Our Lipps Aren’t Sealed: A Chat with Eliot Lipp [WRR Exclusive Interview]

Well, they are both fun in their own way. It’s way more fun to play as a group. During some of our shows we would have a long break, so I remember going backstage and eating and taking a quick shower, no one had a clue. There was a lot of shit like that going on back stage. Throughout the tour we would try to push our cues back further and further it was a fun little game we played. It was hilarious.

There were a lot of nights that we would stay in on the tour bus. We would stay up really late just watching movies. We just called it the slumber party, we would stay on the bus and just make snacks. It was fun, I was like I can’t believe this is actually my job.

My favorite place that we’ve performed at had to be in Chicago at the Concord. I know the owners and it’s a new venue. We had a great show there. I was really stocked about Chicago.

Yeah, the south is totally different. It has a way different vibe, but it’s cool. It’s different just going from place to place.

A lot of those songs were done before the tour. We were still getting it mastered and working on all of the logistics. I did start on a lot of new material, so there is definitely more to come in the near future. I have also been working on some new sample packs so producers can go in and download and use my packs. It’s really cool to expose people to new sounds.

I wanted to do a song with them for a while. Ever since I met those guys, we hit it off as friends immediately. I was showing them my music that I had been working on and I wanted to see if they wanted to collab on anything. When I showed them “Western,” Jordan was immediately like yeah I like that! He came back with some lyrics right away. I wanted it to have that cowboy kind of feel because those guys are so southern and to me they just seem like cowboys. I was going for a cowboy/frontier kind of feel. That song came together pretty easy, we both had the same idea of how we wanted the sound to turn out.

It’s great, I love that label. Derek has been really supportive. It’s a really great crew. We all have a similar approach even though we don’t necessarily have the same style. We all come together and it just makes sense because we love all of the same stuff like hip-hop and dusty soul samples. We all just approach music the same way and it just works.

Hahaha! No, that was just a joke. Everyone was saying we kind of look like a boy band, so we decided to run with it. We are the Pretty Lights Boy Band. But, no we are not actually doing a cover.

There’s this producer named Profuse 73 that I was listening to in the late 90s. He’s a lot like Flying Lotus in the fact that he was really revolutionary and had an abstract take on hip-hop. He was actually the first person that put out my first record. He definitely helped me get my foot in the door and I still look up to him as one of my greatest influences.

I think Outkast has been my biggest inspiration. I used to listen to Outkast and be like I want to make music like them. They are so melodic and so beautiful on their own. I’ve always wanted to make beats and sneak in some melodic stuff too. They can capture so many vibes in one song and that has really inspired me.

I’ve gotten more into dance music and I’ve opened up to other genres as well. I keep trying to come back to the funk style that I started out with. I feel myself pulling away because I find myself liking other styles, but I also tend to come back to funk because that is where my heart is. I want to see people dance while I’m on stage.