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EXCLUSIVE 100 MIAMI LIVING that up and running, DJ, while away on tour, decided he was ready for a change of scenery. He had lived in L.A. for twenty-one years, and felt that Las Vegas should be his next home base. He called up Kari to get this plan into gear. "I go, 'Get a realtor and find the best three gated communities and the 10 best houses you can find… I flew in on my day off and this house was the sixth one I walked into. I just fell in love with the layout and the courtyard. The whole vibe about it was just very me. This is it. This is my house." The two of them moved to Vegas, and DJ resumed touring for eight months. As soon as he returned from tour, there was another pivotal knock (literally) on the door, this time from Lou D'Angeli, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. Again, DJ's reputation had preceded him. Lou had done his due diligence, and was interested in securing DJ for marketing and branding. "At the time, I was so kinda removed from Ashba Media, but I knew when I had it running it was a gold mine, and all of a sudden that creative bone came back... Cirque du Soleil is so up my alley, I started getting so inspired. I love that kind of twisted world —that's always been my sense of reality." He laughs. He hired Frank Marano (the award-winning sculptor who had just created his life-size Jason Voorhees figure for him) as well as Frank's wife, Lisa (an award-winning Special Effects Artist) to work at Ashba Media, and moved their family to Vegas. "It was like a puzzle piece fitting, finalizing the big picture that I had in my head. I started thinking, 'Wow, I could do something that's never been done in Vegas. I rendered up a bunch of ideas for Cirque… and we got the job. Within a year and a half, we went from doing that one show [Zarkana] to getting all eight Cirque shows," says DJ. Ashba Media has created some of Vegas' most impressive installations, including a ten-foot pyramid with Criss Angel hovering above it for his Believe show at Luxor, a 26-foot column with two huntsman from the KÀ show at MGM, a 25-foot glass window display for The Beatles Love show in The Mirage, and, most recently, the retail store for Jeff Dunham at Planet Hollywood. "Nobody is doing the stuff that we're doing… It's neat to know and have the confidence that no matter what it is that I think up, I have a company that can build it… Doing Virgin we were all digital, very creative ads and store banners. Now, it has turned into physically producing things you can touch…. where you step into their world for a second, and take a photo." When walking through the casinos, DJ is surrounded by his imaginative visions, I had to ask, what's that like? "It's the only thing that gives me the gratification like being on stage seeing fans sing back the songs or wearing clothing in the crowd that I created —it's really cool that people are enjoying it. It gives me the same happiness when I write a hit song…" He talks about this passionately for a few minutes before stopping himself. "I'm just blabbering on," he says as he shifts uncomfortably. "Now, let's talk about you." We both laugh. He apologizes, and smiles. It's this self-deprecating, Midwestern sincerity that makes DJ even more fascinating. Beneath the tough rocker façade, there is a sensitive and humble artist. As he continues his story, I notice he uses 'here' when referring to L.A., but we are in Vegas, which prompts me to ask if he means L.A. or Vegas. He laughs. "I think I'm going to wake up one day and realize I don't live in L.A. I'll be like, 'Fuck, I did move to Vegas!'" He laughs. Ashba Media has gone from being operated out of DJ's garage with Kari (she is their CFO) to a 7,000-square-foot warehouse with over twenty handpicked employees. "I put together not a company, but a family. After work, everybody hangs out together, BBQs — it's awesome." Taking that leap to a substantially larger space was a daunting move. "I had just purchased this house," he points out. "But if we don't go for it, I'll always kick myself and go, what would've happened if I went for it?" He compares this risk to how he felt when he left Illinois to follow his dreams. "That was the hardest move I ever made in my life. I remember leaving the only girlfriend I ever had. She's crying and I'm crying. I get 3-4 blocks away, stop my little minivan and sat there going, I can always come back. If I don't go, I'll never be able to live with myself. Had I not just went for it, none of this would be a reality, so that was a huge lesson in life I learned. If you believe in something enough, others will too." The warehouse houses everything from the clothing line and props department to the wood and metal shop. With business taking off, he moved his brother, Klint, out to Vegas from Illinois last year to step into the role of Project Manager. Ashba Media also produced the Gibson DJ Ashba Signature Les Paul, the Ovation Collection series, and The Ashba Limited Edition Dodge Challenger with West Coast Customs. The prolific creative agency currently has a number of irons in the fire, and was recently approached by the WWE to create some of their outfits. What else does DJ foresee for Ashba Media? He would ultimately like to infiltrate the TV/film industry, particularly the horror genre (he scored the theme song for Eli Roth's new movie, The Green Inferno). At the top of his wish list is working on FX's American Horror Stories. "I want to open up another Ashba Media in L.A., just doing props and special effects for different horror movies, and movies… There's so much I want to do. Hopefully even do some acting, eventually," he adds. His stories pour out fluidly and before we know it an hour has elapsed. "I hate talking about myself," he says self- consciously, "but I never get to talk about this side of my life." We hear a door open. His wife, Nathalia, just got home. "Hey, love!" he calls out to her in the kitchen. "She made the best pumpkin pie the other day. I almost ate the whole other one, took me everything I had not to," he affectionately raves. He picks up where he left off, and entertains me with a few more anecdotes. At the time of our interview, DJ was in town focused on his media company. "We've got a lot of jobs going on, so that's been a lot of work. It's great. When I'm not on tour, it's just such a nice break, head break. I can go into my art and create things. And then music is a nice break from that. Without one I would probably go nuts, one balances the other," he pensively replies. Sixx:A.M. (whose album Modern Vintage was released last year and is their third album in a row to debut at #1) begins touring this month through the beginning of May, and then Guns N' Roses will likely start their tour at the end of May through December, DJ tells me. The sun has gone down. It's dinner time now, as another half hour has passed. So that I don't take up anymore of his time, I wrap up the interview, but not before asking if there is anything else he would like to cover. "I think we covered way more than I thought we would. I just kept talking. Talked your face off." He laughs. "It was exciting, 'cause every interview I do, it's always the same shit, How's Axl Rose? [For the record, I didn't ask any questions like that. Sorry, Axl.] There's so much more to me than the guy they see on stage… There's more to me than just the guitar. Hopefully my story was not too boring to listen to," he chuckles. I assure him that it was not –far, far from it. I leave, after his beautiful wife snaps a photo of us, utterly fascinated and inspired by his American-dream-come-true story, and as a true admirer of his work and positive vibe. BALANCING ART & MUSIC Music has always done well, but to have both running like an engine side by side, it's just awesome. I know I can go on tour and still work out of my hotel with the company… They'll send me a picture of a box office and they're like, 'This casino wants to know what you see,' and I'll send back five different renderings. It doesn't take me long to put it in Photoshop. They usually pick one of them and we go to work.