Who I Am: Ryan Raddon, Better Known as Kaskade

My name is Ryan Raddon, and I've been making music as Kaskade since 1995. This is where my merch lives, so here is the short version of how it all started.

Where did I grow up?

I was born in Chicago on February 25, 1971, and grew up in Northbrook, just outside the city. As a teenager in the Chicago area I found new wave and house nights, and that sound never left.

Where does the name Kaskade come from?

Not from a mountain range. I took it from a nature book with a picture of a waterfall, and I changed the spelling from "cascade" to Kaskade.

How did the music start?

A few steps, one after another:

• Salt Lake City: I moved there around 1992 for the University of Utah and paid my way by DJing.
• The Bay Area: in May 2000 I moved to San Francisco's Bay Area and worked at Om Records.
• The first album: It's You, It's Me came out on Om Records on March 18, 2003. Its title track sits alongside "Steppin' Out" and "Disarm You" among my best-known songs.

What kind of music do I make?

House and electronic dance music. Over the years that has gone from the early Om records to bigger festival sets, a Grammy nomination for Fire & Ice, and a whole project with deadmau5 called Kx5.

Where does the merch come in?

Every design here carries the name: the K mark, the stacked KASKADE wordmark, the Kaskade Destinations badge. You'll find them on tees, long sleeves, crewnecks and hoodies, with kids' and youth sizes too.

Want to see them all? Shop the collection.