Vancouver’s Ekali scored a triple record deal

by Kate Wilson on October 17th, 2018 at 3:41 PM

1 of 1 2 of 1

It’s been an exhilarating two years for Vancouver producer Ekali. While finding success as the bass player with local indie darling Said the Whale, the musician—born Nathan Shaw—spent his evenings putting together electronic tracks. When offers to play in Europe and Asia and to join the Red Bull Music Academy’s 2014 Tokyo cohort rolled around, he left the band to strike out on his own.

It turned out to be an excellent choice.

“I’ve just been so busy, I haven’t really had time to look at what’s happened as a whole,” he tells the Straight with a laugh on the line from L.A., the first stop of his tour. “I haven’t really had any spare minutes to relax—it’s been a whirlwind of stuff. But it’s been great. Since we last talked [in 2016], we’ve done three headline tours, so it’s been a big leap.”

Shaw’s accomplishments as a solo artist are, however, based on more than selling out venues. After he put out a number of independently released singles on major streaming platforms, a slew of labels came to charm him into putting ink on a contract. Offered a deal with Big Beat Records—the electronic giant that represents artists including Galantis, David Guetta, and Chromeo—he was ready to put pen to paper. That was when he got an out-of-the-blue message on Twitter from Skrillex.

“I was in L.A., and he said, ‘Why don’t you come down to the studio and hang out?’ ” he recalls. “So I went down, and we talked a bit about this deal at the time with Big Beat. He decided from there to take it on as his own and collaborate with them. Now we have a triple deal with Big Beat, Atlantic, and [Skrillex’s label] OWSLA, which has been fantastic. It’s this power team that are working together and collaborating to make sure that the releases are doing well and that we’re getting some cool people on the tracks.

“The other thing that persuaded me was that I just love OWSLA creatively,” he continues. “Everything they do stylistically is in line with what I like. Obviously, Sonny [Skrillex] having my back is a big thing. Having met him in person really persuaded me to do it. In person, he’s one of the best people I’ve ever met and he believes in the process. That’s the most important thing.”

Shaw’s trio of labels helped to ensure that his debut EP, Crystal Eyes, made an impact on the EDM community when it dropped last month. A diverse project that takes the listener from the mellow, splashy sounds of “Stay Hollow” to abrasive, drop-fuelled “Helios”, the record showcases the variety of Shaw’s slick production.

Now ready to play his new songs on a lengthy North American tour, Shaw is thankful that his releases have given him the platform to play large venues once more—and that he is finally able to perform in his hometown.

“It feels amazing to be playing in Vancouver again,” he says. “I haven’t done a headline show here in two years. I didn’t want to play any venue in Vancouver where I couldn’t bring the full production with me. If you want to do that, you have to step up to the Commodore or the Vogue. We’ve been waiting a long time, and now we’re finally able to fill that room.

“It’s been my dream to play the Commodore since I was little,” he continues. “I played it with Said the Whale, but that was in a band, and I’ve wanted to do it solo my entire life. So this show is kind of a dream come true.”