Techno Legend Jeff Mills: "Always Play Like It's Your Last Set"
The tech legend tends to have more ties to Detroit, where he was born and once became a member of the seminal Underground Resistance movement. He also lived in Chicago for many years in the 90s. But we'll come back Midwestern winters are what they are, and after many visits to Miami starting in the '90s, he and his wife finally decided to settle here permanently.
“I seem to spend more time here than in Chicago,” he says from his home in Miami Beach. “We’ve been here for about seven years now.”
Legendary musicians moving to Florida is nothing new. Iggy Pop is from Michigan and lives in South Florida. But both artists try to keep to themselves and rarely perform in this area. That's what makes their upcoming two sets at III Points, October 20-21 at Mana Wynwood, so exciting.
Few figures in techno are as legendary as Mills, whose influential DJ style is recognized throughout the world. Even his equipment—four turntables, or CDJs, and a Roland TR-909 drum machine—is familiar and well-studied. The DJ began his career on local radio in Detroit, playing a mixture of genres including hip-hop, synth-pop and early techno under the moniker "The Wizard".
Ultimately, his involvement with Underground Resistance, a band that combined the harsh, mechanical, yet fearsome sound of Detroit techno with radical anti-corporate politics, led him to the style that would become known and defined in the '90s. Minimalistic yet spacious, more surgical than brutal, and always full of strong vitality, it mixes quickly and doesn't stay on one track for long.
"America has accepted it, but not as much as overseas," he explains. “There are offers abroad, but not in quantity and level, so most of the year actually keeps me away from the United States. And in fact, I only have a few opportunities to return to the US during the year, and this has been going on for decades.”
Watching DJ Jeff Mills in Miami is a rare opportunity to see a true master of the form at work, where he rarely performs. But seeing him perform is worth the trip. Earlier this year I went to Amsterdam to see him play with the jazz group Tomorrow Comes the Harvest. The band was founded by Mills and his friend Tony Allen, a Nigerian drummer known for his work with Fela Kuti. When Allen passed away in 2020, Mills decided to continue the band in his spirit. The current ensemble includes French-Indian percussionist Prabhu Edouard and Guyanese keyboardist Jean-Fi Darry, as well as other guest musicians and Mills, who plays drums and programs the TR-909.
“Before I became a DJ, I tried to be a musician, a jazz drummer. And I don't think I ever lost that feeling or desire, even in the 90s, as a techno DJ, he says, I still wanted to play with other musicians, and if not play with them, then at least talk. them, to work together to get certain things done."
Mills' project stems from these desires. He found himself wanting to combine his knowledge of techno with live instruments "to the point where there are no compromises, where musicians don't have to be tied to MIDI clocks or computer-generated beats." He wanted to work with musicians with whom he could connect both musically and in a more literal sense. He looks for musicians who are “excellent communicators and always have something new to add or say.”
“The more we talk, the more we get to know each other, the more interesting our performances become,” he says. “And that has to do with my contacts and relationship with Tony Allen. Before shows, during rehearsals, when we would meet, we would often have very, very long and complex conversations about everything. And then a few minutes before we go on stage, we're still talking while we're on stage, and when we get to the instruments, it's just an extension of that." It may seem that this has nothing to do with electronic music. But both in Mills' DJ sets and in his work with Tomorrow Brings the Harvest, one can feel an indescribable sensation in both the artists and the enthusiastic audience. In interviews, Mills sometimes describes his experience as a DJ as an out-of-body experience or fugue state from which he does not emerge until he returns to the hotel. In our conversation, as he encourages fellow DJs to “always play like it’s your last set,” there’s an otherworldly spirit of community that only music can provide.
“It's not about the audience or you, it's about this . Yes? That's why people are here, and you became a DJ to be a conduit for that ,” Mills explains. “The dance music industry and the financial side of dance music often becomes this barrier and makes people believe that you have to be a certain thing. or do something to be recognized, which is true to some extent. But the most important thing is the atmosphere that the DJ will create not by dancing, but by what he will do with the music. And if you take it seriously and don't compromise and try not to be afraid of it and focus and just focus, then you'll start to understand why. I mean you really start to understand why this music is so special and why it should always be taken very seriously. When people take a few minutes of their time to play music for them, that should always be respected.”
Well, one more thing. “Listen to different music. It's simple. Listen to as many different types of music as possible and you will realize how special electronic music is."
III Units 2023: Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21, Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami; iiipoints.com . Tickets range from $169 to $599 at iiipoints.frontgatetickets.com .
