As the month of December gets rolling, us here at By The Wavs have decided to dedicate this month as, “Appalachian Artists Month.” Each week, we’ll bring you one of the top artist in the region. Each article will give a short feature on them leading into a By The Wavs exclusive interview on each. To start us off on week one is a very familiar name deep in the Appalachian Mountains, Lancelott.
Known for his fully eclectic musical experience he provides night in and night out for his devoted following, deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, is a local legend that goes by Lancelott. Spending the past 5 years capturing the hearts of the Appalachian music community, building his one of a kind production, and finding his true sound/flow, he’s now expanding and capturing new fans across the southeast region of the United States.
Lance Lykins, better known as Lancelott, Hails out of the far southeastern corner of Kentucky in a small town called Pikeville. He produces free-form Bass Music while incorporating what many consider the base of Appalachian music, Bluegrass. With the success of his first album release through GXXKS Records, “Rite of Passage,” there were many different musical backgrounds were incorporated into it. Everything from the heavy hitters we all love such as, “Hit The Deck,” to the perfect mixture of a Bluegrass/EDM songs with Ishi Wooten of Restless Leg String Band and one of our favorite free flowing, soulful bands, Driftwood Gypsy.
Recently, Lancelott has played alongside Manic Focus, Space Jesus, HYTYD, Slander, Afroman, Wick-it The Instigator, and many more. Along with playing beside these artists, he has been on cards with world touring artists such as Dillion Francis, RL Grime, Chance The Rapper, Benny Bennasi, and Alison Wonderland.
As 2016 comes to an end, it has been a year full of come-ups for Lancelott headlining many regional festivals. Along with playing beside some of the biggest names in the industry, he has also curated his own stage for the Beaux Charity Foundation at their yearly event, Beaux Ball.
Interview:
One of the things you’re most widely known for is the use of your massive personal production at your events, why do you love playing on this set-up as opposed to just showing up and playing music for your fans and following?
Because I want to provide an immersive experience for everyone who attends my events. When we throw a show, we’re going for an experience, not just a listening. I actually pawned my jeep wrangler to buy the initial light show and set up.
Has your production always been the same? Or has it changed over the past couple of years?
Its constantly evolving and growing, a good portion of the money I make from each show goes directly back into the production in some way.
So is your production just you setting it up and running it, or is there a team behind it?
It’s usually me, my sound and lighting engineer, Fred Damron, and 2 roadies. These are just a case-by-case basis depending on where I play at.
So have you ever thought about calling your roadies, “Lancelittles?”
*Laughter* Not really… Yet! Maybe that needs to become a thing.
Ive noticed all of your following at events use something called, “swarp” instead of words like raging, raving or partying. Can you further iterate on what exactly this is?
Swarping isn’t an action, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a movement. The Government is actually scared of it *massive laughter* THERES A WAR ON SWARPING!
So is it possible to Swarp? Because I’ve heard fan after fan refer to this term, and I’m still confused. Help me grasp this concept.
Ya, for real though, you know that little window between not enough and going overboard? The goal is to keep that going. You ever dance your ass off, all the way across a crowded room, with a full beer and never spill a drop? That’s Swarping.
You just dropped your first album, “Rite of Passage,” a few months back. How’s the feedback been on it?
The love and support has been overwhelmingly awesome. It was fun getting to collaborate with so many great artists from different musical genres on that project.
So now that’s finished, what are some other upcoming project(s) that you’re allowed to talk about?
Currently working on an official remix for Shy Guy Says of his banger “Crank This” as well as an all original collaboration with Hip Hop legend Mike Jones through a special release with Trifection Entertainment. Expect some new collaborations to come out soon with Blue Future, Ishi Wooton and The Flow as well. I have a slew of new unreleased remixes of some old classics (Wu-Tang, Korn, Bring Me The Horizon and more)that I’m currently looking for the proper avenue of releasing them through.
Mike Jones? That’s impressive, bet your fans will love that one. Speaking of your following, how did you amass such a fan base in Appalachia, a region where EDM is hardly known?
By not caring to be different and providing a space in time where anyone and everyone is welcome to let their freak flag fly. It’s a family gathering at my shows. It’s more than just music, it’s about connecting.
I think we’ve covered pretty much everything, any ending thoughts or comments?
Love your friends, chase your dreams.
For more on Lancelott’s upcoming shows, music, and news:
Follow his Facebook here.
Follow his Twitter here.