Known for his almost outlandish remixes, Norwegian producer Lido has been making waves in the electronic world. He just played a sold out show at U Hall last weekend and is off to SXSW, sure to bring the best of his funky, unique production. We chatted with him about his music, soda floats, and of course, safe words.
Listen to the interview here.
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So can you tell me a little about yourself?
I am a boy from the middle of nowhere in Norway. I grew up on gospel music and whatever pop music was in Norway, which wasn’t a wide selection of stuff. I started playing drums when I was two years old. I started playing piano at about ten and started writing songs about the same time. I’m a geek. I love anime, Pokémon, that kind of stuff. I used to read a lot when I was younger. Usually when people ask me that question I say that I am music because that’s really all that I do and all that I care about.
Where does the name Lido come from?
My name was given to me by an eight year old boy in the slums of Kenya. It’s a weird story. I’ve done a lot of different things in my life and I’ve had a bunch of different projects and bands. My most successful project was when I was a pop singer. When I was 13, I was a part of an exchange project where I traveled to the slums of Kenya and Nairobi. It’s mostly about soccer, but they did a little thing about music also, so I went there and made an EP together with talented kids. This was super early on and not a cool project, but it was so defining for me. The things I saw and the friendship with those kids really had a huge impact on me. It made sense to take the name that I was given there.
How would you describe your style or your approach to music?
I think my approach is easier than my style. I’ve been doing a lot of remixes lately and every time I do a remix, the idea behind it is really to help the melody. So whatever the song needs, in my opinion, which is of course different than a lot of people, I try to help the song to become what I would’ve wanted it to be had I had the initial idea. That’s why my remixes are so different because if it’s a beautiful melody hiding behind a house production, then I would take away everything and just give it a piano thing behind it. Or if it’s a melody that has a very short part that has a lot of energy in it, I’ll repeat that and give it more energy. It’s really about potentia. It’s really about me trying to support whatevers already there and make it what I would’ve wanted it to be in the first place. The idea is the same with Lido, how the project to begin with was just to make music without compromise so it’s really me mixing together all the elements of all the genres that I love. I grew up on gospel and r&b music so I take the melodies vibe off that and I fell in love with the energy and punch of electronic and the attitude of hip-hop and even elements of fusion jazz that I would drum to and even elements of progressive rock, too. I take all theses genres and combine them and see what happens if I don’t think about a platform. That’s the reason my music is so hard to place. Does it work at a festival? Does it work on your iPod? Can you work out to it? Can you chill to it? It’s a weird style.
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I completely agree. You’re really great at filling in the gaps that are initially left. So, tell me about your songwriting process.
Thank you, absolutely. I usually start out with a very clear concept. I like starting out with a very visual thing, like a word. Ideally I like it to start as a physical thing. Say for example, “Angelâ€, we had the initial idea of the chorus talking about clipping your wings, so I based all of the percussion on scissors. Things like that. I love being very visual, and almost literal about things. Other than starting with a clear concept and a visual, it really depends. I’m really a musician, so the music comes first. It also depends on what it’s for. A lot of the Lido stuff is heavy accidents, things that suddenly took a direction that wouldn’t be right for anybody else. I produce a lot of music for other artists as well. That’s what I’m so happy about with my platform because I can do anything. The things that became my stuff were too extreme or too weird or left field for whoever artists I wrote it with. That’s why I’m so excited about my platform because I can do anything.
A lot of people are very interested in your production.
Pretty much my message to producers is that it doesn’t matter. I did a little camp with Stargate a couple years ago. It doesn’t matter how crazy your production is or how much hype the dude has, it all boils down to whether or not there’s a song there.
What’s been your favorite show you’ve played?
That’s interesting. I’ve done so many weird things, like I’ve opened for Beyonce. I’ve don all these things that people would call the big things but I remember when I was fourteen I played a prom in my town and it was the most rave party I’ve ever played. That’s the one that hits me the most. And it’s so hard to predict that stuff. It’s always surprising to me. Obviously it has to do with your expectations and coincidences. In general, I’m a bigger fan of smaller shows just because of the connection and the ability to talk to the crowd on a more personal level.
Will you comment on any of your side projects or other aliases?
I don’t have any. I have no idea what you’re talking about. No, absolutely. It’s a very liberating thing. Lido started out as a side project but I really liked it so it became my main.
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Where would you like to see your year headed?
It’s looking like I’ll be playing a lot of live shows and festivals. I’m currently working on my album so hopefully that will be done before the year is over but I’m trying not to stress it because I have a bunch of projects I wasn’t to come out before the album comes out. I’ll be releasing 2 EPs this year and maybe an album. Other than that, Â everyday is an adventure and there’s something weird and new happening. I’m excited about this year but I have no idea what’s going to happen.
What would be your safe word in bed?
I’ve never been asked that question before. It’d have to be something ridiculous. I’ve never put any thought into it before. It’d have to be something really strange because it’d have to put you off. Maybe it should be like a really gross disease. If you just said “herpes”, that’s a stopper. It’s a dangerous one but probably very affective.
