Louisa Pillot is also known as Louisahhh, even though her artistic name used to be the overly enthusiastic Louisahhh!!! But, as it happens to everyone, maturing over time means purifying oneself, even though this may imply becoming less and less enthusiastic and getting rid of the exclamation marks in our lives as being left with just our skeleton. And Louisahhh’s skeleton is a musical career that gave her a first class ticket to electronic music, much before the whole world got mad at the scene for its lack of women and, consequently, the industry made a real effort in giving visibility to its female DJs and producers.
LOUISAHHH, LOVE IN TIMES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC
As you may know already, Louisahhh came to Barcelona to DJ at Sivasdescalzo’s app release event. But she also graced us with this interview in which we talk about many things, but, above all, she showed that love is the glue to hold people together in era of the rise of a certain type of electronic music that, at times, can seem just as or even more inhospitable than the world outside the doors of the club.
Also, Louisa Pillot was born and raised in New York, she then moved to Los Angeles and is currently living in France. An international panorama that seeps into her own music in the shape of a diverse and open minded musical inheritance. That’s why her sessions as a DJ are so interesting and surprising. That’s why her career as a producer is so eloquent, always down to collaborate with people like Brodinski and Maelstrom (who she considers to be her current creative partner).
She has just finished making her long form debut, which she’ll launch mid-2019 and will then tour with the help of a band. She has five singles with Maelstrom in store that will be released in one-a-month rapid succession, and finally be released as vinyl EP under her label RAAR. Two of those singles will also be joined by the launch of the merch for each one... But, before all that, Louisahhh came to Barcelona to DJ at the event to end all events, the release party of Sivasdescalzo’s mobile app. And that was the perfect excuse to have a long and interesting talk with her.
Your name sounds like a mixture between a war cry and a cheerful exclamation. Is this blend precisely a metaphor for how you approach music?
I didn’t give that decision much thought. I was 18 years old, I needed a DJ name and I was probably high. You know what they say “when life gives you lemons, take them and make up a stupid name”. Sadly, it’s too late to change it now. In fact, there’s no middle ground with me: I’m either totally off or I’m super intense. The triple H in my name perfectly reflects my level of intensity. Also, I try not taking myself too seriously, but what I do take seriously is my job, so at times I feel a bit confused. Having a name as ridiculous as this one helps me a lot, because I think that nobody’s going to take myself seriously, instead they’ll ask themselves “what strange language is your name in?”.
You say that you chose your name at 18, and you always say that your first contact with music was when you snuck into clubs in New York at 17. You didn’t take very long in deciding on becoming a DJ, right?
It was a simultaneous thing. Music has always been very important in my life. Also, in that moment I had trouble socialising, and I really like two things that came implicitly with that decision: feeling like i had better musical taste in music than everyone, and wanting to feel special. Ah, well, I also didn’t liking talking to people, and so I thought “What do I do? Become a DJ!” As I like music, and I know much more about it than you and I don’t want to talk to you, I should be a DJ.
Before moving to Los Angeles, how long did you stay in New York?
I was born there and I left when I was 20 years old. At the time, my family and friends made me an intervention and sent me far away from New York. I haven’t lived there ever since, but the energy of the city’s so fun and special... There was a good indie rock scene and another dance rock one, and people started mixing both. There wasn’t a club culture, but there was something much more different than that. And I’m still trying to explore that thing through my music.
And so, what was the music scene in LA like when you got there?
Well, actually it was a bit weird, because when I got to LA I was in rehab for a long time. They absolutely banned me from going to clubs and my friends kept telling me “please, don’t become a DJ, you have a drug problem, focus on not being a DJ”. But the truth is that the time I spent in rehab helped me reflect and truly ask myself why I wanted to be a DJ so bad. Was it the energy from the clubs? Was it because of my ego? Or the drugs? Or was it something much bigger than that: because I truly cared for the music and the community, and also because it made me feel like myself? It was the latter.
Since then, EDM has managed to turn electronic music into something that’s massive in the States... and then it went down in popularity a lot. What’s interesting is that you were there every step of the way (without really getting into EDM, of course).
It’s been a bit weird. I hold a very strange place, as I have been in many musical scenes. And I see it as a coherent thing, but that also implies that I never get invited to a party I want to play in because they say “Oh, you already did that.” I can only say that, yes, I did it. I’m sorry. (Laughs.)
One of the scenes that you’ve been in is actually the French one.
Yes. The only way I could get invited to that party was actually by moving here. And it’s been really exciting, because by moving here everything was offered: the management, a record label (Bromance, at the time), the bookings... Everything at the same time and the same place. It was a great professional opportunity to step into a larger scale.
Have you noticed the different musical influences between Europe and the States?
The truth is that here I have the sensation that the musical community maintains a solid consistency. It’s great feeling that I have worked for years with the same people here in Europe, while also playing the same artists. It’s obvious that trends come and go, and, in fact, we should forgive ourselves for it. Why can’t you say I want to jump on that bandwagon? The best part is not hating yourself for trying these kind of things. But, well, that doesn’t mean I’m now going to start my own trap career...
Why not?
Because I don’t have the right voice for it. (Laughs).
What does your perfect night as a DJ look like?
I’m the worst person to ask that to, because I’m like a monk. I like taking a nap before DJing. And then I wake up, I drink coffee, I stretch, I take a shower, I do my make up while I listen to a podcast... I love rituals. But, although I sometimes forget about this, specially when I’m traveling a lot, when you’re DJing you find yourself having many special moments where you join your own community, you can be with friends, you connect and you feel part of something and you can see the love constellation that joins all of us together, you create a feedback loop with that love.
It’s great that you can say something like that, because a lot of people think that that love and connection in electronic music comes from drugs. But it’s not like that. You show that the glue that holds everything together is love.
It’s kind of corny to say something like this, but that’s how I feel. Being part of a night at a club, whether it be DJing or not, has something shamanic about it. It’s like a dark cave. And, as a DJ, you truly are the High Priestess who has to handle the night with love. You cannot put a wall between you and the audience. Because that won’t let you know how they’re feeling.
