When KROQ’s Ted Stryker sat down with Blaqk Audio, the electronic duo of AFI lead singer Davey Havok and programmer Jade Puget, it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to the current breakout of EDM, as well as its influence on the pop music charts.

“Pop music has been better than ever now. It’s so exciting,” Havok enthused during the CBS Local interview. “The shift from what has been played on pop radio stations for the past ten years into dance music. I love Nicki Minaj. The new Pitbull track, ‘We Run The Night,’ with Havana Brown on it is fabulous. It is so fun. That high-energy, fun element of dance music has been infused with pop music, and it’s been going strong for the past two or three years now.”

Havok was equally excited to talk about the explosion of EDM, personified by the runaway success of artists like Skrillex and Deadmau5.

“It’s fantastic to see their rise,” Havok said. “They’re making a lot of great music. It’s great to see a lot of the classic DJs still getting the recognition in this wave of it,” he continued. “Obviously Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, and Paul Oakenfold. It’s nice to see that happening, because they were the front-runners.”

Blaqk Audio’s long-awaited second album, Bright Black Heaven, is scheduled for release on September 11 on the Superball Music/Big Death label.

–Scott T. Sterling, CBS Local