A.K.A. Skips on His ‘Jawfiller’ EP, Raves as Third Spaces, and Reconciling Grief

“It makes me laugh because I think it’s such a trans-masc-coded thing to choose a name that sounds a little bit like a dog. It is. I think it’s so cute, but it’s definitely, like, a T-boy thing to be like, ‘skips,’ ‘Charlie,’ so I would love it if people just called me that; it would feel good and right. But originally it’s an acronym for: ‘Silent Know It’s Perfect Still’ which was like, as I was taking this time off and thinking about the project and if I even wanted to go back to music it was, to me, it summarizes the ethos of if I’m gonna come back, I don’t care about the external success. I’m okay just doing me right now, and I want to maintain that throughout.” – a.k.a. skips

By the end of 2021, a.k.a. skips had already clocked appearances at Ultra Music Festival, EDC Las Vegas, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza; releases on vaunted labels such as Deadbeats, Astralwerks, Dim Mak, Activia Benz, Spinnin, NEST (OWSLA sister label); and more. Fastforward to 2023, after retiring the Ducky moniker and taking a two-year hiatus to privately transition, the artist has reemerged as a.k.a. Skips, an electronic musician who is finding homes in new art forms, new spaces, and a new body.

Despite taking all of 2022 and much of 2021 off, one of the many reasons for a.k.a. skips’ continued rise is that he took on the challenge of branching out into other forms and mediums of art work after establishing himself as a prominent DJ. The release of his deeply personal, 2023 debut photo book, i want to rest and be held by someone who loves me, was followed by his inclusion in renowned Los Angeles art gallery La Luz De Jesus. Adding to the momentum of his recent resurgence, a.k.a. skips released Jawfiller—his debut EP under the new alias on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, a five-song collection that aptly displays the breadth, scope, and the depth of his musical capacities.

Consequently, he has cultivated a community that embraces his queer lifestyle, enabling him to embrace the authentic self he has always aspired to be.

“This project is a love letter to queer and trans life, and the unique connection that a proper rave provides is fundamental to my understanding of what a community can be. An unabashed commitment to love and connection, and a rejection of the systems that would separate us.” – a.k.a. skips.

With singles “F.T.N.U.,” “If The DJ Let Me,” and lead single “I.T.C.T.M.” all rolling out since May, Jawfiller makes a strong and mature debut, hinting at a promising future for the producer as he continues to acclimate to his fresh life and cultural surroundings. Rounded out by two new tracks, including EP opener “I Get Along With Everyone,” and ghoulish techno banger “Shut Up,” Jawfiller contains a diverse, unpredictable collection of tracks all all threaded by a.k.a. skips’ distinct vision.

We connected with the extemporaneous LA rave DJ to talk about the new EP, his role in the EDM community, the origin of his infamous Pauly D. tattoo, and much more. Stream Jawfiller here.

Okay, so I’m so excited to be here with aka skips . Now this is your EP release week. Tell me about what the past seven days have been like for you?

Honestly. It’s been really busy. I took yesterday (off), where I just went, ‘Oh my god, I’m overwhelmed; I’m canceling all my plans, and I’m gonna stay on the couch all day.’ So definitely a mixed bag. I do, like, a lot of different creative ventures, like I spent most of last week tattooing actually, so I was focused on that, and then this week it’s like, okay, back to music.

Your EP is called Jawfiller. What do you have planned for the actual release itself?

Nothing planned, you know, I toured so much under my last project. I think there’s maybe been an expectation, like, hey he’s gonna come back big and tour, and I’m open to it, but for me a big part of this project is about redefining my relationship with music, and that includes letting things come at the time that they do. So we’re not forcing it.

I wanted to talk about the subject of third spaces because I saw that you consider the EDM scene and the rave scene to be like an ideal community. So how do you feel like the EDM scene in general and raves present an ideal third space for you?

It’s interesting specifically how you phrased it because for me as a lifelong raver, right as someone who went to my first rave at 14 under an overpass in San Francisco, who got to watch it change over and over and over, and I was not obviously one of the earliest ravers, that predates me significantly.

To me, EDM and the rave scene are like a Venn diagram, right? Like you have raves in the EDM scene, but you have raves that are darkly outside, right? And one of my real gripes in my last project was that it wasn’t an ideal third space. And I worked very hard in that project trying to kind of create these, like, microcosms of like everyone’s welcome.

Making that, it was exhausting; I see a lot of new queer artists, or artists that were not new but have achieved, like, a lot more success. Since I retired, I really took that on and ran with it and am continuing it. But for me I want a rave that’s for the freaks and, like, decidedly safe, right? Not something that is kind of acting out these larger structures of power with people pushing it back.

Dance music is an escape. It’s queer Black music originally, right? And it was created for that, as an escape, as a safe space, as expression, and so for me, it feels very exciting in this new project to kind of shift my stance and go no, I am already queer and trans; let me go find my people who are also doing this.

So I know that you recently put out an art book. You’re a working tattoo artist, and you also just exhibited at La Luz Gallery, which is huge. Congratulations. So do you think you consider the EP to be sort of like an art project?

That’s a good question. One thing I really appreciate about kind of wiping the slate clean and getting this start over is that I don’t feel confined. I don’t feel pigeon-holed. I feel like there’s not expectations. And so It definitely gave me space to just, like, really lean into my creative ADHD; I didn’t really think about it like that. But I have been producing for a very long time. I like making a lot of different things, and I kind of just wanted to do something that was like yeah, this is what I’m into. This is what I would want to play, and I want to play in spaces where people like this stuff.

Did you find yourself selecting from a very large batch of music and narrowing it down?

Yeah, I mean, that is, I’m not an artist that has trouble producing. I’m an artist that has trouble discerning after the fact. Someone tries to hack the Ducky SoundCloud once a week, you know? My back catalog is extensive. Now with this new project, I haven’t even considered how to put out stuff I’ve made over the past decade and a half.

There’s something there that alluded to the fact that there was much much more.

Oh, always. That’s my number-one problem; how do I get this shit out in a way that makes sense to anyone but me?

It’s a five-song EP. What are some of the highlights?

So the first track is “I Get Along with Everyone,” and that’s the one I produced the most recently. I swapped out a different track that was going to be the opener, but where I find myself going in production is that, I finally feel comfortable using my voice again recording new things, experimenting with like different new production around my voice because you’ll notice in some of the other tracks, they’re actually quite old vocal samples that I hadn’t used in something prior.

So my voice has changed—That voice doesn’t exist, and I thought it was kind of a cute way to bring in some of the old into the new. But that first one is kind of my “we’re here” and also probably the closest to what you can expect moving forward in the club. “Too Much” is a sample from a Pauly D. interview, and I just wanted to make something fun to play.

Have folks picked up on that it’s Pauly D.?

I don’t think so, which is so funny. I have him tattooed on my arm. The woman who owns the shop I work at, she has Snookie, and I have Pauly D. So I don’t know, Pauly, hit me up if you want to make a track.

Well if you’re comfortable with me asking,  you said earlier, ‘That voice is gone; that voice doesn’t exist anymore.’ So when I repeat that back to you, how does that make you feel, using your former voice in your current work?

It feels good—I mean I have sometimes a complicated relationship with, like, my older music. Listening back and being like, yeah, that doesn’t even sound like me now, it feels a little bit like a fever dream, and honestly, I delayed going on testosterone for almost a year because I was still touring, and I was like, I can’t mess up my voice, like, this is such an integral part of this project, and it got to a point where I had a few months where I thought, oh my god, I’m never gonna get to be myself.

And so I loved my voice; I loved Ducky. I thought that project was so great. I obviously was like—the only thing I ever wanted to do with my whole life and there’s something very liberating about being like, she’s dead; I killed her, RIP. Because transitioning always involves grief; it has to because you lose something, and that doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly worth it, you know?

One hundred percent.

And same thing with “Shut up,” the fourth track, I was experimenting with making something darker. I love those rolling techno tracks, and so for me, that was a lot about exploring structure.

What did you learn about yourself making and completing this project?

So much of it was that it felt like, even going through and releasing the first tracks as a.k.a.skips, it felt a little bit like, a question that tests your knowledge or understanding. It felt a little bit like choosing to step back into the public eye and trying to, with a lot of intention, enter a career in a field that was fraught for me like especially at the end after taking all this time off and doing all this work to really feel okay in myself and separate my self worth from that kind of external success every release. (It) kind of felt, like, still good, you know? Are you really okay if it doesn’t pop off? And every time It’s been like, yeah yeah yeah, still.

That’s how you know you’re doing the right thing, I think.

Totally. And that feels very, like, assuring, you know? And exciting to keep moving forward.

Follow a.k.a. skips here.

Photos courtesy of  @JOSHUASPENCERPHOTO