STEVE AOKI Doc ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead’ Out August 19 On Netflix

In the documentary I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, viewers are thrust into the world of STEVE AOKI, the Grammy-nominated electronic dance music superstar who stands as one of pop music’s most tireless multi-hyphenates: founder of the taste-making record label Dim Mak and a chart-topping producer-remixer-DJ with his finger pressed firmly to the pulse of cutting-edge youth culture. It was recently announced the film will be released exclusively on Netflix, the world’s leading internet TV network, on August 19.

 

A vulnerable and often bittersweet film, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead was shot over the course of three years, during the making of his Neon Future double album (Dim Mak/Ultra Music, 2014/15). It follows his journey to play the biggest show of his career and centers around the complex yet loving relationship with his father, the Benihana restaurant tycoon, daredevil athlete and former Olympian Rocky Aoki.

 

From the main stage of Tomorrowland in Belgium to intimate gatherings at his family home in Japan, it’s an inside look at one of music’s most outstanding characters. The story is complimented by interviews with STEVE‘s mother (another major influence in his life), sister/supermodel Devon Aoki, along with musicians and contemporaries Diplo, Tiesto, Afrojack, Laidback Luke, Travis Barker, Pete Tong and will.i.am, among others.

The film comes from the same team behind the critically acclaimed documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.  It is directed by Justin Krook and produced by David Gelb (Chef’s Table, Jiro Dreams of Sushi), Matthew Weaver (Rock of Ages), Happy Walters (The Big Lebowski, The Fighter, Limitless),  Matt Colon; Executive Producers Michael J. Mailis, Hajime Inoue and Joanna Shaw;  and Co-Producer’s Susan Wrubel, Nick Stern and Gaku Kaneko.

 

“Over the past decade, Steve Aoki has become one of the most in-demand entertainers in the world — he’s equally renowned as a DJ, owner of Dim Mak Records and for his own unique brand of rave-ready EDM hits. His exploits have brought him fame and untold riches, if not always respect and closure. Those themes are largely explored in I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, a biographical documentary which tracks Aoki’s unlikely rise, and also shows why in some ways it’s been a bittersweet journey.”

 

 

“…the film makes quick business of establishing Aoki-whose most famous depictions are literally one-dimensional-as a surprisingly multi-faceted subject. Steve spent his childhood as an outcast of sorts on the west coast, the son of the late, absentee restaurant magnate, Rocky Aoki, founder of Japanese restaurant chain-cum-fire-hazard Benihana. This is fairly common knowledge, but the film reveals that that Rocky was rarely around, and provided no financial aid to his son’s musical endeavours-which began when Steve established Dim Mak Records in 1996 out of his tiny apartment, releasing early records by Bloc Party and post-hardcore thrashers Blood Brothers before becoming a foundational part of the EDM quasi-movement. Steve then parlayed that success into ascending the ranks of the electronic music world as a DJ. The film juxtaposes this younger wide-eyed version of Steve with the present day’s-where he’s one of the most financially successful electronic artists in the world, travelling extensively, playing upwards of 300 shows a year, and regularly headlining huge festivals like Tomorrowland…”

– Sean Egan, Thump (4/20/16)