Meet Skrillex's Biggest Fans

Sonny Moore–aka Skrillex, the little, mousey face of American dubstep–played some of his music in London this weekend. If you know anything about dubstep, you'll know that the scene's purists absolutely adore Skrillex's hilariously overblown and perverted take on a style of music that used to prize boring things like subtlety and space. Clearly, they love it even more when he brings his Grand Guignol music for wrestling fans and 'roid ravers to Brixton, where dubstep grew up at clubs like DMZ over the course of the last decade.

We went to meet some of those megafans in the line for Skrillex's show on Saturday night. Everyone was definitely just like the original heads who hung out in Big Apple and at Plastic People back in the day.

(left to right): Becky, 17, Jack, 18, Lauren, 16 and Katy, 16.

VICE: Hey guys. What do you love most about Skrillex's music?
Katy: The drops!

What do they sound like?
Katy: Wom-wombzphz!

What genre would you say Skrillex is?
All: Dubstep!

What dubstep did you listen to before Skrillex?
Jack: All kinds! Metalstep… everything. The new Korn album.

What will you do when you see Skrillex on stage?
Jack: Go mental in the mosh pits.
Becky: Fucking mental!

Is Skrillex hot?
Becky: His face is, but I don't really like his, erm… head.

I heard he's going out with Ellie Goulding now. What would you do if you saw them walking in the street?
Lauren: I would kill her and take him.

Vlad, 18.

VICE: Are you looking forward to tonight?
Vlad: Fuck yeah.

How long have you been a fan of Skrillex?
Quite a while, I liked him in [his old band] From First To Last, as well.

What did you think when he transformed himself into the one they now call Skrillex?
I liked the style change.I like how it's heavy. Like, dubstep is pretty new, but I liked heavy drum and bass and heavy electro before that, so when he brought that together, I was quite happy. Dubstep for me is like a mix between rock and dance music. It's more heavy.

OK. So you like the heaviness?
Yeah, I like the heavy drops.

What did you do with your life before Skrillex?
I liked a few dubstep bands. No one really specific, just like some videos on YouTube. Skrillex is kinda the main one.

Charlotte (left) and Dom, both 23.

VICE: Are you Skrillex's biggest fans?
Dom: I would go as far as to say… yes!

Have you seen him before, then?
Dom: Twice. It was epic.

What's up with the makeup?
Dom: Quick trip to Cyberdog, bought as much of it as we could find, then plastered it on.

It looks great.
Charlotte: Thanks.

Do you think it's important for the fans to make an effort, visually?
Dom: Yeah, I do. It shows we're taking part in a new movement.

What do you call this new movement?
Dom: Erm… It's hard to say, it's not really got a name. It's not like a revolution, but it's definitely a movement. Like a new level of bass and dance music.

Have you always been a dubstep fan?
Dom: Definitely, although I don't think the face paint was as important then. Skrillex was the founding father of US dubstep, but over here it's a bit different. It's changing, though.

What do you say to the haters?
Dom: If they're hating him, they're still listening to him. Dubstep always wins.

Billie Childish, 32.

VICE: Are you looking forward to the gig?
Billie Childish: Yes. I'm here because it's my birthday tomorrow.

Happy birthday for tomorrow. What do you like about Skrillex?
I like the drill stuff he does. I haven't heard that much of his stuff, really. I think he's very innovative, but some of his stuff isn't really album material.

What's your favourite genre of music?
Recently I've been mainly into industrial. Before that, dark drum and bass. Skrillex brings together a lot of different styles.

What would be your perfect bill at a gig?
Probably the Bloodstock line up this year, because Nile are playing.

I like Nile, too.
Here's my card.

Thanks.

Hannah, 21.

VICE: Are you excited about Skrillex tonight?
Hannah: Fuck yeah! We booked our tickets in November!

What's your favorite Skrillex song?
It would have to be, oh, what's it called [asks a friend nearby]. No! Not that one. Probably “Scatta.”

What do you like about that song?
I just love the bass, it just feels like… Ugh I can't explain it, I just can't explain it.

Like it goes through your body [sigh]?
Yes! Exactly.

Is that his unique selling point?
Definitely, he brought that to dance music big time. It needed it, no one was really doing it before.

You're quite dressed up, do you think more people should be?
If people want to, that's fine. I'm more of a cyber goth kinda like big hair, but I thought I would tone down for the gig.

Gina, 18.

VICE: Are you Skrillex's biggest fan?
Gina: No, probably not.

Who is?
James [name redacted], obviously.

Who's James?
He's a friend, he was here last night.

I don't know why that would be obvious to me.
I suppose not [laughs].

Melissa (left) and Ken, both 16.

VICE: You guys are at the front of the line. You must be Skrillex's biggest fans.
Ken: We have been here about seven hours. It's getting really cold.

What's your favorite thing about Skrillex?
Ken: His music.
Melissa: His hair. He's shaved almost all of it off!

Would you shave almost all of your hair off?
Melissa: No.

What do you like about his music, is he dubstep?
Ken: Dubstep evolved I guess. It evolved into Skrillex.

Some people say that Skrillex has ruined dubstep for everyone, and that he's getting rich by transforming it into something predictable, stupid and gross. What do you say to those people?
Ken: He's just doing his thing!
Melissa: Yeah, leave him alone!

OK.
Ken: Good.

@joshuahaddow