A Day In The Life of Ils

A Day In The Life of Ils

21 November, 2007 | 9.18AM

• Written by: Dan Cole
• Filed under: Music News: botchit and scarper, breaks update, ils

‘Paranoid Prophets’ is Ils’ latest offering on Botchit & Scarper.

He’s taken the nu skool breaks sound, beefed it up, layered over some deep vocals and produced an amazing studio album which has received massive support all over.

The man is constantly on the move — this being his fourth album in as many years — as well as touring the world DJing and spreading the nu skool sound the world over.

But what does he do on a day to day basis?

Well, lucky for us, Ils took some time to share his average day with Beatportal.

8.30 am

Builders next door wake me up with power tools banging away.

It sounds like someone is drilling a hole next to my head, so I get up and go to the gym and do 30 minutes of hitting a punch bag instead of going next door and doing it to the builders.

10.30 am

Back home, quick shower, do an interview for an online magazine in Australia.

The interviewer actually knows something about me, which is always the hardest kind of interview, as you have to think very carefully about answering each question — if you say something silly, they will pick up on it immediately.

Luckily, big artist interviews only come every two years when an Ils album comes out, as no one really bothers with millions of questions for singles.

12.00 noon

Leave Hammersmith by tube and go to Camden to see Mark at Know How Records.

As soon as I darken his doorway, he starts pulling new tracks off the shelves for me.

I have a gig next week, so I need some vinyls.

I already have most of them from Beatport downloads, but I mostly use digital mp3s for radio shows and pre-recorded mixes.

Simply put, I love vinyl for live shows, as I believe people actually like watching me struggle and sweat behind the decks, and I personally hate PC laptop DJ sets; they usually look like someone’s checking their email on stage as far as I am concerned.

Also, the amount of beer and drinks that get spilt in gigs means I would never take a PC I cared about into a club.

1.30 pm

Jump on another tube to Elephant and Castle to arrive at the Ministry of Sound club.

I do a weekly radio show there with DJ Tensui.

I arrive late for my two-hour slot and everyone looks pissed off, as they have very tight booking schedules for DJs.

Luckily I have a guest mix from Kemical Kurt, a DJ I met in Australia.

He emailed me a one-hour mix, which means I can turn up late and only do a one-hour set myself!

I forget to mention my new album on air and kick myself on the way out of the studio.

3.00 pm

Back up to the West End.

Get off at Oxford Circus tube station and meet Jacqui right outside Nike Town.

She has been doing the radio promotion for the new album ‘Paranoid Prophets’ and has had an amazing response from Radio 1, hence I owe her lunch and a coffee.

I use this time to get an update on what I am supposed to be doing at Radio 1 today.

It looks like Pete Tong wants me to go in and do an interview for his show; anything to do with Radio 1 is nerve racking due to the huge amount of listeners it has.

And as I am a specialty artist, I need to interest new people to the breaks scene.

Luckily, doing my internet show at Ministry has warmed me up, but I need to remember to mention my album this time!

Getting past security takes a while and I am ushered into a small booth with a mic to do the piece.

The trick with radio is to think quickly when answering questions as dead air space is a big “no”.

I used to “um” and “er” a lot, but this doesn’t sound good.

However, there is always a gap when I speak, as I have to concentrate very hard on not using swear words — the biggest sin on radio, bar none!

I muddle through the questions and feel like a drink, which is good as there are some good bars in the West End.

After a few drinks, I start feeling a bit messy.

Jacqui needs to go clothes shopping, which is a good point for me to leave and get back to the studio!

5.30 pm

I arrive back at my studio in Acton, West London.

I should be cleaning the place up a bit, as I have a vocal session on tonite; however, I just bought a new Mac with wi fi and it gets me straight onto my emails and myspace.

As a result, I wilf about on the internet, answer my emails and check out some new bands on myspace for an hour till the door bell goes.

6.30 pm

The singer from EAC, an electro rock act, turns up and tells me about his day.

As usual, I make us a cup of tea and patiently wait till he has calmed down and is in “studio” mode before reminding him of the tracks he needs to re-sing — and how much time is left!

He decides that some guitar parts need to be redone too, and I groan as I realise a quick 1 hour session is rapidly turning into a 3 hour plus job.

I patiently hit record and trim his vocals and guitars whilst imagining a very hot curry and a pint.

This is my secret end of session reward, but I cant tell my client, as he will defo make this session go on even longer if he knows, so I pretend I have an important date later on.

He has no simpathy for any personal life arrangements I have, so the session drags on until he loses his voice…

Great! Job done.

10.00 pm

Home at last.

Realise I cant be bothered to go out for a meal, after all, and rumage around for a takeaway menu whilst hoping a new South Park episode is on TV.

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