BIGSOUND: Ills

Name: Dan Rutman

Band: I'lls

Role: Guitar/Modular Synthesizer

Hometown: Melbourne

Short description of your band and your music? I'lls is an electronic trio comprised of Hamish Mitchell, Simon Lam & Dan Rutman. We really love a lot of the music that comes out of the UK’s electronic scene, (current and past), and as such I think a lot of the music we are writing now has clearly taken on a similar shape, especially in terms of production and structure. We have put out two EP’s, (Thread and A Warm Reception), and we are very excited to be playing some of our new tracks for the first time at BIGSOUND this year, which will hopefully be released later this year.

What are you hoping to achieve from showcasing at BIGSOUND? We are hoping to meet and talk to a lot of people who are interested and passionate about what we do and the music that we make. It is also our first show in Brisbane as we are really keen to meet some of the fans who have supported us for our last three years of music making and show our appreciation to them for their kindness to us. We are pretty critical of our own work and we hope we can demonstrate through our show the amount of work we have put into our music for the last couple of years. So...pretty much for everyone to enjoy the show.

Why should people come and see you from amongst the many cool bands at BIGSOUND?  Our new live set-up has been changed significantly for the better. We have simplified the band back down to a three-piece rather than a five-piece. While this may seem like a backwards step, it has enabled us to focus on the important parts of our songs and has almost forced us to reshape each songs for the better. We have also added a modular synthesiser, (which we are sure will excite all the gear nerds), to our setup which has really given us the ability to recreate the sound that we love so much.