The Dark Side Of House with Eli & Fur

Photo: Eli & Fur

Beatnik unleash a killer, all female line up when they return to Joshua Brooks on September 27th - something that seems all to rare in the today's clubbing climate. At the helm of this XX chromosome dominated rave are two of the most talked about up and coming producers in underground house music at the moment - Eli & Fur.

Since making their presence felt in 2012, Eli & Fur have been honing a distinctly dark and yet accessible sound built around 'infectious, electronic melodies and seductive, pensive vocal lines' that have been thrilling dance floors from London to Tokyo, bolstered by their incorporation of elements as far reaching as old school Chicago house and acid, techno and garage through to r&b and even drum and bass.  

Demand has been massive for two Londoners, who in recent months have graced clubbing meccas Chibuku, Bugged Out and Boiler Room TV, and that's before we get onto their appearances at gargantuan rave fests like Creamfields, Dimensions and Glastonbury (hear why in their Data Transmission mix below).

We grabbed five minutes with the burgeoning double team to find out about their recent home on Defected Records, succeeding in a male dominated arena, DJing in India, and much more.

So you're set to appear for Beatnik in Manchester in a few days time. Is Manchester somewhere you've enjoyed playing before?

This our first time in Manchester so we are very excited!

How do ravers in the north compare to the clubbers back in your London stomping ground?

We love playing up north, the crowd and the energy is always amazing. We never went to Uni so it's always great to play for student crowds too, they always party the hardest!

The night is fairly special in that it boasts an all female line up, something that seems sadly rare in the current climate. How have you found the experience of breaking into the house scene, which seems to be so male dominated? Or is it not an even an issue?

It’s definitely an issue, any scene that is male dominated makes it harder to make an impression. People are always going to be more judgemental but, like with anything, its best to persevere and not take things too seriously and just keep making music. Breaking through comes with time and consistency, we still have a long way to go but it’s a really great journey and we are loving every second of it.

When did you realise that the two of you worked so well together? Do you remember a moment when you thought ‘Yeah, we’re good at this, we can do this for a living!?

We were flat mates after school so it really did start off with a shared passion for great dance music, we just started for fun, playing at mates parties, going out and hearing other DJs that we love. We really fell in love with the darker side house and techno, UK bass and garage, a lot of our favourite producers at the time were making amazing music we loved to play out.

It became more serious for us in the sense that we found this style of music that we really, really loved and both shared that same passion. It was then that we really thought it was something we were passionate enough about to try and make it work full time.

It seems remarkable that you were playing gigs in Tokyo and LA very early on in your careers, and without the assistance of an agent! How did that come about? And was there a moment where you knew you’d cracked the scene?

We were just really hungry for it, once we had this idea of what Eli & Fur could be, after just DJing around London at friends parties we wanted to push forward and start to play specific nights where people were coming to hear this darker, deeper sound that we were so excited about.

We were so inspired by DJs we were seeing at the time, we wanted to play those same nights. We just started contacting promoters of nights around London we loved, putting up mixes on Soundcloud. We started to play out more and more, the Tokyo gig came about from the promoters out there seeing a piece about us online, it was an amazing experience!

I'm not sure if there was a specific moment we thought we had cracked it, we still have a long way up in the overall scheme of things, but I think when WME took us on, it was a great feeling. It really felt like what we had worked up to had been worth it.

What are your respective roles in the studio, and are there ever any creative disputes?

We are both very opinionated when it comes to what we like, but I think it's our similarity in taste that makes it work. We really take on all the different tracks we make in totally different ways, whether it’s working with outside producers, as we did with Shadow Child, or it’s just coming up with a bass line or beat we really like and building on that.

Sometimes it's just a vocal we have come up with on guitar or piano and we build the tracks up around that, we love to write songs, it’s something we are doing constantly. It’s great to have a second opinion, if one of us doesn't like an idea then it immediately becomes something we wouldn't work on, we both have to agree!

Talking about your collaboration with Shadow Child - how did that come about? Did you enjoy getting signed to Defected, perhaps the biggest house label of the past decade!?

It was amazing to work with Simon, he's someone we have always looked up to, he just knows exactly how a track should sound on the dance floor, both structurally and melodically, we have always played his stuff out in our sets so to make a track with him was the best.

It literally came about by getting in touch with his management, he was doing some stuff in the studio we work at and we managed to get a few days together, and 'Seeing Is Believing' was born!  It was a bonus that Defected picked up on the track, it's so exciting for us, we have been releasing tracks ourselves for the past year so having such a well established label get on board has been awesome.

From seeing your Boiler Room, you both seem to be having an ace time, laughing and joking in between records, something we definitely enjoy seeing here at Skiddle. Is having fun an important part of your DJ sets?

Yes 100 percent! We love to play music, and think it's so important not to take yourself too seriously. Having a fun and light hearted approach is important to us, at the end of the day it’s all about enjoying yourself and making amazing memories.

So what does the future hold for you both? Any big gigs you’re excited about? What about new any forthcoming releases?

Our next release is out on Anjunadeep, a label that we have a really big appreciation for. It's called 'Feel The Fire' (above) and it's coming around the end of October We will definitely be playing it at Beatnik!

There’s also a few features after that and some remixes in the pipeline. Beyond that we are working on a lot of new material at the moment which we are excited about. As far as gigs go we have the Food Music tour with Shadow Child, we are playing in Brighton, Southampton and Cardiff which we are really looking forward to.

And we'll be playing shows all around the UK up to Christmas. We are also playing Supersonic Festival in India at the end of the year which we are seriously excited about. It’s a place we have both always wanted to go so to DJ there is even more exciting!

Last question - and it’s a hypothetical situation. You have the ability to throw the ultimate party, with guest DJs from any time in history, alive or dead. Where would you have it, who would be on the bill and what track would you play to define the evening?

Great question, and also a really tricky one! So we reckon seeing as it's close to Halloween (one of our favourites!) we would probably go for London Dungeons, we would do it Halloween themed, go all out on the costumes and lighting.

Line up would be impossible but favourites that spring to mind are Forrest, Kink & Neville Watson, Pearson Sound, Seth Troxler, Martinez Brothers, Adana Twins, Dusky, Waze & Odyssey, Maya Jane Coles, Kim-Ann Foxman, Marshall Jefferson and Frankie Knuckles. 

Track to define the evening - we both love 'Maurice - This Is Acid', it’s such a classic track that creates a great atmosphere. It's dark and it makes you want to dance.

Catch Eli & Fur in action at Beatnik alongside Lauren Lo Sung at Joshua Brooks on Saturday 27th September. Get your tickets here.

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