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December 19, 2025 17 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, It's Jason and I'm so excited to talk to
the artist I have with me today. He is one
of Denmark's and the world's most successful DJs. Two hundred
million streams, two hundred thousand down lows sold. I'm talking,
He's got UK gold certified records. Cato, How are you today?
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh? I'm amazing? How are you? Man?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome, Welcome to the Welcome to the Friend Show podcast.
I am so excited to talk to you because you
have a song that is just going completely viral right now,
and your life must be absolutely insane. I'm sure by
now everyone has seen the John Ham meme video going

(00:43):
viral all over TikTok alliver reels to your song turn
the Lights Off right What is life like right now?
And what was it like when you started realizing that
it was going viral and seeing all these people using
your song.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Obviously my life just changed in a split second a
couple of weeks ago. Right now, it's just crazy, you know.
I'm just trying to hold on and and just enjoy
this roller coaster right now. But obviously, obviously a couple
of weeks ago everything started to really gain all these

(01:21):
Tiktoks and reels. It was just, yeah, it was just
going crazy. And in the beginning, actually it was a
couple of videos in Ukraine and after and after that,
a couple of some videos, uh and some uses on
Instagram from Russia attacked me. And then obviously I started

(01:42):
worrying a little bit about if this was something maybe
with the war going.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Where people are misusing it or something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah. Yeah, especially because the caption is like in in
their type of letters in Russia and Ukraine, and it's
a whole different letter system they use over there, so
I didn't understand anything about it. But yeah, I'm really
grateful that it's actually a positive message. Yeah, and then

(02:13):
Tiktoks are using the song fall, so obviously I'm I'm excited.
I'm a little bit exhausted because I'm not used to
I'm not used to living in this pace right now,
with all these interviews and a lot of really really
interesting people reaching out who want to collact with me

(02:35):
music and stuff. So yeah, I'm just trying to so
hang hang in there, right.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, that's so interesting how you sort of talked about,
you know, the first uses of the of the song
that you saw in it being those specific countries, and
especially with everything going on right now. That's that's so
interesting that though that was the first two that you
sort of noticed that it was, they're using it in
a positive way, Like I don't know that there's something
so cool about that, right, Like I don't know. That

(03:01):
just really shocked me. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
It's the same thing here, and it fits perfectly what
I'm doing with my small career here in Denmark, you know,
because I'm a touring artist and I've been playing festivals
for fifteen years now, actually since I released this song
the first time. And all I want to do when

(03:24):
I'm out there doing my shows is actually just provide
seventy five minutes of a break to people from everyday life,
from all the stress, from all the bad vibes and
all the things going on in their lives. That's what
it's all about in my shows, just giving the people
the opportunity just to zone out and just dance.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, which I mean, it's so needed right now, no
matter where you are in the world, everyone needs an
escape and a release, and you are doing that for people,
which is awesome. When I first heard what obviously I
saw the memes and everything, and then I started I
listened to the full song, and I was like, where
was I in twenty ten? Because this is a banger,

(04:08):
Like how did I not have this on repeat? Like
it is such a summer anthm, Like it's such a
fun I don't know, just whenever you want to have
good vibes? What sort of made you collab with John
and even make this song in the first place?

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Me and John go way back with friends, And actually
it was his idea because this song is actually not
our original song. We didn't write this song. This is
actually a cover version we did of the song. The
song was originally made in two thousand and seven by

(04:43):
a Dutch DJ called DJ Jose, but it wasn't released
outside of the Netherlands. And we discovered the song and
we agreed that it was a shame that this song
wasn't like heard outside of the Netherlandsally, why we did
the cover version, the our version of the song back

(05:04):
in twenty ten because we wanted to salute the original
writers on it and just help them trying to like
spread it in Scandinavia. Yeah, and at that time it
was live changing changing for me and now fifteen years later.

(05:26):
It's definitely life changing me. But all these things going
on right now.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, for sure. And I want to talk a little
bit about other stuff that you let out this year,
because as I was going through your discography, I was like,
oh my god, like this is so interesting. I want
to touchdown on the Bob Marley Remax, right. You have
a Bob Marley Remax sun Shining right, Like, how did
that come about? Are you? Are you a big fan
of that sort of that reggae sound? Like what made

(05:53):
you sort of dabble in that?

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Obviously Bob Marley was a one of the greatest, you know,
he's a legend even though he's not here anymore. But
this song got remixed like twenty twenty five years ago
by another Danish producer called funk Study Looks, and it

(06:17):
came out exactly when I was just a kid and
I had a lot of dreams of being a DJ
and a producer. So at that time, this Danish DJ
and producer, funk Standy Looks was a big, you know,
idol for me was somebody who've been looking up to
for many, many years. And then earlier this year, I

(06:41):
just had an idea just trying to figure out it
was even possible for me to do an official remix
of this Bob Marley and the Funkstardy Looks song and
just trying to combine everything into a twenty twenty five
version of it. And luckily they liked what I did
with it, and I have the opportunity to release it,

(07:02):
and it's you know, to do a song to remix
a pop Mali song is like, you know, next really
next level for a guy like me.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, no, I mean, and it's so good too, like
your your sort of take on it is, it's so good,
and it just I don't know, you're such like a
I don't know, you're such a happy dude. Like the
vibes are so good, Like the vibes are high, Like
I don't know that You're just you're so good at
what you do. And especially you did sort of like
a tribute to a Vichy right with one of your

(07:32):
latest releases, Salute. What made that come around? How personal
was that for you to sort of make that song?

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Obviously, A Vic has also been a huge inspiration for
me during the years, and luckily I had the chance
to hang out hang out with him in his early
days in his career, especially when I was touring in Sweden.
He he took me on a couple of pop crawls

(08:00):
and showed me the city back.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
How was that? How was going on a pub crawl
with a vichy?

Speaker 2 (08:07):
It was fun while we were doing the pop crawl.
Only problem was I was supposed to play a really
really really big show in Youtubeg the day after, and
you know, you were not feeling good. I actually had
This is the only time in my career I actually
had to cancel a show because all these Jega master

(08:32):
that Tim, that Tim brought to the you know, every
club he wanted to show me in Stockholm that night.
He wanted I think he bought like one hundred Yeaga
misters in every club because at that time he had
just made his song Seek Romance and he was a

(08:52):
worldwide hit, so obviously he had something to celebrate them. Yeah.
So actually I'm a little bit how can you say that,
I'm not really proud of that story, but anyway.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
I mean it's iconic. You're allowed to do that if
you're out with a legend like that, So it's okay exactly.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
So that's you know, that's that's one of the main
reasons why I wanted to do this track this year
called Salute, because Tim obviously he wasn't a close friend
of mine, but we knew each other and he helped
me a little bit and I helped him a little
bit in the early days of both of our careers
and earlier this year. Just I don't know, maybe it

(09:38):
was because the new Witchy documentary came out. I just
felt like, Hey, it's time to bring that sound back again.
You know, it's been a while. So I wanted to
do a song that had that which you feel, and
I didn't know what to call it, so I just
called it Salute because it was actually just a tribute

(09:59):
to him and everything he achieved.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, it's definitely fitting. I mean, I don't know, your
music just very much like it just like makes you transcend,
you know, And that track specifically is just like it's
almost like an out of body experience the way you
put it together, Like it's so good. But I have
to ask, going back to a little bit to turn
the lights off, have you met John Ham and or

(10:23):
are there plans to meet John Ham? Because I need
that collab in the near future.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
You know what, I didn't know that. This is what's
going to be the biggest wish, my biggest dream as
a person now it is I want to meet you
on him because even though he maybe does not even
know it, he you know, he's the reason obviously why

(10:51):
I'm talking to you right now and experiencing this fairy
tale and the last week it has just been like
living in a dream, you know. And his way of
being such a kick ass, cool nope actor in that
TV series is actually the reason why I'm here. So
obviously I really hope that somebody can connect us and

(11:15):
maybe obviously the biggest dream I have is to play
a show in the US where maybe we can talk
with John Hammond, maybe maybe ask him to join me
on stage. That will be an epic.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Oh yes, we need that, We need you behind the
decks and then him like coming up from under the
stage doing that. Let him just blue lights and just
like I'm manifesting it. It's going to happen. We're putting
it out in the universe. It has to happen. You
talked about shows. What are the plans for twenty twenty six.
You said you're getting a hit up with Buy some
People to do collabse what do we have coming up

(11:52):
next year?

Speaker 2 (11:54):
To be one hundred percent honest, Jason, I don't have
an international agent, Okay, so right now, obviously my manager
back home here in Denmark is using every hour awake
on talking to people around the world.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Right now, are busy. I'm sure your team is busy,
right they are.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
And obviously I want to get out there because you know,
I've been doing for many years, but the last five
years I've been focusing more on my main markets back
home here in Denmark, the festival, So obviously I would
love to have another run just around the world, and
especially now because I've never had a song like this before,

(12:36):
you know that people actually know, so I really want
to see how this works out when you're actually playing it.
So obviously we're doing everything we can to set up
shows around the world in twenty twenty six. I really
really hope that I get the chance to do, especially

(13:00):
to come to the US obviously, because that's like, that's
what every musician living outside of the US is dreaming about,
is touring in the US. So I really hope somebody
can make that happen and help me get out there
because I want to Obviously I love doing shows, but

(13:22):
with all this going on, with these memes and reels
and all these things, I really want to get out
there and just, you know, show my appreciation to all
the people who are creating videos and funny stuff online,
because that's the whole reason why this song is taken
off now. And actually that's, to be honest, a little

(13:45):
bit weird as well, because you know, I made the
song fifteen years ago, so it almost feels like it
feels like I'm cheating a little bit now because I
haven't done anything, you know, fifteen years ago, so so
it almost feels like I'm you know, it's not real
kind of So I really want to get out there
and show my appreciation and my love to all the

(14:07):
people who's been using this song.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah yeah, well yeah, I'm gonna manifest. Also, besides you
meeting John hamm Is, we need a Chicago date and
we need you, Like our rooftops are like iconic parties
during the summer, like you, your music, which is like
such good high summer vibes on a rooftop in Chicago
is like pristine. So we're also gonna sit and I'm
sure people are gonna be hitting you up like crazy

(14:33):
to get you places, but I want to touch before
we leave. I want to just touch. But I know
you said you feel like you're cheating. But we talk
about this with artists all the time. Is that consumption
of music is so different now, right, How people find music,
how they experience it, how they share it is so different.
And to me there are ups and downsides to everything.

(14:54):
But what I always say is, to me, it kind
of makes things feel more organic, right, Like the song
wasn't planted, it didn't have some huge financial push behind
it to get it in all these people's ears. Right,
people used it because they organically liked it, which I
think is like, has to feel so much more fulfilling

(15:16):
as an artist that like, you did this because like
the art and the music is good, right, and that's
why people are reacting the way they are. So I
just want to add that little thing because what you're
making is good music and that's why it's taking off
the way that it is. So just take that what
you will. But that's my opinion.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Okay, Hey, that means more than you know, Jason, because
obviously I'm just a geek, you know. Tweaking, tweaking buttons
and creating stuff and then just jumping on a stage.
So for you to say that means a lot, because
I am really, really, really really thankful that this is happening,
and it is it is just something I've never tried

(15:58):
before because I wasn't prepared for this. Nobody. I had
no meetings with anybody trying to, you know, break through
with my music. This just happened because some people started this,
and it just that it feels so good because obviously

(16:18):
I'm proud of the song. Even though I've been playing
it for fifteen years now, I love the song. I'm
never getting tired of it, and I'm so happy that
a lot of people now are discovering it because for
many many people, they haven't heard the song before, and
it feels amazing. And obviously I just hope that I

(16:39):
can keep doing what I do and that the social
media is going to put their love on my music
to come as well, because this has been a crazy ride.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, well I'm so happy. It couldn't happen to a
more talented and nicer guy. So Turn the Lights Off
is the insane vir Le song that you're hearing everywhere
all over social media right now you also have the
song the tribute to Avichi. It's called Salute. Make sure
you check that out wherever you get your music. And
then big things come in where you are manifesting it

(17:14):
for twenty twenty six, big things coming for Kato. Thank
you so much for joining me today and good luck
with everything.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
Okay, thank you so much. Thank you,

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