Shanti Celeste Talks

For those of you that have any familiarity with the current music scene down in Bristol, the name Shanti Celeste is unlikely to be one that has never previously graced your ears. She'll be bringing her sounds to the Hackney Wick dancefloor on 30th January to perform for secretsundaze.

Before she makes her way up to London, we thought we'd find out a little bit more about her;

How would you describe your music?

Err… Fruity bangers?

You've been labelled by some as a 'one to watch in 2015', so what should we be watching you do? And where can we see you do your thing?

I'll be putting out records, DJing, and doing my monthly NTS show, which I do once every four weeks on a Friday. My next gig is for Secretsundaze alongside Ryan Elliott, which I'm really looking forward to. It'll be the biggest show that I've done in London to date, which is exciting. Then I'll be playing at our very own BRSTL party in Cosies on February 6th, which is a pretty intimate venue here in Bristol. We're hosting a good friend of ours who goes by the name of Leewok, who you might have heard of already if you check out the Trushmix podcast. Back to Chile to see some family after that, and as soon as I'm back in Europe I'll be playing at Stattbad in Berlin with Pender Street Steppers and Hashman Deejay. I'm really loving all of the Mood Hut-related stuff at the moment, so that'll be fun.

How has working at Idle Hands influenced your musical tastes? Do you think that it has changed the music you listen to in your spare time?

I get asked this a lot, but there are so many other things that have influenced me along the way. Obviously the whole Idle Hands thing has given me the push to do what I'm doing, but alongside that, there's all my friends who make music and are amazing at it, all the DJs that I've seen play, all of the nights that I've gone to and danced all night.. I'd say that that was my biggest inspiration – going to watch someone DJ and just dancing for hours and hours, and being transported… You know when you're just dancing and dancing and dancing and you just don't want to talk to anyone, but you're so happy in that moment? Is that really cheesy, me saying that? lol

What's your favourite thing about the music scene in Bristol? Is there anyone we should be keeping an eye on?

My favourite thing about the music scene in Bristol is probably the Dirtytalk party. It's the only night that I really go out regularly to – apart from our own, of course! They always get really good people to play – Hunee, Prosumer, DJ Sotofett and Bjorn Torske to name a few – always in really interesting spaces, and they always manage to pull in a really good crowd. It's a guaranteed amazing night. 

My housemate Gramrcy has releases coming on Berceuse Heroique amongst others, so he's definitely a producer to watch out for, as well as being an amazing DJ. We had a release from Samuel on our BRSTL label, and he's recently done stuff for Tim Sweeney's Beats In Space, so expect big things from him in 2015 as well. Ishan Sound has a killer live set as well, on a more rowdy dub reggae tip, Bruce and Facta have had solid recent releases on Hessle Audio and Tempa, and Happy Skull have some exciting releases ahead. I'm also really looking forward to Strategy's "Seeds Of Paradise" LP on Idle Hands. It's pretty trippy. Of course you should keeping an eye on EVERYTHING that Idle Hands and BRSTL put out! 😉

How do you go about the music making process? Do you have a certain process or is each song different?

I go through different processes, which I have to exhaust and then change! I will make quite a few tunes using one process, and I'll ride out the creative flow until I hit a brick wall. Then I have to find another method, or make a slight change to the original method until I can make a breakthrough. I just get really bored of doing things the same way, so even if you might think that I have a recognisable style, the initial way that I get an idea going changes.

What's your favourite piece of music making equipment?

I don't really have a favourite, but if you were to put a gun to my head, I would say it would be out of the Microkorg, M1, and the 707. The Microkorg has loads on nice pads – I'm a big fan of a nice pad. The M1 just has all of those classic piano sounds and… more pads! The 707 just sounds great, of course, but I'm sure that if I had more equipment, I would probably have another favourite.

You have Chilean ancestry, how well do you know the music scene over in Chile? Do you feel that your heritage shows in your music at all?

I moved to England when I was very young, and I just don't really go back enough to know. Whenever I'm back in Santiago, I'm generally spending all of the time with my family, so I don't really ever get the time to go clubbing. When I was living in Chile – I was 11 when I left – my parents mainly listened to American and European music, so traditional Chilean music wasn't really something that I was exposed to very often, as sad as that sounds! I was exposed to it maybe at school, or because of the neighbours.

What does music mean to you?

I think it's like a mood enhancer. Music has the power to completely change the way that you feel, or enhance the way that you feel already. Sad songs for sad times, happy songs for happy times…

What are you most looking forward to about playing for secretsundaze in London?

I've never played for Giles and James before, and I've heard that they pull in a quite clued up crowd, so I'm looking forward to be able to dig deep and play stuff that I might not get away with elsewhere.

What else can we expect to hear from you in 2015?

My "Moods/Lumi" 12" will be coming out on BRSTL in the spring, and I've just finished off a bunch of new tracks which will hopefully be out at some point this year.

Catch Shanti Celeste performing at secretsundaze on Friday 30th January at BLOC in Hackney Wick, click here for tickets.