Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2011

Japan sees plenty of underground house and techno legends, but seldom do its clubs get a taste of what mainstream North American DJs are spinning right this moment.

It doesn’t get any more mainstream than Katy Perry. Now her tour DJ Skeet Skeet will be using his night off to give Tokyo clubbers a taste of what Americans are listening to at an event produced by website Supported by Music—created to fund reconstruction projects in quake-hit Tohoku.

Metropolis caught up with Iowa-born Trevor McFedries aka Skeet Skeet midway through his round-the-world tour with pop diva Perry.

How did you come to a DJ career?
All quite by accident. I had been playing in punk bands before moving to LA at the age of 16. When I got to LA and didn’t have any friends with similar tastes in music I was forced to start making things on my own and began producing beats in Reason and Ableton Live. DJing came about because I wanted to play those songs out and hear a reaction—and digital DJing made that a possibility.

How did you become Katy Perry’s opening DJ?
I’ve known Katy for years and actually got asked to work on some of the music for her new live show, essentially “remixing” it a bit so that some new quirks were brought into some of the music. Then Katy and her manager asked if I’d be interested in going on tour and opening. I was flattered and agreed.

What is right and wrong with worldwide clubbing today?
The only thing that bums me out is when people make music exclusive…. I started making music because I loved how inclusive it was and how it brought people together.

Tell us about a new track and how it is an evolution from your previous work.
The new music coming out this summer features a lot of great artists that I’ve built relationships with in the past. So the songs are structured more like traditional radio songs than some of my other remixes/originals. I’m really excited to get them out, and am going to be posting some snippets for my Facebook fans soon at http://facebook.com/djskeetskeet

Tell us about your dubstep show on Scion (http://scionav.com/radio/channel3) and your vision for dubstep.
My show was one of the first on that network to play dubstep and feature some of the amazing artists putting out dubstep tunes. I have a lot of love for dubstep and it’s been interesting to watch it grow. I’m not too keen on some of the newer extreme filth stuff but it all has its place and I think it’s got some fun years ahead of it.

Tell us about your upcoming charity event at XEX Nihonbashi.
The whole world watched their televisions in awe at the amount of destruction that happened so quickly in Japan. It was such a heartbreaking experience to see what Japan was going through and when the opportunity presented itself to play a show that would generate money for a country I love, I jumped at the chance.

Vinyl, CDs or laptop. Which and why?
I’ve used a combo of all the above over the years but now I use CDs with digital DJing software on a laptop. I love the ability to access the 30,000 or so songs I have on my laptop at anytime. It can get overwhelming but having the ability to close the night out with some Hank Williams with a few keystrokes is nice.

Just BE vol 12. May 21, 10:30pm, ¥3,500. XEX Nihonbashi. Nearest stn: Mitsukoshi-mae. Info: www.supported-by-music.com