The spirit behind the city’s popular ENDLESS parties speaks on releasing his new album “Inna Daze,” laying down vocals, and working with members of Drain Gang.
Since 2012, London’s DIY music scene has been marked by ENDLESS parties, indefinable machines igniting clamor, and energy that can only be reproduced in such an all-encompassing space. Found at secluded warehouses or basement clubs, it is a dark but welcoming arena for creatives and listeners alike. With these genre-agnostic events gathering interest from everyone ranging from ravers to rappers to punks, few other events can boast such a wide array of attendees.
The spirit behind ENDLESS is Felix Lee, a pragmatic producer, DJ, vocalist, and overall intuitive artist. Through the success of ENDLESS and the particular nature of his own music, Felix Lee isn’t a name to ignore. Perhaps you’ve heard of his other personas, 5tarb01 or Lexxi, under which he has produced and DJ’ed. Regardless of how you know Felix, there’s an assurance of taste, quality, and creativity to his work.
Within the seeming chaos of an eclectic underground, Felix just gets it. He is attuned to cultural changes within different scenes, understands the time and place for particular sounds, and recognizes the potential of his talent without shouting it to weary listeners. The Planet Mu signee couldn’t be happier with his decision to grow under a label. He explains how his creativity is anything but stifled as founder Mike Paradinas is helpful rather than restrictive.
Having recently released his debut album Inna Daze with prominent features including Drain Gang members ECCO2K and whitearmor, it is no wonder Felix Lee is in good spirits and ready to conquer the challenges and projects he plans to pursue next. Underground Underdogs received the opportunity to chat with Felix about his sustainable growth arc and learned a lot about his individual inventive process along the way. He takes his craft seriously and it shows, making the union of genuine talent and its deserved fate so much more exciting.
Tell me about a typical ENDLESS party.
They’re all different in their own way. Kind of an underground rave really. It’s just good music and cool people who want to listen to it.
How is ENDLESS a reflection of South London culture, and how has your regional culture affected you?
London has definitely influenced how I do things for sure. South London has a unique feel, both Southeast and Southwest London. There’s a big mix of different producers to follow. ENDLESS is pretty much an example of us just running with it since the beginning. The way my sound developed was influenced by the scene I started in, just London culture. I’ve always been making music from really young. We did whatever we wanted quite regularly.
Did you grow up in an artistically supportive environment?
There are a lot of musicians in the family, so it was like second nature pretty much. There were a lot of people involved when I was learning about music. It was organic. I feel lucky to have had that support.
Do you have an official producer name? You’ve gone by several.
I used to go by Lexxi, which my friends call me sometimes but I don’t really go by those names anymore. Unless I’m doing my radio show I use Lexxi because it feels awkward to say Felix Lee. I used to produce vocals under Virus. There’s this one tune with Bladee and me called “Party Wit Me” which was four, maybe five years ago now. A lot of people don’t think it’s me, but it’s me. I got bored with the names so I decided to go under my real name, Felix Lee.
So you’re rolling with your government now?
It’s my real name so it can’t really be avoided, I guess. Sometimes incognito feels better though because there are no expectations. Might as well be transparent. It just is what it is.
What’s it like to work with other producers, either in collaboration or even just being in the same studio together?
It depends on who I work with because sometimes people have really different ways of working. Sometimes someone will do their thing with it, I come in and chop it up, and then they come back and chop it up. Sometimes it’s better to be in person and link up because I learn stuff from other people. Most of my tunes I don’t really make with people. I’m just not very good with the sending back and forth thing. I prefer to do my own thing for a bit, you do your thing for a bit, and we turn it into something. I like to approach new projects in person because it’s hard to catch a vibe when you’re sending things back and forth.
It says a lot that you’re willing to learn from the other artists you share space with.
I’m really not precious with it. I don’t mind if someone says they want to change this or that. I treat it as something outside of myself and don’t get too caught up in it really.
What’s it like to work with Drain Gang members? How did you develop a relationship?
I met with the boys in 2013, 2014 maybe. We got introduced through a mutual friend of ours who had this fashion label. One night they had a show and then we pulled up to this warehouse and we were all just chatting and hanging out. Every time Zak (ECCO2K) comes to London we link up and always make a tune. With the beat, that was the first time I worked with whitearmor because he was also in town. He came through and put the beat down and Zak did the vocals. It’s always nice to work with them, good energy. Whenever they’re in town we just naturally link up. There’s been a lot of songs that don’t work out or don’t get released. I was really into “KOH” because it just sounded a little bit different. I knew it had to be on the album.
What’s your production and recording process like?
As a producer, I want to start producing for more people who might fall outside the peripheral, who are from a whole different scene. Collaborating is usually quite organic. There are people who make music who I’ve known for years but we’ve never made music together, even though it would make sense for us to make music together. But maybe I’ll meet someone the next month and make a tune with them. I just treat it organically. I’m definitely looking to invent myself a bit more within different scenes and want to collaborate with more people that aren’t immediately around me.
Your album Inna Daze has been out for over a month now. How has the response been, and how does it feel to hear the feedback?
It’s been pretty nice. I definitely appreciate all the feedback I’ve gotten. We did a release party here in London. It was also an ENDLESS night, which was the first ENDLESS I’ve done in maybe two years or something. Once I put the record out it felt right to do it with ENDLESS.
How was it to perform your new songs live?
That went really well. It was nice to figure out that what I do with my life is a lot different than what I put into the album. The album is definitely listen-to-at-home kind of shit. I’ve got two different worlds that lead to the same intentions. But yeah, I’m definitely happy with the response. Doing the release party in London was a nice way to make it feel like it was a real thing.
I’m curious about your transition to vocals on Inna Daze and your decision to take that production more seriously.
Like I said, I used to kind of do vocals under Virus but that was literally like three songs. I always sang. For every beat that I made I would record a demo with a vocal version over it. But I’ve been more about getting in my bag when I produce and making the song that I want. Working with other vocalists and other MCs has shown me that I can, and how I could do it. It just kind of felt natural because I really enjoy producing more now that I’ve produced some vocal stuff.
Are there future projects or collaborations we can look forward to with your vocals?
I’m actually coming out with an EP soon which is some club shit, not really that many vocals in it, more just chopped up vocals. I definitely want to live in both worlds. I really felt like I wanted to get out an album with vocal stuff just because it’s always been a part of what I do but it really hasn’t been at the level where I want to release it yet.
Since you’ve experienced the underground music scene for some time, what have you noticed are the greatest trends and changes from your come up until now?
I don’t know how to explain it, it just feels different. I feel like everyone’s trying to do professional stuff more. It used to be people just dropping shit just to do it. Maybe there’s less freedom, but everyone’s just trying to get in their bag from what I can see. And that might just be my personal experience. If anything, there’s less anonymity these days. I remember when I first started producing, you’d play a tune of someone you didn’t even know, didn’t know their name or their country. It was just a lot more uploading blindly. In terms of sounds, I feel like a lot of them are crossing over, especially sounds that are more ‘off.’ It’s reflecting itself in a lot of pop music.
When’s our next opportunity to see you perform?
I’ve got a few more shows lined up. I think I’m coming to Asia in February and I’m quite excited for that. It’ll be the first time I’m performing all these songs and some other songs unreleased material that I really like live. It’s a whole set that I’m putting together. I did a show in Manchester, and I did the release party, and that was the second time that I played a part of the live set I’m working on. It’s been pretty fun. I’m always figuring out the next thing to do.