Tommy Lee talks deadmau5 tour, interview and tour dates announced (VIDEO)

By April MacIntyre Aug 25, 2011, 6:39 GMT

The pair has teamed with deadmau5’s mau5trap label to debut their new singles “Static” and “LFO Tool” tomorrow, August 25 via mau5trap’s Meowingtons Hax compilation on sale now via Beatport.

Tommy Lee and deadmau5?

Yes. As DJs and producers, Los Angeles’ Tommy Lee & DJ Aero’s sound is described as "dirty, filthy, nasty electro-house."

The pair has teamed with deadmau5’s mau5trap label to debut their new singles “Static” and “LFO Tool” tomorrow, August 25 via mau5trap’s Meowingtons Hax compilation on sale now via Beatport.

To support their new music, Lee and DJ Aero will join deadmau5 on his Meowingtons Hax tour this week starting with four shows at the Hollywood Palladium (three of which are sold out) in Los Angeles as well as dates in Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, San Diego and San Francisco throughout the fall.

They’ll also appear at Electric Zoo at Randall’s Island in New York City on September 3 and the Labor of Love Festival at The Guvernment in Toronto on September 4.

Congratulations on the upcoming release of your debut single “Static” on mau5trap. How did you get hooked up with deadmau5?

TOMMY LEE: Thank You!!  I'm really looking forward to switching musical gears coming off the MÖTLEY CRÜE tour and getting our new music out on the mau5trap label and compilation. I've known Joel (Zimmerman, deadmau5) for a while; a mutual friend, Steve Duda (producer for Nine Inch Nails and deadmau5), introduced us.

DJ AERO: We met Joel in 2005 through our mutual friend Steve Duda. We actually had him on stage with us at a festival we played in a cornfield in Canada. We have old video of him rocking out with us onstage. Obviously this was pre mau5head .We also brought him to open for us on a bunch of Canadian dates .I'm pretty sure the show at the The Guvernment was the first time he brought his own equipment and had a live singer with him. We have recorded an EP under the name of WTF? The members are Tommy Lee, Aero, Steve Duda and deadmau5.

What’s your process in working together in the studio? How did “Static” come about?

TL: That's always a fun process. Aero and I just set up shop in my studio and just start pressin’ buttons, tweakin’ out like little kids on a bunch of sugar and electronic toys. Once something sounds awesome it sticks and we build on it. “Static,” for instance, like any good track, came very quickly.

AERO: “Static” came about with Tommy and I playing with the custom Eurorack system I have built. We started patching the synth and came up with the bassline. Once we had that we just started layering the sounds to come up with melody. The lead line is a custom preset from Native Instruments Massive VSt. We found the old sample and it all just fell into place.

The Meowingtons Hax tour is one of the hottest tickets right now. What is your set going to be like? What do you do behind the table?

TL: Our goal is to bring some life performance to our sets. I'm going to be triggering video and audio by playing drums on electronic pads. We'll also be adding a live camera so that people can see what's going on back there.  Our set up is amazing. To break it down for you a bit, Aero does all the mixing and I do all the video mixing and audio effects and drumming. A lot of what we do is live because I believe that watching a couple guys stand there and play CDs just isn't that cool, so we try to bring a performance element to our live sets.

AERO:  Our set is going to be a mixture of our tracks and edits from all our favorite DJs. We are going to rock electro, drumstep and I'm sure some other surprise musical elements. I use 2 Pioneer CDJ-2000 turntables and a 900 Nexus Dj Mixer. My Apple Macbook Pro is running Traktor Scratch Pro with an X1 controller to fire cue points and samples.

Tell us about the “Static” video. Who’s the guy in the mesh?

TL: Hahaha!!  He's our buddy. Funny thing is that's really how he is. He dances all the time with his shirt off, whether on the stage or standing on the bar. You can always find him getting jiggy somewhere and I thought we have to film this guy. He's hilarious, perfect for “Static.”

AERO: His name is Robert Dyer. He is Skrillex's tour manager and one the best dudes I ever met. He loves to dance and make videos and we all thought he would be perfect fit for the video.

Catch TOMMY LEE & DJ AERO on tour w/ deadmau5 on the Meowingtons Hax tour:

August 25, 2011
Los Angeles
Palladium (Sold Out)

August 26, 2011
Los Angeles
Palladium (Sold Out)

August 27, 2011
Los Angeles
Palladium (Sold Out)

August 28, 2011
Los Angeles
Palladium

August 30, 2011
Denver
Red Rocks

September 1, 2011
Phoenix
Phoenix Convention Center

September 2, 2011
Las Vegas
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Electric Zoo

September 3, 2011
New York City
Randall’s Island

Labor of Love Festival
 

September 4, 2011
Toronto, CANADA
The Guvernment

w/ deadmau5 on the Meowingtons Hax tour:

September 13, 2011
Austin
Austin Music Hall

September 14, 2011
Austin
Austin Music Hall (Sold Out)

September 16, 2011
Houston
Verizon Wireless Theatre

September 17, 2011
Dallas
Palladium Ballroom (Sold Out)

September 18, 2011
Dallas
Palladium Ballroom

October 11, 2011
Boston
House of Blues

October 12, 2011
Boston
House of Blues (Sold Out)

October 13, 2011
Boston
House of Blues (Sold Out)

October 20, 2011
Detroit
The Fillmore

October 22, 2011
Chicago
Argon Ballroom (Sold Out)

October 26, 2011
San Diego
Petco Park

October 29, 2011
San Francisco 
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

HOT LINKS

www.facebook.com/pages/Tommy-Lee-Dj-Aero/102327063148872
www.facebook.com/mau5trap

www.tommylee.com
www.twitter.com/mrtommyland

www.djaero.com
www.twitter.com/djaero