EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,001 words- 0:00 – 15:00
These are pretty cool.…
- SASteve Aoki
These are pretty cool. And we're live. Hello, Steve. Yeah, that's the Kanye one. Nice. That's, that's the most recent. That's, uh, this guy, Plastisel, Phong Tran. He, uh, creates all these. H- he hand paints each one. They're really nice. Yeah. He sculpts it. Very nice. And then he makes, uh, like a mold and then, uh- Yeah. ... he's got a bunch of dope ones. It's all on his line. And you got a book, bro. I do. Color of Noise. Yeah. Blue: The Color of Noise. Yeah. What's this about? It's my memoir. It's, um, uh, talks about the beginnings, um, goes through my process. It goes through a lot of different things. I mean, at the end of the day, it's a memoir so it's more about... It's less about what's happening now and more about, like, how I- I got there, you know? Like, the story and different piecemeal stories that, that are thematic and, you know, with this overarching idea of blue, which is, like, the different shades of blue of my life. It's my favorite color and actually, my last name is, means blue tree. Really? Yeah. Yeah. So it's like there's a lot of synergy with the color so when I was coming up with the idea to name the book, you know, I had to think of, like, uh, you know, something that relates throughout my whole life. So there's so many different shades, emotions, feelings that are represented in, in all these different stories. D- have you always been a writer? Um, I'm like a, yeah, I guess, like a piecemeal writer, you know? Mm-hmm. I, I needed help finishing this book. There's no doubt about it. I had so much, it's like... You know, 'cause I'm still, like, you know, of the pen and paper still, you know? Like, I grew up before, before computers and all that stuff, I was, when I was writing, uh, lyrics for my bands, I was, it was always, like, a notepad. Mm-hmm. So I had just so many different stories that I didn't know how to put it all together. Um, I started the inception of writing, you know, these, these different stories of my life six years ago and then I shot a documentary for Netflix and, uh, we dropped it, called, it's called I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. We dropped it three years ago, four years ago? Fi- 2015, 2016, I think. And a- and I, after I saw the reception and, and how people responded to the doc, then I knew that, like, you know, this is really gonna take shape. (laughs) This is gonna be front and center as finishing and, and writing a m- a proper memoir. So the, the idea of writing a memoir is only... The idea of writing and writing about yourself is only to write this memoir? It's not like you, you write on a regular basis? No. I mean- No, no, no. I mean, you know, like, I am actually coming up with some new ideas for the next, you know, conception of what I would put out there in book form because it's a different process for me that's, like, quite exciting just to, like, the challenge to do something like this. 'Cause I'm, my natural way to express myself is through music and, um, and I love being able to step outside my comfort zones. I think at the end of the day, when you do that enough, you just, you just get better as a human being and- Yes. ... and try, you know. If you always do the same thing over and over again, you're never really learning. So it's, uh, it's, it's been like a great learning process, you know, putting out this memoir and, uh, and, and, and, like, actually opening up this vulnerable side to who I am that I, I don't necessarily, I don't talk about really. You know? Like- Mm-hmm. ... for people that know me, like my fans or my music fans, or anyone else that knows Steve Aoki, they don't really know what's in this book. You know, they might have a glimpse of it from my documentary which I did because I, I talk really deeply about my relationship with my father and, and, like, this drive that I have as a kid to make it. And, uh, and it shows you enough where it's, okay, now I have a little bit more than my live shows and what's already out there, but this goes, you know, obviously, a- a lot deeper because it's a book and we're going through emotions and the vulnerability and, and, um, and I, and I wanna tell stories of the hardships. And at the end of the day, I wanna speak to young kids out there, y- young people out there, even older people that are trying to figure th- their own thing out and, and because the documentary related in so many ways on a personal level that I shared there, this is how I wanted to share that through my own words. Do you find that writing these things down and just thinking about your life and, and, and trying to express it in a way that's gonna resonate with people, that this h- helps you think about it and helps you sort of, uh, categorize it and put it all in your head and... 'Cause d- do you know Eddie Huang? Do you know who that is? Yeah. Yeah. The famous chef? Yeah. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Definitely, yeah. Yeah. He's a friend of mine, great guy, and writes every day, and I asked him why, I'm like, "Why, why are you writing?" Because he's written books, but he's, he writes to sort of collect his own thoughts. Yes. You know? 100%. It's like once you, that's the trigger for me because even when I read, I write right after. Mm-hmm. Like, what I gain from it. Al- almost like it's like my note, my, uh, homework- Yeah. ... for retention on, on what I gather or take away from what I'm reading. So I'm always, like, reading and writing or writing and scribbling in my, in my book or, or, like, writing off the side in a notepad or, like now, like, you know, I, like, like a tablet or something. But- I wri- ... it's like you need to gather your, your, your headspace so you have retention. Yeah. You write to understand. Right. Yeah. And then you write to express it so that other people can understand. Yeah. And in that process, you kinda understand yourself better. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's how I sort of, Eddie described it. And when he said it to me, I was like, "God dammit, I don't write enough like that." I write more comedy stuff. I try and write material and essays on things and pull jokes out of them. Right. But, like, I think there's probably a great benefit for anybody to just sort of write about your thoughts- Yeah. ... to your diary, you know? (laughs) You just ac- you think- (laughs) You know? I mean, there's something to that because in that time, I mean, you could speak to this because you've written a book on yourself, but in that time of writing-
- JRJoe Rogan
... about yourself and reflecting upon your life, you probably learn a little bit about who you are and why you're the way you are.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah. And, you know, thinking about this, I never really thought about it to this point or found the, the parallel here. But when I started seeing a therapist to go into my past and try to break down what, like why I make the decisions I do or, like, why I spiral out here or do something that I am not comfortable with or I want to change, a lot of that I'm able, like after these sessions, I go and start writing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- SASteve Aoki
You know, and then a lot of that, you know, eventually makes it in the book.
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you write longhand or do you write on a keyboard?
- SASteve Aoki
I, I would do both. Uh, now I do both, but like, I have scribbles of stuff everywhere, you know. But then I ma- it, like, at the end of the day, for organizational purposes, it's, it's just got to go in, like ... I gotta put it in the computer.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
You know.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
But, um, yeah. It, this is a very, this is my own therapy. (laughs) You know, as you could say, it's like, it is putting all these stories and these memories and the feelings and the emotions and the, the hardships or whatever it might be, you know. It's, it's like, I think the hardest part is, like, picking the right ones, you know, at the end of the day.
- JRJoe Rogan
When you've put all this stuff together and you spend so much time on this, do you find that the process of that in any way enhances your music?
- SASteve Aoki
Yes, it does because, I mean, when I think about ... First of all, when I think about the process of making music, I think about it, uh, very simp- similar to what you're doing when, when you're, when you write for your comedy skits and you're efficient. You're like, "Okay, this is gonna work 'cause I'm gonna be able to share it this way." You're not just writing your thoughts down, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- SASteve Aoki
So like when I'm in the studio, I'm very efficient, you know. I'm like, I'm going and going. I'm gonna make a club banger just for the festival so the crowds go crazy, and it's less about the emotional message, you know. What, with this, being able to talk about that side, that's, that adds that other layer that, that, um, I'm seeing now more than ever in the last like three or four years when I started making songs with lyrics that actually, you know, I've, you know, seen the fans come out in droves saying how much it's gotten them, gotten them through hard times 'cause the lyrics were able to speak to them a certain way. So it's ... And that's m- the essence of collaboration at the end of the day, you know, working with songwriters and singers. And, and being able to be pulled in that direction is incredible as an artist, you know, instead of just having, like, all right, we're making this record to make everyone go crazy, even though essentially electronic dance music is all about the music.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
It's not about, you know, the touching lyrics. They might be, like, the flavoring on top, but the, the foundation is all about the beat, you know. But now it's, like, about mixing both worlds as much as possible, you know, 'cause at the end of the day when you think about my shows, it's a very full-on experience. Like when I, when I put on a show, I'm trying to, like, I'm trying to com- like, compound all the senses, you know. I want it to be entertaining as hell. I want it to be fun, engaging. Um, I want you to leave knowing that you saw a Steve Aoki show, so that's why I try to do different unique things like, uh, you know, I cake people. I don't know if you know this, but I cake people at my shows.
- JRJoe Rogan
Cake them?
- SASteve Aoki
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Like you hit them in the head with cakes?
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah, I wouldn't say the head, but yeah. (laughs) But this is all consensual, by the way. So-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- SASteve Aoki
Uh, uh, uh, yeah, I'll give you a little story to this. So, you know, I think as you are on the stage all the time, you wanna make your skits, you wanna make your, everything that you do unique to Joe Rogan, you know. Like, you don't wanna be like, "Oh yeah, he's a copy of this person." No one wants to be that, you know. Uh, so I'm thinking like, what am I gonna do that's gonna be unique and different, engaging. Um, "Hey. Ho."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- SASteve Aoki
You know, like, everyone's doing that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- SASteve Aoki
"Everyone sit down and everyone jump." So, you know, I'm like, you know ... Your brain's always thinking, so I got an idea after a song, uh, that I released on my label. I have my own label, and we, we released this artist where the video was cakes exploding in people's faces. Super slow motion, high def, really beautiful. And then I was like, "You know what? Uh, I'm gonna go to a bakery, I'm gonna buy a cake, scribble, like, the song on the top of the cake, and let's just see what happens."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- SASteve Aoki
"It'll be funny little thing," you know. And I, I brought the k- this is 2011, mind you. So this is seven years or however long ago that was. You know, a long time ago. Do, do the math. (laughs) Anyway, so it was a long time ago and I walked around the front of the stage and one of the, one of the kids in the front, one of the guys at front was just like, "Why is he walking around the front? Like, am I supposed to, like, grab it?" And then he just starts pointing at his face and then all his friends around him se- are pointing at him, and the whole place was just staring and waiting and watching and wondering what the hell's gonna happen. So I caked him, we filmed it before, this is pre-Instagram, put it up on YouTube. I was like, "I gotta do this every show. This is incredible." And then six months later people started coming out with "cake me" signs.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- 15:00 – 30:00
Oh, wow. …
- SASteve Aoki
series called Neon Future. So I have Neon Future One, Two and Three that just came out. My al- my albums, in each album, um, I actually work with a scientist on a song.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- SASteve Aoki
So I had Ray Kurzweil on- on One, so he's talking on a song about, like, life expansion, life extension. I'm big singular, not- not necessarily singularity, not, but, like, I'm a big fan of the idea that we can live indefinitely. Uh, I'm a enthusiast of that world. I might not, I'm not, definitely not an expert, but I'm an enthusiast for sure.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
And I got JJ Abrams on Two. I got-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- SASteve Aoki
... Aubrey de Grey on Two who-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow. I've had him on.
- SASteve Aoki
... wrote the book Anti-Aging.
- JRJoe Rogan
I've had him on as well. Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah. And, like, I interviewed him. I went to o- I went to Ray's, Ray Kurzweil's apartment in- in the Bay Area with-
- JRJoe Rogan
Me too. Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah, so, I mean, we, I know that we have a lot of synergies on the-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
... science and tech stuff. And Three, I had Bill Nye.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- SASteve Aoki
And Four, which is coming out next year, I'm having my favorite author on the album that I've read so far. So I'm ver- very excited to have-
- JRJoe Rogan
Who's that?
- SASteve Aoki
I've n- I, I, you know, I might as well annou-
- JRJoe Rogan
You don't want to say?
- SASteve Aoki
I m- I might as well announce it here if I'm going to announce it anywhere.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- SASteve Aoki
I haven't announced it yet. But Yuval Harari.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow. I love that guy.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Sapiens is amazing. It's f-
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... fantastic book.
- SASteve Aoki
Sapiens is my favorite book.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm on the second one right now.
- 30:00 – 45:00
Right. …
- JRJoe Rogan
time of day." All that stuff's gonna be nonsense if there's time machines because you're just gonna be able to move anywhere you want at any point in time. Sounds ridiculous, but so does the internet. If you brought the internet up to some guy who lived in Victorian, you know, times-
- SASteve Aoki
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and said, "Look at this. This is my phone, and you can ask it a question, it'll give you all the answers-"
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
"... anything you want," that would be the most astounding form of witchcraft ever invented.
- SASteve Aoki
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
And now my 11-year-old daughter has one of those.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know? I mean, she, she asks that thing questions all the time. She gets answers to stuff all the time that we used to have to go to a library for. Um, she could watch videos that just come out of the air.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's magic.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I mean...... and, but it's, we are accustomed to it.
- SASteve Aoki
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
We, we adapt very easily.
- SASteve Aoki
Exactly.
- JRJoe Rogan
So the idea is that what this would do is change every aspect of reality as we know it, uh, in terms of, like, linear time. It would no longer exist.
- SASteve Aoki
But would on- would only those people that know how to use a machine have access to it? I mean-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, I mean, wouldn't it be like cell phones? Like, uh, eventually everybody gets one. And we're talking about time, right? So if everybody gets access to it a year from now or three years from now, it doesn't matter because the time machine's already been invented. So they could travel back to that moment and forward from that moment. So the moment (snaps fingers) they turn that fucker on, everything goes haywire.
- SASteve Aoki
Wow. So let's, so let's not turn that thing on.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, it's, we're ... and it's inevitable.
- SASteve Aoki
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
People press buttons.
- SASteve Aoki
That's good, yeah. Like, well, th- they wanna see if they can even make that happen.
- JRJoe Rogan
I used to have a bit that I used to do about the Big Bang because they were tr- everyone's always tried to figure out, like, what was the universe like before the Big Bang? Like, what, what happened? How was it created? And when you look at the progress of technology, my thought was that if you look at where we're going and we're constantly innovating and people are constantly coming up with new and more impressive forms of technology, that one day we're gonna create a Big Bang machine. And that this is what happens, that every five billion years or so, things get so intelligent they develop a Big Bang machine. And they sit around, these dudes are on Red Bull and Xanax and, and-
- SASteve Aoki
Simulation.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and one guy goes, "I'll fucking press it." And he hits the button and boom!
- SASteve Aoki
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
The whole universe starts all over again. And if you had a Big Bang machine and you knew that if you pressed it, within five billion years humans would create another Big Bang machine, this is an endless cycle, would you press it? Fucking for sure there's someone that would press that button.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- 45:00 – 1:00:00
Yeah. …
- JRJoe Rogan
a, a very deep level. I don't. (coughs) I understand it, that it's ... I understand that it's problematic. I just don't understand what the solution is. And I don't know if it's even, it's just a free distribution of information across the board because then what do you do about actual Nazis? Like, if you find actual-
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, if-
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... there's a new Hitler and he-
- SASteve Aoki
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... arises and he really does wanna exterminate the Jews. What happens there? Do you just allow that guy to be on Google? Is he in-
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... Google Hangouts with a-
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... little Nazi hangout and they're planning on exterminations and where's-
- SASteve Aoki
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... the ... Where's the next, uh, Auschwitz? You know?
- SASteve Aoki
No.
- JRJoe Rogan
No. I don't think that, that shouldn't be the case.
- SASteve Aoki
Exactly. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
So what is the case? Do you allow white supremacists on there to organize rallies? Fuck. Um, where, where does freedom of speech end, you know?
- SASteve Aoki
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
W- w- yeah. It's very complicated questions-
- SASteve Aoki
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that we're all learning to navigate.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I think, in many ways, and this is a weird thought that I have and I repeat it over and over again, but I think technology is going to provide us with a new way of communicating that's not dependent upon language, but rather can read actual intent. Like, an actual mind-reading technology. And I s- ... When I, when I see Elon's, um, uh, Neuralink, this thing that he's trying to do, where they're opening up the bandwidth to humans and information through use of implants and some sort of a Bluetooth wearable device. Like, that I think is, like, a step in that direction. And I think Elon ... In, you know, in many interviews he's said that he thinks that human beings are the organic biological boot loader for a- for artificial intelligence. So if we're a boot loader for AI, the way to sort of combat that is-
- SASteve Aoki
T- ... B- boot loader?
- JRJoe Rogan
Boot loader. Yeah.
- SASteve Aoki
Like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Like a computer boot loading-
- SASteve Aoki
Oh, okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and operating system.
- SASteve Aoki
Okay, gotcha. Yeah.
- 1:00:00 – 1:12:53
To increase the disc…
- JRJoe Rogan
disc, you have less d- disc tissue. So your discs start to collapse. Your, your actual spinal column, you know, the, the actual hard bone moves closer to the other hard bone, and, you know, becomes a real problem. Arthritis forms, scar tissue forms. The more disc tissue y- you have, you know, the, the better off you are. And they're able to do that now to the point where they-
- SASteve Aoki
To increase the disc tissue.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it woul- it doesn't decrease it.
- SASteve Aoki
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
So when the disc is bulging, it actually gets it to go back in. It g- it gets it to retreat and take its normal form.
- SASteve Aoki
The stem cells or the blood plasma therapy?
- JRJoe Rogan
Regenakene.
- SASteve Aoki
Okay, Regenakene.
- JRJoe Rogan
But stem cells have been shown to start to do that too. They've actually started injecting stem cells directly into dix- disc tissue. And I was talking to Dr. Roddy Magee out of Las Vegas. He's, he's one of the guys that's really at the cutting edge of all this stuff-
- SASteve Aoki
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
... working with UFC, uh, fighters, and they're doing that with them. And he was the guy I originally went to to tr- to treat my shoulder because of Dr. Davidson from the UFC who's the, the main doctor for the UFC. He was telling me he had shoulder surgery. He's a little bit older than me. And, uh, his shoulder surgery took (clears throat) , but-... he was still having issues with it. He was trying to figure out, um, what he, what he should do because he was still having pain when he was swimming. Went and got some stem cell injections, all the pain went away. So, he was telling me about that. He's like, "You know, you got some pretty significant tears. You might really need surgery, but maybe this will help you for now." So, I went there and the, the, the amount of help that it, e- e- the amount of alleviation of pain and discomfort was stunning. I was like, "I can't even believe this is a real thing." You could just shoot this into whatever it's bothering you, and then all of a sudden, like, four months later you're like, "Wait, where's the pain? I don't have any fucking pain anymore."
- SASteve Aoki
I need a meet. Can I, can you introduce me to Magee?
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's great. Yeah, yeah. I'll give you his number.
- SASteve Aoki
That'd be great.
- JRJoe Rogan
(coughs) I send people to him all the time. But he's on the cutting edge of everything. Like, anytime ... He's a young guy and he's really enthusiastic and super brilliant. And anytime there's any sort of cutting edge medical practice, that guy is he's on it. Like, for instance, one of the things they're doing now is when people get ACL tears, which usually when you get an ACL tear, usually you need reconstruction. And what, usually what that reconstruction is, is either a cadaver graft, where they take the Achilles tendon out of a dead person and shove it into your knee-
- SASteve Aoki
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and then your body re-proliferates that with its own cells. It takes about six months and then you have a functional tendon again. It's great. I had it done myself.
- SASteve Aoki
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
It works. But now, they're able to re-attach the actual torn ACL with ... They have some special technique they do. And they've had people tear an ACL and then compete in the Olympics four months later.
- SASteve Aoki
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Which is fucking bananas. (laughs)
- SASteve Aoki
That's crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. I mean, he showed me this procedure and how they do it, and then he showed me this guy four months post-op. doing all these box jumps and shit, and I was like, "This is nuts. It is nuts."
- SASteve Aoki
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. So, there's a lot of hope in, when, in terms of regenerative medicine.
- SASteve Aoki
Absolutely, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And, uh, and thank God for people like Dr. Riordan and Dr. Magee and, um, Dr. Benrahia, who's the guy that I go to in Santa Monica. I mean, these guys are just on top of this incredible new wave of regenerative medicine.
- SASteve Aoki
Yeah. I'm, I'm obsessed with that world.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, that's amazing.
- SASteve Aoki
So, the more you talk to me about it, it's like a ... It's very exciting, 'cause it's-
Episode duration: 2:48:02
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