A Conversation With illyus & Barrientos – Sense Traxx Ibiza Reunion

Hey illyus, hey Barrientos, how are you? Please introduce yourself! Where are you from? And how did you both meet to form I&B?Hey! We’re all good thanks. We’re Illyus & Barrientos from Glasgow (Scotland) and we met back in 2014 in our home city.

What sacrifices have you had to make, to enable you to both pursue your careers in the music industry together? What inspired you to become DJ/producers too? Barrientos was studying for his PhD the past 4 years whilst trying to pursue a music career. This involved a big sacrifice which was mainly his free time. What really inspired us to become producers was just our love of music – we share that same passion, and we both listen to a range of styles. We never really truly set out to become professionals, but merely started a journey together to enjoy what we do. The gigs we have played as a result of our music has been incredibly humbling, we still feel immensely privileged to be booked in countries all over the world.

You guys don’t stop release records ATM, 5 in the last month! Which one is your personal favorite? Why? Also, do you prefer to produce music in a studio, or mobile on laptop and headphones only?Well some of those releases are remixes, so they don’t properly count! With original productions we don’t tend to push as many releases. It’s better to have some breathing space between records. We’ve only released 3 original records this year and have our final one coming this month. We personally love ‘Scream’ on DFTD, as it is a record that came together so quickly and has been a big record for DJs over the summer. We definitely prefer writing and producing our music in the studio together. Although sometimes, Illyus tends to write quick ideas on his laptop in bed!

What other releases do you have for the remainder of 2018? Will you be making your debut on Sense Traxx, as you’re scheduled to perform at their Ibiza Reunion on Saturday 13th October in Southend too!We’re releasing our Red EP this month on Mother Recordings. We’re really excited for that one, as we’re getting a lot of DJ support on it already. We’ve also got our Calvin Harris remix dropping this month which will probably be the last remix release of the year too.

What can fans expect to experience with you, if they’ve never seen a live I&B DJ set? Do you create a journey? Prefer to pre-plan your sets?Or are you all for peak-time bangers only?It’s all about big energy with us. It’s not as black-and-white as playing peak-time bangers, we go up and down, and play different styles of dance music. It’s all about how the crowd react. We never pre-plan sets. A ‘journey’ set is more difficult to come by these days, what with clubs allowing hour-only sets for DJs which barely gives a chance. 2 hours minimum is enough to create an impact, but doing all-night long shows is definitely the way forward.

What are your top 3 tracks ATM, tracks fans can expect to hear you drop at the Ibiza Reunion show? Why are they your top 3 favorite tracks too?

• Gettoblaster – Let The Beat Control My Mind. This track really has an old-school feel to it and does the damage on the dancefloors. 
• Jansons – JNZ. This record has been out since June but it’s such a great record. The vocal is killer and just has this irresistible groove to it.
• Vozmediano – Raw Beat. Another record we’ve been playing for ages. It’s tough, has tough chords, and tough vocal chops. It’s pure energy.

Sense Traxx events always bring in a big headliner, previous artists include Franky Rizardo and Sidney Charles too, how excited are you to be joining this elite club? And how excited are you to perform at the Ibiza Reunion? Have you spun in Southend before too?We’re really excited to play. We’ve known Simon from Sense for a long time now and we’ve always talked about coming down to play at one of his shows. The time is definitely right and we’ve heard such great things about his night. It’s our first time in Southend too, so we wanna see how hard the crowd can go!

Finally, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve received musically, which has benefited to your career? Always write music for yourself. Don’t try and write music to a label, or a particular sound. Just write whatever you feel like writing!

Get Tickets For Sense Traxx Ibiza Reunion w/ illyus & Berrientos Here