Diandra Interviews Lefti: The Freedom of Dance

With the release of Discoteca, Lefti spoke to us about what dance means to him. The producer/ DJ will be playing Freehold on April 4, and is readying to play his Spaniard inspired groove to a crowd of Brooklynites. For him, how you free your body is how you free your soul, especially when life changes your plans. From multiple bands to life’s natural crossroads, it was disco and groove that powered Lefti to accept wherever life wanted to take him.

Diandra: From Lorde to Weezer, you have remixed so many major artists. What makes you choose a song to remix?  What makes an artist most “speak” to you? 

Lefti: When I get remix offers, I listen to the vocal track (only) from the song and see if I can feel out a good direction for the remix production. I only attempt to submit a remix when I feel like I have found my production style that “speaks” to me for that remix and represents my sound.

Diandra: You have been called a “Disco House Hero” what about the disco moves you as a person?
Lefti: For starters, it literally moves me, I’m talking about dancing! The classics encapsulate great sentimental values about love, desire, freedom, and having a good time, all over a funky groove.

Diandra: What was your first or happiest memory in a discoteca?

Lefti: When I was 19 and living in Win- ter Park, FL, I used to sneak into this club called Independent Bar that had great DJ’s playing a lot of 80’s tunes. Me and my friends used to go every week and just fucking ball out there. It was amazing. We would party hard and more importantly dance hard until we were sweating our asses off. It was the beginning of a lot of that between Or- lando, Miami then NY.

Diandra: You have had so many transitions as an artist: from hardcore punk to Cobra Starship. How do you feel your music journeys or transitions reflect your personal ones? 

Lefti: I think being in different music scenes has brought me a lot of different groups of friends and experiences all around. All of the touring bands, I was in, did very different types of live shows. From punk/squat houses and basements to arenas and stadiums, I can honestly say I’ve experienced the whole spectrum and met a lot of really amazing people a long the way. At the end of the day, I’ve always been the same person spending countless hours at my computer recording music.

Diandra:You have spoken about how your initial career plans changed. How has your own music helped you personally adapt to the natural, unplanned changes that come with the industry/ life? 

Lefti: When I was in high school, I had my whole life planned out. Once that started to change, I learned to just go where the breeze takes me. I played in bands for a long time. Once I decided to disconnect from that, I really just wanted to produce and write music with other artist/singers. I thought it would be a better opportunity to collaborate with more people and experience different chemistry and connections. Already having remixing experience, I continued to do it for some cash flow and some people I know were strongly encouraged me to pursue this project. It was never a plan of mine, but the idea started to excite me to see where I could take it. Eventually, I started releasing my own original music, and I found it to be extremely gratifying. I don’t think I’ll ever stop making/releasing music.

Diandra: Your music makes people dance, what are some of the artists you turn on to dance?

Lefti: I still listen to a lot of obvious classics, The Smiths, The Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode, Chic, Rick James, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran. Some more modern acts would be from The Faint to The Strokes, Holy Ghost, and then some DJ artists like Les Loups, Oliver, Purple Disco Machine and Armand Van Helden. 

Diandra: You grew up skating. If you could describe music like skating, what would you say both have in common in technique? 

Lefti: In a weird way they are similar. Essentially, there is a build up and climax in both and style plays a big role too. Even skating has different genres; pool, vert, street and old school.

Diandra: Having worked in soundtracking films, like Vox Lux, how do you see the relationship between music and movies,? What are a few films you feel were elevated by sound.?

Lefti: From soundtracks to scores, I think movies need music to help keep things moving and interesting (maybe I’m a little biased). They definitely serve a lot of transitional purpose and carry a lot of the feeling or energy from one scene to the next. A couple of soundtracks that really stuck out to me in my ear- lier years are Judgement Night, Pulp Fiction and Rushmore.

Diandra: You hated high school. What would you say to your high-school self to comfort him? What would you tell him is the happiest thing to look forward to?

Lefti: Haha, where did you hear that! It’s true though, I did not enjoy my time there. The best thing I got out of it were some life long friends. We were a small group of like-minded individuals that just wanted to get through it. The happiest thing to look forward to is freedom. Freedom from being a sheep being shoveled thru the program. Once you complete that, you have total freedom to take on the world how you please. Uncertainty is one of life’s hidden gems, there are so many paths you could end up taking, and lead you somewhere you never thought you would end up.

Diandra: As someone who watches Planet Earth, what animal would you use to describe your sound and why?

Lefti: I’m not a fan of snakes but if you are familiar with the “sidewinder”, just watching them use their bodies to crawl has a groove to it and kind of resembles dancing!

For More Information on Lefti Click Here.