When it comes to getting crowds to turn up, Asaf Borger definitely takes the cake. The Israeli-born producer, whom you may know as Borgore, has concocted the perfect recipe of blaring bass and badass b*tches that can make any dancefloor wild out. As we gear up to party our way into 2014 with Borgore and Carnage at the Hollywood Palladium, we exchanged a few words with Asaf about his displeasure of furry rave boots, battling stage fright at EDC Vegas, and what he has cooking during NYE for a special edition of our Bassrush Enhanced Concert Series. You are currently vacationing in your native country Israel. How often do you go back home and what do these visits usually consist of? I come here every three or four months when I have some time off from touring. Itâs usually my space to write new music because I donât have a lot of distractions. Iâm staying at my parentsâ place. They take care of everything, so I donât have to worry about stupid day-to-day things, you know? It is pretty much a semi-vacation with time to write new stuff. What are you working on at the moment? Iâm working on a couple of really big tunes. Itâs like⊠well, youâll hear. Itâs going to be huge. Have your parents always supported your music? Yeah, my parents always supported everything that I have done. I wanted to be a professional climberâlike sport climbing. I wanted to be a professional skater, although I sucked. But I wanted all these different things. I was a drummer in a metal band. They were like, âYeah, go for it!â They were down with anything I wanted to do as long as I put time and effort into it. What do you they think of the explicit lyrical content featured on some of your tracks? They think itâs funny. I always lived in a very liberal house. Like, my parents are very liberal. Tel Aviv, the city I live in, is really liberal. So yeah, everyone just thinks itâs funny. Definitely. Iâm sure you are making them proud! Yes, theyâre pretty proud. How would you describe the Insomniac experience to someone who has never been before? I think that Insomniac is probably one of the bestâif not the bestâin giving you an experience. Itâs almost a fairy tale. Itâs like Disneyland for adults. You feel like youâre in a different world when you go to an Insomniac festival. Itâs not like going to a party to just see a DJ. You go to a festival to feel something different. This year at EDC Vegas, you closed out the kineticFIELD on Friday and performed on the bassPOD stage on Saturday. Can you explain the difference performing on each stage? The main stage was probably one of the most nerve-racking experiences Iâve ever had in my life. Itâs just something you cannot describe in words. Itâs something that most people in the world cannot understand. I would say itâs equivalent to a swimmer in the Olympics, you know, on the day of the competitions. Itâs a once in a lifetime experience that is just unreal. And then playing the bass stage felt like home. Itâs like the third or fourth year in a row that I have done it. It just feels very comfortable. It feels great. I love it and hopefully one day the main stage will feel like home. (Laughs) After watching your EDC Vegas recap video, it was apparent that you were quite nervous. What was going on in your head at the time? I never take it for granted that people pay money, drive to Vegas, and dress up to come see me, you know? I always think about these people and I want them to have the best time of their lives. Because they do all this to come see me and I try to make all the necessary preparations to give them the best show. Do you have any NYE traditions? My favorite thing about New Yearâs is that at midnight, everyone around you has to kiss you. So, what you do is just get like 20 girls to surround you and then you got it. Do you believe in New Yearâs resolutions? If so, what are yours? I believe in everyday resolutions. Every morning you need to wake up and, like you know, stop doing whatever you are doing wrong. You should stop and become a better you. But I guess New Yearâs is a good time to have resolutions. My resolution for next year will be to stop fuzzy boots. What do you not like about fuzzy boots? Whatâs the point of shaving your legs if youâre going to put a Yeti on it? Itâs horrible! Youâve been known to advocate world peace and youâve mentioned it has been your dream to play at some of the neighboring countries surrounding Israel. How would you go about achieving such peace and promoting a level of understanding between the conflicting parties? I mean, Iâm really honest about being where I am in my religion. I think everybody should accept their individuality. If theyâre Jewish, Muslim, Christian, gay, not gay. No matter what color they are, no matter what country they are from, you need to accept yourself. But you also need to accept everyone around you and understand that everyone can be whatever they want, you know? The second people realize this, weâll have a better world. And I think that when you go to EDC Vegas and see all these flags from different countries at one stage, thatâs an incredible experience! To see a Lebanese flag next to an Israeli flag, I think thatâs a good start! Do you think music holds the power to bring us all together? I think the knowledge, education and the fact that kids can go on the Internet nowâkids from depraved countriesâto see what happens in Belgium or what happens in America. People from all countries are going to festivals and they party together. They donât fight. So people see that and then they understand that somethingâs wrong. Like this monarch king or these monarch families are stopping us from being individuals. And this is when the whole country rises up and takes their leader down. You see this happening around us and I think that 10-20 years from now, thanks to the Internet and educationâthe world will become more peaceful in a way. Then again, you have crazy leaders who fear the Internet. They try to stop it and thatâs when trouble comes. But I don't know, itâs interesting times. Itâs an interesting era. The Internet kind of opened everyoneâs minds. You and Carnage have known each other for approximately two years. Can you tell us about your relationship with him? I found Carnage two years ago. I thought he was a really talented producer and I decided that Iâd like to have him join me on my tour. I helped him from day one to get him into the EDM world and we were always really good friends. I think weâre making great music together and we have good chemistry. On your YouTube video for âOh Heyyyâ feat. Carnage, you showed us how to bake a glittery, vodka-flavored cake. Do you normally find yourself in the kitchen baking or cooking? I have no idea how to make cereal. Iâm the worst when it comes to being in the kitchen. Thank God I have a lot of females around me to help me out. Last year, you and Carnage partied with us as part of your Christmas Creampies Tour at the Fonda Theatre. How do you plan to top last yearâs performances? I think both of us are one year older and one year better as DJs. Also we have the Palladium, which is one of the sickest venues in the world! Weâre ready for it and itâs New Yearâs Eve. A lot of music has been made since last year. I think itâs going to be a better show, dude. Youâve jumped on the drums during a few of your performances on the Aokify America Tour. You also did so with Carnage at SXSW. Do you intend on bringing out your drum set for us on New Yearâs Eve? I didnât think about it, but thatâs a good idea! (Chuckles) That would be incredible, dude. Let me email my team to get my drums to the Palladium. Thanks to you, now Iâm going to do it. (Takes a moment to send a message to his team.) Yeah, done. Sweet! Without spoiling the surprise, can you give us a hint regarding the special guest(s) joining you for your show? Um, theyâre still special to me, too (Laughs)
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