Chatting with Ookay at Tahoe Live

Dec. 14-15 we had the pleasure of meeting with OOKAY and sat down to chat about the musical process, Mk.gee and Tequila.

J: How was it last night? We unfortunately couldn’t make it up from Reno with the weather, how was everything?

OOKAY: We got deleted with traffic, we were coming from Sacramento and got stuck in 3 hours of traffic. But by the time I got here, we were like, ‘Okay party time.’ 

J: You mentioned you play six or so instruments, how do you incorporate that into your music and live sets?

OOKAY: I did my okay live show for a few years which was where I sing, I have dancers with me, and I have a lot of instruments on stage like a keyboard, a keytar, drum pads, and all that. So I would incorporate a lot of sample bass stuff and do a lot of solos on stage. So making space for that with dance music and learning how to blend it seamlessly has been a challenge for me because I want to see how I can take it there and make it work. Ya know like a rave setting and you think “live music” and its a different environment than what you’d expect from a rave. 

J: I think the choreography is especially notable, you don’t really see that—

OOKAY: Exactly, IT’S CALLED DANCE MUSIC (laughing). I want to add something special. I still sing during my set too.

J: Do you have any favorite live shows you've played?

OOKAY: One of my favorites for sure was obviously Coachella. EDC in Vegas is always great, and Tomorrowland out in Belgium. I play in Asia a lot, too. I feel like I was in Asia more than I was in America this year. Tokyo is so sick. Bangkok, Beijing, I played all over. It is nice to come back to the States though and be with my friends, ya know, when I’m out there I’m usually by myself. 

J: Is it hard being on the road or do you enjoy that part of your artist lifestyle?

OOKAY: it’s 50/50. Sometimes I’m just bored, but I always try to walk around and explore as much of the cities as I can. But I spend a lot of that time traveling alone and just working on music. Luckily I can work while I’m traveling. Being on the road inspires me a little bit. 

J: What else inspires you or gets the creative juices flowing?

OOKAY: I think life. Honestly living and having fun. Working and collaborating with a lot of people is a great way to get ideas, just bouncing ideas off each other creatively. It’s a special thing. There’s not a lot of art mediums that don’t get to do that, ya know painters don’t really collaborate. It’s something special our industry has. We’re having fun just sharing music, sending each other stuff back and forth. 

J: Do you have a dream collab, dead or alive?

OOKAY: Oh man. My first and easy answer is always Prince. But I’d love to work with Pharrell or Timbaland or someone in a different realm of dance music to see a new creative process for me. I’d love to see how we turn the gears. I’d love to do some cool and different stuff with Sabrina Carpenter—

J: Gotta manifest it for 2025!

OOKAY: I know! Chapell Roan hit me up…

J: A huge thing for EDM artists too is obviously the stage name and building your presence. You got the double O in your name, it kinda looks like an 8 or infinity sign, but what does OOKAY mean to you?

OOKAY: “Ookay” was actually a sample from a Crime Mob track called Stilettos, it goes “stilettos, pumps, in the club, yeah” and right at the end he goes “Okay!” and I fell in love with that sample. I was like, ‘I gotta use that.’ When I was first starting out on SoundCloud and trying to build my name I would put that in every song. I feel like okay is also a word that’s internationally known like any language understands and it’s usually a positive thing, and I didn’t think about that when I started but the more I move around and go to different places, “Ookay” really sticks with people. 

J: It’s that time of year when all the streaming services do their wrapped for the year, what was yours like? What were you listening to this year?

OOKAY: I’m a big Mk.gee head 

J: Oh yeah you tweeted you were in the top .05% of listeners.

OOKAY: Oh yeah. To be fair I’ve been listening to him since like 2018, his first EP. And during Covid when he was putting out his newer stuff, I was listening to him all the time. That got me through Covid. I would just go bike riding by myself, nothing was open, just listening to Mk.gee. I’ve been listening to a lot of rap stuff, trying to switch up a bit. And also a lot more SoundCloud. A lot of techno coming out of Ireland, Australia, a lot of stuff that hasn’t really brushed into the States yet. A lot of drum and bass, trap stuff, but I’m also really into the hardcore stuff. I actually took my girlfriend to her first grindcore show, we went to Snuffed on Sight. It was in this dinky bar, people were jumping off scaffoldings, the crowd was just wild. 

J: On the note of live shows, what was the most memorable live show you’ve been to?

OOKAY: In the world of dance music, I went to the shrine in Los Angeles and saw ISOKNOCK. It holds like 7000 people, it’s a really cool venue. I actually did a special DJ set appearance with DJ Snake there. I started a new project TRICKSTAR with my homie Bailo out of Houston, and DJ Snake had his other project called Outlaw, and that was a show for Outlaw, and his first track was released with us. And then right after that we did our collab with Marshmello that came out with Lil Jon. That came out like 2-3 weeks ago, just hit a million plays this week. As far as live shows, there’s this girl Sasha Grey. Singer, songwriter, bass player, everything. She’s really cool. Check her out.

J: Do you have any pre-show rituals or anything you’re doing before this upcoming set today to get you hyped? Besides the veggie platter we got here.

OOKAY: You can never go wrong with a veggie platter. But for real, most shows I’m usually pretty quiet. I like to conserve energy because I really rip it onstage. A shot with friends never hurts.

J: What’s your shot of choice?

OOKAY: Usually tequila, Casamigos. I really don’t have a tequila preference which is probably insane for someone who drinks tequila.

J: If you could only bring one thing with you on a deserted island what would it be?

OOKAY: Not a thing but my girlfriend–

J: Okay you won with that answer.

OOKAY: But an inanimate object, it would be my laptop so I could make beats. If I’m stuck here, like I’ll just be making music and maybe someone will come by the island and like what they hear.

J: If someone could play you in a movie of your life, who would it be?

OOKAY: Denzel Washington for sure.

J: Damn, no hesitation at all. You had this one already up there.

OOKAY: That Man on Fire movie he’s in is one of my favorites. He’s in the new Gladiator movie as well, I’m yet to see it but excited to watch that as soon as I’m back home.

J: Any last shameless plugs or anything to add for our listeners in Salt Lake City?

OOKAY: My next single “Drive Away Slow” with Linney is coming out, go listen to “Something to Believe in” which just came out with Bella Renee, and look out for a lot more tour dates in 2025. This year was a lot more of me putting out music, and next year is going to be me really touring and getting out there. And check out the TRICKSTAR stuff, it’s a new project released with DJ Snake and Marshmello. 

J: Any chance you’re going to make it to Utah?

OOKAY: HELL YEAH!!! Hell yeah we're making it to Utah. We’d love to make it to Salt Lake. I do love Salt Lake a lot. I’ve been there multiple times already and I’d love to be back.

You can find out more about OOKAY on all his socials here, and make sure to listen on Spotify, Sound Cloud, or wherever you get your music.