Wooli Hashes Out His Roots, His Relationship With Excision And Ophelia, and His Love For Buc-ee’s [INTERVIEW]

Photo by Wooli

By Anastasiia and Stephen Riddle

In the last few years, Wooli has become a staple in the dubstep scene, pushing the boundaries with his signature sound and genre-blending melodic bass. His live performances are everything you want them to be: heavy, fun, full of fan-favorite collabs, and even unexpected tech drops that fit right in and make the crowd go absolutely crazy. We sat down with Wooli at the State Farm Arena, where he was a special guest on the Subtronics “Tesseract” tour, and talked about his influences, favorite tracks to drop, and which DJ has the best chances of winning the “Master Chef.”

Atlanta EDM: Tell us a little about how you got into music and how Wooli came to be.

Wooli: Got into music a long time ago, I would say maybe like 2011. I was always just a fan. I was just a kid going to shows, raves, going to some festivals, and then I was always the kid who was out of the friend group who wanted to see dubstep and everyone else wanted to go see big room house. So I think it stemmed from there, where I was a little bit on the outside and then I wanted learn how to DJ it and I wanted to play locally, but they only wanted people who were playing tech house at the time. So I was like, all right. I’m going to show them and I’m going to make the music. So then they’re have to let me play because I’m playing my own music instead of just playing what all the other local guys were playing was just other people’s stuff. So that’s how it kind of all stemmed and started.

Atlanta EDM: You’ve had so many incredible collabs and remixes, whether melodic and emotional or straight dubstep anthems, is there a song for you that no matter how many times it’s played, it still hits just as hard live? 

Wooli: I think I have definitely a couple where I'm really afraid to take out of my sets and that's either personal or what I think what the audience wants to hear, but I would put "Island" in there, "Lockdown," maybe now "Name Drop." Definitely, a lot of my collabs with Seven Lions, Illenium, or Excision, just because I think fans want to hear that kind of stuff. But I like 'em too. I was a fan of all these guys before I started making music, so being able to make songs with these guys was a huge personal thing for me. And then the fact that I can go out there and perform it, and I'm a part of it, and it’s a pretty cool feeling.

Atlanta EDM: My personal favorite has to be a remix of Kayzo.

Wooli: Oh, "Cruel Love?" Holy crap. It's been a couple of years since I think I've played that one, but yeah, that was a banger at the time.

Atlanta EDM: Your edits, flips, and remixes are some of my absolute favorites. Are you one to hear a track and immediately think, “Oh, yes this would go perfectly with THIS track,” or how does your process work?

Wooli: Yeah, it's kind of like you hear your song so many times, it's just stuck in your brain. So if you hear something that kind of triggers, this would be a cool way to introduce this song or play it and make it feel new again or make it just feel a little different or stuff like that. As far as making edits and remixes, I remember the last one, that was the one that people seemed to like, was the Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg one, "The Next Episode." I just finally put it out, but that started with me and Kill The Noise going to the gym in LA and thinking of just stupid things. I was like, I wonder if I can make this kind of feel like a bass flip thing where it's like you still get the hip hop vocals, but it feels heavier. So it's completely random where it hits you.

Atlanta EDM: We understand you’re a big fan of film scoring, who are some composers or what are some films that have inspired you to create? And did recording an orchestral rendition of “Crazy” feel as you imagine a composer would? 

Wooli: Yes. I mean, I would say my absolute top dog inspiration is still Hans, and recently the "Dune" soundtracks have been crazy. "Blade Runner" stuff has been crazy. All of Hans Zimmer's stuff is crazy. When I went into the studio it was kind of around COVID time, so we were all wearing masks and everything and I didn't really know what to expect and my manager helped me set up the whole thing and it was a long process of getting an orchestra there and it ended up being these guys turning my song with Codeco, "Crazy," into sheet music for these guys to practice for days and days and days. And then we went in there and we scored it and we filmed it and then they gave me about 300 files of individual sounds. They're like, all right, here you go. I was like, oh shit.

Atlanta EDM: We’ve gone from seeing you at small clubs here in Atlanta, now to the State Farm Arena. Your names are now among the likes of Usher, Rihanna, Drake, and even Creed! So what’s been the most exciting part of this arena tour?

Wooli: Love me some Creed. What's been the most exciting part about this arena tour? Yeah, so I think it was a mixture of playing rooms I know or I didn't think were possible for dubstep to reach yet. We played Barclays, we're playing here, where NBA Stars are going and playing games and stuff and it's just crazy. So obviously that credit goes to Subtronics for being able to come and open these doors up and then letting us play. I'm grateful that I have friends in great places that take me along. Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing, but they keep on asking me to come. And then meeting the people. Something about a bus tour is you just become a family with these guys. You wake up every morning, it's like a DJ summer camp. Sometimes it's 2, 3, 4 weeks, maybe it's two months, but you're waking up to the same people. You're having good days, you're having bad days, but at the end of the day you're one team and it's kind of an unspeakable bond you create with these guys after, where it's like leaving is really hard.

Photographed: Subtronics and Wooli - Photo by Wooli

Atlanta EDM: Speaking of bonds and speaking of being awesome people, what's some knowledge you’ve gained while working with Excision or the Ophelia crew that has helped you curate your multi-day events? 

Wooli: It's no longer enough where you're just a really good DJ and producer. It's like the next level is like, okay, now go throw your own festival or curated events. That's the next level. And I think Excision really helped open the doors to that, where it's like he's throwing giant 3-day festivals, giant 2-day weekends, and domes and stuff like that. Things that we didn't really have before COVID. So it's really cool to see just where dubstep is going and how it's getting bigger and that we're able to fill all these tickets and seats and stuff like that. It's crazy, but it's definitely also been inspiring to try to figure out how I can make that a part of my trajectory and do my own thing. So we did the "Mammoth Mountain" thing and we're going to have a couple other things coming up soon.

Atlanta EDM: People who have followed you for a while know you love good food, so I have a couple food-related questions. Which DJ/Producer do you think would make it the furthest on “Master Chef?” 

Wooli: Okay. Not Trivecta. He's out. DNMO? He's a great chef and he's been posting a lot of cool food content. Buku is a really good home chef. I think, my vote is DNMO or maybe like a throwback Dieselboy. He's like a huge foodie! Yeah, he is like the Anthony Bourdain of d&b.

Atlanta EDM: Which music festival had the best or most underrated food?

Wooli: The best food is Tomorrowland by far. By far. It's not even close. Worst food? Ugh. I don't know. I don't really venture out and go get food too much. I mean I feel like American food is lacking across the board. You're stoked if they have Island Noodles, but you're getting reheated chicken fingers and stuff like that. Just like they could do better. After going into Tomorrowland, it just changed my whole perspective. I was like damn, we're really not it. They're out there basting rib eyes with garlic butter, and we’re serving tater tots.

Atlanta EDM: I heard that Shambala has really good food. 

Wooli: I haven't been there. It's been a bucket list festival. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play it yet. I was supposed to be this year but Tomorrowland conflicted with it.

Atlanta EDM: Any messages you’d like to send to your Atlanta fanbase?

Wooli: A lot of festivals this year and then I'm going to be doing, I think, my very first bus tour. That'll be a solo headlining thing. I'm not a thousand percent positive if we're coming through Atlanta yet. I'd have to ask the powers that be that tell me where to go. But I got some crazy festival stuff going on with B2Bs with people who are just insane. That's going to take a lot of my time as I prep for those. But coming up next, I think, is Ultra and Electric Forest. So those are some good ones. 

Atlanta EDM: I see you have a Buc-ee’s Jibbits charm on your Crocs. 

Wooli: Yep. I love Buc-ee’s. After I found it in Texas, I have 15 Buc-ee’s shirts and Buc-ee’s everything. It's the best. It's the biggest pantry snack or Mecca Haven ever. And it's amazing. And whoever invented it, I love you forever.

Atlanta EDM: Alright, end on that. Perfect. Love that. That was great. Thank you so much.

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