Here's an old interview I did for my mate Martin Freeman for my hometown of Chesham's local magazine...
Leo Zero Interview
This month we speak to recording artist and remixer extraordinaire Leo Zero aka Leo Elstob who hails from Bellingdon near Chesham. Add to this his graphic design work on such things as flyers, record sleeves and running legendary nights such as Soulsonic and Faith and you start to get the picture of how hard this man works. His musical styles range from "House to Disco - Boogie to Balearic via Punk/Funk and Mash up" and as well as running his own record labels and recording under many guises he has also remixed tracks for some of the finest artists and bands around. But more of that later...
Hi Leo,
Now having DJ'd and put on various nights with you back in the early 90's, like Bazooka, Shrink 2 Fit, and of course the early Shake Your Booty's, I think I have a pretty good idea of your musical preferences but can you give the readers a taste of your background - how you started, what got you into making music, that sort of thing...
I got started collecting records a kid - I was into Kid Creole & The Coconuts & Adam And the Antz - In fact I still am… then came the Streetsounds Electro compilations and pirate radio stations like LWR - which were not easy to pick up in Chesham, so lot's of improvised ariels were experimented with, I seem to remember wiring up a radiator at one time. I went to Wycombe College in about 1990 to do Graphic Design and guy called Nick Bracegirdle in the year above me had a very basic studio and a sampler. We agreed to meet up and I sampled a load of my records in a MARRS 'Pump Up The volume' style track. A few weeks later we had our first 12" which we pressed up ourselves and sold out of my fiat uno's boot to various dance shops in London ( 'dance music shops' remember them?). The next thing we know we had Virgin and other record labels in a bidding war to sign us…. we ended up on the same label as Kylie Minogue and in the top 40 in the space of a few weeks - so it was very much a case of first time lucky for me - It's taken me another 20 years to work out how to actually do it by design rather than luck - and I haven't figured it out yet.
Let's talk about your own work first. You've produced under many different names to date and run various record labels so can you tell us more about these...
Ha Ha, too many pseudonyms, this was because as a graphic designer, every time I did a new piece of music it was an excuse to come up with a new name and logo too, which in hindsight wasn't the best move for my budding career. So over the years I've been - Chicane, Cyanide Music, Royal Gate Tones, Beans, Dab Hands, Garden, etc.etc the list goaes on... and er probably one of the worst artist names ever "DIsco Citizens" how shit does that sound.... oh the power of hindsight.
With Chicane in the mid 90's you experienced a top ten hit as well as a huge debut album success. What was this like and why did you decide to leave and follow a different path................
I soon realised I wasn't cut out for er 'pop stardom' - the defining moment was being stuck behind an unplugged synthesiser, miming to a Chicane track on some German kids TV show. The band on after us were called Pharoah and were all dressed in daft Egyptian costumes - doing a king tut dance to a trance song that they had nothing to do with actually making…. I knew It was time to bail out and get back to basics, which was making the kind of stuff I was playing as a DJ, and what I was really passionate about : good old fashioned deep house music.
Looking back at that time it felt like having success in the pop side of the music industry was like have a 'wanker magnet' attached to you - the more money you could potentially make, the more awfull people came out of the woodwork to try and cream off a piece of it - thankfully I found refuge in the wonderful underground scene that was going on in London: French house, Nu Disco, slo-mo stuff like Metro Area, Idjut boys, Dj Harvey, Nuphonic, Faze Action, re-edits etc. were all on fire - it was an amazing time and I was running clubs every week and totally emersed in it all.... the alternative was making records with Bryan Adams, phew that was a narrow escape - I'm glad I got out when I did.
You had another top ten smash in 2004. Can you tell us about this............
I had just started working with Dj Mark Wilkinson and producer Richard Searle and through a bit of hustle ( Mark is "Mr Hustle" ) we managed to get the multitrack for Lou Reed's Satellite of Love which he wrote and recorded with David Bowie - It was amazing hearing those two dueting on the raw multitrack as if they we're right there in the room with you… we chucked everything we had at that remix and luckily it paid off - we were No.1 in Miami that year - and it all just snowballed, I got texts from people all Summer at festivals and in Ibiza saying "they're playing yr f***in tune!" Fatboy Slim playing it to 50,000 at Glasto that year was a bit of a wtf moment.
More recently you went on to write and produce the Balearic classic album " Collected Works" with "A Mountain of One". What was it like to record with a band, and, I presume, play live and how did it differ to your normal production work ...............
I can't tell you much about the playing live front 'cos I was just the bloke pressing play on the ipod that had our effects backing track on. That said, we still had live drums, percussion, guitars, violin, and 2 singers on top - which made a right old psychedelic stew (more like racket) -
I did the front of house mixing a couple of times with all those different palyers and it was certainly a challenge. That whole recording process was a massive learning curve for me though, and I'm very proud to have done it….but it was a very intense period - There's a great quote from DJ Harvey about why he's not in a rock band : "It's like having four girlfriends at once." amen to that... Moutain Of One was special 'cos a load of diverse people came together and put so much energy in, we had an awesome (and malleable) core singer-songwriter in Zeben Jameson and Mo Morris is a true visionary type in the Malcom McClaren mould - i.e. a bully! ha ha only joking. I stepped aside after the first album was made and had a few co-wirtes on the second one... there's another very true quote about every band needing a diplomat well in Mountain of One we needed an army of them! I very proud of that 'Ride' single though, it was a real buzz putting that together especially, and I can remember Mo and I buzzing in the studio when we got the Fleetwood Mac style bassline in.... memories like that are pure gold.
On the remixing front we have heard about the Lou Reed & David Bowie track but what other names have you performed your magic on and remixed for ..............
Well I'm very chuffed to have people like Paul Weller, Bryan Ferry, Florence & The Machine, Basement Jaxx, Underworld, Badly Drawn Boy on my CV and these are all artists I love to bits….. I've done Dido too, but let's keep quiet about that one.
Do you actually get to work with these bands and artists, how does it work in the studio..............
I luckily got to meet Bryan Ferry which was a real treat - he had a row of Andy Warhol Marilyn prints at his studio which must have been originals and worth millions. Most of the time though, it's very dull - the record company send you separate parts for the track - with either a 'just do your thing' or 'we want it like this' type of brief - and off I go. It's always a nail-biting day or two once the remix has been sent back and I'm waiting for it to be approved.…. Florence & The Machine's A&R man came down and finished her mix with me which actually worked out great - most producers will keep the record company types out of the studio at all costs as they are the spawn of the devil - right up there with estate agents! only joking (estate agents are alright)
Any favourite bands or artists, any tracks that stand out for the right or wrong reasons ............
Florence Welch gave me the best compliment ever by incorporating my remix into her live version of 'Raise It Up' , and I got a big sweaty bear hug from her when I Dj'ed for her at the gig.
Hopefully I can get the chance to work with her again. And anytime I get to remix a Paul Epworth produced track is a real treat - I think he's now up there with Trevor Horn - a total fucking genius.
As I mentioned earlier you are also a graphic designer within the music industry. What sort of work do you produce and how does it combine with your music................
I do a lot of retro stuff and photoshop collages which is a lot like what I do with remixes - taking bits and bobs of other peoples stuff and re-interpreting it - the People's Popular Font collage sleeves have been a great door opener for other graphics work I got a set of T-shirt designs for Stussy commissioned off the back of them, at the moment I'm working on a new batch of screen printed record sleeves for my new 12" label.
And as if you aren't grafting hard enough already are you still DJing out and about, where could we catch you playing and what about the various nights you are involved with.
I'll play anywhere that'll have me - weddings barmitzvahs…at the moment I'm regularly all over the place internationally or taking the bus down to Shoreditch/Dalston to whatever broom cupboard / car park they have turned into a night club down there this week. I still love DJing so much - and it's the only job you can do better a little drunk.
Your latest project is under your current guise of Leo Zero. What's been happening with this and what are you currently up to..........
There is a Leo Zero album of house tracks which are in the old school Chicago / Acid vein which I've done with vocalist Marcel… he sounds like the voice of God in a monty python film on a lot of it. but hopefully it will strike a chord with anyone who lived through that whole acid house thing…. out on Beatport.com/Juno.com now. Also Volume. 3 of my 'Super Edits' free mixtape series.
Where do you go from here. What does the future hold......
I try to be opportunity minded and go on instinct more and more as I get older - so not knowing what the future holds is a really good place to be right now….so bring IT on… er, whatever IT is - lots more remixes - that's for sure.
I won't ask for a full list as there would be too many but can you give me a Discography/remix list of some of the more popular tunes you've worked on..............
Paul Weller 'No Tears To Cry' Leo Zero RMX / Lou Reed 'Satellite Of Love' Dab Hands Remix / X-Press 2 'Give It' Dab Hands Remix / Owl city Fireflies - Leo Zero Remix / Florence & The Machine 'Raise It Up ' Leo Zero Remix / Jack Penate 'Tonight's Today' Leo Zero Remix / Bryan Ferry 'Alphaville' Leo Zero Remix
A question I have to ask every month is what advice for any wannabe bedroom recording/remixing artists out there..........
Don't call yourself 20 different artist names - 1 will do…. and don't call yourselves a crap name like "Disco Citizens"
Thanks for the giving me your time in your busy schedule and say hello to the family but one last request. When do we get to see you playing at a "Shake Your Booty" .......................
I thought you'd never ask! - I've been gagging to play for ages - get me in over the summer for sure - it would be brilliant to see some old faces too - but from looking at the SYB facebook the old crew have weathered just as badly as me over the years - we can all have beer belly contest.
Sunday, April 15, 2012 at 05:58AM 
