“I don't like anything to be too serious!”
If you want to know how a canny creative operates when the industry backs are
against the wall, then look no further: UK-based club culture curator and house
& techno producer Mella Dee [real name Ryan Aitchison] is here to blaze a
brand new electronic path. This time, those paths are split between music and
painting... and we’re all here for it. And while some of you will know him for his
2017 club hit ‘Techno Disco Tool’, if there’s one thing this pandemic has done
for Ryan, it’s spurred him on to higher creative heights than ever before. His
recent ‘Love It Or Not’ single and six-track EP ‘Whistle Posse Spangled In The
Corner’ are full of euphoric vocals and massive club moments. Just don’t ask
him to make another ‘...Disco Tool’ because he’s never looking back. “There's
no point me trying to like attach myself to anything,” he shrugs. “I just like to
follow my thing. I mean, there's a common thread and that thread is me...
without sounding too freakin’ arrogant!”
Growing in creative confidence has led Ryan to approach art as a different,
albeit equally important discipline. “I’m just not that interested in what people
think of me or my art. I just have a feeling and try to find a way of putting that
into practice, whether that’s in art or my music.” He’s also been commissioned
to create custom artwork throughout the last year: but if you want to know why
music and art are such beautiful bedfellows for him, the answer is simple:
there’s just no pressure. When it comes to a sketch or painting, beauty is in the
eye of the beholder and there’s really no-one to judge you. So your creative
muscles are being flexed but opinions aren’t waiting in the wings and social
media isn’t swooping down from the proverbial rooftops. But during a pandemic,
countless artists turned their creativity towards blank canvasses to help pass
the time. We can only assume that it’s... therapeutic?
“Yeah, for sure,” he smiles. “It would definitely give me something to focus on.
You know, you can just get lost in that. I always drew faces since I was very
young so [during lockdown] I just expanded on that. I do what I do to enjoy
myself and to just sort of lose myself in that moment. In other words, I try not to
overthink it. Also, I went to art school when I was seventeen. Ironically, I couldn’t
stand it, so I sacked that off and that was probably the last time I ever did
anything to do with art until lockdown when I decided to pick it up again recently!
I’ve always doodled a bit but when it came to actual painting, I decided to start
doing a little bit after coming back from Thailand at the start of 2020.”
So now the real question is how quickly you move when the cogs and wheels
are moving so darn fast. Or as Ryan says: ‘it's gone from zero to a hundred
right quickly hasn't it!” It has indeed. And boy, are we ready for it. As a producer,
Ryan’s stance is simple: always keep marching forward: onwards, if you will.Ask him who he’d most like to collaborate with from the electronic landscape
and he says without a moment of hesitation: the legendary techno DJ and
producer Mad Mike from Underground Resistance in Detroit. “I think he works
in a car garage sometimes!” laughs Ryan. “He just doesn’t give a fuck.”
That sense of being carefree is important to Ryan: he’s a fan and a grafter but
not someone who agonizes. And that’s worked brilliantly for him so far. He’s a
Circo Loco favourite who has not only delivered an Essential Mix and a debut
Boiler Room but an artist who’s also toured North America - including Chicago’s
legendary Smart Bar. Closer to home, however, things are moving even faster.
He’s just completed an ‘All Night Long’ tour where he performed at over 11
nights in the UK and Ireland. It included sold out dates at Dublin’s Index,
Newcastle’s World Headquarters, the mighty Village Underground in London
and a homecoming show at The Warehouse in Doncaster. “Yeah, things are
always exciting,” he smiles in reference to the rave. “You don't know what's
coming up, do you! I've always found it weird when people talk about being born
in the wrong era. You know, we’ve lived our lives going through baseline, rave
and stuff like that and while some of it is continuation, there's always something
new happening around that: there's always exciting stuff going on all of the time.
For example, there are so many incredible queer parties right now.”
The new music is similarly scattershot in spirit. The much anticipated single
'Love It Or Not’ with Infinite Coles, was Ryan’s first release on Pete Tong's
Three Six Zero label. And just a few weeks before, Mella Dee released ‘A LittleLonger’ also featuring fellow Don’t Sleep signee Infinite Coles, the son of Wu-
Tang icon Ghostface Killah. This new fresh prince is a leading figurehead ofLGBTQ+ communities and their collaboration features Infinite Cole's vocals
over one of Ryan’s super-heavy basslines: it’s already been heavily supported
across Radio 1 by Clara Amfo, Clara Amfo and Sarah Story and in the clubs
from Solomun and Roman Flugel to The Blessed Madonna to name a few.
‘Ethereal Chugger’ with fast-rising newcomer Effie and was another organic
collaboration. “We actually met around a friend's house and she just started
singing Whitney and Mariah songs and it just sounded next level!’ The ‘Whistle
Posse Spangled In The Corner’ EP was accompanied by a gallery exhibition
launch party in Brick Lane in London where Ryan got to showcase some of the
new artwork he’s been creating. Make no mistake, Mella Dee is entering a new
phase of his career, emerging from the pandemic with a clear vision of where
he wants to go. His EP explores several new styles and attendees to that Brick
Lane party were given the option of buying a limited edition hand-designed copy
of the record. He’s thinking about an album and a live show (“I just want to keep
it interesting”) but it’s still early doors on both fronts. Ask him to name a timeless
dance album that inspires him and he opts for Goldie’s debut album....
‘Timeless’.
Similarly, ask Ryan why he’s chomping at the bit to perform at parties across
the UK and Europe again and he’ll also say without hesitation that it’s because
the best days are still in front of us. Just don’t ask him to be too specific. “My
best highlights are actually just me going down to play!” he laughs. “Gig-wise I
would say... all of them!” He also thinks people are less attached to their
phones so it’s a brave new world with “more dancing, more smiley faces and
more vibes you know.” That’s certainly true of the UK’s flagship events in
London, Liverpool and Manchester, where the vibes have never been bigger.
“I'm excited and I'm nervous as well,” he adds with a touch of brutal honesty.
“You know, we'll have to see what's on the horizon. But if everything goes well,
I'm incredibly positive ‘cause it's gonna be sick!”
You can often tell who an artist is aligned with by the company they keep and
with the musicians they admire: and that’s certainly true of Mella Dee. The DJ
he admired the most when he was alive was the incomparable producer
Andrew Weatherall. But in the here and now, he’s keen to give props to both
Paul Woolford and HAAi. So the reinvention is important? “Yeah,
experimentation like even if it's not wild experimentation is important! It's just
about trying different sort of ideas across different sonic landscapes. I do think
HAAi is incredible and Special Request as well. I like that with Paul can go
across the spectrum from like the most overground to the underground and
nobody really turns their nose up.” Would you say you’re a hard taskmaster on
yourself? “Yeah, for sure. I'm not a perfectionist in any way and I don't care
about perfection because I don't think you can achieve that. But what’s
important to me is that I like to keep working, keep driving and keep... alive!”
Here, here.
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