“It was really about bringing different groups of people together and throwing a good party,” he said. “Connecting a lot of interesting people from a lot of different scenes… fashion people, artists, photographers, creatives, and also your finance crews. The mix is the point.”

He is not interested in myth-making.

“I don’t know that we’re reinventing the wheel,” he added. “The ethos has been the same the whole time.”

What that looks like in practice is design and priorities. The room matters more than the booth.

“I really admire what the Solid Grooves guys are doing in Ibiza with a strict no-phones, daytime party,” he said. “The DJs are off in the corner, so the whole room is about the dance floor and not really about the DJ.”

He brings up Club Space Miami for the same reason.

“I always find myself with my back to the DJ unless I can see what they’re doing,” he said. “I’m there hanging out with my friends. I’m there dancing with my friends.”

Scaling AFP without losing that focus means staying pop-up and floor-first.

“I don’t see AFP turning into a stadium show,” he said. “I do see AFP being a pop-up party at a festival, like Despacio, where the stage is intimate and it is about the dance floor. Keep the focus on the music and the party. From the label perspective, release good music and let it speak for itself.”

His relationship to music started long before the club. He was a classical violinist with perfect pitch.

“Jazz was the first time it was like, now you know the language, say what you want,” he said. “Learning improvisation changed everything.”

“Learning to understand the mixer as the instrument was a huge breakthrough for me,” he said.

The discipline stayed too.

“Throwing a party was insanely stressful until I did it over and over,” he said. “It is about being organized and disciplined, creating the conditions where you can succeed.”

Onstage, he is clear about the balance.

“I never wanted to be the violin guy,” he said. “I love electronic music and I love DJing. I’ve really fallen in love with DJing as an art form.”

So what does a Kozlow headline look like?

“You’re going to see an awesome DJ set,” he said. “Then you might get one or two moments over two or three hours where we break out the violin and something sick might happen. Hold it back and give those moments when it is tasteful. That is important to me.”

In the studio, the goal is the same.

“I want the music to stand up as great club records first,” he said. “Then give the violin a lane that is tasteful and earned. That has been a multi-year challenge and I think I am finally getting close.”

The new releases reflect how he moves. Relationships first, records second.

“The track with ForgiveMeTommy! in Montreal, came from a cool relationship that just happened by accident,” he said. “Right place, right time.”

LP Giobbi became a collaborator after a green room at Fabric, sets in Mexico, and a plan for a Burning Man performance that got rained out.

“We started producing a song so we could both play it together,” he said. “LP is incredible at utilizing the piano in a live setting while playing cool club tracks. As a mentor, she has been great to bounce ideas off. The song we are working on is a ‘Clair de Lune’ idea I started years ago. We have been trading it back and forth.”

There have been a few surreal moments along the way.

“I should never have played with Carl Cox,” he laughed. “I have played with him three times at Burning Man. Sometimes you buy the ticket and take the ride.”

If there is a through line, it is consistency. Clear ethos. Real discipline. DJ first. Live moments when they matter.

“Keep the focus on the music and the party,” he said. “Book DJs who share the vision. Be selective about spectacle. Let improvisation live where it belongs.”

He does not do the hard sell at the end.

“Grateful to be here,” he said. “Hope everybody has an awesome day.”

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ANTHR FCKNG PARTY is the crowd-first test bed. Kozlow is the craft under his own name. Both are after the same thing: nights that belong to the dance floor, and records that hold up when the lights come on.