Avicii – True Stories – Notes:

 Describes the feeling of being on stage as a way

of connecting with people, a way of being
accepted.
 Gave 100% no matter what, however, didn’t give
himself time to figure out what he didn’t like
about things. The only time he had was a few
weeks.
 He never really had a home for 8 years – when he
came home after 4, it didn’t feel like home
anymore.
 It got to a point where it was too much and he
didn’t like it anymore, so he thought he was
going to quit.

Background Story:
 Grew up in Stockholm. His whole childhood up to
16, was spent around the same 5 blocks.
 Always wanted to do something creative. A friend
introduced him to FL studio, where he first
started playing around with music.
 He never left a piece of work incomplete. He
slept in the sun, so he could sleep, tan, and get
back to work.
 The first year and a half, he mimicked other
people’s sounds. Following this, he began
improvising.
 Sent his music out to blogs. He sent his demos to
Laidback Luke, who could already spot his talent,
when it came to melodies, as well as all the
other elements of music.
 He sent at least 5 demos a week to Luke.
 He always stayed loyal to his friends.

Ash:
 He met Ash, a promoter in Stockholm, through a
blog. Ash reached out and messaged him on
Facebook first.
 He was around 17, when he first went to a meeting
with him. He bought a friend with him to the
first meeting.
 Ash wanted to make him an artist, making him
Sweden’s biggest artist.
  He made a remix for a Bob Sinclair record, David
Guetta heard and reached out, asking him for a
remix too.
 Tiesto noticed him and really fell in love with
his style.

First Show:
 His first Avicii show was for Laidback Luke’s Me
& You party, in Miami.
 He was very shy, held back and nervous. He opened
the night for 3 people.
 He started doing small shows here and there. 1
and 2 shows a month roughly.
 He spent a summer with Tiesto in Ibiza.
 David Guetta – ‘He really developed his own
sound’
 His first song that got commercial attention was
‘Bromance.’

Levels:
 Etta James singing the hook. Tim tried placing it
over different songs and it didn’t really sound
right.
 Tim had his own loop. Had the right energy they
were looking for.
 This was when things started really taking off.
People came to his shows to actually hear his
songs.
 The first time this happened was Governor’s
Island, New York. They were singing along to
every one of his songs.
 Levels started spreading.
 At age 21, many thought he’d already made it,
although Tim focused on being in the present.
 Ash was challenging to make deals with. He was
obsessed with having success.
 The song blew up on YouTube and in club scenes.
 They ended up selling it for 500,000 Euros.

Ultra-Music Festival/Touring:
 Shared the stage with Madonna.
 Was his first headline. He could afford a tour
manager.
  He made sure his travelling was as comfortable as
possible. He toured a whole year, full of
partying as well.
 From 2008-2012, he completed 550 shows.
 He was described as innocent, naïve, and genuine.

Wake Me Up
 Nile Rodgers described him as natural and
melodic.
 Mike Einziger and Tim meshed really well
together.
 He got there at 4pm and by about 8pm they managed
to create wake me up.
 He wanted to be unique and stand out from the
rest.
 He wanted to be a part of everything, including
vocals. He always knew exactly what he wanted
with everything, meaning things always got done.
 At 4am, the email came, with everything put
together.

Drinking
 At first, he was too scared to drink, but then
after realising how stiff he was, he found the
key of having a few drinks, before going on
stage.
 It was easy to go down that road since he was a
little bit of an anxious person.
 He used it to get away from the pressure and it
helped him get through all the shows, without
feeling exhausted.
 He began getting stomach pains on his way to
Australia – 3 or 4 hours away from landing,
before his tour around Australia.
 He ended up in hospital, with pancreatitis.
 Ash took on a mentor role, so that he didn’t have
to worry about anything other than the music.
 A day after being discharged from hospital, he
was already being made to complete phone
interviews for radio stations.
 Despite the pain he was in and the lack of sleep
he had; he still tried his hardest. He wasn’t
able to eat either and ran on like a machine.
Growth
 Summer 2014, Wake Me Up became huge and increased
the rise in house and dance music.
 A lot of work followed and a lot of heavy tours
too.
 He didn’t take the time out to really think about
himself and what he wanted to do.
 He completed 107 shows in 2013.
 The symphony lived in Tim’s head. There should be
no separation in DJs and Musicians. He was a
hardcore music theorist and that’ what made him a
great composer.
 He’s innovative with his melodies and was the
first DJ that became mainstream in an authentic
way.

Miami Ultra Show:

 Ruptured his appendix and gall bladder.
 He had to take hardcore pain medication –
Percocet (heroin) which didn’t really help with
his pain.
 The pain stayed with him for months.
 He was taking around 20 pills, which weren’t
supposed to be addictive, making him anxious.
This continued when he started touring again.

Las Vegas/Struggles:
 36 young people were taken to hospital, after
being at one of his concerts, with drugs and
alcohol problems, meaning that people made bad
associations with his name.
 He didn’t like being the centre of attention.
 He didn’t believe that he could slow down,
meaning he began to feel crazy.
 He should’ve taken time out to recover from all
of the stress and pain medication.
 He completed 68 shows in 2014.

2015
 Chris Martin ‘You’re so talented man’
 No matter what he tried, he still didn’t feel
better, he kept feeling bad.
 There was a never end of shows. He could never
really relax.
  He suffered with really bad anxiety.
 People wanted to push things in, causing lots of
stress.
 Tim rented a giant villa, as his base, while he
toured 3 or 4 times a week and worked on his
second album.
 There were always moments during the touring and
shows, where he could find a genuine happiness.
 He tried his best to improve his moods, by
changing the way he toured, his diets and seeing
doctors and psychiatrists, however, this still
wasn’t enough.
 He had so much pressure riding on him, following
the successes of his first singles. It’s really
hard to live up to these expectations.
 He became a shell of what he used to be.
 He couldn’t connect his problem with his
lifestyle.

Discography
 The first album took 3 months.
 The 2nd took around 2 years.
 When the album was done, he had to partake on a
promotion tour
 In the summer of 2015, Tim released his 2nd album
‘Stories.’ H e decided to cancel all the shows
for the next eight coming months.

2016
 After therapy, Tim wanted to go the US.
 He had been working on himself a lot. He was a
lot different and was determined to change his
life.
 They built a studio in Malibu, shutting off Tim’s
email and his phone.
 He felt a lot more collected and decided to work
on is 3rd album.
 They went from LA to Miami and stopped along the
way, creating outdoor studios in the most amazing
settings possible.
 He realised he shouldn’t worry about other’s
opinions.
 He spent a lot of time reading.
 The road trip ended in Miami and the Ultra gig
was beginning.
 There was a problem with the computer before the
show, making Tim increasingly nervous.
 He exploded at the show, after pushing himself
every day.
 Straight away, he still felt stressed out and
unhappy.
 He felt he was pretending the whole time, while
playing, therefore he decided to quit.
 His life revolved around him loving making music.
 He continued with the shows he had booked in
2016.
 He was even once mentioned by President Barrack
Obama.
 He cancelled 10 Las Vegas shows.
 He got a lot of resistance when he wanted to stop
doing the shows.
 His agency was so concerned about the money they
were making that they didn’t understand what Tim
was going through.
 Ash didn’t help this situation, since he claimed
that Tim ‘didn’t understand the value of money.’
 Rather than cancelling 3 shows, the booking
agency made him continue with 1, even though he
made it clear he didn’t want to.
 He completed 88 shows in 2015-16.
 He still continued with creative composing, after
quitting performing.
 He was praised by many for taking time out and
focusing on himself. He felt the same as he did
age 18, when he had all the time to himself.
 In December 2016, he left Ash and At Night
Management.