Ellis-D wants it all to go wrong: Checking in with music’s most sought after live act
Music has never been more accessible than it is in the modern age, and the result is the average fan having no solid shape, form or defined sensibilities when it comes to art.
In previous decades, determining the hottest new acts was easy. Genres had silhouettes, meaning specific features within them could be altered from person to person, but the shape remained the same. That’s no longer the case, and it’s a good thing, as increased accessibility and variation in music make the art form more exciting; it also means there are few constants when speaking with other music lovers.
That is, of course, for one: The greatest live act on the modern circuit is Ellis-D.
I’ll be honest, prior to our conversation this February morning, I’d never seen Ellis-D perform live – I still haven’t. I don’t know what to expect when that screen starts loading, as all I have of him are the whispers from friends, each of whom tells me that whatever is on my list of things to do in 2026, seeing him play needs to be at the top. He has, in turn, become an enigma, this cathartic performer who has dominion over a crowd more than any other artist making music.
Who was going to greet me here? A towering figure in sunglasses, willing to give away no secrets, keeping the formula of his performances well and truly under wraps? A man akin to Prince, who will only take questions if he can whisper the answers into the ear of a third party? Or will the modern incarnation of a rockstar simply not turn up to the call?
None of that. Instead, imagine the anti-climax when the person who greets me is an incredibly polite and friendly man, someone whose overwhelming contribution to music isn’t an ungodly amount of power, isn’t a secret reserved for a select few, but is instead just a reflection of his adoration for the art form. Does he even know he has this reputation as the greatest live act going?
“It’s one of those things that kind of crops up in conversation with people every now and then,” he said, black hair turned a lighter shade as the Brighton sun trickles in through an open window, voice delicate and calming. “It’s one of those things you would talk about with someone else, about other artists when you’re coming up. It never feels real when it’s being talked about you for some reason.”
He continued, “I don’t know, it’s always a strange feeling, but it’s lovely to hear. It’s really nice, and I feel like it’s a lot of validation for a lot of the work we put in, especially like last year. Me and the live band, the guys that have been touring round with us, it’s a lovely feeling, and obviously we can hopefully try to deliver in that sense – put on great shows and keep enjoying them as well.”
You’ll notice a lot in this interview that, despite being a solo act, Ellis-D will frequently refer to the project as “we” rather than “I”. Why is that? Simply put, it’s because he sees the band he plays with as a big contribution towards everything he does, both on stage (obviously) but also in the studio.
The people he plays with all bring their own exciting edge to what is already an incredibly unique sound, and this exposure, this sense of community that Ellis has built surrounding a project, which for many others would be done in isolation, leads to a style of playing that a lot of modern music lovers have never heard before.
First, the live show. “So, in terms of the band members that we’ve got who have been touring with us live, it has been, not so much a revolving door necessarily, but because of people’s commitments and obviously this being a solo project, it’s early days,” he said. “We’re relying on the goodwill of people a lot of the time to want to play and understand that obviously sometimes gigs aren’t going to be paying that much.”
He continued, “We’re still doing early doors circuits, and people are very understanding with that, but obviously with lots of commitments that people have with working and other bands, I think we’ve had about 20-odd different members playing with us this last year at different stages, different gigs and festivals.”
Many musicians would see these persistent inconsistencies as a hindrance, making it hard for Ellis to really tap into a live sound that he can call his own; however, he thrives on the unpredictable nature of these artists’ sound. He probably enjoys his live shows just as much as the audience does, as he feels out the pockets of each musician that new members create and works out how he can most effectively turn them inside out.
“Everyone we play with brings something slightly different, and that’s kind of what I feel keeps it quite exciting,” he said. “When we’re playing, usually each tour or each festival will have a slightly different line-up, someone else on guitar, maybe someone else on keys. A few shows recently we’ve had to bring in a new drummer because our usual drummer, Jed, fractured his metatarsal, did a proper David Beckham 2002 before the World Cup.”
Ellis continued, “I love that everyone brings something slightly different, and I think that helps keep it exciting live… It could never be just myself, I could have never gotten to this point with just me, it always relies on other amazing musicians to get there with us as well.”
Improvised in all but name. Ellis has always preferred to be on the brink of chaos when making music, whether that’s carving out a new sound with different artists or celebrating things going wrong. While a good gig acts as a lot of performers’ segway into pursuing a career in music, it was a bad one that made Ellis-D realise this was the career for him.
“I started playing music when I was around ten, I think that was when I started to take drum lessons – when I was in secondary school – and there was kind of a moment then,” he recalled. “I did like a drum assembly when I was about 11, when I think all of us who were doing the drum lessons kind of got up in the assembly to play for the school. So, the entire school was watching. It was just like, you get up on your own and play about five minutes of a very terrible drum solo.“
What should have been a relatively straightforward gig ended in complete disaster. “What happened was I went up, and I think I was playing for about 30 seconds to a minute, and I actually ripped through the skin of the kick drum on the kit,” said Ellis. “For some reason, I found it really exhilarating that it all went wrong, it all just kind of fell apart, I couldn’t play, and people just kind of had to rush on.”
While the majority of kids would have been horrified at such a blunder in front of their classmates, Ellis was the exact opposite, as he revelled in the impromptu madness which ensued. It turned out that what he had always perceived as a perfectionist’s art form proved to be anything but.
“You know when you’re a kid, you just have this idea that when you’re watching theatre or any kind of live performance, that it’s all just perfect and nothing can go wrong,” he said, “I don’t know, that first performance going so wrong, it could have gone the other way and I’d have just retreated and never wanted to do it again, but for some reason it just really made me want to carry on playing and performing.”
His brief origin reminded me of a quote from Jason Pierce of Spaceman 3 and Spiritualized, who said his favourite music is that which barely exists, that which hangs in the balance entirely. “So much music is like that. Most of what’s considered the start of rock ‘n’ roll and the whole recorded history of Western music is just somebody with an interest in recording folk music. Like all of the early Muddy Waters’ recordings, all of it, it relied on somebody’s love of the medium of recording, more so than the music itself,” he said.
Adding, “It’s the randomness that allows it, almost outside of the commercial realm of music, where people are making records specifically to make money.”
Ellis seemed to agree, revealing that his live sound – which the modern scene seems to be completely addicted to – gets blood pumping because of how much it dangles on a cliff edge. “I think all the best music is when it’s completely on the edge of falling apart,” he noted.
“When it feels like it’s hanging by a shoestring, and it could descend into chaos and madness at any moment, but it just about holds together. That’s kind of what brings you the thrill and excitement, when you’re watching someone and you’re thinking ‘This is on the edge of completely falling apart’, but then somehow everyone holds on. It all stays together, and that gives you that feeling of ‘Wow, I can’t believe these guys pulled this off’. That’s what makes the most exciting music.”
Perhaps one of the most frequent pieces of advice which is dished out to budding creatives is to “just start creating” and not to worry if something goes horribly wrong. It’s easy to say this once you’ve made it, but the prospect is daunting to those who are just starting out. That being said, Ellis-D is living proof of how great your music can be if you throw caution to the wind and immerse yourself in the chaos that comes with sound.
If you go into it wanting everything to go wrong, chances are, things will come out pretty near perfect.
