Nelski returns to Rising

Nelski returns to Rising

27 June, 2011 | 3.24AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: chris lake, nelski, rising music

Rising star Nelski, best known for last year’s hit “Body Pop,” is back on Chris Lake’s Rising Music with a new single, “Dancing.” We caught up with Nelski to find out more about his previous aliases and his love of vocals; read on for the full interview.

Your new single “Dancing” is an interesting mixture of elements. How did it come together, and what were you going for?

Thanks! I always find it interesting when people use the word “interesting”!

It came together pretty quickly. I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for a lot of the tech-house coming out of Berlin right now, so I guess it’s shown itself in this track, but in my own quirky ways. As for the vocal element, well, all I can say is that vocally, it is a true reflection of what I am about!

So far, most of your tracks (all of them?) have had vocals. Is that you singing/speaking? Do you feel like the club scene is friendlier towards vocals than it was a couple of years ago?

Yes, yes, they are my vocal tones in all of my releases so far. I have always had in mind that music needs to hold an aspect of performance, so I always write lyrics with a visual replication in mind. But I think that vocals have always been a massive part of the dance scene and make a big contribution to the way we connect with the music… Naturally, it’s evolved and devolved in terms of the lyrical content and the way we use them, but I don’t think it’s either more or less friendly. At the end of the night, it’s all about the individual and their personal tastes, but in all my music I try to give variety in terms of the content and sound so it can cross musical boundaries—and of course, I make sure it’s always a happy vibe.

You had a pretty huge year in 2010. What were you doing before that? Were you releasing under another name, or is Nelski your first foray into production?

Wooah! This is a can-of-worms question, but I’ll try and keep it brief. I’ve always been making, writing, playing, banging things and coming from a musical family, I was always going to be heading down this musical route. But I think a big thing for me was that I got a keyboard when I was very young, so I guess this set me towards the electronic side as apposed to the acoustic side of music. I have evolved with the technology and the software right through school and college, then into the ‘00s I started releasing tracks. My first vinyl cut was a remix of a track called “Nautical Bodies” by Planet Heaven. This was under the name DJ NAB (Everyone had “DJ” in front of their name back then!). Throughout the ‘00s you can find lots of music released under the name Rhythm Code. This was done as a production duo with a chap called Asher Jones. During this time we hooked up with various people on collaborative means, releasing under such names as the Platinum Mules (A nu-school breaks outfit with Don Herseema, aka Kreech) and LAB Music, a little project we undertook with a certain Mr. Lake back in about 2004-05.

By this point though, I had envisaged a different path in which I could take to take my music to the next level, and wanted to bring the performance aspect back into dance music. I tested out some ideas and equipment and instantly knew where I was heading, musically and performance-wise, and Nelski was born! So back to your original question—no, Nelski is not my first foray.

Did you expect “Body Pop” to have anything like the level of success that it did? And did that success make it harder for you to come up with a followup? Did you find yourself second-guessing your decisions more than you might have?

We always can only but hope that everything will do well when releasing your first track, and when they do it’s a great feeling (obviously). The same goes for any track, really. “Body Pop” was actually about for a fairly long time before the release, so in the meantime there were a lot more concepts and ideas drawn up and developed. Some of which you have already heard, some of which will only be heard at my live shows, and plenty of which will stay locked away… forever!

How did you get hooked up with Rising Music?

The hook-up with Chris Lake happened a long time ago whilst releasing music on a label he was helping A&R for. Years later, Chris is still A&Ring for a label, but this time it’s his own, Rising Music…

You’ve had a wide array of people remix your work, including Rene Amesz, DJ PP, Radio Slave and Jesse Rose. How much say did you have over the remixers—were they your suggestions, or did they come from the label?

I’d like to take the credit to all of these, but I think I’d get found out. For the remixes of “Body Pop,” this came from “the team” at Rising Music, but since then there has been kind of a wish list, so depending on the style of the original, it’s like, “Oh, they’ll be good for a remix.”

Finally, what should we expect to hear from you in the coming months?

I’ve got a new live show that is launching this summer—we have the first live show at The Wickerman Festival in Scotland where I will be supporting X-Press2 & Riva Starr, which will be amazing. We will also be touring in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, which is going to be lots of fun. The live show is all new Nelski music that has been designed to performed in the live arena, so expect lots of live percussion, synths and of course live vocals whilst jamming about creating stuff on the fly. And then in September all the music that has featured in the live show will be released on my first EP on Rising Music. So lots of stuff to look forward to, very much looking forward to where this will be taking me both in the destinations but musically too. I’m gonna use that influence to refuel more music—a self perpetuating cycle of creative fun.

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