Whether you hate him or love him, Deadmau5 plays a central role in today’s EDM industry. While his public opinion and cynical ways rub some fans the wrong way, there is another side that few get to see of the deadmau5.
This past week Deadmau5 showed up to a local Canadian high school in Milton to talk to students and help out with the music department. He talked to students about how to make it in today’s cutthroat music industry and gave them some fleeting advice for building their own careers:
“Learn the basic principles and then you can use any tool to get what you want, I hate Illustrator, but I like Flash. You gotta Frankenstein it all together.” 
Deadmau5 focused on the specifics when giving advice to budding musicians. He told the students to focus on learning the tools and programs necessary in today’s creative atmosphere and how they are powerful tools in the artist’s arsenal.
“Don’t follow the gospel of someone else.”
One of the last but most important pieces of advice Deadmau5 left the students with was the importance of real life connections. While the internet is a powerful tool, Deadmau5 puts major priority in getting out there and meeting people in real life:
“The most important connections I made were made in real life. I went to radio stations, ‘Can I intern here?’”
“My biggest advice to people who want to become rock stars is…don’t even shoot for that, unplug from social media, get off Twitter, get off Instagram and start learning the tools,” he said. “Music is the most subjective thing you could possibly do.”
The up-close-and-personal conversation with Deadmau5 proved to inspire local students; and with new life in the music department, a one-time afternoon fire-side chat ended up playing a crucial role in the future of Canadian musicians.
You can read the full story on Inside Halton.
