yeah. Um. So like around traveling, I've been traveling obviously a lot, but like, just based in, in America as an immigrant, I don't like, you know, being away from your family and stuff like that. You don't have a lot of um, support. Support for that. You know what I mean?
Like where you could just drive back up to mom or dad or Yeah, exactly. [00:44:00] You're sufficient.
Tim Piner: On that note, I was gonna ask you close to it, geographically, Cairo, Egypt sound like some intriguing dude. What a discovery. Huh? It's insane. It's a great city. But as far as house music, what did you feel from the people or?
It's
Kaÿ Wagner: insane. It's insane what, what they have right now. They had, they had a datic like last Oh yeah. Oh wow. Last week by the permits. Love them. You and, and, and 15,000 people man. Like,
Tim Piner: you know, is that the one where they filmed it? The hat set? That was a a c thing I'm thinking of. But they also did something.
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah, man, they do crazy stuff now, you know? And, and the energy there is insane. Like I was just talking with a guy there today. We're trying to do some out our own take over in a club there, you know, now, oh, instead of a performers, you know, just bring the Berlin Vibe techno, and Berlin records into, you know, Cairo do a fusion of cultures.
Mm-hmm. Right. And we do that in Cheah. I wanna do that in Argentina. I wanna do it across the globe. That's my, that's my dream. Yeah. You know, [00:45:00] fuse our passion, our nature, what we do mm-hmm. Into different few different cultures. If different people bring amazing people into one place, like, okay, I don't know what I'm expecting.
Right. But I've seen some stuff, so I now I'm open a little bit to see it and now make them lovers of it. Right. And, and, and I know that in America there's a lot of bass music, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's like a majority year, I think. Mm-hmm. Um, and I, I love bass music. I could listen to it. Um, I think when I came to America, I started listening to it a lot more.
Um, not, um, not with anything, but it's definitely different than techno, you know? Mm-hmm. And, um, I think what I want for somebody that loves bass music and like, okay, I don't wanna listen to techno, is to convert them into be like, oh, you know what, yes. I don't mind that genre. Right. Yeah. I, I wanna listen to it.
That's what, that's my dream. That's what I wanna do. Is, is make you love something that you are afraid of? Yeah. Because [00:46:00] again, at the end of the day, I'm very grateful to my illness. You know, I was scared of it, and now I'm very grateful to it because without it, I wouldn't be mined here. I wouldn't mind mentally, I wouldn't be here, you know, emotionally and all that way.
I wouldn't be self-sufficient like that. Wow. Yeah. So sometimes the thing that's big, the thing you don't understand. Is the thing, could be the source of something that can bring you happiness. Yeah. You know,
Tim Piner: catalyst you need maybe. Yeah. Yeah. You just don't know. No, that's, that's what
Kaÿ Wagner: I said. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Thank you man. That's cool. That's good that you brought that up. That's, that's good to know. '
Tony Rivera: What would be. Your ideal situation, let's say in five or 10 years from now. Woo.
Kaÿ Wagner: Okay. You know, I am still working on that plan because like after, after recovering, I just knew, I learned that you can have a 15 year plan and, and one day, man, everything could change, you know?
And instead of going right, you're gonna go left. You know, you just don't know. Yeah. Um, but if I was to say I wanna live a legacy, I wanna have an impact on the world. That's good. Yeah. In terms of electronic [00:47:00] music, in terms of a person really, but like electronic music, techno. Mm-hmm. Um. I wanna bring people together into one place and be like, Hey, this is something maybe you haven't experienced before.
Let's experience it together. Yes. And we're providing that for you. You know, I wanna be the person with my team to be like, Hey, we gonna do this together, you know, and we gonna make sure that you enjoy it. Right. Because we have put so much pro thought process into that. Yes. Um, is maybe, I, my dream is to perform in Tomorrowland tomorrow, perform an ultra, you know, oh.
Performing these massive a, DC in, in, in these massive, massive festivals. Mm-hmm. Um, and provide my, bring my sound into reality with it. Right. Hoping I could get the opportunity one day.
Tony Rivera: From what I'm seeing and what I'm hearing and, and the research that we've done, you know, we're, we're, we're impressed with, with what you're, you know, the direction you're taking. And I, you know, I, you know, I wish. We've come across a lot of DJs. Tim and I, we know people, Tim's know, probably know more DJs than I do.
You know, he's know, he knows people from, you know, other states and [00:48:00] countries as well. But, um, you know, just to, to hear someone's story and is a positive thing because a lot of DJs, you know, okay, you know, it is all about them and whatnot. But it is also, but you want to hear someone who's like, look man, this is, I'm just out here and I want to, um, you know, put my stuff out.
And at the same time, you know, I wanna make people happy. I wanna make people party.
Yeah. But anyway, So Kai, um, tell us where, you know. Where people can find you, you know, where your upcoming tour dates for the rest of the year.
I know you're probably gonna be traveling around a lot.
Kaÿ Wagner: I mean, you know, anywhere you DM me, I'm like, I'm always gonna, my dms are open, is open, you know.
Mm-hmm. Like, I'm always gonna respond, whatever it is, you know, just be respectful 'cause of mm-hmm. Sometimes I get some nonsense, you know? Yeah. Always be respectful. Please. You know, always my dms are always open, but you can always message me on Instagram, can find my music. I'm be bored to. I appreciate the support.
Mm-hmm. Spotify find me on every major, basically, um, plus form out there for music. Mm-hmm. Um, my performances will always be on YouTube, you know, always. [00:49:00] I appreciate the support, you know. Um. But at the end of the day, um, I'm going, I, I have a plan that's coming up. I want to experience the world a little bit more.
Yeah. Not, not just as a DJ as well as a person. Yeah. Because I feel like being a DJ recently have. It's like you one from one thing to the other, one thing to the other, and there's no stopping. There's no stopping. Yeah. And, and I, I've miss just sitting in front of the water and be like, yo, ticking it in water.
The sunrise, man, I'm a sunset guy. But recently I've become Sunrise guys because I have
Tim Piner: no choice. You know, sets occur in both scenarios on the dj, my god. Like
Tony Rivera: Mr. Sunset. 'cause you're preparing for the sunrise. Yeah. Like you get it
Tim Piner: outta the club. Oh, it's too bright on the cold side. It club you embracing the other end of it.
You just
Kaÿ Wagner: don't know, man. You think you're one thing and then you become the other. It's just, it's all about acceptance and I think just walking with and accepting things. Mm. Um, but really, um, I think, um, I, I'm, like I said, I have a plan of [00:50:00] like just traveling decompressing right now along with doing my tour.
I'm still gonna do shows. Sure. Yeah. Um, have really cool stuff coming up. Like I am doing remixes. I'm doing a lot of music. Production and, you know, I think it's, it's, it's going to be released in the right time. We're working with the team on that. Yes, we are working on a lot of collaboration from different countries, different cultures right now with the team.
Mm-hmm. Um, again, again, the team is Berlin Records. Mm-hmm. We're, we're, if you see us in our city, please come support. We appreciate it. Um, is
Tony Rivera: your, is your team based here? I mean, they, they, they're based in different cities. No different around the world. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Kaÿ Wagner: When we, when we meet, it's like multiple languages from multiple cultures, different accent just coming together.
That's amazing. And I'm right here. I don't understand what you just said. I don't understand what you just said. You know, the team cracks up, you know, it's just laugh and we we're recruiting, you know, always, we always recruiting. So like if you want, um, you've got the skills. Even you want the experience in the music industry, we are here for you.
You know, just, we just need the work ethic. Yeah. Um, integrity and, [00:51:00] um, yeah. Some people, good vibes, you know? Yeah. Just, and come, we will teach you work with us and, you know, promise you we can provide a lot of things, you know? Yeah. Um, we're always looking for people to work with us, so same for me. You know, always, always, always looking for collapse.
Hopefully soon you'll see us running our own festivals, our own parties. I'm looking forward to this man. You know, and I know that
Tony Rivera: you're, you're about to, you know, you're, you, you want, you're about, you know, making big things and big moves. Um, and I know that yeah. You know, we'll, we'll, um, be there 100% to support you, you know, and, and, and your endeavors and stuff like that.
And if you see you popping around town, I don't know, are you, so you wait, you're moving out of town?
Kaÿ Wagner: Yeah. Okay. Completely. Yeah. Um, out of the state
Tony Rivera: or out of the, just outta the country
Kaÿ Wagner: for a while. Yeah. Outta the country. Yeah. Out the country for a while. I'm just gonna go and, like I said, decompress, just take a couple sun sunsets and sunrises while performing.
I'm gonna come back to the States in June. Mm-hmm. Okay. For another tour. And along with Canada, I have a few festivals to play. Nice. And then I have a few shows to do in Canada. And, um, yeah, I'm [00:52:00] probably gonna pop into Europe and potentially if, if everything goes well. It, it's gonna go as the States, Canada, south America, again, run to Europe, and then from Europe to Africa.
Oh. And then return, not too Shay, back to the States. We'll see. Yeah. That's great, man. You know, um, that sounds exhausting, just talking about it. I know. I was, I I was just, I've got in, I I was just thinking that I'm, I'm,
Tony Rivera: I'm like, I'm like, you know, that takes a lot of effort. Not, not effort, but a lot of energy just to keep up and, and then travel and things like that.
And, um, you know, I, I was just, I was just, you know, I was gonna commend you for keeping Thank you that, um, that energy going and, and accomplishing those things that you know, you want to get done. And, and it is not easy. I'm sure it's not easy to. To, to, to, to go out there. And like you said, you know, you're jumping from place to place
Kaÿ Wagner: and you're just in a different culture.
Like sometimes you don't know the language. Yes. You know, it's like there's a language barrier. You have no idea what you just said, but you got no idea. But the smile, you know, [00:53:00] like I'm guessing you smile away boy, smile away. Some kind of,
Tim Piner: um, bilingual, trilingual. I bet you. So you can hold your own in Greece, Germany, maybe a little of Arabic.
I don't know. English. Espanol, all of the above.
Kaÿ Wagner: I try,
Tim Piner: I try legend. It's languages as you
Kaÿ Wagner: practice them, as they stay, you know what I mean? If you don't practice them, obviously you don't. And there is one thing I want love to add, actually before the idea runs my mind to airports. Please, please, please, if you can have gym members and showers at the airports, I would love that
Tony Rivera: you heard that Airports come on a get your game up.
Kaÿ Wagner: Right. Please. Pitta. Like, come on, give me like a gym membership, a shower, and I'll be a, a new man. That will be great. That's genius, man. Yes. We
Tony Rivera: need, we need to pull our money together and just like invest in that or something. Yeah. You
Kaÿ Wagner: know what I mean? I mean, man, if I can be an investor in a gym membership inside airports, I will take my money.
Yeah.
Tony Rivera: Well, Kai, thank you, man for being our guest here at the Vinyl Underground [00:54:00] Podcast. Man. You're an amazing guy. Amazing energy. You know, we'd like to see more of you and see, you know, all these um, steps you're taking to take your career to the next level. You know, Tim and I be there, you know, we'll, rooting you guys are awesome for you guys.
Yeah. Rooting for your team and Berlin records, man, you guys are doing some awesome stuff and the music you're putting out is amazing. Thank you. Um, you know, you have all your, um, everyone can reach, you know Kai at the platforms you just mentioned. Make sure to look it up. Look him up and support him.
And thank you to all our viewers and subscribers, you know please remember to like, share and subscribe. Follow us on Instagram, when you see your sunsets, you chill, you know, then we would, like, Kyle's gonna be, he's gonna be in a zen moment.
Kaÿ Wagner: I am 100%. I'm gonna let you know that I'm coming back here. I love this vibe. Please, I'll definitely come back. Yes. And Kyle,
Tim Piner: I wanted to add, I don't know if we covered it, and maybe it's. We right, we did. But, um, this Friday, Raleigh, 'cause this is part about the underground growing scene here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let's talk about it. We'll be [00:55:00] there. The, yeah. Where, where the specific is there a name for that place that I don't know. I know it's a warehouse. It's a warehouse place. It's
Kaÿ Wagner: underground, it's part of the series we have, it's called ak. We have like a series that runs across the world. We, it's called Techno Knocked World.
You can follow us on Instagram as well. Yes. It's powered by Berlin Records and we take over kind of venues and we run a, the underground of vibe, you know Right. Techno and stuff like that. Um. I noticed it's a secret underground. It's a secret warehouse. You know, we love doing that kind of stuff.
We'll have some fun with that. Yeah. Secret warehouse where you get to find the address we send it to last minute after versus send the ticket. You know, it kind, it kinda also like protects the idea of like, Hey, people are here for the music. You bought a ticket, you put the effort in it. Now we can, you know, you go, you're going in for a purpose and intention because it's a big deal to me.
Um, and then it's like, okay, I have the intention to go rave today. Yeah. Yes. You know, I'm going to rave. So I've worked a little bit to get that. And now I'm gonna go of course. Get that vibe, you know, rather than I'm just walking into a club, you know? Yeah. That's a [00:56:00] big difference.
Tony Rivera: So the promoters, just like with your, you and your team, or the promoters
Kaÿ Wagner: are, we have multiple more.
So we are com we're collab, we're collaborating with the line in Argentina. Got it. That what I was looking at. Yeah. Rethink techno from techno. From Clen. Yeah. Yeah,
Tony Rivera: yeah. Oh, you're gonna be at Pangaea? Yeah. Most likely I'll be out there too. Wow. I'm playing, I'm, I'm coming back from Panga. Yeah. Nice. That's right.
Love. I'll see you out there. I don see you soon. I'll see you in Pangaea. Yeah, you'll see you
Kaÿ Wagner: Then we'll rave when we party and all coordinate going
Tim Piner: whatever. I'll follow you in touch. Come on. You could go. That's a therapeutic. Let's go man. That's right. Let's
Kaÿ Wagner: go. It's a, it's a party. Yeah. You know, you got a couple hundred people in the, in the forest.
It's kind of just boring. What else you want, you know? Right. You know, so like, we collaborating with them to bring something unique together. Mm-hmm. And hopefully you can boil it up. It's gonna be a boiler room because you guys know I'm a big fan of Boiler Room 'cause it's intimate, you know, people dancing and you get.
And I'm the person that wants, like, Hey, let's, let's, we're all in that set. I'm not doing trends. I'm just twisting knops. You guys are the energy. Hey, you have a
Tim Piner: [00:57:00] powerful style of seeing you from, and it's just like, you know, I, it's funny out here, but he's got different postures, but I just, I just like watching you play.
He looks strong doing it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Passionate. Right? I put every, every
Kaÿ Wagner: ounce of my cell body into that thing, you know, like I, I'm not just twisting knob. I am, I'm twisting a frequency of course. And I'm responsible of that. Every millimeter of it. Yeah. So like, yeah. It's not just a twist.
Yeah. It's not just a transition. It's not just an effect. It's. Calculated by the moment, at least by my side. Mm-hmm. Where I'm, I'm, everything is there. Yeah. In that moment. So that's why after my performance, sometimes I, I ride like a psychopath in, in, in the car. You know, just not listening to anything, not talking.
I'm just peace, like, peace out, you know, like for 10 minutes until the sun comes up, you know, sensory overload. Yeah. That's what it is gonna be Like I said, you know, that's let's party this weekend. Yeah. Damn right. Thank you a lot. Thank you again, Kai, for coming through man, and
Tony Rivera: [00:58:00] giving us your time. And yes, we hope to see you soon and stay, stay you know, stay lit, man.
You know, stay visual. Yeah. It's working
Kaÿ Wagner: 100%. Thank you so much. Yeah, that's like my advice to everybody just like coming up like, hey, just be you man. You know? Yeah. Do your music, do your thing. Don't try to fit in, you know, because if you try to fit in, you're gonna lose something, you know? Yeah. Every, the more you try to put into energy to, into fitting in, the more you're gonna lose yourself because there's a two side of the coin and you can't flip it at the same time, so it's like, it's one, just keep it balanced, you know?
That's right. That's right. Yeah. Just don't say your soul to, to get something just that's stay where you are. That's important. Very important. That's important. Thank you guys again for having me. Really appreciate it and much love to our audience. Love you guys. Thank you guys. Thank you. Audience. Thank you.
Right out.
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