My Favourite Game Sam Vogel

The future bass pacemaker known as Jauz on Halo montage music, Kingdom Hearts and Overwatch’s EDM potential

Sam Vogel is a DJ and producer from California who has secured a reputation for high-energy variety sets that light up festivals across the globe. His breakout single Feel The Volume launched via Diplo’s label Mad Decent in 2014, and since then he’s collaborated with Skrillex, Marshmello and DJ Snake, released a studio album and founded his own record label, Bite This. Here, he talks about portable MMOs, Basshunter’s gaming links, and roadside breakdowns.

What’s your earliest memory of games?

When my little brother was born – he’s like, three, almost four years younger than me – for whatever reason, I don’t know why, but my parents decided that they would get me a Nintendo 64. And they prefaced it like my little brother who had just been born had brought a Nintendo 64 with him. I was four at the time, so I tried to play Zelda and it was so complicated for my little brain. If you think about it, Zelda was really the first open-world RPG on a console like that – I didn’t understand that you could just go anywhere.

We understand you’re a big Kingdom Hearts fan. What does that series mean to you as an electronic producer?