Seven Lions

Celebrating his smash "Not Even Love" hitting #1 on the dance charts, Seven Lions joined us for the first time on America's Dance 30, and shared how the smash was born w ILLENIUM & ÁSDÍS, how long ago they started working on it, and how many Vs there were of it before its release.  He also shared how his latest song "Easy Lover" was born w Hilda.

We also got to know Seven Lions better w #FinkysFirsts!

Find out about:

• if music was the first thing he wanted to get into when he grew up
• if 'Seven Lions' was his first choice for his artist project name
• the first song he produced
• the first show he ever played
• the first fan experience that made him realize he was blowing up in popularity
• the first time he heard one of his songs on the radio
• the first dance song that made him fall in love w EDM

Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!

Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!

Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!

Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Seven lions. Can I just tellyou that one of the funniest videos I've
seen is the video you posted youjoining Subtronics on stage to debut your collab
and you turning to him and notonly saying, well, I guess we
got to finish this now, butalso saying you're not going to talk on
the mic. Yeah. Actually hewas at my set, which kind of

(00:21):
makes it funnier because like people expectme to not talk on the mic,
and I was just like, so, I have this guest here and people
probably can't see him very well,so you know, maybe he should say,
hey, I'm Subtronics. So hejust got on the mic and was
like give it up for seven lions, And I'm like, no, dude,
you got to say, like youknow you're Subtronics, because like I
mean, I probably should be agracious host and be like, hey,

(00:42):
this is Subtronics, but I'm justnot that I have microphone stage right for
sure, well as somebody that hasbeen to a lot of festivals where the
DJ won't shut up, let mesay thank you for that. Yeah,
I feel like it's part of mypersona too, for sure. So I'm
going I'm going to keep with thenot talking on the mic thing. Well,

(01:02):
seven lions, welcome to America's Dancethirty for the first time. Thanks
for having me stoked dance counting downthe biggest dance songs in the country.

(01:26):
This is America's Dance thirty. Ithink it's been almost ten years since the
last time we chatted. How wellhave you been. I've been good.
Sorry, my Alexa's just reminded meabout different meetings and things that I have
to do. But good. Sincethen, I mean, the record label
has happened, and I don't know, there's just been a lot of stuff

(01:48):
going on since then. I thinkabout that, like, that's quite a
long time ago for sure. Holdon, not to interrupt you, but
Alexa stop for reals, Well,you've got a lot going on right now.
Not only congratulations on your new songeasy Lover with Hilda, but also
congratulations on not even Love with aLennium and austis going number one. That

(02:12):
is so awesome. Thanks. Yeah, I'm really stoked on that for sure.
It's my first time working with UniversalRepublic or Casablanca whatever, I don't
know, with the but that wasthe first release we've done. And then
boom it's crushed. So's it's niceto have Ophelia the kind of more underground
record label thing. But then workingwith like Brett and all the people that

(02:36):
I've worked with, they crushed it, you know. Yeah, and shout
out to i Yella too, whoalso made this chat possible, so thank
you to her as well. Ican't wait to talk about both of these
songs, especially something you posted abouteasy Lover. But before we do that,
let's get to know seven Lions alittle better with Thinky's first. Okay,
sure, So I was having majorflashbacks when I was prepping because when

(03:05):
I was hopping on your Wikipedia,I saw that it said that you got
interested in music production when your dadbrought home a Macintosh. I'm like,
Macintosh instead of mac Oh my god, yeah that was a long time ago.
I mean these are childhood core memoriesfor sure, being like, you

(03:25):
know, like this high off theground and just like you know, seeing
a keyboard for the first time andbeing like WHOA Well. I love finding
out the origin story of artists.I know that you played multiple instruments when
you were growing up, and youwere also in multiple bands, But when
you were growing up, was musicalways the first thing you wanted to get

(03:46):
into or was there something else youwanted to be when you grew up.
I don't think I ever wanted musicto be like a job, but it
was something that I liked. Idon't know, I honestly, growing up,
I always thought i'd have a prettyregular job, you know, and
like, I don't know, musicalways seemed very unstable, and I'm I'm

(04:08):
a very like conservative like safety,you know, like I want stability essentially,
So I was like, oh,music, that's not going to be
a thing for sure, So whatwould it have been? I don't know.
I so before before this, Iwas working for PSAV doing like audio
visual work, so conferences and thingslike that. It wasn't exactly fulfilling,

(04:30):
that's for sure, but it gotthe job done. And I lived in
Santa Barbara and I'm you know,married, and I had a great life
a dog, and you know,I just for me, it was more
like what's my life going to looklike with my friends and my family as
opposed to what am I going todo? So well, I'm glad you
parlayed into music. I'm sure weall are glad you did that for sure.

(04:51):
Now, seven lions the name comesfrom a character in one of your
favorite books. But when you werefirst deciding on artists, was seven Lines
the first name you were going togo with? Or were there other names?
Oh? There were other names,and mostly from that same book.
There's a bunch of really cool Greeksounding names in that book, specifically because

(05:12):
it has a lot to do withGreek mythology. So I had like a
notepad or a little sticky pad inthe front of the book that I was
just writing cool names down as Iwas going through it. I wonder if
I still have that notepad. Canyou share some of the others that it
might have been. I don't remember, Like they were very Greek, like
Maximus and Decimus and like things likethat, you know, tactose and like

(05:34):
very like I don't know, butseven Lions just when I saw that,
I was like, oh, somuch better. Nothing against Greek language,
but seven Lines is so much better. Definitely. So is it true you
started producing music because you were tiredof waiting around for the band. Yeah?
Absolutely. I was not into electronicmusic at all. When I got

(05:56):
Fruity Loops, somebody gave me apirated version and I was like, oh,
cool, electronic music great. Butthen, like you know, I
would get home from school and wewould have band practice and then nobody would
show up. So I'd be like, Okay, well I still want to
make music today, so maybe I'llopen up this free loops thing and see
how it goes. And then overtime I just got better and better and

(06:20):
really started to focus on that forsure. Well, do you remember the
first song you ever produced? Imean I remember some of the early ones,
for sure. I have a folderof like really old stuff, but
not that old. I mean,these are high school days, so this
is like pre two thousand and fivewhen I graduated high school. So now

(06:40):
you just played Electric Forest. Youalso just played Escapade Music Festival. You've
played shows all over the world,But do you remember the first show you
ever played? It's hard to callone the first, because I mean there
were some shows that I was playingas Jeff Montalvo and I guess seven lions

(07:00):
there are maybe like the first bookedshow would be like this UKF tour that
I did, So I feel likeSan Francisco opening up for GEM and I
feels like the first one that Icould think of. But you doing the
first show as Jeff, How didthat go? Oh? I mean that
was definitely just for friends and doinglike outdoor illegal raves, you know,
and out in the mountains and stuff. You know that those were my first

(07:25):
DJ shows, you know. Gotcha. Now, you've got a lot of
in inc that we can't see rightnow. But what was your first tattoo?
Oh? It was the Opefo onmy back right here, favorite band
and so you don't regret it,Oh, not at all. I don't
regret any of my tattoos. Ihave some funny tattoos as well, but

(07:45):
like, yeah, I mean forme, it's just they're all little stories
of things that I remember. Yeah, my first one was a horrible tribal
band that I got when I waslike twenty one and I was like fifty
pounds less, so the lines arelike really thin. I'm like, oh
god, horrible. But anyways,now, the Seven Lions fan base is
absolutely amazing. Do you remember afirst time with a fan experience realizing that

(08:11):
you were blowing up in popularity?Man? That's I think some of the
first drinking with strangers were really specialfor sure, because it was just good
fan interactions where you got to sitdown and have a beer and really good
to know people. And I thinkthose were some really good early on ones
for sure. Now you've had someamazing songs playing on the radio and currently

(08:45):
playing on the radio, including oneof my favorite old Seven Lion songs,
Don't Leave, such an amazing song. But do you remember the first time
you ever heard one of your songson the radio? I think it was
more like I was in in likea public place and heard it on like
a radio that was playing there,like I don't know if it was like
a Walmart or somewhere, but Strangerswas definitely playing in a place that I

(09:07):
was like, what oh, whoayou know, So definitely like I don't
remember the exact time, but likethat's kind of more when it would happen
for sure. Now from that totoday, does it still feel amazing hearing
your music on the radio? Yeah, I mean it's been a little while.
So after EDC, we were stayingsome somewhere in Vegas and by the

(09:31):
pool, and of course they're playingdance radio, so like not Even Love
came on like three times and Iwas sitting at the pool. Then I
was just like, all right,let's go. Does it sound as good?
On the radio to you as itdoes when you were producing it.
I mean, obviously it's like differentlittle speakers up in the corner of a
pool. So like I mean,if you were to see in my studio

(09:52):
right now, I do have likelittle reference monitors that are supposed to like
emulate what a like a not sogood sound system would sound like. So
I do check that kind of thingfor sure. Yeah. Finally, in
Finkey's First I read that you gotinterested in trance music when somebody gave you
an old Tiesto CD. It wasmy cousin. My cousin Lewis gave me

(10:16):
a like maybe four or five CDswhen I was going away to college,
and I remember listening to them upon the way to I was moving from
Long Poke to Oakland, so Ihad a long drive and I was listening
to these trance CDs and I waslike, oh, whoa, this is
really good. Actually, I metTista later and told him that, and
then he gave me like a signedcopy of that actual like CD, which

(10:39):
is really cool. That's awesome.Well, do you remember what the first
dance song was that made you fallin love with EDM? Yeah, Tista's
remix of Delirium's Innocent is like,yeah, such an incredible song. Speaking
of incredible songs, let's talk aboutnot even Love. How was this song

(11:00):
born? With a Lennium and Austis? So I got the top line and
then kind of wrote the track aroundthe top line and got to a point
where I was just really like I'dspent weeks and weeks on it, and
I was like, I don't knowwhat to do with this anymore, and
then sent it to Nick. Nickput his touches on it, and then
sent it back to me, andthen I continued to work on it,

(11:22):
and then that was it. Sohow long ago did you guys start working
on it? Man, it's hardto remember things like that. I don't
remember if it was the beginning ofthis year or the very end of last
year. But I had just gottena bunch of like these analogs since and
a lot of it was just experimentingwith these new pieces of year, and

(11:43):
that must have been end of lastyear. Then. Well. Something I
love to find out about songs ishow many different v's there are from when
you start working on it, allthe tweaking that goes on to when you
finally mastered and put it out.Do you remember what the final V was
of? Not even Let's see,I can tell you right now. And

(12:03):
when it comes to seven lion songs, are there usually a lot of v's.
It really depends, Like I think, the best songs don't have that
many versions. They're are the songsthat are like kind of like it's almost
like a fever dream. When you'remaking it, it's just like you're awake,
you're working. It feels right,it's a flow, and you don't
there's not a lot of second guessing. But this one, Wow, definitely

(12:28):
a lot. I got up toV ten and then I renamed it and
then kept going up to it lookslike at least twenty in here. Wow.
And is that before you sent itto Nick or is that after you
got it back? It looks likeonce it got back from Nick there were
only four versions after that. Ohokay, not that bad. Yeah.

(12:50):
Now for sure you mentioned the analogstuff that you're working on, which leads
me to the newest song easy Loverwith Hilda. You know you talked about
that it was just you having funlearning new ways of production. How was
that song born? Same kind ofthing where I was on a walk and
my manager had sent me a bashof top lines and I heard the hill

(13:11):
to one and I was like,whoa, this is really good. Also,
i'd been making some music for gemIntory at the time, so like
I was doing kind of focusing onhouse music production, like specifically really clean,
minimal. So then I you know, took those things that I learned
and then brought them into this trackand then just kind of like I got

(13:33):
a bunch of new gear. Solike, specifically the Profit six is the
one that I really really got into. So a lot of the sounds are
from the Profit six. But Ithought about making it like a big,
you know, bigger festival kind ofdubstep melodic dubstep thing for a minute,
and then I was like, no, this song doesn't need that at all,
Like I'm just going to kind offlow with what the song needs and

(13:54):
ended up being more of a minimalkind of production for sure. Well,
her voice is just so amazing.I fell in love with her voice.
I want to say it was WakeMe when It's Quiet by Don Diablo and
her the A Vichy tribute that wasso incredible. I don't think i've heard
that one. I'll check it out. Her voice is just so amazing.
Now, this might be a stupidquestion, but coming from a radio programmer,

(14:16):
where you know, we don't alwayshear songs because we're fed so much
music to play on the radio,isn't the same as a producer getting top
lines? Are there times that youmight not hear it as a song and
then go back and you're like,God, how did I miss that?
I usually don't go back and relisten to top lines very often. It

(14:37):
definitely happens, but it's Alexa.Alexa had a better answer, But yeah,
I don't know. It hasn't happenedtoo many times. Sometimes it's the
opposite where I'll be like, Ireally like this top line and then I'll
get it into a session and I'llbe like, oh, I don't actually

(14:58):
know if I like this that much. It can go both ways. I
guess well, I'm glad it wentthe way it did with both of your
songs. Congratulations on Easy Lover,Congratulations on Not Even Love? What's next
for seven Lions? So this yearis just a bunch of collabs because I
did the album, and I feellike collabs are always really good growth years

(15:20):
because you're tapping into different fan bases, and also if the collab is really
good, then you're making a verynew sound that nobody's ever heard before,
which is really fun. So forme, I'm just working on collabs,
having fun, touring, mostly touring. I mean a lot of my time
is when I'm home Monday through Friday. I'm just trying to like stay healthy

(15:43):
and I don't know, relax becausethe weekends are so intense with the festivals.
So I'm definitely in the studio alittle bit. But right now I'm
kind of just wrapping up some songsand Elden Ring the DLC just came out,
so I fired that up, andI'm I'm playing a lot of video
games. So yeah, just festivals, video games, and trying to be

(16:04):
healthy. Well, good luck withespecially the last part, because it's so
hard these days. Seven Lions,It is so great seeing you. Thank
you so much for your time withus on America's Dance thirty. Yeah,
thank you for having me. Ireally appreciate it. America's Dance thirty counting
down the biggest dance songs in thecountry. America's Dance Thirty