RB Exclusive Interview: Eli & Fur

Phoenix Lights came and went so quickly–the Colony stage was a haven for househeads, while the invasion and mothership stage brought headbangers to a state of nirvana. One of the most unique sets of the weekend came from London duo Eli & Fur. They’ve been a growing name in the house realm since their debut; dropping lyrically based tracks with healing melodies and infectious sounds is Eli & Fur’s specialty. Their tantalizing basslines brought the crowd to their knees begging for more.

I had the chance to sit down with Eli & Fur after their set and pick their brains. They are truly a special duo, get a peek inside their lives below.

Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down and speak with us. How does it feel to be back in Phoenix?

Wonderful! Last time we were here it was too short, but it has been another really great experience. The last time we were here we had such a laugh, we played a night there and this was during the day. It was so hot, but it was amazing!

 How does the energy of the shows you’ve played in the states compare to shows in England?

That’s a good question. I think it depends on what show it is. You can have great energy all over the world it just depends where you are, the situation. I can’t really define the two. I think because of the connect with Anjunadeep its opened a lot of doors for us in America. It’s always very consistent. It’s amazing every time we play, not that it’s bad in the UK, it’s just different. We really like being in the US, so that also helps. The crowds over here are ****ing awesome (can we bleep that out?). It’s funny we’ve been asked that question so many times and I’ve tried to analyze it so much. But the truth is the US is a massive place, and we’ve played so many amazing places. The UK is smaller so it’s a little bit different. The energy here we love. The energy in the UK we love. They’re both great in different ways.

 I know you’ve been working together for quite some time. How did you two meet and eventually decide to become a DJ duo?

 We went to school together when we were 16. We became mates, we went out some nights finding music, and then we came together for about a year after school and we were just DJing at friend’s parties. It literally happened naturally, we were just kind of like this is going to be fun let’s do this. You get the bug, you get addicted to it when it goes well. I mean we started out playing so many empty rooms, so many dead spots then we would play some after party or house party with mates and when there’s a bunch of people in a room and they’re all vibing its addictive.

You have been growing in the industry since your debut about five years ago, how has your sound evolved since you first started?

 I don’t know, it started off song-based releasing on our own label and obviously with the DJing alongside that we played later and we got inspired by that so we’d sometimes make the tracks darker and it changed a bit. We’ve kind of gone full circle in a way that we’re going back to the vocals and we’ve got an EP coming out which is more song-based with vocals.

You guys dropped “Drive” earlier this year and there weren’t any vocals on there.

No there was no vocals on it, and also ‘Hold me down’ as well. We kind of jumped around a bit it’s fun to experiment. Since we love so many different types of music we’ve always been a bit all over the place, but to be honest I don’t have a problem with that. I think it’s really great to experiment and hopefully, your fans will appreciate that and watch the development and see how you grow. That’s what’s been so great about our journey and we can’t wait to put out our new songs. They’re going to be a little bit more song-based.

 How has it been managing your own label, NYX, so far? I know it started as a means to release your own music, but do you plan to expand the label and include more artist in the future?

 Eventually yeah. I think it’s great to have that out lit. The ability to just put music out whenever which is great because you’re working on your own schedule. And we might make a track one day and just want to put it out. Sometimes when you’re reaching out to labels it’s a lot more difficult, there’s more demand there but its support for us, when we believe in something to put it out there. It’s great to control and we can pick and choose what we want to do and we get really into that process and that’s what’s great about having your own label.

 What else can listeners expect from Eli & Fur in 2018?

 So, a little bit more back to the roots. A few more song-based releases. And then a lot of touring! We have got a pretty intense summer, and we’re actually in the US this summer more than we’ve ever been before and that’s going to be exciting. We always say it’s our favorite place to tour. A lot more releases and just continuing the journey.  I mean we are having such a good time and it’s amazing to be able to share that with people.”

Phoenix Lights is themed around alien sightings that happened in Phoenix in the 90’s. What’s your guys’ take on aliens?

 Aliens?! I would really like to meet an alien. I mean we always talk about aliens all the time. I actually didn’t know this was themed around aliens, now I feel like an idiot. I swear I saw a UFO once. It was high up like a drone, but I don’t think it was a drone because we were on an airplane and we were really high up and I was like “drones don’t go that high.” We’re definitely not alone, there are definitely aliens 100%. Is there a cover-up? That’s what I want to know. We could spend hours talking about aliens.

Thank you again for taking the time to sit down and talk. Any last words from Eli & Fur?

We’ve had a great time here! Thanks for your time and chatting with us we’ve loved it.

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