Good question, I’m now at the point where I don’t know who to introduce my self as... I’ve got 5 names on my passport, so I’ll use a different one for each project, so lets go with Elijah.
You say in your biography that Elijah manifested himself in the summer of 2010 and that infamous London underground party Lo*Kee is to blame… Tell us more?
For a long while I got really bored with music. The long minimal summer lasted about two years too long. Techno was cool for a while but I got bored, then after that tech house sounded like it was sponsored by fair trade companies. At first I really enjoyed the ethnic vocals but it got to a point where every party was like watching a movie in an unknown language without subtitles. I can’t play what I don’t like, so as I couldn’t find anything, I just stopped.
I’ll always love to dance so I retreated to underground club nights that hardly anyone knew about which lead me to Lo*kee. It’s one of those parties that were started by promoters who are are in it for the right reasons, who have stuck to their convictions and have an amazing ear for diverse underground sounds and past music. It got me excited and always made me want to go home and make music after.
Where as Jnr J was a DJ project, I’ve started Elijah as a producer project. I’m having a lot of fun writing music and even more fun seeing it work on the dance floor. I’ve started to learn the bass and keys, so that I can enhance my productions. DJ wise, I feel I have more freedom than before to play exactly what I want as nobody has any expectations of Elijah. It’s an awesome feeling of total freedom.
You already have a couple of successful releases as Elijah Collins on Mullet Records, alongside your friends Nist and Tee-J, but what direction do you plan on taking your new sound?
I’ll pretty much do anything I’m feeling. At the moment I’m diggin the Nu Disco sound but I’m already seeing that I won’t be into this for ever. For the winter I’m working on a couple of deep disco bits to keep you all warm. I’m making what I feel is right for me so am working on stuff with a range of influences such as rare groove, deep house and even miami bass. I’m just going to do what makes me want to dance. I’ve also started writing more in tune with my emotions and using music as a way of expressing what I can’t put into words.
I’ve heard some of your solo material on Soundcloud, "8 minutes of rude" a particular favourite! In fact, I described it as if it was made for the follow up to the Tron Legacy movie. Are there plans for releasing that track and the others? Have any labels shown interest in them?
Cheers fella. I’ve just sent "8 mins" of to a vocalist who I’ve worked with in the past. After this we’re going to sit down together and come up with some colabs which I’m really excited about. I also have some other bits signed which are awaiting release. So far, so good.
You’ve also had a lot of support from a certain Vito De Luca from Aeroplane (one of my biggest influences of the past few years for sure). How does that feel?
To get support from people like Aeroplane and Mullet recordings is truly amazing! It’s like when you’re at school and the big children give you a nod. It helps to confirm that your on the right track. I’ve also been getting love from people who I started on the scene with, like yourself, Eric Volta, the guys at Lower East and my newly appointed Get Diverted residency. It's really amazing to feel the love from your peers and to see everybody moving forward in their goals.
And you got to warm up for him at a recent Get Diverted gig, where he dropped your track, Love’s Down. How was that? The videos of the moment online look wicked!!
Watch the video I made. I lost the plot when he played it and broke out into full vocal... Watching the video back made me realise that I can’t sing. I sound like a cat in a washing machine! It was one of the best moments of my career and the fact that it was one of the biggest tunes of his set made it all sweeter. I was buzzing for weeks.
Lastly, you’re playing a b2b set with Tee-J for our charity event, Club Mo. What can people expect from your set? And have you been growing your Mo?
Tee-J and I have very similar backgrounds and influences, we both grew up with mothers who used to rinse music and we probably both have gotten a beating for scratching mum’s 5 Star ep... Or that may have just been me.
It’s gonna be like soul train 2011 or like watching a blaxplotation movie. There will be so much funk that it’s gonna pimp slap anyone close enough!
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