Photo by Sage Thomas
A gloomy weekend was turned into outstanding experiences this past August 4th-6th, 2016 at ARISE Festival in Loveland, CO. The three-day, mountain getaway left attendees glowing and refreshed, only left to reminisce about the sets that are hit them closest to the heart. Most notable in my realm, Beats Antique took over the main stage Saturday night- immersing the crowds in their Celtic-style, electronic beats. This was no usual party, the group wow-ing the crowd with their incredible choreography and remixes that are truly unique to just them. We caught up with David Satori before their set to chat about this year’s adventures for the band and how they do it, as well as upcoming events and collaborations to look out for!
Festival Squad: Hey, it’s so great to meet you! I have been a huge fan ever since I stumbled upon your set at Gem & Jam Festival in 2016. I had just moved to Arizona at the time and was in awe of your unique, eclectic sound, there’s truly nothing else like it. What do you have in-store for your set at ARISE Festival?
David: We are going to do a brand new song tonight that we haven’t really played and we’re also throwing in some old ones that we haven’t really performed before in the past. We’re mixing it up on both ends, bringing back the old through ’09 and throwing in the new, unreleased songs as well.
FS: Let’s take a peek into this year- 2017. We’ve noticed you on several pretty amazing lineups (such as Camp Bisco, Moonshine, etc) and that you’ve just announced yet another alluring Shadowbox tour. What can your fans expect on the second run compared to the first?
David: For the second Shadowbox tour, we are yet again bringing back songs that we have never performed that have been on our old albums. We thought it would be fun for our audience to check out our old ones. We have been re-inspired recently to remix them and check them out again. Zoey’s also going to be doing some surprise performance stuff- don’t wanna give away too many details but it’s not something that you wanna miss. Come to the shows and check it out- we’ve got a lot in the works!
FS: Definitely going to make it out to your Arizona show, don’t wanna miss out on the magic. Before we knew that we were heading out to ARISE, we were ecstatic to see you on the Oregon Eclipse lineup among many other favorites. This global gathering is being referred to as the Woodstock of our generation, and we just can’t wait to see what’s in store for both the music and the event itself. Do you have anything special planned for your set?
David: We are going to be throwing in a lot of the new stuff that we haven’t done before that will be on the Fall Tour. Along with this, we may be throwing in an ending finale that has never been performed and we will be having a whole horn section. A lot of our friends will also be at the event, so we will be bringing them up on stage with us throughout the set. It’s gonna be a BLOWOUT!
FS: Are you sticking around for the Eclipse/ the rest of the week-long event?
David: I am- yeah! Beats Antique is doing both a DJ Set and a Live Set over the course of the event and then I’m going to be doing two sets with Dirtwire as well.
FS: Awesome! Speaking of Dirtwire- we stumbled upon your set last night at the Green Tree Stage and it was absolutely incredible. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing really- and the rest of the crowd was on that same wavelength. What inspired you three to create this new sound?
David: Well Dirtwire- those are some of my oldest friends that I have been playing music with. We’ve just always wanted to start a band and so we’re doing it! We’re really more along the lines of the blues-ey sounds, different from Beats Antique.
FS: We’ve seen you collaborate and share stages with many amazing artists over the years such as Shpongle, Emancipator, and Bassnectar- just to name a few. If you had the opportunity to collaborate with anyone, living or dead, who would you want to work with and why?
David: That’s a good question-I’ve always thought it would be amazing to collaborate with Bjork. She’s just such a creative force, always pushing boundaries. I would definitely also love to collaborate with a symphony or harmonic- like a gaint orchestra! That would be amazing.
FS: People I meet that have seen your shows always say that the production level is just unmatched to any other- the dancing, the storytelling, and the music—it just all flows so beautifully. As a band that has been creating magic for over ten years, what does the creative process usually look like? Do the tracks come first or do the performance ideas shape the tracks?
David: Every song has a life of its own, we don’t really have a formula. Zoey will bring in an idea for a dance piece and then we’ll write music to it or she’ll come up with a musical idea for it and we’ll work on it. Sometimes we just write music for the sake of writing it and then she’s like Ooh- I wanna dance to that, create something to it! Other times- we’ll work with collaboration, like this Indian musician-a third generation, Indian classical musician named Alam Khan, an amazing musician. We’ll work with him and that creates a totally different thing, along with others, so it just depends. All over the place.
FS: With these inspiring collaborations and shows, come chances to explore new venues, festivals, and even different countries. What has been your favorite place (or festival) to visit while on tour?
David: We’ve been honored to play all over. We got to play The Great Pyramids at 2012 at the solstice- when the end of the world was supposed to happen. We were at the pyramids playing with Sufi musicians. So that was one of the most powerful places that we have ever performed. And Red Rocks- we love Red Rocks! It’s definitely one of our favorite venues in the world. We’ve played the Eclipse festival in Australia in 2012 as well- that was crazy. We’ve been really lucky to travel and play beautiful places, these are just a few of them.
David: Woah, look at that double rainbow! *We go and check it out*
FS: I’m excited to say that I’ll be catching your set a few times this year, including your Arizona stop on the Shadowbox tour. What else do you have in store for your listeners for the rest of 2017 and beyond (collaborations, events, etc)?
David: We’re really excited to be playing Hulaween this year in FL, for our first time this year. We have a song coming out with String Cheese this year as well- a collaboration! We’re really excited to perform that one.
Catch Beats Antique on their Shadowbox Tour in a city near you!