By: Devin Friedman

Seven Lions is on the fast track to greatness. With backing support from Skrillex and his record label, and now being announced as support on a nation-wide tour with Krewella, the guy is going non-stop. At Global Dance Festival, we caught up with Jeff Montalvo to talk about his musical inspiration, signing with OWSLA, and what he has in store for fans this fall.
 
Alright, so we’ll start with the basics – how long have you been producing music?
 
I guess I’d say since high school, late in high school. I was just kind of messing around with it, not serious at all, you know just messing around.
 
What kind of music were you producing back then?
 
I guess I’d say I got into industrial first, and then I went to a rave back in 2007 and decided that I liked trance.
 
And it changed your life, right?
 
[Laughs] Yeah, totally.
 
So what got you into the music that you’re producing now?
 
I just heard Above and Beyond, and I really, really liked trance and I really liked heavy music because I’m into metal a lot and that kind of transitioned, that’s how I think about it, just the mixture of metal and trance, dubstep kind of comes out of that.


 
Who’s your favorite metal band?
 
Opeth, for sure. I’ve always liked metal stuff.
 
We’ve kind of come up with this theory that liking hardcore or metal directly correlates to liking dubstep or harder EDM music.
 
Oh yeah, it’s the head banging. A lot of my influence comes from metal.
 
You’re on OWSLA now, what kind of effect has that had on your ability to get music out and your fan base?
 
It’s been good, the thing about that – getting music out lately has been really hard because everything like…contracts and everything has gotten so much more serious. I wouldn’t say that it’s helped me get music out, but it has helped me become more creative and producing the music that I want to make, like [OWSLA] is just down for whatever. They’re down for creative freedom, which is very uncommon for record labels, especially in dance music. Dance music labels, they know what they want, and if you don’t fit into this margin, then they’re not even going to look at you.
 


That’s great to hear about them, we’re big fans of OWSLA. Where do you think the genre is headed from here? We’ve seen a lot of people go into trap, but what do you think is next?
 
I have no idea [laughs] I mean, I didn’t think dubstep was going to be anything, and the same with trap, like I’m not super stoked on it at all. I mean like, it’s fun to play a trap song here and there, but its not my kind of music.
 
What kind of tour action do you have coming up?
 
We have a tour in the fall with Krewella for 50 days.
 
Incredibly legit. Well congrats and we will definitely see you out there!

Yeah, thanks! I’ve never been on a bus like that so…we’ll see. I’m sure it’ll be fun.
 
You can see Seven Lions on tour with Krewella and Candyland across the nation this fall, so be sure to check him out!