DA Exclusive Interview: Alesia
Alesia are a French music trio comprised of Alban Lipp, Nicolas Petitfrere and Lémuel Dufez. They recently collaborated on an EP with Joachim Garraud and released their latest single “Hook.” Their unique sound – a blend of dubstep, electro and house – has caught the ear of major players in the industry and we are picking them for breakout success this year. We sat down with Alesia to learn more about their musical background and what they have planned for the future. Click after the break to see how they got their breakthrough and more!
DA: How long have you all been producing/DJing?
We’re more of producers than DJs. Actually all three of us have slightly different experience! Nicolas has been producing music for 8 years now and has produced records under his alias “Sven K”. Lémuel has been working with Nicolas on a parallel project for the past four years. Alban’s background, on the other hand, is in Punk/Metal music. He has been producing electronic music for the past three years.
Editor’s Note: Make sure you listen to the tracks as you read & you’ll hear why we think there are big things in Alesia’s future!
Joachim Garraud & Alesia – Hook (Original Mix)
DA: What sparked your interest in electronic music?
Nicolas’s passion for music came from his father who had a lot of old musical hardware lying around the house. Nicolas started very young trying to recreate sounds and build sequences and full songs on the groovebox. It came very naturally to him and this environment provided the perfect classroom to develop his musical talent.
Lémuel just absolutely loves music. He’s the guy who can listen Hip Hop music and switch to Dubstep in 10 minutes (laughs). His path into EDM came from his love of electronic music.
Alban found himself producing electronic music after exploring different styles and attempting to merge rock music with something a little harder.
DA: Are any of you classically trained in any instruments?
All three of us actually! Lémuel and Nico had violin lessons for a while when they were younger. This was more encouraged by their parents and they didn’t continue it for that long.
Alban studied guitar from age eight until twenty. He has played in several rock bands playing a variety of genres including; Metal, Punk, Reggae and Pop Rock.
DA: Tell us about working with Joachim Garraud. How exactly did that come about? And how has it been working with him in the studio?
Actually it’s quite an interesting story. Alban was perusing Facebook when he saw that there was an opportunity to officially remix a Joachim Garraud track. He thought, why not us? He sent a private message to Joachim on his forum and within an hour we had the stems to begin work on the remix. Joachim loved our remix so much that he contacted us and offered the opportunity to work on a project with him. That was the first time we were able to work on a track that was 100% Alesia’s sound without worrying about the public reception.
Working in the studio was really cool! We all had been working on some different ideas and when we met with Joachim we brought it all together, edited and arranged it into our Hillside West EP.
We learned a lot on the musical engineering side. Joachim is of course an absolute machine in that respect so hey gave us loads of really helpful advice and tips.
Joachim Garraud & Alesia – Atrium (Original Mix)
DA: Who are some of your biggest musical influences in EDM? Outside of EDM?
Well all three of us have backgrounds in different styles of music: Hip Hop, Rock & Underground Electronic Music. All of those influence our musical style and we try and incorporate all of those genres into our music.
Our influences range from people like Noisa, Knife Party & Wolgang Gartner to Motorhead, Kanye West & Fatboy Slim. So as you can see it’s a pretty wide range!
DA: What is an ultimate goal or something you’d consider a milestone that you’ve yet to achieve or accomplish?
Maybe work on a track with Knife Party. The killed everything last year and we’d love to work with them. We think that their style and their sound is really amazing. So if one of them reads this… (laughs)!
Seriously though, we think this year could be huge for us. Our next objective is to get our tracks high in the charts and to be recognized for our style!
Joachim Garraud & Alesia – Hook (Ido Shoam Remix)
DA: Your music seems to be an interesting blend of house, electro mixed with elements of dubstep. How would you describe Alesia‘s sound?
We’re not even sure ourselves (laughs). It is something that just came out on its own. Its very de-structured, groovy and dynamique. We work a lot on the grooves and melodies. To us a lot of productions are missing those elements and we see that as a key for success! Music need to give people the urge to sing or dance or even just start head banging! And that’s what we try to do. If our tracks can accomplish that, we see that as a good start for us!
And again, our sound is drawn from a wide variety of influences and we want it to sound original. These days, there is too much generic music and imitations – tracks that “sound like ___!” We want to offer something different.
DA: What is your favorite track at the moment?
Right now it would be Noisa – Diplodocus (Kill The Noise Remix).
DA: What is your DJ equipment of choice and why?
Right now we’re using Serato during our DJ sets. We’re also working on a Live set with an MPC and some other hardware. But we’re still working on that and its not completed yet!
Joachim Garraud & Alesia – Japan Rail (Original Mix)
DA: Who do you think is really pushing the envelope of EDM? Who do you think is at the top of their game right now?
In our view, Skrillex is at the top. He has been killing everything for some months now! This is great, because now people know that there is something other than traditional house music out there. The reaction to Skrillex in the US really shows that the music scene out there is changing!
Alesia: Facebook & Soundcloud
Purchase: Hillside West on Beatport!
Categories: Music