You’ll see DJs and producers nowadays who lose themselves in their work. They book back-to-back gigs cross-country and go through the motions of an artist while remaining hollow, segregated from their fans and the whole of their surroundings. While these guys are working towards some foggy final destination, Derek Vincent Smith, the producer behind Pretty Lights, might be found on stage at Red Rocks, looking out at a crowd 10,000 strong and taking a deep breath of satisfaction at the sight. The next day, you might find him tracing the floor of the aquarium with his iPhone, attempting to capture the way the light bends through the water. The next day you might find him recording music which he’ll release for free, just cause it “feels right.”
The spotlight can be blinding, but on the journey that has taken Derek from playing 200-person clubs to selling out Red Rocks and headlining Electric Zoo in less than a year, metaphorically speaking, he’s kept his shades on. Find out what makes this guy so cool, so accessible to music lovers of all genres, and so down to Earth in our interview below.
Clubplanet: You just played a sold out show at Red Rocks. That’s got to be an incredible experience. What goes through your head during a performance like that?
Derek Vincent Smith: Well, a lot of times in the past I’d just get so into a show that I wouldn’t really take it all in and really appreciate it for what it was; but I talked to a bunch of artists who had played Red Rocks before and one told me to really take my time and enjoy it because it will be over before I know it. I really came into it with the mindset that I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could, so I tried to look up and at the crowd as much as I was allowed while still being able to do what I do up there. There’s so much stress and so many things that have to be done to make a show happen on that scale, especially considering I’ve never done a show like that, my crew’s never done a show like that. But as soon as I got on stage and started performing all of that kind of floated away and I was really able to enjoy it for what it is. It’s 10,000 people who want to hear the music that I’ve created and I really don’t think there’s anything better than that for me. Those are the moments I live for.
Clubplanet: You recently got a new drummer, Adam Deitch, to perform with you live. How did you two get together?
Derek Vincent Smith: We met when I was playing some shows in New York City, where he’s from. He told me that he really appreciated my music and my style and he was really trying to get into the same kind of thing, the same kind of production stuff. We saw each other a lot at different shows, we ran into each other when he was touring and I was in the same place—Jam Cruise, and in New York, and different stuff like that. As I started to learn more about him, I realized that I really liked his style: a drummer who is also a producer, someone who can appreciate what I do and have more of an understanding of what is involved. Also, he’s a world-class drummer who is so talented, so professional. When that needed to happen, when I wanted to take that element of my show to the next level, he’s who I thought of. I hit him up and we played together and it immediately clicked.
Clubplanet: You had a different drummer (Cory Eberhard) play with you live before. What made you decide to bring in another drummer after you two went your seperate ways?
Derek Vincent Smith: Well, the whole drummer element I like to include because I like playing with someone else and I like that element in the live show. It’s never been like I write the tracks with my drummer or we go in the studio together. I mean, maybe, hopefully, that will happen in the future with Adam Deitch, but really it’s just been a live thing. There were no hard feelings with my old drummer, since he had other things going on that he wanted to focus on as well. It’s basically what had to happen, I guess.
Clubplanet: Have you ever considered bringing any other live instruments into your performances?
Derek Vincent Smith: I have and I’m always pushing to evolve the show and bring it to new places. That’s something that I’ll likely experiment with in the future, but like I said, everything is happening so fast that it’s kind of like, as soon as I have some time to sit down, I’ll think about it. And I do—I have a four-month period of time at the end of the year that I’ve blocked out where I’ve refused to play any shows. I can really just step back and make the album that I want to make and evolve the show to the point where I want it to be.
Clubplanet: You just released Spilling Over Every Side, the second EP of your 2010 trilogy. How does this one fit in the mix? What’s the relationship between this EP and the other two?
Derek Vincent Smith: With each individual EP, I’m trying to take sort of a different conceptual approach. You know, the first priority is me; I just want to make fresh music and put it out to my fans more often, which is why I’m trying to release three EPs in one year. I think that when they’re all done and I look back on them I’ll be able to better understand how they all relate, because when I’m actually producing them, I’m just trying to create what I’m feeling at that time. It’s not like I have a greater idea of how I want to do all three EPs from the start; I’m just really trying to produce the music that I’m feeling at that time. It’s already kind of obvious that I’m in different places with each one. Like, with this one, I was definitely trying to explore using not only different genres but different sonic approaches in the same song. What I did a lot on this EP is I would create more organic, soulful interpretations of the song idea, and then at one point in the track, go to a completely different style. Like, I’d go from organic, soulful and pretty to super hard and electronic in the same song. I was also trying to fuse different genres into different songs. The songs are pretty complex as far as their arrangements and what’s involved in each one and I suppose that’s what I wanted aesthetically at the time—a bunch of long intricate songs with different genres and different parts in each one. I kind of got that out of my system, so as I’m approaching the third EP, the elements I want to include are simpler arrangements, shorter songs, things like that. I’m trying to figure out exactly where I’m going with this third EP, but it’s definitely changing from the second and the first.
Clubplanet: Your music fits in with all sorts of crowds from the electronic music scene to the more urban/hip-hop scene to the hippy/jam-band scene. What about your music do you think makes it so accessible to so many different types of people?
Derek Vincent Smith: I feel like it’s not just about what makes my music so accessible to so many people, but the fact that so many different people are looking for various things from the music that they like. The music that I’m creating definitely has elements of all those things. It’s obviously electronic music and it can rock a dance party, but it’s primarily influenced by hip-hop, so there’s an obvious connection there. For the past few years, the jam scene has been moving in the electronic vein, so they’re sort of looking for that element, I suppose. But I think that it’s just because it’s a fusion of so many different styles, put together in a way that is still tasteful and soulful and banging on the dance floor all at the same time. That’s really what I strive to accomplish with my style. I take all these elements that influence me and I fuse them in a way that makes it seem like it was supposed to be that way, rather than it’s being forced together.
Clubplanet: Why did you decide to release all your music for free?
Derek Vincent Smith: That’s been my model from the beginning. I made the decision to release my music for free when I put my first record out in 2006, before anybody had heard the name Pretty Lights. My approach from that point on was, I’ll see how this works, and if it works well, I’ll continue to do it, but I’m not going to commit to releasing all my music for free, I’ll just do it as long as I feel it’s the right decision for me. Thus far, it’s been a huge part of what sets me apart, not only musically and artistically, but just as an artist trying to transform how the music industry works and how people get their music. Up to this point it’s worked great. It’s made my shows continue to expand and gain momentum and it’s also created a very loyal fan base. When they get the music for free and they realize that my perspective on the music is to share it rather than profit from it, then they want to support it and come to the shows and buy the merchandise. That’s not what it’s about, but those are some of the advantages that come from it. What it’s about for me is kind of looking at it differently. I create this music for my fans and I want to give it to them and I want the music to be accessible. I don’t completely understand why I do it, but I know that it feels right.
Clubplanet: I read a quote from you in another interview where you said that “creative people have an eye for the world where they’re always looking for things that are beautiful or cool or inspirational.” What’s something that has inspired you recently?
Derek Vincent Smith: I was so busy during the time leading up to Red Rocks that I didn’t have time for anything, so in the days following I decided to take off and do some normal stuff. I went to the aquarium with my friend and even walking through the aquarium I saw all this little micro stuff I thought was so fresh. I kept my phone out the whole time filming the way the light from the water reflected on the cement floor or I used my phone, not to take pictures of the fish in the tank, but the little plants at the bottom and the way they waved in the water. That’s what I was referring to, little things like the way the water affects the light as it shines through it, and the way it reflects on the floor.
Clubplanet: What’s one of the best live shows you’ve been to?
Derek Vincent Smith: I was pretty blown away with the Jay-Z show at Coachella. That dude has managed to take it to the next level on all fronts. The production is out of control. It’s so tight and so interesting to see him create music that kind of transcends the genre and, I mean, the dude is an icon and lives up to every ounce of that.
Clubplanet: What sort of artist would you not like to be perceived as?
Derek Vincent Smith: I’ve expressed discontent in the past with people thinking that I’m a DJ. I get fanmail with people saying like, “Oh I love the music you spin,” and at first I was like, I wish people knew that I wasn’t just spinning music, but that I was actually performing my own compositions live, even though it looks like I’m a DJ because I’m up there in a booth. I definitely spent some energy with that trying to explain to people the difference between a producer and a DJ, but I think at one point I kind of decided, well, who cares really. When the dust settles, it’s not really about who was spinning records on stage or who was doing something more involved than that. It’s about the music and how it affects the people when they listen to it. Really, I want to stop investing any energy into how I’m perceived as an artist and put all that energy into making the art.
Click here to download the new EP, Spilling Over Every Side, and be sure to check out Pretty Lights on the Red Bull Music Academy Riverside Stage at Electric Zoo on Saturday, September, 4th. Click here for more information and tickets.
Click here to purchase tickets the Pretty Lights show on August 28th.