A Conversation With Bastian Bux – elrow Town London Review

Bastian Bux is, in his own right, is one of the DJs and producers with the most powerful past, present and future within the music scene. This multi-award Barcelona native has managed, thanks to his ambition, talent and hard work been able to become one of the main artists of elrow, the reason? Both as selector and producer, he is able to move with ease within house, tech-house, minimal or techno with a versatility that has made him a guarantee of success. elrow recently hosted their annual ‘elrow Town London’ and featuring on the event was the man himself, if you haven’t been to an elrow event, it’s the craziest party in the world, and you are guaranteed to experience confetti, chaos, and ample chooowns, it is a musical experience like no other. Following Bastian spinning some chooowns in London, we caught up with him for a conversation/review, read below:

Hey Bastian Bux, how are you? Welcome to Dance Rebels! Please introduce yourself too; where are you from and what is your role in the music industry? Hi guys, so happy to talk with you :) I’m from Barcelona, been involved with the music scene for more than 15 years as a DJ, producer and also had my adventures as a promoter.

Whilst on your musical journey, what sacrifices have you had to make to allow you to carve out a successful career? When did you first realise you wanted to be a musician as a full-time career too? I knew I wanted to do this when I was really, really young. I fell in love with electronic music thanks to my sister. She’s 7 years older and started to bring home cassettes and CDs with Eurythmics, Kraftwerk, Ace Of Base, Joey Negro… When I first heard this music I got absolutely hypnotized. I felt it wasn’t made by classic instruments; it was like made by aliens from the outer space hahaha. I knew I wanted to devote my life to discover everything about it immediately. 

This year, musically, you’ve had EP’s on ‘elrow Music’ and ‘NEVERENDZ’, what’s been your personal favourite track from these EP’s and why?  Also, If you could give one piece of production advice, what would it be too? I would say my favourite track has been ‘Dear Club’. It was the second release of my label NEVERENDZ and it has a beautiful background story. I also feel is one of those tracks that people in the crowd recognize and demand in my sets. It wasn’t even close to be a hit song but still special for me. My piece of production advice would be to never ever think you know or you are good enough. When you start making good music that people plays it is easy to think that you know everything you need to know about making music and think your lack of success is due to extra-musical aspects such as social media, networking, etc. I think this is blatantly false and I see a lot of new artists falling in this mistake. Music will always be the key to open any door. Make a huge song and everything will follow. Don’t settle. Just focus on making better tracks. 

What’s your opinion of the current state of music being produced? Do you feel quality has improved, or are there far too many sample songs nowadays? Do you have any more scheduled releases for 2022 too? I think that it is just a matter of quantity. Easier access to music production tools results in more music being created, some of it will be top quality and some will be easy to forget. Digging is more crucial than ever, not only to find music to play but to find music that inspire you to create new music… Even for samples! I feel like internet is both giving us access to literally everything and making us lazy to dig beyond the obvious information sources. A lot of people checking the same top 100 charts and believing “ok so this is what I have to do” is creating a loophole but at the same time you can find fresh and new music beyond those charts every day. I prefer to focus on the good things rather than the bad ones, and there are plenty :)And yeah, I have 4 more releases this year both in my label and others.

You’re also one of the main elrow residents, such an achievement considering how many people want to be a part of the brand! How did you first meet them? How has elrow helped your career too? I met them in 2015 just one year after starting my Bastian Bux alias adventure. The brand was starting to grow out of Spain in that moment but no one could imagine it would be as big as it is now. They were looking for fresh new talents with music production skills background and experience. I did three sets with them as a test and they liked my vibe… Thanks God! Hahaha. Elrow has been essential in my career, undoubtedly the most important thing ever happened to me professionally and probably also personally. I wouldn’t be the artist and the human I am today without my Elrow family. 

On Saturday 20th August you also performed at elrow Town London after a 3-year wait [fuck you COVID], in the Kaos Garden. How was your performance that day as a DJ? When behind the decks do you go with the flow, or have an idea of what you want to play already? It was so good to be back in London, it is a special city for me and I always love to play there. I’ve been lucky enough to perform in every Elrow Town in the city since the first edition and it is always a highlight in my schedule. That day I had an early slot because I had another gig in Malaga at night so it was slightly different that my peak time sets. I did enjoy it a lot anyway; setting the vibe is always an experience that I love. I never have a plan when I start playing. I use to prepare a playlist with new music from that week and some songs I think I want to play but the truth is that 99% of the times I always end up playing something totally different. 

What was your favourite moment of your performance at elrow Town London? Was it a certain track moment, i.e. a big drop, or was it the crowd interaction and vibe? How appreciative of a quality DJ set is a UK crowd too? My favourite moment was when I tested my forthcoming release. It was the first time playing it to a big crowd and the reaction was special, gave me goosebumps. I never take for granted that my music will work until I see it hahaha. I think the UK crowd is one of the most appreciative, especially with house music DJs like me. You can feel the historical electronic music culture background. 

Speaking of tracks, what tracks were the most effective weapons in your elrow Town London set? How do you discover new music for your sets too? I would say ‘Sway’ by Ammo Avenue. It is kinda old but I’m playing it in almost every set now. It has everything I like: groove, uplifting energy and a housey vibe. My way to discover music is checking promos and especially sets from DJs I like. I love a lot of local DJs from Latin America, they are not famous but I consider their music selection next level. I always check their podcasts and DJ sets to find new music. I also look into charts and this kind of obvious sources like top sales, but I get easily bored. I prefer to listen to DJ sets while driving or in the gym, and then find the track I liked.

Unfortunately, including myself, I was unable to get to elrow Town London thus year, and I hope elrow returns to London. ASAP, so in your own words, why should people buy tickets ASAP to the next elrow event in the UK? Sell it to me… Elrow is not like any other party out there, where you only find -if lucky- good music, good sound system and some lighting. Elrow is a 360º immersive experience where you and your friends are part of the show itself. You will be introduced into a whole new world to live an unforgettable experience. I wish I could explain it with words, but the bests things in life are impossible to describe; you have to live it by yourself. So… are you still having doubts? :)

 Finally, if you could design your own elrow stage, what would the theme be, and if you could pick 3 other DJ to perform alongside you, who would they be? One must also be a young and upcoming DJ too. Hahaha what a cool question! Tough one. I will discard all the elements that I love and already exist inside our current themes so… I would say… it would be so cool to have a video games theme, something like the ‘Ready Player One’ movie. A crazy mix of classic video games elements, you would find a bizarre Pac Man, a drunken Sonic or a raver Zelda surrounded by Minecraft blocks and Super Mario mushrooms, pixel art, 90’s Arcade aesthetics… Hey I need to tell this to my boss! Hahaha.  I would like to perform with Laurent Garnier, Jamie Jones and Rendher as the upcoming. It would be an amazing party!

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