Leah Culver came back to totally decimate the Oceania main stage at Imagine Music Festival 2017 with a passionate performance that was nothing short of inspiring. The young DJ is an Atlanta native and so very close to our hearts down here in the Southeas, so for fans it was an especially heartfelt set. She brought in 42 people including a full band, orchestra, and performance artists to join her on stage as well as seek the assistance of the Atlanta’s Children Choir. Every year, Leah looks to improve what she can do and push the envelope of what an EDM set can be.
We luckily got the chance to sit down with the growing artist to find out what has been going on behind the scenes and what we can expect in the future.
RR: How did you feel about your performance?
LC: Yesterday was an incredible experience on a lot of different levels. I think we hit a lot of goals personally by having so many live aspects and facets to the set. Bringing in the Atlanta Children’s Choir was a really big moment for not only me but Glenn Goodhand. He really wanted to make that happen. We couldn’t have done that without him. I think that we really had to have everything on point in a lot of different ways for a few reasons other than just having a good set. We had some important eyes watching and I say we because it was a team effort. It was a 42 person production, 32 person performance list and I couldn’t have done it without all those people. We had 6 dancers from Mad House based in Atlanta, I had 4 orchestra members that were incredible. John Wilkes on the drums, Ricky Mears, Eddy Gritty on guitar, a 17 person kids choir. I thought it was a really good show.
RR: Compared to last years performance, what changes are you happy to have made? Can you go into some detail of what goes into the decision making of those changes and maybe elements you would like to include in future performances?
LC: Every year I play Imagine Festival and it’s important to me no matter what happens to my career that I come back to play Imagine Festival. Maddy and Glenn mean a lot to me and what they have built. I feel like they are my family and so I always want to come back. In my head, every time I play at Imagine, I have to one up my set from last year. It’s like a personal goal. So coming back and playing it this year I felt like we really did that.
RR: Yeah, and that kid’s choir was a really cool addition.
LC: Thank you! Yeah, and they were so poised and professional. None of us had a chance to practice with each other. So everyone was sent the music and they had to kind of learn their parts on their own. I just had to cross my fingers and hope everyone really practiced. But I think they all really pulled it together and we pulled it off.
RR: So are there ideas in your head right now that you want to start implementing in the future or do you just want to see what happens?
LC: Yeah, we’ve actually already started planning for next year. We’re thinking how can we make it bigger next year and that’s definitely a good question that I’m not sure exactly yet. We’re thinking that it will definitely be bigger next year.
RR: So what drives the decision for when you choose to write/produce a track versus only doing the vocals?
LC: Usually I get sent emails to do a feature. So someone will send me a song and ask me if I want to sing on it. When I do my own production and my own writing that really comes from a personal, creative almost warmth that sparks when you want to get working on something. Right now I’m going to Icon Collective, it’s a music production school in North Hollywood. We have a big work load there in general. So even if I’m not working on my own personal music sometimes the music I’m making there ends up being my own personal music. It really pushes you to get better.
RR: Do you ever reach out to people?
LC: I haven’t reached out before yet. I’m trying to build something so that when I want to reach out they don’t just ignore it. If I could work with somebody, I’d want to work with Skrillex or Zedd. If I could work with any other vocalists, I’d want to work with Hayley Williams, Brendon Urie, Panic! At The Disco and Paramore. And Grimes, I’m obsessed with Grimes.
RR: So can you tell me a little more of what drove or inspired you to go to Icon and that whole process?
LC: I actually heard about Icon Collective about five years ago. I never thought I would get to go there because it’s pretty expensive and it’s in L.A. and I was in Atlanta so it seemed a little out of reach but I really wanted to go. I think anybody who wants to learn more about music production; song writing, ear training, music theory, all of the above should maybe consider going to Icon Collective. They also have online classes so you don’t have to move there but you really benefit when you go to the school like that.
RR: So how do you like it so far?
LC: Oh I love Icon. I’m there all day, every day and they pretty much have to kick me out at the end of the day. Every single day you’re learning something new there. There’s all these kids there. I don’t know if you know but people like NGHTMRE, Slander, Kayzo, Yultron went there. The list goes on and I’m probably failing at remembering right now. It’s such a good environment there to learn from each other. There is a lot of talented kids in there already and we’re all learning more. It’s such a good environment to better yourself and even the music theory behind it. Everything I had learned before was on Youtube tutorials, by ear, looking at patterns for guitar and piano. I was looking at Google images to learn the patterns of where to put your fingers. With music theory, it’s like a puzzle now. You got to learn to put it together, almost like math.
RR: Do you have a chance to collaborate with other students?
LC: Yeah. Actually I wanted to mention this one girl who is really incredible. There is a handful of girls at the school, out of a sea of dudes, but this one girl her name is KAYTEN. Her name is Kristen, but artist name is KAYTEN. The last song I played in my set was a collaboration with her. That was truly, fully, honestly produced by two girls. I haven’t seen that a lot in the industry. She is really impressive to me and working with her was really cool. She’s really talented and she’s a good friend of mine over there.
RR: Is that song out for people to listen to yet?
LC: I think we’re going to release it. It’s a dubstep drop with a bunch of super saws and the second half is a big guitar jam out with some EDM elements. But yeah, we’re going to release it. I don’t know how but we will.
RR: What was it like working with PeaceTreaty and The Burgs for “Don’t Wanna Wait”? What is your collaboration process like when you’re on the vocal side?
LC: That was a really good experience. So I worked with Angelo from PeaceTreaty for that entire experience and he is an incredible producer and such a nice, kind hearted person. The Burgs were such nice, generous, kind hearted people. It’s honestly so cool that whenever I work with someone I get to learn something. We’re in there producing it together and I get to see more and more. Songwriting wise it was a big collaboration between all of us. Seeing it chart was really cool. It was number one for two days, that was exciting. It was number one on Beatport in trap and future bass.
RR: What is your collaboration process like on the vocal side?
LC: The vocal side it can go two ways. Sometimes I’ll start a song on piano or whichever. People will reach out to me through email or in person. They’ll say, “Hey, let’s do a track” and I’m like, “Okay!”. Either they send me a track they’ve been working on and I’ll write to it. Usually it’s pretty bare or it could be fully produced. Otherwise, I’ll start a song and start building the structure of it, make a skeleton of a song and send it back to them. Now it really goes back and forth and we can really collaborate more than just feature, production wise.
RR: Are there any new EP’s or collabs that fans can look forward to this year besides the KAYTEN track?
LC: Absolutely. I’m sitting on a lot of music right now that’s my music. I’m also working with Borgore on a song. I was working on a song with him called “Ride”, but he ended up putting it out with somebody else. But now we’re working on a song called “Mattress”. It’s actually a really catchy song and once I get back over there I’ll be recording with this guy named Randy. He’s a really talented engineer and we’ll record that over at Paramount, which is such a cool experience.
RR: What is to come with your music project, coming from MK Ultra and now being Leah Culver? Are there any plans in the future that you want to stay in this line of genre or is there something that you really want to push to do?
LC: Right now, I’m going to stick with Leah Culver. I have a great time DJing and making EDM stuff. It’s a lot of fun. I also have a great time making pop music on the side. I haven’t released anything really like that. I’m dabbling in a lot of things right now, learning all kinds of sounds and playing with everything. In the future, yeah. It’s definitely going to be EDM oriented no matter what. As you can see, I really enjoy the live aspect and I really think the crowd deserves a live show. I respect every single artist on that stage and I appreciate everything that everyone does but I really enjoy bringing in the live drummer or guitarist, the kid’s choir. All the head banging and the singing and that type of energy. I just think the crowd deserves a big show that they’ve paid to come see. That’s definitely always going to be incorporated.
RR: Do you think eventually you will think of separating from DJing all together and focus on your singer/songwriter path or do you think they will always be in toe with each other?
LC: Right now there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes. A lot of different meetings with certain people that could take me pop or full DJ. So we’re right in that process right now figuring out what do you want to do. What’s your two or five year plan? That is a good question, because that is something that I’m thinking a lot about right now. But I’m always going to have DJ sets no matter what. But I may also have live shows in the future. I can’t give you much of a straight answer right now because I’m not sure. But it’s definitely in my head that I’m interested in both, but I’ll always have DJ sets.
RR: Any sets you’re excited to see this weekend?
LC: I’m actually really excited to be here the whole weekend. I’m excited to see Deadmau5 tonight. I really wanted to see NGHTMARE but I got held up. He went to Icon too and I look up to him. Datsik was sick, the new look with the hat was really cool. I love branding, I’m obsessed with it. It’s cool to see him do that. Pretty Lights Live I’m really excited about. I want to take notes on all these live acts like STS9 and The Floozies. Spaghetti is here today. I reached out to him a long time ago to bring him out to Iris so it’s exciting to see him here.
RR: Out of all the big stages you have gotten to perform on within the past couple years, which one was the most memorable or fun?
LC: As of this very second, the most important and special one was last night to me for a lot of different reasons. I wanted to make Matty and Glenn proud. I wanted to amp it up every single year and we really did that this year. With the eyes on it this year and succeeding in that, it was really special to me.
RR: And how about outside of Imagine?
LC: TomorrowWorld was really cool. I played E3 in L.A. this year at the Chinese Theater. That was really cool, it’s a different crowd. I’m always interested and excited to play different crowds, to learn about different humans and how they interact. I was curious to see how the gamers would react. Dubstep is definitely an influence in the gamer world and you have some more introverted people as well but it was really cool.
We want to thank Leah Culver for taking the time to answer our questions and can’t wait to see what she does next.
Connect with Leah Culver:
https://www.facebook.com/leahculvermusic
https://twitter.com/leahculvermusic
https://soundcloud.com/leahculvermusic
https://www.instagram.com/leahculvermusic
http://leahculvermusic.com
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