Thursday, July 03, 2008

After he landed in Ibiza, Spain, the first thing Kaskade looked for was a Mormon church.

"When I'm in the U.S., I try to make it to church with my family on Sunday," Kaskade told The Salt Lake Tribune from Spain, where he was due to DJ a dance show.

However, Kaskade doesn't get to spend that much time in the U.S.

The dance DJ, born as Ryan Raddon and a University of Utah grad, is a legitimate phenomenon in the dance world. The 36-year-old is touring the world in support of his just-released fifth album, "Strobelite Seduction," and within the last year, he has remixed the works of Seal, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.

On top of that, his own song, "I Like the Way," was included on the top-selling soundtrack to one of the summer's hottest movies, "Sex and the City." With dance music a growing niche market, he has shown a golden touch. More than a half-dozen of his remixes have reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard dance charts. And at the sixth annual 2008 Club World Awards in March, he won the title of "Best Resident DJ" for a stint at the Smart Bar Chicago.

"People are surprised when I tell them I'm from Utah," Kaskade said. "Utah is not horses and carriages."

Kaskade lived in Salt Lake City from 1992 to 2000, after growing up in a Mormon household near Chicago. It was in Chicago where he was exposed to what is called the first wave of "house music." In the 1980s, house music was developed in the Midwest and was the rage of underground club scenes that were ignored by mainstream radio and media. House music used programmed electronic synthesizers and sequencers to create a new type of dance music where live traditional instruments were blended with often soulful vocals and a four-on-the-floor, insistent beat.

"Chicago was recognized as the birthplace of [house music]," Kaskade said. "The scene in general enticed me. Now I don't even know if those teen clubs exist. Most of my [schoolmates] were trying to tap open kegs, and I wasn't into that."

Kaskade moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young University, and then went on a mission to Tokyo. When he returned, he enrolled in the University of Utah, and to help pay for school, he DJ'd parties, sharing his love of the music he grew up with in Chicago.

After graduation, he co-owned Mechanized Records in downtown Salt Lake City, and began writing and recording music while DJ'ing parties at venues like Club Manhattan. In 2000, he moved to San Francisco with his wife, who was from the Bay Area, to see if he could become successful.

"I wondered if I could make it there," he said. "At the time, San Francisco had a second wave of house music bubbling up."

After eight years of growing success, Kaskade has become one of the most sought-after remixers in the pop music world. The pop songs you hear on radio are more difficult to remix than one might think, he said. "I still love it, trying to fit square pegs into round holes, turning songs into dance songs."

He prefers to write his own music, though. He collaborates with Finn Bjarnson of Pleasant Grove when he writes his glossy, feel-good albums. "He's definitely very driven," Bjarnson said of Kaskade. "He has a strong work ethic. He doesn't do drugs like the others do."

Kaskade's faith and approach to life have served him well, Bjarnson said. "He's a very likable, affable person. He doesn't come off as arrogant, or a superstar."

There's another reason for Kaskade's success, Bjarnson said. "It takes a certain type of person to globe-trot like he does," he said. "I'm a homebody."