If we were to say think of an artist that has a strong friendship with Steve Troxler and The Martinez Brothers, the list you’d come up with is pretty big. What if we chucked the word peculiar in the mix, any ideas? Yup, we’re talking about house heavyweight Bas Ibellini. His tune ‘Friendship’ with SLF was an absolute belter a couple years back, and his aptly labelled ‘Peculiar’ parties have hosted some of scenes biggest names in recent times, Guy Gerber being one of them. We sat down with Bas at this year’s winter social to ask him a few questions.
WWD: Hey Bas we appreciate you sitting down with us here at the Social festival! That was a nice selection of tunes you played, how did you find your set?
A: Yeah it was cool! Nice little separation between the two rooms, I played a little bit more quirky and deep and then I noticed the other room was more banging, so I generally prefer to play something different. I think that sums up my character in general I like to just have my own flavour.
WWD: That’s what we like to hear! You’re debut EP on Crosstown Rebels offshoot Rebellion had an ambient disocey vibe to it, whereas some of your more recent stuff is much more techy. We wanted to ask when you produce tracks do you stick a particular formula in your head or is it more just go with the flow?
A: I would say it really depends on where I’m at in my life. That was my first EP, I’d only done one remix which was released before that. With the Crosstown thing, I was at that frequency I was more melodic, also just learning the ropes in terms of what I had to do to release something. The mixing process, the inspiration process, everything has to come together and actually form a package. There was a lot more tracks which I did submit for the release but those were the ones which I felt comfortable with in giving my sort of breadth of production.
WWD: Well alongside that EP you’ve also had a number of successful releases on Mr. Seth Troxler’s Tuskegee records in the past, with Happy Go Lucky being one of our particular favourites! Have you got any upcoming releases planned on the label?
A. For the moment no but I’m playing showcases around the world, the last one I did was in Manchester for Warehouse Project. Amazing, unreal venue. Doors open at nine or something crazy and it’s packed by half nine. Jesse Colloso was playing before me and yeah it was a full house by the time I started playing, and then Seth and the Bros jumped and smashed it as they do. But yeah because I’m so connected with the boys there’s no doubt I’ll be releasing something soon. I’ve got some other stuff on other labels just to spread myself and kind of, not find my feet, but just spread in general in the industry because you know it’s about building a following, just being connected with something which is quite US, UK and Europe focused. It’s cool to kind of connect with Asian or south American markets.
WWD: Speaking of which you’ve got the Social festival takeover in Mexico next weekend! How are you feeling about playing at Mexico City’s iconic arena to more than 20,000 people?
A: I can’t wait, I’m so excited for it. I’ve done BPM for the last few years in Playa de Carmen and this is the first time in Mexico City, I’ve heard nothing but great things from the food to the people to just the whole experience in general.
WWD: And then on to Columbia from there isn’t it?
A: Yep Columbia to Bogota, first time again. There’s no words to explain going and seeing such a high-profile city and the line-ups mad over the whole weekend. I’m very proud of the social guys being able to start off in Maidstone and progress to south America. You know it’s like a family affair here seeing Nic wandering around with his family and he’s got his brother playing and all sorts it’s great. It’s really nice it’s cool but it still keeps that UK vibe, people come from all over the UK to party this weekend and you hear all sorts of different accents. The guy playing before me from Glasgow, Ivan Kutz, was playing some lovely music and I’d never really come across him before so just goes to show how the Social Festival brings everyone together!
WWD: Nice one Bas thanks for chatting to us today!
A: No worries!
Words by: Olly Gunns