It’s a special day because this is Ellis Mars‘ first release on phuture collective! We had an opportunity to interview this emerging artist which you can find below and we hope you enjoy his track, “do not disturb.” as part of issue eight | LUST.
Interview curated by Soba & Floret Loret of phuture.
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phuture: Hey there Ellis! Welcome aboard phuture collective <3. Tell the world a bit about yourself!
Ellis Mars: I’m freshly 21 years old and I’ve been doing electronic music for the past 5 years or so. Right now I’m living in Boston for school but I’m from LA. Other than music, I’m big into skateboarding and I’ve been playing competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee for the past two years.
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phuture: What got you into music? What keeps you going?
Ellis Mars: Music has always been around for me. My family is very musical and there was always music playing in the house. My love for electronic music started with that Bo En song ‘Miss You.’ That song made me realize that laptop music is incredibly expressive, free, and versatile. That song really broke down any notion of limitations I had imagined for electronic music. And then I just fell down the soundcloud rabbit hole with artists like tomggg and tennyson. Hearing artists continue to make great music is really inspiring, but what really gets me is hearing from people that enjoy my music. If it wasn’t for them, all of my songs would stay as incomplete ideas on my hard drive forever. Knowing that someone wants to listen to me helps me push through to finish.
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phuture: What is the last song on your soundcloud feed that truly captivated your attention?
Ellis Mars The yuigot remix of the YUC’e track ‘Future Candy’ took me back. It reminded me of why I started and how much I enjoy the ‘soundcloud sugar’ genre. The people at Maltine records have always been killing it.
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phuture: What inspired you to create this track? What are your general creative influences?
Ellis Mars Recently, I’ve been trying to take my own experiences and put them to music. There was a moment when I realized that my long-distance relationship with my girlfriend is owed completely to technology. I was just thinking of all of the great times I’ve had talking through facetime or similar. I think that my music is a patchwork of my influences. I take what I love from all different kinds of music and mix it into my own. Right now, I’ve been listening to a lot of movie music, and TV OST’s, so expect some new string/acoustic stuff coming from me.
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phuture: What goals do you have for this year musically? (Keep in mind : Reach for the moon, because even if you fail you’ll land among the stars <3 .)
Ellis Mars I’ve been so caught up in the vanity of soundcloud lately, and I would love to be able to escape it. I think I will continue to evolve as a musician but, for the next year, I hope I will have the will-power to continue creating and finishing to grow on soundcloud. It’s a platform that I really like and I want to become one of the success stories from there.
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phuture: What is the craziest thing that has ever happened to you, that you’re comfortable telling potentially thousands of people?
Ellis Mars: A few years ago, I was just getting started on soundcloud and I posted a remix of a that Sage The Gemini ‘Gas Pedal’ song. I thought it was a funny take on a rap song to make it sparkly and happy trappy. Somehow it got to Diplo’s team and he reposted it on the ‘Diplo Aproved’ channel. Diplo is one of my fravorite producers and it meant the world to see that he liked my song.
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phuture: Have you ever used any psychedelic or mind altering substances, either to influence your sound, or otherwise? What are your thoughts on psychedelics?
Ellis Mars: I haven’t used any psychedelics or mind altering substances ever. I’m not against them and I think that they might be good for certain people, (Lindsay Lowend told me that acid is his production secret.), but for me, I don’t think I could handle a situation where I give away that much self control.
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phuture: Give us some shoutouts of artists who deserve more recognition.
Ellis Mars: Going to music school has changed me. People out here love to talk about the ‘newest’, ‘freshest’, and ‘most out-there’ artists, but they will shit on the Pop Music People. So I think that the soundcloud scene should realize that the same amount of ‘artistry’ (whatever that means) goes into a Carly Rae Jepsen tune as a soundcloud banger. Aside from that, I think that people should really check out the Maltine Records crew I really owe any music I have made to the inspiration I have gotten from them.
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