KAAZE: The Evolution of “Hot Tekno” – A Journey from Underground to Mainstream Success

KAAZE: The Evolution of “Hot Tekno” – A Journey from Underground to Mainstream Success

In this exclusive interview with Swedish DJ and producer KAAZE, he discusses his musical evolution from underground techno to pioneering what he calls “Hot Tekno.” Currently ranked #48 in DJ Mag’s Top 100, KAAZE shares insights about his upcoming North American tour, his Swedish musical heritage, and exciting new projects on the horizon. The interview reveals how his return to techno roots has reinvigorated his creativity and expanded his fanbase dramatically over the past two years.

Throughout your career, you’ve dabbled in all different kinds of genres, from groovy electro house, underground techno, and now you’ve been pioneering a concept, what you call “Hot Tekno”, and that’s with a K. What is hot techno?

It’s a funny story. Me and my agent Dennis, who were sitting one day exploring this new sound that I had, and it was like, it’s not really typical techno, it’s not hard techno. Like, what? What is it? Because what I’m doing is implementing sounds from the previous genres I’ve done and, finding a more rhythm base, and it’s not that static. So I was like, a lot of girls like it. I see on my social media. It’s kind of sexy sometimes, but I think sexy is kind of cliche to say. And then we just said “Hot Tekno”. It was a funny thing, and I was posting a little bit here and there, and my fans caught up on it. So they liked it, “Hot Tekno”.

Last year, you ranked number 48 in DJ Mag Top 100, congratulations! How did this achievement influence what you’re doing now?

The thing that people don’t really know about “Hot Tekno” is that 20 years ago, when I started making music, like way before I created KAAZE, I was making techno music. I come from the underground scene back home in Sweden, so I was making really underground industrial techno. And at one point, I just wanted to find myself and have fun again in the studio because I was a little bit uninspired and bored with my previous progressive house, or whatever I was doing, and that’s kind of where it started.

So I started pushing that sound, and had a lot of fun making it, and then I started receiving really good feedback and reactions on social media, like two years ago, and I just saw another rise of fans exploding over two years. I think I went from like 200,000 followers to like almost 800,000 followers. So, like, I got a massive amount of new fans that only know me right now for “Hot Tekno”, which is really fun for me because it’s a new world for me too. So, like, obviously, becoming number 48 was kind of like a big part of that.

You have a debut tour coming up in North America. Can you tell us a little bit about the tour, what your plans are for “Hot Tekno”, what are you going to show us over in the States?

I’m really excited to go to North America, I used to be based in America when I started KAAZE, I was in America together with my American wife, so for me, America is very special. I never did a tour back then, so it’s been so many years, and because I started there, all my fans are Americans, still till this day. So, it’s been eight plus years. They’ve been asking me when I’m coming, and I never knew how to answer them. For me that’s super special to finally go to America for these fans that have been waiting for so long. I’m going to go over there and do my thing, my European style. So far, I’ve heard a lot of great things from the from the shows.

Something else I’ve been dying to ask you, so you’re from Sweden. I’ve never been there before, but a lot of my favorite artists are from Sweden. Avicii, may he rest in peace, was from there, obviously, Swedish House, Mafia, Alesso, etc. So what is in the water in Sweden that pumps out all these amazing DJs? What is it about Sweden that just produces such amazing talent?

Sweden has always been a big part of the music industry. In terms of pop music, you know, we have Max Martin. So Swedish people have always been super involved. And if we go all the way back to about time, we have this big pop culture, and I think in terms of DJs, what we do is like we implement a lot of those sounds, and the way of making pop music in Sweden into our productions. That just gives to that type of different sound. I don’t know really why Sweden is so good on music itself, but I do think it comes from back in the days where these individuals got the opportunities to explode, Max Martin is a great example. So I think those people have had a huge impact on the Swedish artists in general.

So what’s next for you, what can we expect from KAAZE this summer?

My schedule is getting pretty packed. Couple remixes in the in the works. I got some David Guetta remixes that I’ve been wanting to release for quite some time. We got some really dope solo releases coming up, couple collabs in the process. Just blast on! There’s gonna be a lot of OGs this year, and a lot of OG music, like I did for the last six months. A couple covers, couple of sample based. So, I’m kind of excited to go back to some original music again. So, yeah, it’s gonna be all over the place, fully packed!