English born, LA based producer Chris Barratt aka Eagles & Butterflies reaches all boundaries of the cool electronic music spectrum with his productions.
From Downtempo to Techno to House, with releases on Get Physical, Innervisions, Noir Music, Get, Bedrock, Southern Fried and his own Spread Your Wings imprint. Support comes from the likes of: Dixon, Richie Hawtin, John Digweed, Tale Of Us, Damian Lazarus, Uner, Amirali, Tensnake, Solomun, and Noir, amongst others
Playing events such as Do Not Sleep IBIZA, Secret Garden Party, Get Physical ADE or Miami Bedrock boat supporting John Digweed, Eagles & Butterflies can expect to be packing his bags for many more travels as the music resonates all over the world, and on 24 March, Eagles & Butterflies once again joins John Digweed, as well as Culoe de Song, for a special Bedrock Easter event at London’s Ministry of Sound.
Get ready for this very special event with Eagles & Butterflies exclusively in-the-mix with us, and take a few moments to see what the man himself has to say about his career thus far, playing MoS, John Digweed, and more.
On 24 March you will be playing Ministry of Sound as part of the Bedrock crew alongside John Digweed, Culoe De Song, Bog, and R.E.C. As Digweed has been a personal music hero of mine, I am curious to see what your impressions are of him as a peer, mentor, and figure in dance music.
I Love John to bits, there wouldn’t be an Eagles & Butterflies without him. He signed all of the first E&B releases when I had no thought of really giving the music thing a good go. The continued support from him Is amazing, constantly being asked to support him at events is always a massive honor, I think I would have done 6 shows with him this year by April. He still has such a huge presence and importance in dance music after such a long career and there are only very few artists who can say that, no gimmicks or fancy marketing just solid music.
Bedrock has been known over the years for their Easter weekend parties. Have you ever attended? Before becoming part of the Bedrock crew, what was your relationship like with the label?
Yes I played the Easter party a few years ago and it was amazing, it’s always a great party. I have known Scott for a long time, again he is one of the reasons E&B is where it is today, as it took a bit of detective work to find out that the first tracks I signed were mine as I sent them with no names on!
Your latest release is a remix of Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi ‘Elements’. How did this project come about?
He is one of my all time favorite artists and a massive inspiration to my music, so we approached his manager and they actually said yes, so myself , DJ Tennis and a few other artist did remixes.
Speaking of releases, in a relatively short time you have managed releases on esteemed labels like the aforementioned Bedrock, as well as Get Physical and Innervisions. What has been your approach to approaching record labels with your music? Did you approach certain labels with certain tracks? How has that changed now? Are you being approached more then when you first start releasing?
I never make music to fit a certain label, I just make what I feel and then send it to the labels that I already work with normally… I get a lot of offers to do remixes and work with other labels but to be honest, I personally just like working with a handful of favorites that represent well what I want to achieve musically.
Now that you are based in LA, what are your impressions of the underground scene there? Sometimes, Los Angeles is a bit of an enigma to me (perhaps that I am an East Coaster who currently lives in Amsterdam), as it is so much associated with glitz and glam but, on the other hand, there are several great labels and artists also located there. What are your impressions of the city’s underground music scene? Who do we need to know about across the Atlantic here?
LA has a great Underground scene, you can’t compare it to Europe its completely different, but it has some really passionate people here who have really pushed things forward and are super passionate about what they do. Every week you can catch great talents there and its only getting better.
On a different note, you seem to have quite the collection of ink. In fact, I’ve read your name derives from your “obsession” with tattoos. As I am working on an article highlighting DJ tattoos and, I wonder, what is your favorite?
I love them all to be honest, my favorite would probably be the skull made of flowers and butterflies on my arm.
What are you most excited for in the coming months? 2016 is still relatively early, with summer still to come. Do you have any particularly excited releases, gigs, or events you are looking forward to?
So many great things music and gig wise, looking forward to my first show for Awakenings, a special gig in Ibiza and various festivals over the summer. Music wise there is a lot coming up with some of my favorite labels, and I’m also starting vinyl releases for my own label which I really can’t wait for .
Can you tell us a little about the mix you have provided us today?
It sounds like me 🙂
24 March | Bedrock Easter | Tickets | Ministry of Sound
tracklist
David August – J.B.Y
NR& – Taste Like
CAR – Idle Eyes (Roman Flugle Remix)
Feels – Digadoo
Lauer – ByBy (Fort Romaeu Remix)
Apollonia – June (Charles Webster Remix)
DJ Tennis – Divisions (Roman Flugle Remix)
Bicep – Celeste
Black Coffee – We Dance Again
Culoe De Song – The Bright Forest
Recondite – Phalanx
Frank Widemann – Moorthon II
