He’s donating $1 from each ticket to F Cancer.
From the time he burst on the music scene in 2010 with his critically acclaimed debut Polarize EP, Seven Lions has been taking the electronic dance scene by storm. His unique blend of deep, soulful melodies, inspired by various genres – including trance, dubstep, electro, and more – and epic, intricate musical arrangements, the 29-year-old Santa Barbara native has received universal critical acclaim for transcending musical boundaries and a serious international following with fans the world over.
Seven Lions (real name Jeff Montalvo) is currently on The Journey tour, an all-out 40-city North America tour inspired by the millions of young people who are looking to embark on their own adventures and embrace their personal journeys of discovery. To help inspire positivity in the lives of others, Seven Lions is teaming up with FCancer, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the early detection, prevention and support of those affected by cancer.
Jetset Times had the opportunity to chat with Seven Lions and discuss the future of EDM music, his music-making process and the importance of traveling on his life.
Your genre blending style and innovative sounds have garnered high praise by critics and fans alike. How would you describe the influences that have shaped your musical direction?
My dad is a musician so I think him being around the house and playing music always really helped. Definitely got me into music and he’s always been really supportive of it, so probably my dad.
Did he play any specific instruments?
He plays like everything from drums, bass, guitar, sax, flute, and piano – lots of stuff.
How did you get into electronic music?
Basically, a friend gave me FL Studio when I was in high school, and I wasn’t really into it at the time, but I just kind of loaded it up and messed around with it and realized that I could make music by myself and not have to do it with band mates and wait for other people because that’s always really annoying. So I just like started doing it on my own, because it’s just much more self-sufficient that way.
I know that metal has had a big influence on you. Did you ever think about creating metal music yourself and moving in that musical direction?
Yeah, the last EP had some very heavy metal influences on it, for sure. The track “The Journey” is super Viking metal.
During a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Steve Aoki was asked about the future of EDM music and believes the economic “bubble” of the genre may have already burst. How do you see the future of the genre moving forward and do you feel it’s peaked as well?
Maybe for people who are kind of gimmicky it might have peaked. But I think a lot of the people who are just making music they really love making music and experimenting. are going to keep on. I don’t know what the future is going to be like. I hope DJs don’t have to become cartoon characters and wear masks, but other than that I don’t know. I think it’s about remaining creative and, you know, putting on good shows and being nice to your fans and you can’t really guess what’s going to happen after that.
In previous interviews, you’ve said that you prefer staying and producing music in the studio as much as possible than go on tour. Is that true and do you still feel the same way?
I’m pretty stoked on touring, but it’s just a difference between like flying out and being on a bus. Like traveling on a bus is way, way better than flying for me. Just because basically you play the show, you hang out and party, you fall asleep, and then you wake up in the next city and you do it all again and it’s awesome. You get used to hanging out with people who are really cool and I really like it and I’m actually going to be bummed when it’s all over.
Where’s your favorite place to play a show, and if you could play a dream gig at any venue in the world, where would it be?
I think playing in LA is always fun because that’s where my friends are usually going to be. They’ll come down from Santa Barbara to visit me, so LA is probably my favorite just because I get to see my old friends. But, as far as places I’d like to go, I really like Asia. So I haven’t been to China yet, but we’ve done Japan, South Korea, so I think China would be next on the list. That’s somewhere I really want to go.
If you could name only three artists, from any genre, that you would most like to collaborate with, whom would they be and why?
Probably Sigur Rós just because I love all of their music, Steven Wilson because that dude’s a genius, and Zoë Johnston just because her voice is like super recognizable and really, really amazing writer.
Who has been the most impressive artist you’ve worked with?
I think LIGHTS. been consistently the best writer and vocalist that I’ve worked with. She just nails everything right away. She’s really, really good.
When you collaborate with artists, do you send material to the artist to record their vocals or do you like to be in studio with the artist so you can collaborate together in person?
The only reason I get in the studio with the vocalist is if things aren’t going right but they’re almost there. But generally they’re really good and they can knock it out on their own, which is like small feedback through email, you know? So if it’s a really, really easy collab they’ll send their demo and I’ll be like “Oh, this is great. Maybe change this.” And they’ll send it back again and I’ll be like “Perfectly, done.” So that’s a perfect collab. The other times it’ll be lots of emailing and lots of studio time, so it just really depends.
What’s your favorite way to relax on tour?
I think just going out and doing things like adventuring, that’s how we kind of stayed sane and made this tour so fun. Like going out pretty much everyday and exploring cities and finding something new, so it’s been good. It’s actually been fun going out and doing way more partying in the last week, but for the first month-and-a-half we were super active. In San Diego we went surfing and then we went skydiving, and in Santa Cruz we got long boards and just cruised around, stuff like that.
How has traveling influenced you as a person and as an artist?
I think it’s changed me a lot as a person because I’m a homebody and if it was up to me I would’ve never left the house. You know it’s kind of like a great opportunity and cool experience to go play my music for other people, so I said yes. But generally I wouldn’t have chosen to do something like this, so it definitely brought me out of my shell and made me comfortable talking to people. Yeah, definitely changed my worldview, too, like the one thing you realize when you travel is that everybody is generally the same and they all want the same things. They just want to be happy and have a good family and you know have the best for them. Generally, people just want to be nice, you know? I see a lot of shit going on in the world today and it just seems so far removed because we travel so much and meet so many people and everybody’s so nice. It’s like, I don’t know, I think if all you see is the news you can look at the world and it can be a really, really different place than what it actually is. And you won’t know until you actually go out there and travel and meet people and see what the rest of the world is like, so I think travel should be a requirement for sure. You know, like if you can, then you should, it’s definitely something that will change your perspective on the world.
Could you tell us more about Fcancer, and what motivated you to want to partner with this particular organization for The Journey tour?
That actually came through my management. They asked me what would be a good charity , and I figured cancer is so prevalent and most people know somebody who’s had their life severely affected by it that it just seemed like a good one to support. And my grandfather died of cancer, so it seemed like a good one for sure.
Any last words you would like to send to your fans or anyone who may be coming to your show for the first time?
Just thanks for the support, and I’ll see you guys on the road.
Check out Seven Lions’ latest EP Creations on Sound Cloud and Spotify. And don’t forget to catch him on The Journey tour in a city near you!
