Interview with Lazerus

This week we had the pleasure of talking to Liam, an English DJ and producer with great ideas in Progressive House, releasing exciting tracks through labels like Immersed Recordings and Vision Decades, and the name behind the project Lazerus.

Lazerus began his journey in late 2021 with the track ‘Oracle‘ and has since maintained a cheerful and melodic musical production style, resulting in sounds that are completely compatible with the dance floors, including his latest release ‘Untold‘. It’s also worth mentioning that Lazerus has the support of important names in the electronic music scene such as Nora En Pure, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, TCTS, Sultan + Shepard, Vonda7, and Ben Malone.

Are you ready to get to know another emerging name in electronic music? Then welcome to WeRave Music! This is our exclusive interview with the promising English DJ and producer Lazerus.

Hey Liam, first of all thank you so much for having us for an interview. It’s amazing talking to you! Where in the world are you and how your current living country influences your music taste and direction?

Liam: I live in Essex in England, UK. I’ve lived here all my life and over the years dove in and out of different styles of music (mostly electronic) but I found House music is the constant genre that spans across my years of listening. I’m enjoying a lot of UK House and disco House currently.

I have quite a close big family and their music taste in 70’s and 80’s disco music being played on the speaker at family parties has always had a big influence on my listening patterns too.

I’m actually going to be starting a new alias soon. Mainly because I’ve wanted a name change for a little while, but also because I want to release some more dance-ier tracks. Under this new alias, I’ve got a great Piano House collaboration finished with my bro AltReal which we’re currently trying to find the right home for. I’ve also got plenty of solo tracks near completion. I’ll be sure to post about all of this on my Lazerus Instagram page to keep you updated.

How did you get started in electronic music and why do you choose Progressive House? Is there something special for you in this genre?

Liam: I have an undying love for pretty much all House music, the stuff I’ve been releasing under Lazerus has all been progressive/melodic but with my new alias I’d like to branch out a bit more. Although I will still continue to make progressive tracks.

I was into Big Room Progressive when I first started producing music – I’ve got a lot of terrible tracks I made from this time lying around on a hard drive somewhere that I’ll have to dig out, but I remember some of them not being too bad, those might need a VIP edit some day haha.

I first got started in electronic music when I watched Martin Garrix working on just his laptop making music on a video from his tour that he posted on his youtube channel. Before that I had never considered I’d be able to make music and I assumed you needed a big studio with lots of expensive “stuff” to make music.

I then decided to buy FL Studio and just started trying to work things out with the help of a few Youtube tutorials. 8 years of dabbling, little musical ability and a course at Point Blank music school later I’m still muddling through but with some small successes and using Logic Pro now with a bit of a deeper sound.

We discover your work listening to Immersed Recordings releases in 2021 and immediately we fell in love listening to ‘Oracle’. Could you tell us about how is it like to work with Immersed and how it started behind the scenes?

Liam: I discovered Immersed Recordings through some artists I admire releasing tracks withthem, and from there I found they had a discord. I joined the discord channel and at the time they were running a “track feedback scheme” where you paid a small fee per month and in return their A&R team provided detailed feedback on your tracks, which was something fresh that I hadn’t seen from a label before.

At the time I had quite a few tracks I was almost finishing but I wasn’t sure if they were good enough to submit as demos to labels so this service was incredibly useful for me.

After a few tracks I submitted what was a draft of “Oracle” (titled “Aura” at the time) and received positive feedback. After implementing the team’s suggested changes I thought I’d try my luck submitting it as a demo, and fortunately was successful. I’ve now released my debut track “Oracle” in their Immersed Elements series, as well as my debut EP “Relic” and my recent collaboration “Folia” with OnceAgain.

Releasing with Immersed Recordings was my first experience dealing with a label and I couldn’t have hoped for a better one, they have been fantastic throughout my dealings with them. The team is incredibly friendly and supportive of new artists, I’ll hope to be returning to releasing with them under my new alias.

Lazerus – Oracle | Immersed Recordings

Lazerus – Relic | Immersed Recordings

Lazerus – Vista | Immersed Recordings

Lazerus & Once Again – Folia | Immersed Recordings

And how do you feel making your “debut release” outside Immersed for the first time? Is there something sounding different?

Liam: It’s exciting to be releasing “Untold” with Vision Decades. I suppose it’s taking a bit of a chance as I had only recently discovered them but it feels like the tracks in safe hands. Having listened to their back catalog and chatting to their team it feels like the right place to release this track and it was a great opportunity to branch out a bit.

As for the sound I was just making what felt fun to me at the time. Eventually over time I may develop my own signature sound but for now I’m just trying to enjoy the process of making music. After all it’s still a hobby for me at the minute not my career so it’s important to keep it enjoyable.

Your last track ‘Untold’ released via Vision Decades is a very good Breakbeat/Progressive House gem and we really like it. Could you tell us about that track and if possible what the idea it came from?

Liam: Thank you very much. I started “Untold” by writing the chords first and after finding a dreamy synth preset for them everything else seemed to flow from there. The classic M1 Bass sound was next and then I found plenty of vocal shouts and adlibs that fit the vibe I was going for. I had tried writing it as a House tune originally but it didn’t quite feel right, once I made the change to breakbeat it really helped me to get the track finished.

I had been sitting on the project for a little while as I wasn’t sure where to go with it, I thenshowed you at WeRave the track and you put me in contact with Vision Decades. So thank you to you guys for reaching out and putting me in contact with Vision Decades, you facilitated this track’s release.

Lazerus – Untold | Vision Decades

About your music taste. What electronic music artists that currently make the most noise within your personal playlists?

Liam: In terms of my playlists it’s normally a mix of UK House music, older disco tracks and chilled summer vibes. Some of the artists I’ve been listening to a lot lately include: Disclosure, Gorgon City, Leftwing:Kody, Supershy, Redfield, LP Giobbi, Ben Rau, Simon Doty and Nu Aspect.

I also like Liquid Drum and Bass and I find myself listening to a lot of older Liquicity releases from time to time. Me and my friends were really into the 2012-2014 era of Liquicity at the time as well as Monstercat’s older stuff. I have a lot of nostalgic memories of us staying up all night gaming from that music.

Among the artists of the new electronic music generation, is there anyone that catches your attention?

Liam: Bonobo’s mix of electronic and organic is something I always find soothing. I’ve been a fan of Redfield for a long time, he always provides something fresh with each release. Tom Misch’s alias Supershy’s soulful disco house tracks are fantastic. Nu:Aspect’s releases on Selected never seem to miss either.

AltReal, OnceAgain, and Jack Willard are all great producers that I’ve had the pleasure of working with a lot recently and they’ve all got great tracks in the works so keep an eye out for them.

Are there more songs to come in 2023? Could you tell us more about it?

Liam: So I currently have 1 more track scheduled for release this year with Vonda7’s label art | werk which I’m looking forward to sharing. It is titled “Elixir” and is a darker sounding progressive house track.

I’m hoping to finish another collaboration and release 1 or 2 more solo tracks this year under the Lazerus alias depending on the release schedules of labels and my ability to get those tracks finished.

In your opinion what is the most exciting thing happening in dance music universe currently?

Liam: To be honest I’m not particularly good at staying up with events at the minute between work, music and social commitments. It’s been difficult to find the time to beon my socials and read news as much. I’ve mainly been trying to focus on my own process and getting tracks finished.

Thank you so much again for this interview Liam. It was amazing and we wish you all the best for your career! Please, do you have some message to electronic music fans around the globe?

Liam: No problem, thank you for having me. Just to enjoy the music and surround yourself with great people.

Image via Lazerus