Californian producer Kevin Chapman aka SNBRN (that’s “sunburn”) knows how to take a great song and turn it into a great dance record. In the last couple of years he totally re-defined “All That She Wants,” turned “California Love” into a sexy poolside track and recently re-worked an a capella version of late Nate Dogg’s “Gangsta Walk” into an irresistible house banger. With an ongoing tour and next single already in the making, SNBRN promises that no one leaves his party without feeling summery and wet from dancing the night away. The producer shared his list of travel must-haves with us as, well as some wild stories (like that time he made everyone on the plane think he was a secret agent). Read it all below:

How are you, where are you and what are you up to?

I’m in the studio in my house in Los Angeles, working on a new single. It has more of a future-house sound compared to “Gangsta Walk”.

Future sounds nice, but let’s go back to the past first. What’s your background?

It all started in 2007, when I got really involved in the dance music scene here in LA. I come from a piano background. I knew how to play multiple instruments, but it wasn’t until 2008 that I started producing on my own.

What’s the origin of your DJ name?

I’ve had a couple of different aliases and finally got this one. It started as a joke. I was making disco house about four years ago. I needed a name for this weird house music I was making. It was mid-summer, my friend was making fun of me for getting very sunburned at the beach one day. I thought about taking out all the vowels of 'sunburn' and it looked cooler.

How often do people misspell your stage name?

It’s like here and there and they won’t misspell it, necessarily. They’ll just call me DJ SNBRN or something or write out SUNBURN.

Considering you love hip-hop, what would your stage name be if you were a rapper?

Haha. I don’t think I ever had a dream of becoming a rapper. I never really been good at rapping or singing. I’m god-awful at these two things to be honest. What would my rapper name be… Wow, that’s a tough one.

Lil’Kev maybe?

Haha! It’s really funny. Young Burn? That’s a good one.

When was the last time you actually had a sunburn?

Oh. August. Maybe even October. We have long summers here in California.

People are gonna hate you when they read this...

Getting sunburns in October, oh yeah.

Do you remember the first record you bought?

If it wasn’t the first, it was still the most significant one: Blink-182 Enema of the State. I remember listening to this thing until it was scratched to death. To this day, I can sing you every song on that album.

Did you ever think about releasing a remix album for that whole record?

Oh man, that would be tough! When I get remix requests, I never say yes before I hear it and mess around with it a little. A lot of that Blink-182 is pop-punk, so it’s got weird tempo and once it comes time to actually remixing it, how do you make this work?

What about the first track you ever remixed or produced?

It was a remix of “World Hold On” or something else. It was definitely a remix. Maybe a song by Yeah Yeah Yeahs... Let me actually look it up on my computer. Okay, it was Bob Sinclair’s “World Hold On.” I should probably remix it again.

Is it still online?

I had two other aliases back then. So some of this stuff is up there. It was almost 6-7 years ago, so a lot of the accounts have been removed from Soundcloud. Like I have it here, but it may have been removed from online.

Let’s talk about your new awesome single "Gangsta Walk," which is luckily easy to find. Was it hard getting all the rights for that a capella?

After I remixed 50 Cent and Nate Dogg’s “21 Questions”, I hit up my manager asking for more stuff like this. It’s a certain style of rapping. Nowadays most hip-hop doesn’t have melodies in it and Nate Dogg almost sing-rapped. I wanted something like that, which is easier said than done. Then he came back with the publisher who had a bunch of unreleased Nate Dogg stuff. I was like "No way!" And then “Gangsta Walk” a capella fell into my lap and in a week and a half I had a complete version of my track. Everybody loved it. It was a year ago. And then for an entire year it was a matter of clearing the rights for Nate’s vocals. We were the first ones to license or use anything that he’s done since he passed away. We had to trace down his estate, it took a lot of work. My team really busted their asses. And a year later it all came through. Now it’s a huge weight off my shoulders to watch this whole thing come together. Oh man.

You’ve remixed “Sexual Healing,” 2Pac’s songs and many other tracks. How do you pick the songs for the remixing? Just go through your iTunes collection?

With “Sexual Healing” I had a track done and was going through different samples to find something that worked, all of these huge banks of a capellas from certain eras. I looped a piece from “Sexual Healing” and it totally worked. Then with “California Love,” I originally just wrote this whole long piece and was playing it out with pitched down 2Pac vocal that sounded like garbage but it was just there. And that’s when Kaleena came over and I asked her to record a cover. So I guess everything comes together magically but at the same time you’re trying things out. Then for Ace of Base and 50 Cent songs I just really wanted to remix them.

Talking about that Ace of Base remix of yours. Any more '90s gems you’d like to update?

Ooh. I’ve been thinking very hard about this one, it was such an iconic song from my childhood. Me and KLATCH wanted to do that so badly. With these older songs it’s so hard to find the right pieces acapella-wise. I would really have to think about remixing some other 90s song. Some of those are just a little too cheesy.

I’ve seen a photo of you with John Mayer. Is there a collaboration coming up?

We just did Dell World together, so nope, no collaboration as of now.

Do you have a collaboration wish list?

There is. Number one for me is 50 Cent, because I don’t think that anyone’s in the hip-hop world is crossing over to the house scene. That’s where I’d like to be.

What should we know about your tour?

A lot of surprises are on the way: secret guests, etc. I have two tours going on: I have my “Gangsta Walk” tour and at the same time we have this supergroup which is me, Shaun Frank and Dr. Fresch. When our schedules meet, we do these massive shows together. For the next 6 months we’ve got so many cool shows coming up.

How do you survive all the traveling?

Lots of phone chargers, cause you never have too many. There’s this pill from Whole Foods called "Wellness" which keeps me very healthy. And lots of hand sanitizer. Just being at airports can get you sick. There’s so many people!

What about your rider. Anything outrageous?

Just a lot of booze.

So I guess it’s a firm yes for ‘alcohol when DJing’ for you, right?

Yes, yes!

What kind of alcohol?

My favorite is Jameson. I’m a big whiskey drinker.

What’s the weirdest place or situation you’ve ever got an idea for a track?

I was on an airplane once and then it just came and clicked in my head. So I’m pulling through my backpack, getting my laptop out and everybody's looking at me. Everyone was so concerned. Logic looks very weird to anybody that’s never seen it. So I’m programming in this thing and finally when I got the idea out, the lady next to me asked me what I was doing. And then I explained it all.

Bet they thought you were a secret agent! What’s you secret getaway in LA then?

The one I go to produce and sometime just to relax is The Getty Museum. I just bring my laptop there and sit up there and look at the entire Los Angeles from a cafe. That’s my little secret.

What was the best and the worst DJ gig you ever had?

The best show was probably a warehouse party in New York about a year ago with all of my friends—Dr. Fresch, Prince Fox—all of us at a 5,000 capacity warehouse going at it all night. It was insane. As for the worst…One time they didn’t really strap down anything and everything was very loose up there. And in the middle of the gig it all unplugged and then I had to do an emergency loop. Luckily I always keep an extra USB in my pocket.

What’s your perfect weekend look like?

When I’m back I like to just spent time with my friends and hang out. Maybe go out a little bit. We go to a beach if it’s nice. It’s a lot different from when I’m on the road. When I’m home the last thing I wanna do is get to the club to be honest. I’d rather go to Venice.