Anderson .Paak: “I have a gift of bringing the best out of other people”

The Californian musician talks collaborating with Bruno Mars as Silk Sonic, his upcoming self-directed film ‘K-Pops’ and his new era as DJ Pee .Wee

Anderson .Paak has had one hell of a year. The Californian musician has just directed his first feature film K-Pops, which premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival last month (and also features his eldest son, Soul). He’s also wrapped up a role in Atlantis, a coming-of-age film based on the life of the legendary Pharrell Williams. Now, he’s about to begin a whole new era as DJ Pee .Wee, identified by his sleek black bob.

What started as a lighthearted joke to make arduous Silk Sonic recording sessions more bearable has now snowballed into a new DJ career for Anderson .Paak, who only uses vinyl in his sets. Though the musician originally DJed at house parties and weddings back as a teenager in his hometown of Oxnard, he picked it back up while throwing afterparties for himself and Bruno Mars, his Silk Sonic counterpart.

Next, .Paak is continuing the good vibes in partnership with Disney, with whom he’ll be embarking on a global tour. Along with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and all your favourite Disney characters, .Paak will play a string of guaranteed feel-good hits (including his own music) as Pee .Wee for VIP audiences. The tour will also see eye-popping new technology that will bring Mickey and Donald to life for a DJ battle – and according to Pee .Wee himself, it’s “neck and neck… when the audience is in front of them, we’ll see who’s going to push for it for sure.”

.Paak sat down with NME in London to guide us through the origins of DJ Pee .Wee, collaborating with Bruno Mars, and the makings of K-Pops with his son.

You’re going to do this tour for Disney – what’s it all about?

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“We’re just going to have parties, you know? Mickey Mouse house parties. We’re utilising some super cool technology, and we’re going to have the whole gang with us; all Mickey’s friends are coming in. We’re doing vinyl DJ sets, and I got Donald coming in with Mickey doing DJ battles and a bunch of cool people that hopefully are ready to dance.”

How did you come up with Pee .Wee? 

“DJ Pee .Wee originated within Silk Sonic, my group with Bruno. We were rehearsing night after day and we were getting a bit agitated and cranky. We were even rehearsing on Halloween, which is one of my favourite days. I came in with the bob one day to lighten the mood, and everyone was cracking up. Bruno looked at me, and he’s like, ‘You got to wear that. You’re Pee .Wee on the drums now’. And he gave me that name right then and there.

“I just kept wearing it. It put a smile on everyone’s face, and it made me feel really cool. Something about having hair and being able to swing it around completely changed my whole attitude. So it put me in a different zone, and that’s pretty much where it derived from.

“After the Silk Sonic shows, I would go off and DJ the afterparties and I would keep the wig on. That was the birth of DJ Pee .Wee.”

You’ve previously said that DJing has led you to rediscover new genres – what was a surprising discovery for you?

“I’ve gotten into a lot of house music, a lot of dance music, a lot of ’80s music, new wave. And yeah, also back into appreciating a lot of the stuff that I grew up on too, the 2000s and ’90s stuff as well.”

You were on Kaytranada’s album. Have you had a lot of conversations with him about your new house discoveries?

“Yeah, I’ve gotten to open for him as well. We did a big show at the Cal Palace in San Francisco, and he’s a big DJ Pee .Wee fan and supporter. It’s always great to be able to have DJs and producers that you look up to and have a lot of respect for that are jamming to your music and your sets as well. It means a lot.”

Your musicianship thrives off collaboration. Why do you think you work so well in that dynamic?

“I think that I have a gift of bringing the best out of other people, especially when I can see that someone’s bringing the best out of me. And I have no problem with staying in my lane and figuring out a lane that I can thrive in. I don’t have to be the main guy – or if I do need to be the main guy, then I’ll do that. But I get a deep joy out of collaboration. I feel like there’s things I can do when I collaborate that I can’t do just solo. It’s a mind state that I put myself in when I’m working with other people that helps me be even more creative.”

As an example, when you’re working with collaborators like Bruno, what do you think he brings to the dynamic that you couldn’t do alone?

“I think he brings just a number of things. I think he’s one of the best performers, singers, songwriters, producers in the game. And there’s so much to learn from working with him. The fact that he’s willing to share the stage, share studio space and writing with another person is huge – and that person was me. I don’t know who else that could have been, you know, and he doesn’t really collaborate with too many people. So, there was a lot to learn in that process and a lot of fun to be had.

“I’m a person that is usually not so concerned about structure and all these different things; I kinda go with the flow. After working with him, I learned a lot about song structure. I learned a lot about not only creating a great song but also how are we going to perform it? How are we going to sell it? How are we going to present it to the audience? So that was huge.”

When watching the video for ‘Smoking Out The Window’, you took a lot of delight in the acting aspects of the video. Did that lead to your future collaborations with film?

“Absolutely, we had a lot of fun. One thing Bruno always used to say is, ‘You should just be an actor!’ He directs all his own videos, and when we were doing that video, he didn’t have much of a treatment. But one thing he said is: ‘OK, you know that part where it says you want to die? You’re going to be laying on the floor… that’s all I got!’ And I was like, ‘Alright, cool.’ We had so much fun being able to do so much acting and directing as well, and that definitely helped inspire the next era in my career.”

You’ve had a really busy past couple of years making all these film projects – K-Pops premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. What does it mean to have your first-ever film debut at a festival like Toronto?

“It was huge. It is my first film, and we worked so hard on it for years. To do it with my son, to do it with the stellar cast that I had, and friends and family was huge. I didn’t think about it being accepted into the Toronto Film Festival, and we barely got it in on time. It was still a work in progress when we did.

“I was very nervous even showing it to anybody because we hadn’t showed anybody. So the fact that it was able to be accepted in such a prestigious film festival was huge and then to premiere it and to see the reception it had, I’m still on a high.”

Talk to NME about how this movie came to be. When did it all start?

“I was inspired by my son in quarantine. I was stuck at the house, couldn’t tour. So then I was like, ‘OK, what are we doing?’ And my son was like: ‘I want to do YouTube.’ OK, what the hell is that? I was checking out his page. I was like, OK, let’s do some skits, and then I’m going to post them on my page, and we can get you some subscribers. Then I started realising how much of a natural he was in front of the camera, and he inspired me to write a script for us.

“My whole household was obsessed with K-pop. They were really obsessed with BTS and I didn’t get it at the time. I was more like, ‘You need to know about BET.’ And they’re like, ‘No, we’re going to show you the concert’ and then I became a fanatic as well. It inspired me to write a movie about creating a bond with my son and how I was able to do that through his interest.”

So your son was into K-pop at the time, but by the time he got to [filming] the movie, he fell out of it and got more into Nirvana, right?

“Yeah. He’s a teenager now; when we started the process, he was eight years old. Kids get into stuff, and then they get out of stuff. Now he’s into a lot of rock music. He was telling me about Slipknot. He loves Foo Fighters, Weezer, Nirvana.”

Now, that’s really interesting because you were really into the hardcore scene back in Oxnard. How did that feel for you to see your son going through a similar phase?

“It’s amazing. It’s just amazing how stuff works out and how stuff goes full circle. And you know, when he was growing up, I didn’t know if he was going to get into music, and I would try to force him to play drums, and he didn’t want to do it. He wanted to play baseball and all that stuff. So I let him do his thing and now he’s playing drums. He’s ripping on drums. He’s into so much cool music, and he’s dressing cool, and I’m just really in awe.”

What’s in the future for Anderson .Paak?

“Oh man, sky’s the limit! But I would love to do more DJing. I’m thinking about doing a DJ Pee .Wee album, do more film directing, acting, and writing, and figuring out cool ways to tell stories whether it’s on the dance floor or on the big screen or in your headphones.”

DJ Pee .Wee – AKA Anderson .Paak – headlined the first instalment of Disney’s new global tour, ‘House of Mouse’ in London this October. The tour marks a new era of Mickey & Friends, and will feature immersive events celebrating music, friendship and good times together. The experience in London saw these beloved characters show up in a whole new way that fans have never seen before, thanks to live animation technology. Keep an eye on Disney’s channels to find out more.