RB Exclusive Interview: One On One With Seven Lions Including Some Exciting News
Jeff Montalvo, also known as Seven Lions, is an American record producer, remixer, instrumentalist and DJ from Santa Barbara, California known for his luscious hair and unique combination of trance and dubstep. Seven Lions’ first significant track was his remix of Above & Beyond’s “You Got To Go,” followed by other lovable tracks like his single “Strangers,” and original track with Ellie Goulding, “Don’t Leave.” He has also released three EPs which have charted on Beatport, and his 2014 EP Worlds Apart charted at No. 76 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Last weekend at our very own Crush Festival I had the opportunity to sit down with Seven Lions in the flesh, and he shared some very exciting news with me that hasn’t made the rounds online just yet. He let me in on some info about his personal life, his journey as an artist, some great advice for producers in the making, and some top secret insight about an upcoming EP.
So you just finished up your Drinking With Strangers meet n greet, how did that idea come about and what is your favorite beer?
“I think it came about because we were sick of normal meet n greets, that are kind of stale I guess and awkward, so having a beer definitely mellows people out and having a beer with people is just super chill. And probably favorite beer right now is the Ballast Point grapefruit… it’s bomb but ridiculously expensive for a six pack.”
What was your first encounter with music that you can remember, and was that the same encounter that inspired you to pursue music as an artist?
“I remember coming home from school when I was a kid and my dad had just bought a keyboard because my dad was a musician, and I was really stoked on that. And I guess even before that for Christmas he got me a toy drum set, and I always had one of those guitars with buttons on it, and there was just always musical stuff around the house.”
When you started off as a producer did you ever imagine you’d end up where you are today?
“No, not at all!”
With your love of heavy metal, why haven’t you ever collaborated with a heavy metal artist?
“I feel like heavy metal, or just metal in general is really different from what I do, and all of the crossover stuff I’ve heard I haven’t really liked so I’ve just never really tried to do that. But on the next EP there is a track that is inspired by more Swedish metal, more like a viking metal sound. There’s a lot of vocals on it though so it’s not metal-metal.”
You started off your career with a number of highly successful remixes of artists like Above & Beyond and Tritonal, do you have any particular songs or artists you’d like to remix in the future?
“For me Above and Beyond is the best at what they do songwriting wise, so if anything I’d just like to do more remixes for them. But I’m just doing more original stuff now. The reason I was doing a lot of remixes is because they had a lot of good vocalists, and now I’m fortunate enough to have access to good vocalists.”
How have you changed as an artist since your first EP “Polarize” to your most recent “The Throes Of Winter” and onto “Falling Away”, and which of your releases would you say is most representative of you?
“I guess the whole vocalist thing is what’s changed a lot. Now I can work with cool vocalists that I really like, so a lot of the tracks are more vocal-centric, but in the next EP there’s a lot of instrumentals. I just kinda do what I feel like at the time.”
On a night like tonight what is your favorite thing to see when looking over a crowd of thousands of people?
“People singing along. That’s definitely the best, even if they don’t know the lyrics, people try and it’s cool.”
If you could perform at any music festival worldwide that you haven’t already what would it be?
“Either Shambhala or Tomorrowland”
Since we’re here at crush festival tonight, can you share with us a little bit about your crush?
“I have a wife that I have known since middle school. We started dating in high school and its been about 11 years now.”
Tell us what you’re up to, any ideas for a new EP or single in the future? I know you said a little bit about it already.
“Yeah I’ve got a new EP coming out hopefully in the end of March. It’s gonna be like six songs, three of them instrumentals.”
Can you give any final words of advice to aspiring producers out there?
“Do it because you love it and keep at it and have fun doing it. I’ve just always kinda done it, and I think if you have unrealistic expectations or you worry about your social media presence or how the songs are getting released as opposed to how good the music is that you’re making. You’re better off just focusing on making quality music and I think that will benefit people in the long run. I think people get caught up in worrying about their music not being as big as someone else’s, and then they get discouraged as opposed to don’t worry about that and just make good music.”
No one had any idea that an EP was in the works, and I was more than excited for him to share with me a hopeful release date and just a little bit of what it will consist of. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for Seven Lions’ new creation!
