Metronome #034: LA Riots

Insomniac’s Metronome series features mixes from some of today’s fastest-rising electronic stars, as well as championed legends. It takes listeners deep across a wide range of genres, movements, cultures, producers, artists and sounds that make up the diverse world of electronic music.

It’s easy for producers to be envious of Daniel Linton, known to the electronic world as LA Riots. He successfully straddles the pop and rock worlds, while keeping his underground credibility intact. It’s how he’s able to land work with some of the biggest artists to date, from Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, and Weezer all the way through to dance music titans like Tiësto and Laidback Luke.

Formerly a duo, LA Riots now operates as a solo entity with Linton at the wheel. The project originally launched back in the heyday of the American dance and electro craze, prior to what’s being dubbed the “EDM” wave today. Formed on the 15th anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, LA Riots now celebrates eight long years in the game. A quick hop in the time machine reveals an LA Riots heavily influenced by indie rock and alt indie dance of the times, best heard on the Kid Sister “Control” and Chromeo “Bonafied Lovin’” remixes.

Today, Linton focuses his originals on a varied sound that covers everything from bounce (“Burn It Down”) and electro house/trap (“Kamikaze”) to crossover appeal (“Let You Go”). His recent remix of Steve Aoki’s “Back To Earth” featuring Fall Out Boy is proof enough why LA Riots is here to stay for the long run.

For his Metronome mix, LA Riots goes hard for the main stage, a place he was born to own.

You’re involved in a ton of projects, from music to fashion to a film appearance. What made you want to take it all on? Any one of them you’re really digging at the moment?
A lot of that stuff comes about just kind of naturally from being involved heavily in the Los Angeles dance music scene. Pretty much every single thing that is coming out has been built off of relationships that I’ve established over the past years, from my cameo in the new Zac Efron movie (playing myself) to my involvement with brands like Sol Republic and Arnette.

You have quite a few tattoos, and it doesn’t seem like you plan to stop anytime soon. What’s their significance to you? What’s the story behind your latest, or your favorite?
Been getting tattoos for the better part of the last 13 years and have always stuck to things that I can cover up with clothing. I wanted to get my neck tattooed, but I knew that my mom wouldn’t be too pleased with that. She lives in Tampa, and when I saw that I had an upcoming gig in that area I decided I would go ahead and get a neck tattoo. I thought about what I could get and settled on her name, which is Sulastri. It’s Malaysian, which is my background; we call her Sue for short. I got the tattoo about a week before my Tampa show. When I landed, I picked her up and took her to dinner, where she saw the tattoo on my neck. From that point on she hasn’t had a problem with any of my tattoos.

Tell me a bit about Create Your Vision. How did the collaboration with Arnette begin, and what does it entail? What about your Sol Republic project?
The Arnette deal actually came through as a result of my snowboarding. I’m an avid snowboarder, and every season I get a black pass given to me from Mammoth Mountain resort, which is pretty much the most amazing lift pass. I think it retails for around $10,000+ a season, but it’s basically a pass that gets you certain privileges. In return, I play a few shows up at the clubs there. When you’re off the mountain and night rolls around, there’s basically nothing to do except party, so it’s a good relationship. I ended up meeting a lot of different people in the action sports industry and one of those guys ended up working for Arnette. They asked me to do some work for them and I was more than happy to hop on-board.

The Sol Republic relationship I have had for years. As a matter of fact, the box that is coming out with me on it is from a shoot we did probably three years ago. I just met Seth Combs, one of the owners, somewhere in LA when I was out and about. I honestly don’t remember how or where; a lot of my relationships start that way. I’ve gotten work for PlayStation, Lexus, etc. from just being at the right place at the right time I suppose. Los Angeles is a great place to be because every time you go out you are running into someone.

Do you anticipate more clothing or accessory collabs for the future? It must feel pretty great to be considered one of the best-dressed DJs in the industry.
I’m actually setting my sights on a shoe line and have already been involved in a women’s line that is about to launch, more high-end stuff. Eventually, I want to launch my own men’s line of loafers and casual shoes.

I remember seeing a story about your Red Bull skydiving stunt a couple years back. Have you attempted something similar since? Anything crazy coming up we can look forward to?
To be honest, I didn’t want to do that whole thing. My publicist ran this idea by me that she had about me skydiving into a gig on the Fourth of July in the Hamptons and wanted to see if I would be interested. She assured me it would be safe, but at that point I didn’t care to hear it. About a month later, she said that Red Bull agreed to accompany me on the jump. At that point, I was trying to backtrack my way out of it, but she was pretty persistent and said I couldn’t back out. I finally agreed, and all of a sudden I was being branded as this daredevil DJ that likes to snowboard, surf and skydive. (Oh how the media loves to spin these things.)

When the gig finally happened, it was quite incredible. I was jumping with Red Bull’s skydiving team, the same guys that put on squirrel suits and jump off of cliff sides in Norway. We took a helicopter up high above the Hamptons and we jumped. Then a few of the guys waited for me to pull my parachute; then they came flying by me, crisscrossing the sky in their Red Bull sky suits. It was pretty surreal. Once I landed, I quickly unstrapped and played the most insane party. Pretty amazing experience.

We’re enjoying your remix of Steve Aoki’s “Back To Earth.”
The reception on the track has been huge. Basically, anything attached to Aoki is going to be pretty big, and I knew that from the start. I actually haven’t done a remix in a few years, but once I heard the original I knew there was potential to really go big with it.

You’ve even joined Alesso, Dillon Francis, Nicky Romero, and Dirty South in making a cameo for the upcoming Zac Efron film, We Are Your Friends. How was that experience, and how did that come about?
I’m still trying to figure that one out actually. The director and writer of the movie actually reached out to me through mutual friends to see if I’d be interested in making an appearance. I have a really good relationship with Pioneer, and they had partnered with the movie to film the big festival scene and to also celebrate their 20-year anniversary with a big party. I think that might’ve had something to do with it, as I was one of the DJs performing that day.

What’s in store for 2015?
Back in the studio after a bit of a hiatus and working on my next single. I’m refining the sound of my live sets a lot and trying to incorporate more house and switching up the vibe a bit, in and out of stuff, not trying to play peak tracks the entire time. I think the crowds need a bit of time to catch their breaths.

Track List:: LA Riots “Right Now”
TJR “How Ya Feelin”
deadmau5 “The Reward Is Cheese” (Nom De Strip Remix)
Reepublic “Pantheon”
Showtek ft. MC Ambush “90s By Nature”
Alesso ft. Tove Lo “Heroes” (Moska ‘Summerland’ Bootleg)
Kryder & Tom Staar “Jericho”
Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding “Outside” (Hardwell Remix)
R3hab & Sander van Doorn “Phoenix”
Steve Aoki ft. Fall Out Boy “Back To Earth” (LA Riots Remix)
La Fuente “Selecta”
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Martin Garrix “Tremor” (4B & Stevie G Bootleg)