This one goes out to all you lovers out there…
Crudely piggybacking onto the overly commercialised national day of love with some outrageously sick new-gen drum & bass talent: 1 More Thing invites Elder to the 1 More Mix series with a special Valentines mix.
Special being the key word here, not valentines… This mix is far too fire to be relevant on just one day. But with his debut EP dropping last Friday, and it being called Love and all, the connection was just too strong to ignore. Especially when the EP marks the return of the mighty Pick N Mix label.
In hibernation mode for the last year while the eminent bossman TJ took a little recalibration time out of the drum & bass game, Pick N Mix is back and loaded with more fondant fire than ever before. One of the most successful and iconic labels of the new D&B generation, Pick N Mix have been responsible for aiding and abetting the careers of so many new artists since it launched – Vital, Blckhry, Bunnerz, Enta, Sota, Jammez, Hexa, Parallel, Refracta and many more including Elder himself.
Plenty of sweet heat can be expected from Pick N Mix in the near future and from Luke Elder, too. To mark this moment he’s laid down a mix for all you gully sweethearts out there. Cwtch up, press play, get to know…
Let’s talk about love… What is love?
In all fairness I’ve never really been in love so it’s a bit of a mystery to me. I don’t know to explain it really. You can find it through other things can’t you? My understanding of love is through my love of making music. That’s how I express my feelings.
I was going to ask what you love the most in the world but I think you’ve already answered that!
Haha it might have to be music. It’s either music or travelling.
What are your favourite places you’ve travelled to?
My favourite place ever so far has been Iceland, that was just mind blowing. I’ve been to all the Canary Islands, a lot of the Greek islands, Florida. It’s one of those things I always want to do – explore and travel the world.
Love it. What do you love the most about producing?
It’s your personal space isn’t it? Being able to get away from everything and put all your emotions into something is so important to me. Like if I’m suffering bad mental health or anything then the first thing I do is get straight in the studio. You can write stories in your music. It doesn’t matter if people can’t hear those stories, it makes you feel a lot better. You’ve been able to work through your emotions doing it.
Yeah! How about on this EP? What stories did you write on this EP?
Well the main track for me had to be Stressed Out. I was going through Splice finding vocals and this one had a lot of meaning to me. It’s all about being stressed out and being able to get through that stress. I love those vocals. With the track Love, I found that vocal on splice as well and when I was working on it, the melody took on a life of its own and it brought a different vibe to the vocal which I was really into. I feel like when I’m writing music I like to play with those contrasts a bit. Like having a really sweet melody on the vocal but something darker underneath. Or with Stressed Out, you got the vocal but it drops into something that’s quite funky. You could imagine chilling in the car to it, you know?
I do! This is a monumental release for you isn’t it? It’s your debut EP!
Yeah it is! And I actually only finished most the tracks at the end of January.
Say what?
Yeah it was going to be another EP entirely. Scream is the only track from that first collection of tracks. I wrote that about a year ago maybe but the other tracks are much more recent.
What happens with the old tracks?
I’ll play them out. Maybe send them to other labels. I just need to figure out what labels I want to work with as well as Pick N Mix.
Yeah totally. So this EP is a snapshot of where you’re at right now – exactly at the start of 2023. Some labels have long schedules but not here.
Yeah 100%. It’s also the return of Pick N Mix which is an honour to be the first release. I’m gassed to see what happens with Pick N Mix this year, you know.
You came through with Weird Tech on the label didn’t you? I remember TJ sending that to me!
Yeah. That was my first release. I’ve done a few free downloads here and there but Weird Tech and Incitement on In The Lab have been the only official releases so far. So hopefully this year I can get more releases moving.
I was going to ask what comes up next!
Nothing I can confirm quite yet, but there are a few things in the pipeline!
Tell us about the mix! Is this a good snapshot of Elder in the club?
Yeah this is my style. I like the melodic stuff but throwing in something heavier from time to time. For me I love the fullness of the synths but hard hitting drums. I feel that’s missing in the club. A lot of nights focus on the one style like jump up or whatever but I love hearing those contrasts and always a lot of techy stuff.
Amen! So winding up with a bit more love interest… what do you love the most about D&B?
The thing I love about it the most is that when you’re in a rave everyone is there for the right reason. People are there for the music and a good time. No arguments and fights. I love that. The whole community vibe, too. It feels like everyone’s supportive of each other right now too. Big or small; people have got respect and appreciation for each other’s music. I do really love that!