Eliot Lipp has been producing tracks and hitting the road for over eight years now. While he’s certainly become a fixture of the electronic scene, Lipp has also found himself on the lineups of some of the biggest jam-oriented festivals out there, from Rothbury to Wakarusa. His forays into that world have helped make him one of a few producers that have found some crossover appeal amongst jam audiences. We caught up with Lipp in New York City as he was preparing to open for one of the kings of the jam/electronic crossover—STS9—to sit down for a conversation about collaborations, festivals, self-releasing music, the prospect of touring with a live band and more.

So how did this four-show run with STS9 come about?

Well, I’ve known the guys in Sound Tribe for years. I toured with them a long, long time ago back in like ’05 and ’06, ’07. So, we’ve just been buddies, we kept in touch and we hang out every now and then so when they were coming to the Northeast they just hit me up to see if I wanted to jump on. It was pretty natural because we’ve done it before. It’s actually been a couple of years since we’ve toured together but it’s a good fit, you know. I think the music goes well together.

So when did you first get to know these guys? When did you meet up with them?

Back in ’05 probably. Some friends of mine in Chicago, we had mutual friends in Chicago, this group Telefon Tel Aviv, and our friend John Hughes and the record label that I was on, Hefty. They were all buddies with Sound Tribe so we ended up on a bill together at a show in Chicago and we just clicked. We liked each other’s music and we started hanging out.

Were you a fan of jambands growing up?

Not at all. I never even knew about most of these bands until I started touring myself and playing festivals and stuff and then I started to hear about jambands like the Biscuits and Umphrey’s and all these other bands. I never knew about them at all until I started doing shows and touring.

There are jamband oriented groups out there, groups like the Disco Biscuits and STS9 who perform electronic music with live instrumentation. Have you ever thought about bringing in some sort of live instrumentation into your performances?

Yeah, definitely. I’ve got a show coming up in Philly with a guitar player that I’ve done some shows with before, Nick Bockrath, he’s got a group called Nico’s Gun. But we did a couple shows last summer together too. We played Camp Bisco, I had a full band at Camp Bisco with a drummer and keyboardist and everything. So yeah that’s something I definitely… I love playing with a band, you know. But it’s so different from doing the solo thing. I really like to be able to do both.

You signed with Pretty Lights Music for your last album. How’s that been going for you since you signed with them?

Good. I like that record label. I like that they give everything away for free and I think Pretty Lights fans seem to be pretty open to my music so it’s been a good way to… a platform sort of to release my music on.

Tell me about your collaboration with Wick-It the Instigator. How did that come about?

Well we have… I actually met him at a show in Georgia years ago. We did this festival together and it was crazy, the weather was crazy, there was this huge thunderstorm and it was pouring down rain and he was playing this epic set and it was pretty awesome. And that was when we first met. And then we’re doing a few shows together coming up so we talked about just in order to promote the shows to make a collaboration together, and we bounced that project back and forth maybe four or five times before it was done and then we mixed it and got it mastered and just threw it up there on the internet. That’s kind of a way I like to put out music these days. Just soon as I finish a song to post it. It takes away all the bullshit, you know?

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