- A thousand days ago,
- Yes.
- A few moons.
I was, you know, I was like, debt,
I was living off credit cards.
This is better than any 50,000 person festival--
(crowd cheering)
- Hello Believe Nation, I'm Evan Carmichael,
my one word is believe,
and I believe that entrepreneurs are going to solve
all of the world's major problems.
So, to help you on your journey,
today we're going to learn
from Grammy Award-winning music producer, Skrillex
and my take on his top ten rules for success.
Rule number five is my personal favorite
and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best.
And as always, as you're listening
if something really resonates with you,
if there's a message that really holds true to you,
please leave it down in the comments below
and put it in quotes so that other people can be inspired
and when you write it down, it's much more likely to stick
with yourself as well.
Enjoy.
- [Man] Give us a bit of insight into,
were you sort of playing smaller club shows?
I know you released stuff through a thing called Myspace
back in the day
and how that evolved, tell us about that journey.
- You look back and be like, "I set those days,
"I met some people, it was fun."
That's cool.
(electronic music)
(screaming)
(crowd roaring)
Anything you're trying to start up,
businesses or whatever, like,
if you have a friend, start it with a friend.
The first guy that should hear your stuff,
who should be excited about your stuff,
is the guy that supports you the most anyway.
And, like, maybe you can do it together
and then that friend has another friend
and you bring them over and you say,
"Hey, check this out, do you like this?"
Maybe they don't like it
and you find the next person
and it literally, like,
it's like you take one brick and just stack the next
and the most you can do yourself,
then you can create something.
And sooner or later people are going to notice
what you're doing
because they can feel that energy,
they can feel that, like,
I mean, I think a lot of people,
like A & R in the industry,
like part of what we look for in artists
is not only someone that makes great music
but is someone that has that energy,
that devotion to what they're doing.
And that's a big thing,
I mean, that's what I look for in artists that I sign
are people that are really talented
and people that have that energy,
like I'm just going to do a "What's up?"
- A lot of your hardcore fans were not really excited
about this collaboration with Justin Bieber.
- I wouldn't even say a lot of my hardcore fans,
I think my hardcore fans get what I do
and like the fact that I don't care
and I'm not, you know,
I'm not afraid to fail or I'm not afraid to do something
that everyone doesn't like.
A lot of times, you know, people do music for a long time
then they get to a certain age,
and you know, they have families, they have kids,
and all this stuff, but, like,
you know, we're just so inspired and hungry to,
like he said, make great songs and make great tracks
that sound like nothing else
and push the boundaries of what...
I mean, even the Justin Bieber single,
that's a top ten record,
you know, isn't a pop format,
the way it's written, you know?
It's not a traditional pop song
and it's trying to, sort of changing,
not necessarily the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-outro,
it's like we're changing this sort of,
the pop format.
It was only a couple years ago,
before, I'd say skip back to three years ago,
like, I'm in debt.
I'm probably in,
like, $50 grand.
- Three years ago?
- Yeah, three years ago.
- Like, 1,000 days.
- Yeah, exactly, 1,000 days ago.
Yes.
(laughing)
I was, like, you know, debt,
I was living off credit card,
like, I had spent some,
I got this lease on this building
that I was actually essentially trying
to do the same thing I'm doing now,
but this was three years ago,
and it was so whack, and, like, not legit.
But I built out 10,000 square feet
of studio space as well,
and this is me and my friends living in this warehouse
that wasn't zoned for living,
so a year later we got kicked out.
I was in so much debt.
Skrillex started to go and I was just paying off my debts
and trying to, like, re-stabilize myself, I guess.
And I remember and one point I had a million dollars
in my account, and that was it,
and we were doing this tour
and all the shows were selling out.
It was my first nation-wide tour
and I spent all that money on production.
Like, I was like, okay, cool,
I just want to make all these shows really really special
and I want to make a show that everyone remembers
and I want to show that,
show people that may not necessarily know where we come from
that it's more than just meets the eye,
it's more than just pressing a button.
There's so much that goes into creating a great show.
So, I spent all my money on that.
Didn't have anything past that point,
didn't really know what I was going to be doing
or what the thing was,
but, like, it's times like that where you,
where you really truly believe in something
and you make that giant leap.
And those are always really surreal
and important times in your life.
Kind of like opening a new chapter.
Like you're moving to a different city,
or you're going 100% on a new idea.
Those are always important, I think,
as artists and creative people,
to take those,
especially when you have the right people around you.
The last thing I need to do
is go forum-rolling
and checking out what the people are talking about me.
I don't care and, you know,
a part of me wants to ask them,
"What's wrong, man?
"Why are you,
"Should I not be allowed to do this?
"This is what I love to do."
I'm not doing anything wrong,
I'm not, you know, killing babies
or, you know, I'm not doing anything bad.
Like, you don't have to like my music
but do you have to,
the thing that's hard on me is, you know,
it's a waste of time.
But I mean,
you get angry sometimes,
but then that kind of washes away
and then you just go, "Man, that sucks."
I'm more interested when I read things in message boards
and reviews, like, I want to hear good,
I want to find out new cool things,
I want to hear a new great song.
I don't want to hear someone trash-talking someone else.
I'm not just, that's not discovering,
that's dictation, you know what I mean?
You're telling me to think a certain way,
whereas, like, something more open-minded,
like, it's going to make me want to grow.
- [Katie] I read that your parents were Scientologists,
your dad still is.
But you are not.
- No, um, I'm not a Scientologist
but my dad does it for himself
and it's something that's helped him forever.
- And why didn't you want to,
if both your mom and dad--
- Well, I think the main part, it's like,
you dedicate so much of your time to it
and my time was always spent doing music
and I wouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing now
if I spent my time doing that.
Everyone at some point is just a guy or a person
but if you enable, if you give the gift,
enable someone to help out
and to be a part of something,
I think that's amazing,
like, enablers, that's a true leader.
When you can enable someone that's under you
and give them a step.
Because you look around, man,
there's a lot more geniuses than you,
than meets the eye.
And you're like, man, these kids,
all these people around me,
all my friends that have been touring with me,
just, like, before we were driving vans
and trailers together, like,
Getting $50 a show,
making no money but doing it all ourselves.
And we were just kids doing that,
and looking back at it now, like,
had we had the internet
and all these things we have now,
back then it would have been a different story
but now that's true, you know.
Now it's like, it's incredible.
- Leaders don't have followers,
leaders create other leaders.
- Right.
What sucks about the future
is that anything could happen.
The exciting thing about this ride
is it's expect the unexpected,
that's been this whole year for us.
Anything really can happen
as long as you work hard
and we keep doing what we're doing.
We're working hard but we'd be working hard anyway
because we love the music, right?
This is better than any 50,000 person festival.
(crowd cheering)
You know what that means.
No, no, no, wait, wait, wait.
Every time I trainwreck a mix or do something wrong
I'm playing Indiana Jones.
(Indiana Jones theme music)
- Thank you guys so much for watching.
I made this video
because The Electric Warehouse asked me to.
If there's someone you'd like me to profile
in the next top ten,
check out the link in the description
and go and cast your vote.
I'd also love to know what was your favorite message
from this video?
What did you learn from this video
that you're going to immediately apply somehow
in your life or in your business?
Please leave it down in the comments below.
I'm really curious to find out.
I also want to give a quick shout out to Surge Wisdom.
Thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book,
Your One Word, and posting eight different reviews,
chapter-by-chapter, of the book,
on your YouTube channel and promoting it on Twitter as well.
I really really appreciate the support
and I'm so glad that you enjoyed the book.
So thank you guys again for watching.
I believe in you.
I hope you continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is, much love.
I'll see you soon.
- If it's not fun, if it's not a good time,
if the party doesn't...
Then I don't want, then don't do it,
you know what I mean?
It's not a job, it should be something you enjoy.
And to see it grow and have success,
you just want to work harder
and make it better, you know.
When you're playing a show,
the energy you get from the stage is, like, indescribable
and it's just this constant feedback, you know?
Like a cycle.
And when you're in the studio with people,
when you have good energy
and people are having fun and feeling the music,
it inspires you to continue to go down the right path.
People stop moving then you're not making the right sounds.
- [Katie] Scientology gets a terrible rep, you know?
What do you make of that?
- I think it's easy for a religion like that
to get a bad rep,
because it's so sensationalized
and people want to get clicks
and people want to sell magazines, at the end of the day.
And like, you've got Tom Cruise jumping on couches
and that's, like, you know, with Oprah,
and that whole thing was, like, hilarious.
Being an artist and knowing what it's like
to be taken out of context
or at least to be criticized so much in the media,
it's like, what is their intention at the end of the day?
They're just trying to get a reaction
and I think if you're doing something that makes you happy
and that's all that matters.