‘Aokifying it’: Steve Aoki pays homage to ‘Cowboy Bebop’ with ‘Tank!’ theme remix

November 22, 2021

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of “Cowboy Bebop” starring John Cho was released on Friday and to celebrate the occasion, DJ Steve Aoki dropped a remix of the show’s classic theme “Tank!”

Reinterpretation: Aoki put his own spin on Japanese composer Yoko Kanno’s original composition with Latin-infused big band jazz music and his signature EDM sound.

The 43-year-old DJ, who is a fan of the original anime series, told NextShark he felt pressure to make music that would make people get up and dance.
“It’s difficult to go for something so important and integral in anime culture, but I love that pressure,” Aoki said. “I was taking certain elements from the record that are signature to Yoko Kanno and ‘Tank!’ but ‘Aokifying it’ and turning it into something that I know on the drop I’m going to get people moving, grooving, dancing and having a good time.”
Aoki sampled a beloved line from the opening theme to kick off the track: “It’s all about that sample ‘Let’s jam!’ I played that in the studio so many times and I used it as my inspiration to start into the actual melody of the drop. When I got that melody down, I started working on the sound and I knew from that moment that the track was going to get done pretty quickly.”

Aoki and Cho: The duo sat down to further discuss Aoki’s process of remixing the original “Tank!” opening song.

“When I heard you were part of it, it was like, this was the perfect pairing,” Aoki told Cho. “I grew up with ‘Cowboy Bebop.’ And I knew about the song ‘Tank.’ It was such an iconic part of the IP…When I heard about the live-action, I thought, ‘This needed to be in live-action. And can John do the hair though.’ Because if you can do the hair, then we got it!”
Cho emphasized that having an Asian composer like Kanno take on Western genres and “go ‘let me take that and do my thing’” is monumental.
“Yes. It is different. But it’s its own way,” Aoki said of Kanno’s work. “It’s jazz and it’s rich, and it’s got so many dynamic elements. But you can’t make that unless you’re in a completely different environment and headspace.”

Featured Image via Steve Aoki

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