Flying Lotus: In His Own

Steve Ellison known musically as Flying Lotus has been making music since he can remember. Being raised in a musical family, Fly-Lo reminds me that it was still just a family that happened to do music. Being the nephew of the late Alice Coltrane, I refrained from asking any questions dealing with their relationship because that says enough in itself. If anything, his family supported him in any endeavor as long as it dealt with the arts. After he stopped making music at the age of eighteen he would return later to never stop. Some people make music for the money, some people make music for the love, Flying Lotus creates it and uses it as his own personal journal, which gives us the opportunity to know more about him than we think.

Scheme: What were some of those experiences or images you remember about growing up in such a musical household?
Flying Lotus: People ask me this question and expect a really interesting answer but it was just my family at the end of the day. Your family is your family and my family is my family except we make music, you know? Some people paint and some people do music but I never treated I guess like some people see it. I was never trained by them or motivated by them to get into this, I just kind of fell into it, maybe because it was around me but it was never that kind of thing with my family.

Scheme: If you don’t mind what were some of those normalcy’s that helped you develop as a person before the music?
Flying Lotus: I think that the good thing about my family was that they supported me in anything that I wanted to do whether it was writing or a film, or music, they just wanted me to be in art and I was really into and they liked that.

Scheme: What are some of the things that inspire to continue to be immersed in the arts and make music?
Flying Lotus: Beyond being surrounded by amazing musicians I think the thing that is most inspiring is feeling like with each project with each thing I’ve worked on I get closer to figuring it out. In the back of my mind it almost makes sense and its so spiritual and its like meditation because you feel like you can say something at any moment.

Scheme: When do you think that spiritual connection hit you and you understood that the spiritual aspect would be a fundamental core of your life and music?
Flying Lotus: Yeah its interesting because it is so emotional as well as cerebral while I’m in that process of making a tune. I guess when I started to recognize this own connection it must have happened years ago because I had quit making music. I started making it when I was fourteen and I quit when I was eighteen and I started to pursue film because I was working on that for quite a bit. Eventually I got back into making music, I guess later on in my life when I was in such a weird place when I was making music everything else was making sense.

Scheme: I read that you had done some work for Adult Swim and maybe you’re continuing to do some work for them as well. How did that come about?
Flying Lotus: Yeah, I’ve done about twenty or so of their commercials and I guess it started off as they were asking for submissions, they were asking for tracks and it was all on the t.v. they had mentioned it a few times and posted the address and everything and I sent over some music and they just started playing my stuff a lot. People started hitting me up and we just kept in touch and kept building and we’re still doing stuff and we’re going to produce this music video that I’m working on. I’d like to do the music for a show. I’d like to do something really fun or some crazy anime thing if they want to go there too.

I just try and produce as much as possible even if it’s not for an album or someone else. I always try to see these things for potential film of t.v. or commercials.

Scheme: How much of that if any, the influence of film transcend into your music?
Flying Lotus: I wouldn’t say it does. I wouldn’t say well I’m going to make a track for the radio. It just kind of happens and you kind of tuck it away and say well I’ll bring that out when I need to or that sounds like it should be on my next record, I just try to work and try to keep everything whether or not it’s super wack or at least have so it one day I want to build on something I can.

Scheme: Is your music done in that process where you might start something and a week, month, or year later you may build upon it?
Flying Lotus: Sometimes there are things that I’ll leave alone and come back its vey rare I usually like to finish things and move forward or work on a whole bunch of things at the same time and slowly finish each one. There’s that feeling of I need something to be complete so I can take it for a ride in the car.

Scheme: Some people may understand your music and some may not would you still be making music to this day if the majority just didn’t grasp the concept?
Flying Lotus: What’s been weird is, even when I was a kid people were like you have something and I guess that was the thing I held onto for so long. Eventually when I got on Myspace and stuff people started hitting me up and really showing love and tracks are being played in the same sense with Dilla and I guess I just started getting serious with it and if I’m going to be in this thing I’m going to do it for real and put in the best work I can. I still trip on it to this day that people like my stuff, I’m just a kid in an apartment making music. I’m lucky enough to where music is my job now and the fact that I can survive off this thing is even crazier!

Scheme: Were you always comfortable in your own skin?
Flying Lotus: I’m still not [laughs] but its just funny to me to play a lot of these parties and a lot of these festivals and these kids rock all sorts of clothes and one hundred dollar t-shirts and I come through in a scary movie t-shirt in some sun glasses I really don’t care and I’ve always been a not give a fuck about the other kids in school. The game tries to fuck with you though, and I never really thought about it but things have a way of messin’ with your brain especially when people take pictures, and people want me to do this and that and be in the magazine and I’m like fuck that I’m going to do what I want to do. I wonder though if I dressed better I could be hangin’ out with Kanye and them.

Scheme: What kind of equipment do you use because from the photos you have tons of different instruments.
Flying Lotus: Nah man I only have three pianos, bass echo, monitors a bad turntable two laptops and a couple of drum machines. All these other things I have I don’t een use man [laughs] they just look cool in my lab man I don’t even do anything with this shit its all dusty as fuck [laughs]!

Scheme: What’s the best part of the day for you to work?
Flying Lotus: I think late nights but I haven’t been able to do that lately because of my apartment situation the neighbors downstairs hate me and the bass. Workin’ at night is a different kind of vibe because all the stress is gone from the day, even if you don’t have stress, and everything’s chill and quiet. Daytime has a different effect because I’m all over the place with different business stuff , personal stuff, and people calling, myspacing so we’ll see what happens.

Scheme: With the constant creativity what’s the process behind finding a direction for an album?
Flying Lotus: What I try to do is find one cohesive vibe, kind of like if I was making a movie or something, I mean there are all these different scenes but they’re all a part of the same story. So I try to put things together that have a different sound but similar vibe.

Scheme: What is the feeling behind Los Angeles and what can people look forward to?
Flying Lotus: I have people’s attention and so I really wanted to tell a story and I like the fact that I don’t really get placed in a box and I can kind of play around with different genres and styles and I won’t get to thrown off and so I try to use that and tell a story and hopefully I won’t get to thrown off.

Photography by Tim Saccenti