Over the past few years, GRiZ has shown the world that he isn’t that interested in genre definitions. His music, although resolutely electronic, refuses to put itself in a box, mostly because the artist—born Grant Kwiecinski—finds that certain sounds just flow into each other, regardless of expectations.

“To me, funk was like jazz that went to a party, got chewed up and spat out the other end,” he says, paying particular attention to the party line between those two categories. “Electronic music can be anything, really. It is the petri dish that holds whatever crazy concoction you put inside of it. Although they are different, I enjoy so many different kinds of music. I just want to put down whatever I’m feeling in whatever type of mixture it is. Electronic music often affords me the explosive energy that I vibe with. That glues really well with the funk side of things.” He adds: “But electronic music is flexible. It can be whatever you want. In that sense, jazz elements mix nicely as well.”

For GRiZ, who got his start DJing parties while attending Michigan State University, the music he creates is equally important both onstage and in the studio. After releasing his debut, End of the World Party, in 2011, GRiZ spent several years on the road with artists like Bassnectar, Pretty Lights and Big Gigantic, honing his live performance, which often includes him playing the saxophone. This summer, GRiZ will make his way across the U.S., from festival to festival, including Lollapalooza, Outside Lands and Camp Bisco. In many ways, it feels like a breakout year for the artist, whose most recent album, Say It Loud, dropped last spring. And he’s certainly come a long way since those college parties.

“Having a dynamic performance is something I’ve learned to create,” GRiZ notes. “At the beginning, I didn’t really care and didn’t pay attention to the feel of the room. I just wanted to play my music to anyone who wanted to listen. Then, as everything grew and EDM blew up, I saw this huge energy and these super wild crowds. That was very alluring. So I would take that into consideration every time I would make a tune. I kind of had a run where I wouldn’t even play downtempo moments. I just wanted to lose my shit for an hour or two straight. But then, it started to feel a bit shallow. So I started bringing back these deep, thick, beautiful vibe moments and saying to myself: ‘Why not play a non-dance track?’ Those moments are now often my favorite. I like to create movements during the set [and] tell a bit of a story.”

This summer will also reunite GRiZ with Big Gigantic and Gramatik as Big Grizmatik, an ensemble that was originally conceived during Electric Forest. The collective will emerge at both Summer Camp Music Festival in May and at Camp Bisco in July. “All of our paths crossed almost perfectly,” GRiZ explains of the outfit’s origin. “I think we all have a similar taste and vision for music as well. It just made so much sense to bring the groups together. You can’t escape that kind of gravitational pull.”

Collaborating with other artists has helped push GRiZ in new directions, which was a major impetus to performing as Big Grizmatik, even as he’s in the studio recording his own material. “Working with both of them has inspired me to be a better musician,” he says. “When I’m playing saxophone over a Big G or Gramatik tune, I want to impress the shit out of whoever made the tune. So that forces me to be more mindful or learn new licks.”

It’s not all about being serious, though. GRiZ wants every show to feel like a party, and there’s no better way to start a party, than with a funny intro to your music. He changes them up nightly and attempts to keep it eclectic. On his last tour, he challenged himself to come up with a great new intro to every show. “I would pick a favorite TV show theme song and stick it at the start of the set with some clever transition into a GRiZ tune,” the artist notes. “I think we did Friends, SpongeBob, Cheers, All That, Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Scrubs. I still regret not doing Pokemon. That song was too real.” He’s still got all summer left.