Ellie Anderson: The ‘Shine A Light On’ Mix

5 Minute Read

Music

There’s a corridor on the fifth floor of Badock Hall at Bristol Uni where, as far as we’re concerned, the real story of Zen Arcade begins. Three students, a stairwell, jump-up edits and warm cans of Fosters – not exactly the creation myth you’d write for yourself, but Ellie Anderson isn’t one for embellishment. That corridor eventually found its way to Strange Brew, and from there into a night that’s since pulled in Optimo, Red Laser Disco and a burnt-out car towed into the smoking area for good measure.

Anderson operates as one third of the trio, though this mix is very much her own territory. It’s a proper trawl through the record collection of someone who got her first real jolt of music aged ten, watching her dad spin his old trance records in the kitchen and losing it completely to Bullet In The Gun. Twenty-odd years on, the acid-and-disco throughline she’s chasing on Zen Arcade nights is very much present here too, still somewhere between genres she’s not interested in naming precisely.

Beyond Bristol, where she still holds things down between sets and a pint pulled at The Love Inn, Anderson’s just started at Team Love, working on Love International Recordings, and has recently made the move up to London – a city she’s still finding her feet in. The gig sheet’s filling out accordingly, let’s see whatever else the year throws at her.

Outside the booth she’s telling her Granny, unconvincingly, that this is all technically work. Whether it is or not, the results speak for themselves – un-do, un-learn, dismember, un-dress, as the Zen Arcade manifesto goes. Consider this your induction.

Excited about your day is the required state of mind. Picking your nose is not… Bleepy, bloopy goodness… eyes down, let’s go.

Ransom Note · Ellie Anderson: The ‘Shine A Light On’ Mix

Where are you right now, and how did you end up there?

Up in Yorkshire, nice to come back home sometimes and take a break. Recently moved to London which is a busy place… takes some adjustment!

Talk us through this mix – what headspace were you in when you put it together?

It’s kind of a premiere mix for me, the first one I’ve answered questions about and published so I hoped to curate something which introduced my sound as an artist, which I’m slowly starting to discover. Attempting to lie in between genres, e.g., acidy, disco-y, chunky?

Where should someone be when they listen to this, and what should they definitely not be doing?

Should be: excited about their day

Shouldn’t be: picking their nose!

If this mix was a meal, what would we be eating and where would we be eating it?

I think it would be unadvisable to recommend eating this. Got to be health and safety conscious guys!

What’s your first memory of music doing something to you that you couldn’t quite explain?

Probably at the age of 10 or so, Dad showed my sister and I his 80/90s trance record collection. I think he put on Bullet In The Gun (Mum’s favourite track) and I remember just running around the kitchen like an idiot. Who’d have thought I’d end up listening to that kind of music every day!

Zen Arcade started at Strange Brew – what was the actual moment you decided to start your own night, and how terrifying was the first one?

Zen Arcade was born in the Badock Hall’s 5th floor corridor, which technically served as our first event… three Bristol Uni students hosting a gigantic pres in a stairwell – where all good ideas are formed, right?! Lots of jump-up edits and warm fosters cans from recollection.

What’s the worst a night has ever gone, and what did you take from it?

Hmm, it’s got to be Zen Arcade 2.0 at Strange Brew. Car crash on our part. I think 27 people turned up… Maximum effort had gone into art and projects, but unfortunately, minimum turnout.

It’s definitely taught us that promoting isn’t easy and often doesn’t go the way you expect. But that’s why we do it!

Bristol has a serious scene right now – Strange Brew, Crofters Rights, The Love Inn all doing very different things. Where does Zen Arcade sit within all of that, and whose nights in the city do you genuinely admire?

I hope that Zen Arcade sits somewhere in the middle of it all, possibly on the weirder periphery… not sure that many promoters chose to get a broken down car towed into the smoking area and lit up with red beams and smoke machines, each to their own!

Personally I take a lot of inspiration from the nights around us in Bristol: Chez’s Club Blanco and the Paradisco crew, plus our hombres over at Stretch Collective have always got something exciting up their sleeves.

You’ve brought in guests like Decius and played alongside acts like Red Laser Disco. How do you decide who fits a Zen Arcade night – is it purely about sound, or is there something else you’re looking for?

I guess we’re looking for people who are happy to run along with our whacky ideas! Sound wise just whatever we’ve been into, there isn’t really a structured criteria there, don’t want to pen ourselves into any specifics.

P.S. Big ups to the Red Laser Massive!

If Zen Arcade had a manifesto – something you’d hand to every punter at the door – what would it say?

Un-do, un-learn, dismember, un-dress.

What was the first record that genuinely floored you, and where were you when it happened?

Seeing Crazy P perform live for the first time was pretty special! Definitely been hooked ever since.

You’ve got a Swu.FM residency – does playing to a mic and an invisible audience change how you approach a set, versus a sweaty room full of people?

It’s nice to be able to play some alternative stuff on our monthly residency, downtempo, lovers rock, trip-hop etc. A good reminder that it’s not alllll about house music! Jokesss it obviously is…

What record do you own that you love but have absolutely no idea what to do with on a dancefloor?

Trans Volter – Disco Computer… it’s such a fun track but you really need a specific moment to play it, yet to throw caution to the wind here.