Glovibes Scores his first Beatport Number One with “It’s Over Now”
We catch up with LA’s Leonardo Abbate, aka Glovibes, whose house track “It’s Over Now” featuring Lana Parrilla hit Beatport’s overall top spot.
Hello Leonardo, congratulations on your first overall Beatport number one! Did you already have a chance to celebrate the news?
Honestly no yet, cause we were not expecting this result at all or at least not this fast. I’m waiting for Lana to be back from a short holiday in Hawaii then we will celebrate it together, she owns big part of this success
You recorded “It’s Over Now” last year. What were the first ideas you had for the track?
I was going through some old classic tunes as I was getting ready to record a ‘classic house’ podcast, and got stuck on this jam from the Freemasons called “Watchin’”. Lana just came to visit us and she fell in love with the lyrics of the song and the melody and she asked me to try and so something inspired by the original version. We started to work on it just for fun, then the day I recorded her voice I realized that the project could have some potential. We had been working on some other ideas at the same time, but we started to focus more on this one — “It’s Over Now“ — because it reflects the time we are living now and trying to give a positive message for a new fresh start.
“It’s Over Now” features vocals by Lana Parrilla who is known as an actress in tv series such as “Once Upon A Time.” How did the collaboration happen?
Lana and I have been friends for about 10 years now and for the past 10 years we have been wanting to do something together but never had the time, especially with her busy schedule. So when the pandemic hit we finally had time to work on something together. She’s an amazing actress and performer so she brought those skills with her into the studio everyday. And my nieces and nephews love her so I am finally the cool uncle!
You were born in Naples, Italy then moved to London and finally to LA. Can you try and tell how each place has informed your career as a DJ and producer?
Growing up in Naples in the early ‘90s, I had the chance to work with some of the most important underground clubs at that time where you could see guest DJs from all over the world, such as Masters at Work, Basement Jaxx, Frankie Knuckles, Satoshi Tomiie and many more. This definitely formed my music taste towards a more soulful/funky house vibe and my intention to become a professional DJ and producer more solid.
Early in 2000 I wanted to work for a label so I decided to move to London where I got a job as intern at one of the most iconic record stores in Soho, Vinyl Junkies. This definitely gave me a lot of connections. After only six months I was already DJing almost every night in small clubs around the city. One day I got introduced to Ministry Of Sound — a real dream come true — and after my first gig, the manager of MoS proposed me a monthly night there. So I was performing in small and big venues and my music taste and influences became wider.
At that time the main genre was electronic/minimal and I definitely fell in love with that. In fact one of my first big productions was a minimal/tech inspired track called, “Cod Liver Oil.” It was released around 2006 and was the best selling record that summer at Black Market in London. Moving to LA in 2011 was the most challenging part of my music formation because at that time dance music became very mainstream, and I was not feeling it that much. Then five or six years ago, when ‘deep house’ started to take over the mainstream worldwide, something changed and LA started to be one of the most interesting cities in terms of dance music, with a lot of attention to the underground influences.
Recently, you got a certificate as a Covid-19 compliance officer. What does the work look like?
I did that because I felt the need to get out of the house, and that was the only way to do it safely as I have been very scared and concerned about Covid. When Covid started I buried myself working in the studio trying to be creative as much as I could, and indeed I had two releases on Toolroom records within six months. But at some point I started to lose my creativity and felt the need to do something different. Working on production sets gave me the chance to be around new people and feel involved in different environments, definitely something interesting, but super temporary. I’m back in the studio and already working on a follow up with Lana which we are expecting to release by the summer, and projects for other labels too.
You’ve been outspoken about not playing any DJ sets during the pandemic. Now that many people in California have already been vaccinated do you already know when you will start DJing again?
Yes I have been very cautious with Covid. I’ve been DJing since I was 14, so this decision was definitely really hard to take, but for me it was very important that DJs and performers did their part to avoid the spread of the virus and trying to fight it. In California now we have almost 50% of the population vaccinated and bars and clubs are starting to reopen slowly.
Personally, I had my first gig a couple of weeks ago. In two weeks I will restart one of my LGBTQ events as promoter and DJ and I will get back one of my monthly events at The W Hotel in Hollywood as well as a monthly event in Palm Springs, Phoenix and Ft. Lauderdale. Of course these will be with limited capacity and all the current safety rules but it feels good — I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s Over Now” was released on Beatport Hype label Bonanza Records. Hype is your destination for new music from up-and-coming labels and artists on Beatport. Learn more here.