Two-thousand eleven was a favorable year for Los Angeles-based tech/disco/house DJ and producer, Louisa Pilot (aka “Louisahhh“). Her collaborations with Danny Daze, Senor Stereo, Brodinski and Gucci Vump have been supported by top international DJs; most notably, her trendsetting collaboration with Danny Daze, “Your Everything,” which reigned as one of the top deep house tracks of the year.
Louisa took some time to chat with us ahead of her second appearance at U Street Music Hall and discussed her “technorganic” sound, her project with Steven Bloodbath, “NYCPARTYINFO,” how staying sober has benefited her career and the importance of integrity and support among females in the music industry.
We’re excited to have you back in DC!
I’m excited to be back in DC! All of my experiences have been absolutely fantastic. Other than the people (have a lot of love for my DC fam) I’d say the highlight really is U Hall itself. I honestly think that U Hall is the best club in America. The system is phenomenal, the booth is ideal, the crowd is enthusiastic and openminded. A DJ really can’t ask for much more. Also, Jason Koitz has promised to take me on a run. I’m excited about that.
Your musical past includes backgrounds in both piano and guitar, yet you’ve put those aside to pursue a career in DJing. Have you considered picking those talents back up/using them for future productions?
It’s funny, I always had huge performance anxiety playing guitar and piano. When I discovered DJing, it dissipated. Last autumn was the first time since I began spinning records that I played a live instrument in front of people, but I was ‘playing’ – programming, really – a 707 with my friend Dave Scott Stone (who was playing his amazing modular syth), and it felt really good. There has been talk of a live project in the future with Dave and NYCPARTYINFO, so who knows!
What and/or who first attracted you to DJing?
That’s a hard question. Like you mentioned, I grew up playing and making music and it had always been a point of relation between my dad and I because he was a great lover of music and has always worked in the music business. When I started to go out around age 17 in NYC, there was a big shift happening, where ‘the scene’ was moving from live bands to dance music nights, and ‘dance rock’ was really exciting. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, The Rapture – these were bands whose songs worked well on dance floors. I guess I got swept up in all of it. I had friends who had bars or booked DJs and I was obsessed with music so the progression was quite natural. After throwing a couple of nights, I finally got a friend to teach me how to beat match, bought a shitty Numark CDJ/mixer combo, practiced obsessively. It is my favorite thing, playing two songs at the same time. So silly, but also somehow magical. I can’t believe I get to do this for a living.
How has the New York club scene changed since your start in 2004?
Oh man. It feels like everything’s changed. Me too. There was a real moment there where everything felt fresh and new and it might have been a personal coming-of-age thing, but it was a really exciting time, even though the music wasn’t necessarily new. It was actually a lot of brit-pop and ’80s stuff mixed in with music that was contemporary at the time. Misshapes was huge, and Trash at Rififi, or the ‘Cut’ party that Luca (Drop the Lime) and Patrick (The Captain) and Michael (‘Badman Shark’) used to play. It’s funny, a lot of those people are still around and are really killing the game now, in an entirely different way. Some weird sort of graduating class that keeps growing, I guess.
For me the thing that changed everything, in terms of what I was playing and listening to, was Soulwax. I remember listening to Nite Versions months before it was released (thanks to the infamous and fantastic Stephen Bush), and it opened up this wormhole into a whole new world of electronic music.
What personally draws you to the darker, “technorganic haunted house” that you produce and spin?
Ha, I feel like I should probably change the ‘technorganic haunted house’ title as it feels a bit dated…connotes witch house or something – thanks for reminding me. There is an element of truth, though, certainly, in the ‘technorganic’ element, this obsession with marrying analog and digital – the feeling and the machine – that I think runs through all of my work, if not much of dance music. Similarly, though perhaps ‘haunted’ is not the right word, there is a certain dark edge to what I try to make and play. It can sometimes come off as melancholy, sometimes as violent. I think it’s an important element to bring to the dance floor. I want to feel something, to bring people with me.
Is your duo with DJ Gina Turner, “Staccato,” still active? Have you and Gina considered/attempted any studio time?
Staccato never officially ended, so I guess we’re still active. Gina and I have just been working on vastly different things. Going into the studio together has actually been discussed recently, but both of us are pretty swamped right now so I’m not sure when it’s actually going to happen. These are definitely quality problems!
Can you tell us a little more about NYCPARTYINFO – the concept behind, the distinct sound, and any upcoming projects/releases we can look forward to?
NYCPARTYINFO is my project with Steven Bloodbath, who is also part of Pipes (they’re going to be the second release on Bromance, Brodinski’s label). We have a single coming out with Throne of Blood in the spring, which I’m really excited about, in addition to stuff out currently on Nurvous, Strobelight Honey, Top Billin. The concept behind NYCPARTYINFO was originally just making classic house music, a modern twist on ’90s stuff that we are mutually obsessed with. It has developed into it’s own animal, what we make is sonically cohesive with our greater body of work but no longer able to fit snugly into a singular genre or category. I’m excited to be on this ride!
How does NYCPARTYINFO differ from your solo work?
My solo work right now is more vocal stuff – writing more as a lyricist and singer, which is a new and exciting challenge. Collaborations with Danny Daze, Brodinski, Guxxi Vump, Renaissance Man and Los Suruba are either out or coming out, and I’m about to start work on an EP for Bromance that will also be more vocal. In terms of DJing, I play a lot deeper, darker and more feminine solo than I do as NYCPARTYINFO. With Steven it can be a little bit more dynamic and playful, also bringing out a lot of classic favorites – less techno, more house.
Has your move to LA affected your production style?
Though I was DJing before I moved to LA, I wasn’t really making anything yet. I had just turned 20, was newly sober, pretty out of my mind and just trying to get my bearings out here. This coming June, I will have been on the west coast six years, and in that time I feel like I’ve come into a community that is really magical. There is a camaraderie and support amongst the peer group here that is really vital and I think affects the creative life of those involved. The pace of LA is so vastly different from New York – it’s possible to kind of hermit away and get work done because nightlife ends at two and you actually want to be awake early because days are beautiful here. There are less tiny, shitty bars and more big clubs and warehouses, so it’s possible to play new tracks on a proper system, and because everyone drives everywhere, there’s a lot of time in the car to listen to music and that affects the way one thinks about mixing differently then say, walking around with headphones. Ugh, feel like I’m cheating on New York! I hate how much I love LA, but I do, it’s like friendship sunshine paradise. Don’t tell, I don’t want everyone to come and ruin it. Ha!
Please only answer the following question if you feel comfortable doing so. In a 2009 interview with Cool Junkie you discussed having gone to rehab – what’s your key to staying sober while working in nightlife?
Ah, thanks for the delicacy with which you approached this question! I am pretty ‘out’ about being in recovery…I feel like it’s really, really important for people who might be struggling with the same issues I was having (namely, addiction) to be given hope that you don’t have to do drugs or drink to go out and have fun. I could not and would not be doing what I am doing if I was still getting loaded. My world got really small when I was using and though sometimes tempted, I honestly believe that this life, and the success I’ve been given at this work is a direct result of sobriety. In exchange for trying to live on a spiritual basis and giving up drugs and drinking, that I get to do what I love most in the world, and hopefully act as a beacon for anyone who might be suffering. That is my greatest hope, anyway.
What advice do you have for females entering the music industry, as either a DJ, producer, music writer, etc?
Specifically to females getting into a male dominated world (but I guess this applies to everyone), I think it’s important to support each other and try to act with integrity, keep egos in check. Easier said than done, I guess, but life is too short to waste on catty, petty bullshit. In LA, we’ve started doing this Positive Affirmation (“#PA”) thing, kind of as a joke but I know I’m pretty serious when I shout “I love you and believe in you! You are more than enough!” at the top of my lungs in the club. Maybe just more of that.
Don’t miss Louisahhh with Tony Humphries and Joe L. this Friday night at U Street Music Hall. 10pm, $10/Free before 11pm for 21+.
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(Vinyl) Mix for Kaviar&Cigarettes NYC
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SPF5000 – White Hot Fantasy (NYCPARTYINFO Remix)
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Danny Daze feat. Louisahhh – Your Everything