After a year defined by harder tempos, warehouse shows, and a growing dialogue between techno and hard dance, Kayzo returns with The Moment, a track shaped by the same friction and excitement that fuel his current evolution. In conversation, he speaks about blurring lanes, building community inside the Cage, and rediscovering the thrill of performing without expectation. This release distills those ideas into sound, folding the intensity of his live sets into a studio moment that feels both unleashed and sharply intentional.
But beneath the impact lies a sense of recalibration. Kayzo speaks about The Moment with a clarity that frames this shift as both memory and momentum. “I wanted the record to bring you back to a time period in dance music where things felt easy and fun, but combine that with high intensity in the kick design and mixdown.” It’s the hinge of his new chapter, where fun and velocity merge into a singular language; one that’s now steering him toward Europe’s techno stages and into a fully realized hard dance era.
How are you doing today? Where are you answering us from, and how’s your week been so far?
Hi! Doing really, really well. I’m home at my studio in LA right now. I’m super excited because I just finished my last weekend up on the road for the year, so now I get to go into full studio mode and play with my dog.
Your new single The Moment feels like you’re stepping into the heaviest and most intentional version of your sound so far. What did you want this track to communicate at this stage of your return?
I think now that The Moment is done and I’ve had a couple chances to test it live, I’m left with a feeling and response that brings me back to a very specific time of my career, but also in dance music in 2014-2016. I wanted the record to bring you back to a time in dance music where things felt easy and fun, but combine that with high intensity in the kick design and mixdown.
Your Escape Halloween set sparked a lot of conversation, but beyond the reaction, I’m curious about your experience. What did it feel like from your perspective?
Yeah, that set still has me so excited. I’d have to say it was one of (if not the) most fun I’ve had performing. I was able to fully dive into hard dance and hard techno and play all of my new music out that I have lined up for 2026. I think for that hour, I had the crowd fully engaged. The energy was top-tier.
That wave of energy reached both the techno and hard dance worlds. Did you sense you were bridging those communities in real time, or did that hit you only later?
That was always the goal with that set and with what I’m moving towards next year. Ever since the Kayzo project formed, I have always been making and playing out hard dance and other sub genres under the umbrella. It’s what comes most naturally for me, and I have the most fun in it. I’ve strived to bring different lanes together, so this was no different.
People often describe you as a disruptor in modern hard dance, someone who thrives between chaos, catharsis and punk-leaning intensity. Does that label feel aligned with who you are?
Well, that’s quite the statement. I’ve always wanted to disrupt and shake things up. I thrive in the uncomfortable when it comes to what I bring to the table. I’ve always driven a hard line in the sand with the fan bases that come with certain genres, and that always bring controversy and conversation. I think the conversation that starts with disruption is the key to moving things forward from a consumer point of view. My job is to tee up that convo.
“I wanted the record to bring you back to a time in dance music where things felt easy and fun, but combine that with high intensity in the kick design and mixdown.”
Phoenix, the 360 Cage show, that warehouse moment you shared — “Caged in a warehouse rippin hard music…” What did being inside that setup unlock for you creatively or emotionally?
That show was our first experience with the cage, and even since then we have made MASSIVE improvements to what we can do and bring to the fan experience, whether in or around the cage. What it did for me, though, was it brought me a sense of community that I haven't had in a very long time on stage. We pack the cage out till capacity with people in it and on top of it now, and that gives me a chance to be in the show rather than putting a show on. It feels like a living, breathing moment that I’m equally a part of with everyone around me. The cage has been one of the most fun and important projects I’ve put together. It’s reignited my love for performing and has been the greatest bridge I could have ever made between the studio and the stage.
Your shows have always carried this collision of grit, brightness and emotional sharpness. When you’re building a set these days, what’s guiding that atmosphere?
In the most recent of sets, I’ve tried to challenge myself in the crate-digging aspect of finding records to play outside of my own. It’s easy to scour the surface for hard dance and techno songs to play, but the real magic is digging and sometimes hitting on a song that's a decade plus old that still holds up mixdown-wise to current songs. Increasing energy in waves and bpm alongside it is where I’m feeling most creative.
About Overload 2K, it hinted at where your sound is moving, but The Moment feels like a more decisive step. Are these tracks connected for you, or did they come from different places?
They one hundred per cent have come from different moments and different movements in the hard dance and techno space. Overload 2K was inspired by the raw rave energy you know from me and others, while The Moment spurred from my love for the more fun, bouncy Euro side of things. I love being able to have my sound on either side of the coin and still undoubtedly know it’s me.
You’re stepping onto stages with major European acts in early 2026. As someone who never fits neatly into one lane, how are you approaching that next chapter?
I want to soak it all up like a sponge. My goals are to move into new lanes with my peers that I might not know well yet. I want to make new relationships with these artists and create real bonds like I’ve done in the past with the bass scene. That's what breeds the magic. When real relationships are made with other creatives, the best songs and shows come from it. There is the most real and authentic experience, and I believe people can see that.
“I’ve always wanted to disrupt and shake things up. I thrive in the uncomfortable when it comes to what I bring to the table.”
Heavy music and dance culture have always coexisted in your work. Do you feel they’ve now merged into a single language for you?
Yeah, I think ‘heavy’ music can have many different meanings, like sub-genres to a main genre.
There’s a quiet emotional backbone to your music that contrasts with its intensity. How do you let vulnerability coexist with such a physical sound?
The way I pull that out in my music is quite simple. I go into every record with a blank slate. By blank slate, I don’t mean creatively. I mean literally. My projects in Ableton always start with nothing. There are no sort of chains or structure to get things moving quickly. I think by doing that and having to start from the ground up, technically and creatively, I force myself to treat every song as its own and not under the protection of the one before it. I’ve noticed from doing that, it gives each one of my records its own sort of DNA that does not match with the one before it or after. This really gives me a chance to dive deep and get real with each record.
Running Welcome Records keeps you in dialogue with artists pushing heaviness in different directions. How has curating their work shaped the risks you take in your own?
This is a really interesting question that I think feels so appropriate at this moment. I am so inspired by the artists and record we put out on Welcome. Right now, I’m looking solely for songs that feel risky. I want to be inspired to push the envelope, I want Welcome to push that narrative as well, and I want the records we sign to be the voice to that message.
Looking back at this year, the shows, the shifts and the momentum, was there a moment that changed how you see yourself creatively?
There were moments once or twice a day, but I think there were a few major ones that shifted my mind set. One specifically was being able to bring my side project, HIVEMIND, on tour with me. It is a trio with Must Die!, Space Laces, and me. We make hard dance music as well in our free time.
I was able to open every Kayzo show on tour this year with HIVEMIND and just rip all our hard dance and techno songs that I wouldn’t normally play in a Kayzo set. I’d say I had more fun playing those than even my own earlier this year. It was so freeing to play what I wanted without any expectations. After feeling that, I knew this was where I was meant to be.
What feels like the frontier for you heading into 2026?
2026 feels like one of the scariest yet exciting years of my life as a musician. Scary because of the unknown. I’m going after things I have no stake in and feel like I'm paying my dues again in some ways as an artist. As I said earlier, though, I thrive in these moments, and when I look back on the grind this next year might be, I know the journey to get to all these goals in hard dance and techno is going to be worth it. I’m back where I started, I’m back where I’m supposed to be.