Skrillex



Real name Sonny Moore, Skrillex is currently a great name to drop if you want to send someone off on an angry tangent or make a new best friend. Formerly the lead singer of From First to Last, Moore quit the band in 2007 in order to pursue a solo career. In 2008, he began making music and DJ-ing under his current alias. In 2010, he was picked up by Mau5trap Records and began making a splash by touring with established electronic music producer Deadmau 5. Skrillex has been the buzz name in electronic dance music ever since, having picked up three Grammy Awards along the way.

Born on January 15, 1988, in Los Angeles, California, Moore was raised by two adoptive parents, Scott and Francis Moore. He began writing music when he was 9, after receiving a guitar from his father a a gift. At age 12, he started attending local concerts, primarily as a way to make friends and socialize, as he was home schooled. Moore started several bands around this time before joining From First to Last when he was 16. He was originally slated to play guitar for the band but was changed to lead singer after he was heard singing by studio producers. In June 2004, Epitaph Records released the band's first full-length record with their new bandmate, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count. After performing on several successful tours (two of which being the Vans Warped Tour and Dead By Dawn tour) they began recording their second album (with former Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland playing bass), Heroine, released in March 2006. The album garnered high sales and, once again, the band found themselves in another slew of tours. Unfortunately, Moore started suffering vocal problems, causing FFTL to resign from touring. After going through a successful surgical procedure, Moore informed the band he would be permanently resigning to work on a solo career.

Moore would spend the next few months releasing demos via Myspace. He toured with a few bands and contributed to Wes Borland's Black Light Burns project, but never really made it big under his Sonny Moore solo work, though he continued to make music with various bands as Sonny Moore into 2009.

In 2008, Moore began DJ-ing under the name Skrillex at clubs in the Los Angeles area, and in 2010 he released his official Skrillex debut EP, My Name is Skrillex as a free download. Later in the year, Sonny began a nationwide tour with deadmau5 after being signed to Mau5trap Recordings and released his second EP, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. His first full album as Skrillex was due to drop sometime before the end of 2011 under his own label OWSLA, but has been pushed back to sometime this year.

His current music tends to have a very light vs. dark vibe to it, bright melodies contrasted with harsh bass drops, and spans many sub-genres of electronic music. Some hail him as a new wave of electronic music, bringing in fresh fans and faces, while others claim that he changed it and now it sucks, especially in regards to his dubstep material. Has Skrillex simply altered the landscape of EDM, or has he destroyed it? Only time will tell.

Discography:

 * Gypsyhook (As Sonny Moore) (2009)
 * Bells (Leaked - no official release)
 * My Name is Skrillex EP (2010)
 * Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP (2010)
 * More Monsters and Sprites EP (2010)
 * Bangarang EP (2011)
 * Voltage (2012)

Tropes Related to Skrillex:

 * Album Title Drop: My Name is Skrillex. There is a song with that title on the EP, and the phrase itself is said many times.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Go find an outlet that addresses his relationships. You won't find one. Also, there are a few pictures of him when he was an Emo Teen kissing guys, but back then it was a trend for Emo Teens to practice as much Ho Yay as possible. Add this and his Moe Moe tendencies and things get confusing.
 * He may be bisexual after news that he's dating Ellie Goulding (http://perezhilton.com/2012-02-16-skrillex-ellie-goulding-dating)
 * Animal Motif: More than not, he's compared to a koala by fans.
 * Anime Hair: Had this when he was an Emo Teen.
 * Ascended Meme: That "Yes! Oh my gosh!" you hear in "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" and "Rock N Roll"? That's courtesy of Cup Stacking Girl.
 * And the "CALL 911 NOW!" from this video of a crazed woman hassling skateboarders.
 * He's also mentioned Grillex on twitter.
 * Audience Participation Song: Often Skrillex will turn down his music and have the crowd sing a phrase or word (Usually "My Name is Skrillex" and the ending of "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites".)
 * Auto-Tune: Definitely used, but forgivable for the fact that, like most electronic musicians, he probably going for a particular sound.
 * Brown Note: Ruffneck (FULL Flex) has some extremely loud and polarizingly high and low synths repeated and played at the same time. This may be the intent based on the music video.
 * Butt Monkey: To Deadmau 5.
 * Covered With Scars: Because of a hormone imbalance and medication taken to counteract it, Skrillex has a lot of acne scars on his face. This has contributed a lot to low self-esteem and is also the reason he got an undercut: he was trying to wean himself off of hiding his face with his hair.
 * Electronic Music: Including, but not limited to:
 * House Music
 * Trance
 * Dubstep (heavily disputed)
 * Emo: Due to his raccoon-eyed and long-fringed past, he's occasionally the target of good-natured Emo Kid jokes from his fellow producers (especially deadmau5)
 * Emo Teen: Boy, was he ever.
 * Expecting Someone Taller: He's 5'4".
 * Fan Verse: A popular fan consensus is that Skrillex is actually an alien. Skrillex knows about this and -- to an extent -- encourages it, since he thinks aliens are really cool.
 * Likely lampshaded by the name of one of his tours - the Mothership tour.
 * Genre Busting: He is his own genre. Or his own 4 or 5 genres.
 * Gratuitous Japanese: Under the name Sonny Moore he released "海水" (Kai Sui), a Japanese version of "Mora". A couple of times he has also said "Moshi Moshi" on Twitter.
 * Helium Speech: His natural singing voice sounds like this. It's very distinct.
 * "I Am" Song: "My Name Is Skrillex".
 * Important Haircut: Sonny gave himself his signature undercut at about the same time he started to release EPs as Skrillex.
 * Lighter and Softer: "With You, Friends (Long Drive)" and "All I Ask of You" from Scary Monsters, and "Summit" from Bangarang.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Or so you'd think. He seems to own about four plaid shirts (either gray or black), a few black t-shirts, and one white shirt that throws fans into a tizzy any time it appears, just because it's different. Of course, all of his pants are black.
 * Little Miss Badass: The young girl in his "First of the Year (Equinox)" music video.
 * Long Haired Pretty Boy: He definitely has long hair... On most of his head.
 * Looped Lyrics: "Rock N' Roll (Will Take You to the Mountains)" and "WEEKENDS!!!", as well as a few more.
 * Mind Over Matter: The music video for "First of the Year".
 * Mood Whiplash: This is basically his musical style, juxtaposing lighter melodies with "gritty" bass lines.
 * Up to Eleven by Ruffneck (Flex) and Ruffneck (Full Flex).
 * The Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP has All I Ask of You, a very lighthearted and uplifting song... placed between Kill Everybody and Scatta.
 * Mondegreen: "You can't hide/ from my cameltoe./ You know me too high my friend/ though I am just like you!"
 * Nerd Glasses: The hipster glasses aren't just for show. Poor guy really is Blind Without Them.
 * Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly: Many of his songs. Two in particular stand out: "Breakn' a Sweat," a mix of rock and his typical music, which he did with The Doors, and "Make it Bun Dem," a combination of dubstep and reggae, complete with one of Bob Marley's sons on vocals.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: The main subject of Kill Everybody is a guy who wants to kill everybody in the world.
 * Producers Smash MacBooks: When Skrillex's gear stops working mid-show, things get...theatrical.
 * Rap Rock: "Kyoto" is a foray into it.
 * Sampling: Though he more often uses random sound clips from YouTube videos and his own mixed up vocals than other songs.
 * Sensory Abuse: Born This Way (Died This Way). It includes a lead melody formed by pure screaming from hell. Ruffneck (Full Flex), while not as much Nightmare Fuel, may be even worse due to the extremely high synths contrasted with extremely deep bass at the same time.
 * Shout Out:
 * Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites is a reference to Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
 * "Bangarang" has the lyric "Shout out to all my lost boys, we rowdy", sung by Sirah. In the film Hook, the Lost Boys' Battle Cry was... bangarang.
 * Sleep Cute: With Zedd and Steve Aoki.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Played up by some of his publicity photos.
 * Signature Song: Either "Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites", "First Of The Year (Equinox)", or "Kill EVERYBODY".
 * Stage Names: Skrillex being his stage name and his real name being Sonny Moore, as stated above.
 * Stealth Pun: See Shout Out example above.
 * Surprisingly Gentle Song: "All I Ask Of You", "Summit", and "With You, Friends (Long Drive)". Pretty much once per EP.
 * Take That: "Rock n' Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)" seems to be one towards those who think that electronica isn't "real" music, or possibly just towards rock music altogether.
 * Alternatively, the last bit of sampling in the song could be him mocking himself for becoming an electronic artist and not being a "real" musician anymore.
 * Truck Driver's Gear Change: Inverted in "Scatta". The bridge actually shifts down a whole step. The effect is awesome.