Here's a big one for you all!!!
-PLUS-
He totally hooked all you guys up with free goodies which you'll find at the bottom of this interview!!!
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1 - Give us a bit of history on yourself… when and how did your career as a Producer/DJ begin?
I started at age 7 when my folks got me a Casio Concertmate 800 that had little lights to teach you songs on the piano. It also had a little sampler with yellow pads kinda like an MPC. When I found out I could sample my own farts and make songs with them I just dove in and never looked back.
In the nineties producing on computers wasn't really that feasible so I mostly DJ'd and scratched and just made little beats and sound fx on a MPC and an old Ensoniq synthesizer. Hardware sampling was really frustrating, I don't miss it.
Once computers were fast enough to produce on I started cutting up my record collection with Acid Pro and before you know it I had a record deal on this old Breaks label 2 Wars and a Revolution. From there I started touring, grew a fanbase, quit my job and the rest is history.
2 – I think we all have a bit of an idea, but can you tell us how the name iLL.Gates came into play?
My older name (The Phat Conductor) was from when I was in a breakdance crew at age 15 or so. It was a bit too long and hard to remember so I needed a change. I make nerdy hiphop so I figured ill.Gates would be a good name... Next thing you know I came to the attention of the REAL Bill Gates, got to kick it with him for a night and got his blessing. Truth is stranger than fiction!
3. Can you tell us about your top 5 shows ever played? Where were they and why were they so special?
Shambhala Music Festival in BC, Canada - Absolutely incredible... 15-20K people with a total family vibe. Amazing art, amazing sound, best lineup, best site ever. If you're doing anything else that week you're an idiot.
Burning Man (obviously) - There's nothing like it anywhere in the world. The art, the people, the beauty, the horror... I hope never to miss another year. You haven't lived until you've shot flamethrowers off of an art car.
Earth Frequency, Australia - This festival was not the biggest one I've ever played but it really was special. All of the usual ingredients were there and excellent, but you could really feel like a shift was happening. It changed things in Australia and I got to be a big part of it.
Synaesthesia, Ottawa Canada - This was a warehouse rave in the 90's that my old art crew built a pile of crazy crap for. My folks were really curious what we were going to do with it so they came out. I smoked a joint with my parents in the DJ booth right before I started my set. At age 15 it was a real turning point for me.
Boxing Day, Vientiane, Laos - My girl is from Laos and she hadn't been home since leaving as a refugee so I made it my mission to bring her back for Christmas one year. On boxing day we noticed this huge stage setup on the street with a massive sound system for some kind of Tiger Beer promotion but there was nobody playing so they just blared bad house music with WWF wrestling up on the screens. I'd played Tiger Beer events in Canada so I figured why not see if they needed a DJ? Turns out that they were open to it so I got some CDs ready and came back. Now Laos is a communist country and there is a curfew of 11pm for everyone in the city so they don't exactly have a lot of EDM there, let alone Bass Music. All the locals were sitting around tables playing beer drinking games when I went on. I learned to say 'My name is ill.Gates, I love Laos and I love The Lao People' in Lao, which they all applauded and then I played some of my Hip Hop stuff, which they kind of understood... a bit...
The little kids danced but all of the adults just kind of stood there with their mouths open. ...and then I started dropping some Dubstep and Glitch on them and shit got crazy. The children all started going totally bananas, running around and screaming and stuff. All these tourists suddenly came out of nowhere and were like "Holy crap! Dubstep! Let's rave while we can!" and started getting down. All of the adults were totally dumbfounded and just started taking pictures and video of the scene. When I got off all the kids mobbed me and had me sign stuff for them. I gave away the CDs I used to play with as well. Who knows what mischief that music has gotten into by now?
4. Which artist/band/producer, dead or alive, would you give anything to see live?
Probably a tie between Bob and Jimi. *sigh
5. What programs and plug-ins are you using to make your music?
Ableton Live, Kyma, Native Instruments Komplete, the Sugar Bytes plugins and a whole mess of other stuff. I use hundreds of plugins so it would get a bit silly to list any more than just my main go-tos.
6. You seem to make more than just one or two genres of music, what is it that inspires you to change up your style all the time?
I get bored easily, and I don't like repeating myself. I am looking for a challenge, not a formula. My style is that I have no style, and my technique is that I have no technique.
7. Tell us how the American Bass music scene is different from the rest of the world?
Hip Hop. Big time. Many other countries have a completely different idea of what Hip Hop is all about and they either LOVE or HATE top 40 Hip Hop, depending on where you are. Some places (Australia, I'm looking at you) hate anything with vocals as they think it's "commercial". Other places (South Africa) LOVE to have vocals in the mix and have a ton of "Glitch Rap" acts that perform original vocals. It changes everywhere you go and you have to adapt to it if you're going to tour internationally.
8. Sum up you sound in 3 words.
Glitchy Future Bass
I started at age 7 when my folks got me a Casio Concertmate 800 that had little lights to teach you songs on the piano. It also had a little sampler with yellow pads kinda like an MPC. When I found out I could sample my own farts and make songs with them I just dove in and never looked back.
In the nineties producing on computers wasn't really that feasible so I mostly DJ'd and scratched and just made little beats and sound fx on a MPC and an old Ensoniq synthesizer. Hardware sampling was really frustrating, I don't miss it.
Once computers were fast enough to produce on I started cutting up my record collection with Acid Pro and before you know it I had a record deal on this old Breaks label 2 Wars and a Revolution. From there I started touring, grew a fanbase, quit my job and the rest is history.
2 – I think we all have a bit of an idea, but can you tell us how the name iLL.Gates came into play?
My older name (The Phat Conductor) was from when I was in a breakdance crew at age 15 or so. It was a bit too long and hard to remember so I needed a change. I make nerdy hiphop so I figured ill.Gates would be a good name... Next thing you know I came to the attention of the REAL Bill Gates, got to kick it with him for a night and got his blessing. Truth is stranger than fiction!
3. Can you tell us about your top 5 shows ever played? Where were they and why were they so special?
Shambhala Music Festival in BC, Canada - Absolutely incredible... 15-20K people with a total family vibe. Amazing art, amazing sound, best lineup, best site ever. If you're doing anything else that week you're an idiot.
Burning Man (obviously) - There's nothing like it anywhere in the world. The art, the people, the beauty, the horror... I hope never to miss another year. You haven't lived until you've shot flamethrowers off of an art car.
Earth Frequency, Australia - This festival was not the biggest one I've ever played but it really was special. All of the usual ingredients were there and excellent, but you could really feel like a shift was happening. It changed things in Australia and I got to be a big part of it.
Synaesthesia, Ottawa Canada - This was a warehouse rave in the 90's that my old art crew built a pile of crazy crap for. My folks were really curious what we were going to do with it so they came out. I smoked a joint with my parents in the DJ booth right before I started my set. At age 15 it was a real turning point for me.
Boxing Day, Vientiane, Laos - My girl is from Laos and she hadn't been home since leaving as a refugee so I made it my mission to bring her back for Christmas one year. On boxing day we noticed this huge stage setup on the street with a massive sound system for some kind of Tiger Beer promotion but there was nobody playing so they just blared bad house music with WWF wrestling up on the screens. I'd played Tiger Beer events in Canada so I figured why not see if they needed a DJ? Turns out that they were open to it so I got some CDs ready and came back. Now Laos is a communist country and there is a curfew of 11pm for everyone in the city so they don't exactly have a lot of EDM there, let alone Bass Music. All the locals were sitting around tables playing beer drinking games when I went on. I learned to say 'My name is ill.Gates, I love Laos and I love The Lao People' in Lao, which they all applauded and then I played some of my Hip Hop stuff, which they kind of understood... a bit...
The little kids danced but all of the adults just kind of stood there with their mouths open. ...and then I started dropping some Dubstep and Glitch on them and shit got crazy. The children all started going totally bananas, running around and screaming and stuff. All these tourists suddenly came out of nowhere and were like "Holy crap! Dubstep! Let's rave while we can!" and started getting down. All of the adults were totally dumbfounded and just started taking pictures and video of the scene. When I got off all the kids mobbed me and had me sign stuff for them. I gave away the CDs I used to play with as well. Who knows what mischief that music has gotten into by now?
4. Which artist/band/producer, dead or alive, would you give anything to see live?
Probably a tie between Bob and Jimi. *sigh
5. What programs and plug-ins are you using to make your music?
Ableton Live, Kyma, Native Instruments Komplete, the Sugar Bytes plugins and a whole mess of other stuff. I use hundreds of plugins so it would get a bit silly to list any more than just my main go-tos.
6. You seem to make more than just one or two genres of music, what is it that inspires you to change up your style all the time?
I get bored easily, and I don't like repeating myself. I am looking for a challenge, not a formula. My style is that I have no style, and my technique is that I have no technique.
7. Tell us how the American Bass music scene is different from the rest of the world?
Hip Hop. Big time. Many other countries have a completely different idea of what Hip Hop is all about and they either LOVE or HATE top 40 Hip Hop, depending on where you are. Some places (Australia, I'm looking at you) hate anything with vocals as they think it's "commercial". Other places (South Africa) LOVE to have vocals in the mix and have a ton of "Glitch Rap" acts that perform original vocals. It changes everywhere you go and you have to adapt to it if you're going to tour internationally.
8. Sum up you sound in 3 words.
Glitchy Future Bass
9. And finally, what’s next for iLL.Gates???
The main thing is The Church Of Bass EP/Tour/Religion. It's going to be absolutely bonkers. I'm bringing an 8 person team all over North America to drop the Gospel of Bass on massive pK subwoofers and this totally mental 3d mapped stage. I'm a legally recognized priest and we're signing people up listing Music as their official religion. I'm hoping that we can get recognized as a legitimate religion and get some of the legal protection we need to stop the persecution of music lovers.
You gotta fight for your right to party
Make sure you check out the...
CHURCH OF BASS TOUR
iLL.GATES SOUNDCLOUD
Grab the iLL.Methodology album for free HERE
iLL.Methodology remixed for free HERE
I'm EEL single for free HERE
Grab the iLL.Methodology album for free HERE
iLL.Methodology remixed for free HERE
I'm EEL single for free HERE
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