Ils aka Ilian Walker is a seasoned professional in the music business, having done his own productions and worked as a studio engineer. He knows the ups and downs of the business, but was dealt a cruel blow last year when he delivered his third album "Bohemia" album to Adam Freeland's Marine Parade imprint in August 2004, only to experience the label temporarily fold with the collapse of distribution company 3MV a week later. After a while wandering in the wilderness things have finally come good, with Ils signed to Distinctive and taking "Bohemia" with him.

Bohemia was internationally released, late last month. How does it feel to finally have the album out there?

“It feels very good. I was a little bit worried there towards the end of last year because I was trying to find a home for the album. It was a little bit touch and go, but I am just so glad it is out there! I’m pretty much getting the best response I’ve ever had (for Bohemia) off any project I have ever worked on. It’s been madness. It has been getting a lot of radio airplay here with Radio 1 and Xfm. Zane Lowe (Kiwi-born, London-based) is one of the biggest DJs on Radio 1 and he’s been behind it. It’s really helped so much, so I am buzzing at the moment!”

Sometimes I wonder for an artist if between completing the album and handing it over when the release date finally comes around, it is a bit of a chore to have to do all the promo work?

“I think on this one there wasn’t enough of a time delay. Sometimes albums move quite slowly so that you can hand in an album and it might get scheduled for release in a year and a half’s time. At which point then you have to wait a year and a half to start the promotion which is pretty hard when it is old material and you’ve been made to wait so long. In this case, in all honesty, I’ve gone from having no chance of a release and being unsigned to having it signed in February and released in April. It’s just gone nuts! Everything is happening so quickly that I am loving it at the moment! I’m very fortunate to have it with a record company that have released it so quickly. I think that is quite an unexpected one for me. I was expecting to have to sit around for a year and twiddle my thumbs. It’s moving really quickly so I haven’t had time to sit down and think about it really.”

“I’m really more excited about the fact that people are responding to the project well and I’m drawing a lot of energy from that, and it’s making me more excited about the project and more and more excited about my own album. I’m really enjoying getting out of the studio and playing to people.”

“I haven’t had time to move onto another project. I have been working on another five songs with Val, who sung on the single “Cherish.” Since the completion of the album we have started to do live PA shows so that we can now perform "Cherish" live, and also another four or five songs so that we have a half hour show with a live singer out the front. I have been working on enhancing the live PA side of it all. I’ve already got the Djing under control, I’ve got a really tight set at the moment. I’m enjoying that, but doing the live PA is just a little bit more challenging.”

It must be the first time you’ve done a live PA?

“No, I did live PA when I was 14 in a school band. But it didn’t go well, so I think that scared me off for life actually. How things can go wrong when five fourteen year olds plug in some electronic equipment! Nowadays it is really fun. The thing about Val is I have been following her career as it were. She has a band who have been doing the rock gig circuit in London for the past two or three years. I’ve literally religiously gone to every gig she has done. I’ve loved her performances so it is excellent I have been able to do one track with her and now the live PA.”

So the tracks you have been working on with Val, they’re all off Bohemia?

“No it’s all new. The thing is Val has only got one track on the album, “Cherish”, and I thought I can’t do a live show with just her performing one song. I’ve done a couple of live PAs with her where she has performed “Cherish” with our band. We did one for Xfm last month and the response was so phenomenal that it has motivated me to go and write another four tracks with her so that at least when I do a live show with her, she can stay on stage and maintain her stage presence.”

So Val can give some energy to the whole live performance?

“Exactly. I’m a little bit reserved about electronic artists doing live PA shows, if you don’t have songs or some kind of vocal front person, and it’s just two people with their laptops. I like to turn up and do crazy DJ sets in favour of turning up for a PA with a laptop. If I’m going to do a live PA, I’d rather turn up and do a live PA.”

How big is your band then when you do a live PA?

“We’ve got a scratch guy that has all Val’s singing parts on vinyl and he just chops and scratches all her words and lyrics in and around her and stuff. We’ve got a drummer and a guitarist, and myself in charge of most of the electronics, so there is about four or five of us on stage. The main focus of the attention is on Val because she’s just running up and down on the stage. She was stage diving and going nuts! The last gig we did was amazing as half the crowd was singing along to "Cherish" which was amazing! It is something I never experienced before in my life, when you look down into the crowd. You look over the first five faces you see are singing along and they know every single word, and then you know the show is going well! Wow! I think that is the difference of having a singer fronting it. There’s a real human connection there.”

Also you gain a greater audience by doing live shows than if you were just djing.

“Yeah I think so. It is early days though with the live PA thing. The majority of my promotion is really DJing at the moment. That accounts for 95% of it. Scratching and mixing and what not. It is quite entertaining and good fun, but doing this PA thing is quite an experience for me. It is motivating me to work harder and get a better show to together. Unfortunately the thing with live bands is the cost of flying four or five people out for a live show. For instant availability, DJing is still the best way of getting out there and playing the music to people. Logistically it is the easiest thing to do. I’d love to take Val on tour and do a “Cherish” tour. That would be brilliant, so hopefully we’ll be able to do a lot of festivals next summer. It’s all a bit late this year. I’m missed the train on that one.”

You haven’t missed the Australian festival season though, if you got on something like the Big Day Out tour in January.

“Ahh! In that case…” Ils says in slow awe. "I should do, shouldn’t I!? Actually I’d be overwhelmed! Totally up for that. If they’ll have me I’ll be down! I’ve only done two live shows in the past couple of months, but if I could get a show reel together. If I could go to Australia, I’d be out there on the first plane if given the chance!”

And Val’s original band wouldn’t mind you pinching her for a tour?

“Oh dear! That’s a very astute observation! I think they’d probably be happy that people around the world are appreciating her and all that. They come down to all our gigs and I obviously go to their gigs a lot. They come down and give me support now so we get on well. It's cool.”

I haven’t had a chance to hear Bohemia yet because it is so new. How does Bohemia compare to Soul Trader?

“Some people say it is a little bit darker than they thought it was going to be. I’d say it was a little bit more intense than the last album. I tried to find really strong songs that had personal meaning to myself, and some of the singers I really believed in. I put the three strongest songs over breaks on there, and the rest of it is slamming, instrumental, atmospheric stuff as per normal for Ils I guess. I like it. I think it works on a lot of different levels. It should work for different environments and have longevity. That’s my criteria anyway when I write an album. To produce something that should still sound good in a few years as well as now.”

Are there any upbeats tracks in there like “Music”? That is one song that goes round and round and gets stuck in your head and you're bopping down the street to the tune.

“I’d say there is one track on there that is of the same style as “Music”. I think it is up to everyone else to spot which one it is.”

Ok. I will accept that personal challenge then!

“I hope there are some tracks on there that live up to that! “Music” and “Next Level” are quite big tracks to follow up from. If you sit around and compare what you think is a good track to something you have done in the past it can actually stifle your own creativity. I try never to look back and to only move forward. That’s the biggest thing that can psych producers out, is when the record company phones through and says “We need another "Next Level".” As soon as you walk into the studio you have this in your head, and you’re thinking about how you made it, what you did, what your life was like three years ago? I can’t work under that kind of pressure, so I can’t really compare anything to “Next Level”. Overall I really prefer this album to Soul Trader easily. For me personally it is a much more relevant album. There are songs in there that mean something to me. "

Do you think that is a maturity that has come out of the longevity of your career?

“I suppose so. I have been making music for ten years. I have been producing vocalists as another branch of the same trade and I’ve always felt that it was one of my weaknesses. I find it very challenging to work with singers and as I get older I am trying to challenge myself more I suppose. I’m pretty self-confident I can write 12” dance club material that works. Working in an old-fashioned booth with singers though, wow, that is a how different kettle of fish! I’m trying to push myself.”

Can you tell us a little bit about some of your other collaborators on the album?

“What I did for this album was that I moved a songwriter, Donna Dee, into one of my studios, to be one of my main collaborators as she was literally in charge of all the singers. If I did one track I’d want to hear four different singers for it. I’d give a backing track to her and we’d work through what kind of voice would be suitable, which songwriters and she would coordinate booking-in the singers. Ultimately, she’s a female producer, and I find it makes for a much more relaxed environment to have a female producer working with female singers. Donna Dee is quite well known, in the UK at least.”

“The other singers were people I met in my travels from Bulgaria, who I flew into London to work in the studio for ten days. So Donna was in charge of looking after them and we’d put them up in a flat and then have them in the studio. It was really good as before I was used to working with session singers who would come in for four hours and go away again. This was more like the seventies, a residential studio, like Pink Floyd style. And these two singers sing together in stereo as they trained vocally together as children. It was a brilliant atmosphere for ten days, because they could work on the track and I could get some feedback, as opposed to working with session singers. I just wanted an album that felt organic.”

Who wrote the lyrics that feature on Bohemia, you or the singers?

Most of the lyrics are written by the singers themselves in conjunction with Donna. I usually try about three different vocalists against each track I do. I try not to get too personally involved with singers because I know 70% of them won’t feature on the album, so I don’t want to develop a working relationship with them and then not use them. Donna Dee would express my opinion to the singers (for me). I’d use her as a go-between. If you work together and you don’t end up featuring that person, I’m the kind of person where I’d feel pressured to then try and use them. I don’t want personal things to interfere with musical integrity. If it’s not a good enough song I don’t want it going on my album. I like a buffer. Songwriting is one of my weakest points, so it is really nice to have a good team onboard.”

Are Distinctive Records looking after you now you have signed to them?

“It is really nice to have a record label that’s actually at the end of my road (in west London). Marine Parade was always in another town and we’d never socialize. I’d go down about once a year and say hello at the office. With Distinctive I’m down there every week and I get on with everyone there so well. It’s nice. Sometimes producers and record companies don’t socialize very much so I think with Distinctive is nice to have a local company who have been in business for years and I trust their decisions. None of them are on a learning curve. I usually work with new labels and it has always been fun, with a spirit of adventure, but they’re people who haven’t had much practical experience. With Distinctive everyone down there has had nine years hardcore record business experience, so when I go down it is not like they’re learning how to use this piece of equipment or something. They’re a really good gang and they have a nice little pub around the corner, and they’re always in the pub on Friday so it is no problem for me to go down the end of the road and say hello! I’m getting a good vibe at the moment and I’m very happy!"