The word legend tends to get bandied about way too easily sometimes but there are among us certain artists for whom the description fits perfectly. Jeff Mills is one such artist.
From his pioneering work as part of electronic collective Underground Resistance in ’80s Detroit and his early ’90s establishment of his own Axis imprint, Mills has ploughed a unique and ever-evolving course through techno. Always innovative and keen to push any and every envelope, Mills most recent incarnation is the three-piece electro-jazz-afrofunk ensemble Tomorrow Comes the Harvest who blew hearts and minds at the aforementioned CRSSD Festival in San Diego, California.
One could wax lyrical ad infinitum about the contribution Mills has made to electronic dance music over his career; the DJ skills, the soundtrack work, the TR-909 workouts – but why do that when we were offered an audience with the man himself; the one and only Jeff Mills…
For your 303 Day [March 30th] performance at CRSSD Festival, were you flying solo or is the band appearing with you?
“I’m with the band, with two other musicians and we’re currently still on a tour that started last summer, and these are some of the last dates of this segment of the tour. It’s quite interesting because we’ve worked out all the kinks and unclear parts and everything is much more defined, and we really have a clear objective for the performance.”
“Many moons ago, just before Underground Resistance, I was in a band called Final Cut, which was an industrial-dance thing with four musicians. So, I learned about music from playing, collaborating and creating with other musicians. Then, with Underground Resistance, we literally made everything together… we found a really fluid way to produce a lot of music in a very short
