Living in Detroit meant it was almost inevitable that Jeremy Ellis would discover soul music. With soul music constantly on the radio and a desire to be musically creative, Jeremy Ellis, aka Ayro, is a classically trained musician who has become one of Detroit’s freshest makers of electronic soul music. Known for his live act with John Arnold, Jeremy stands out as an energetic multi-talented musician and performer who has been dubbed as ‘Detroit’s broken beat Stevie Wonder’ – part of a mind-blowing live freestyle act not to be missed!

Future Soul Records welcomes Jeremy Ellis to the label! First up from him and John Arnold is the infectious ‘Nightlife’ track. The track allows Jeremy and John to unite and utilize their musical skills – with impressive results!

Jeremy has the ability to mix up an array of eclectic music styles whether he is DJing, producing, programming or playing keys. After a successful debut with ‘ElectronicLoveFunk’, Jeremy went on to remix artists including Carl Craig and Recloose. He produced his highly praised ‘Lotus Blooms’ album in 2005 after an inspirational trip to Puerto Rico. The sound of West London has also been highly influential to him. Interestingly, he had not heard the West London broken beat sound but discovered it whilst experimenting: “I decided to cut up the beat a little bit and everyone said ‘dude, this sounds like that West London shit’. I hadn’t heard it, it just independently happened. West London has been massively influential… ”

As well as places, Jeremy draws inspiration from everyday events and gigs: “My biggest inspiration is experience. [An event] is an experience and for the next week, I’ll make tracks inspired by the energy.” He is grateful for today’s technology which allows him to connect with other artists around the world. “We can hop on i-Chat and drop our new track to a friend in Tokyo or in London and they can give feedback immediately. Or you can send a track and have someone add to it…The possibilities are massive.”

Whilst he is full of praise for the future when it comes to technology, the future of the mainstream music industry is something he has concerns about. “To have a big hit record, the record label spends $1 million in the first six weeks and if that artist doesn’t sell [enough] copies they’re cancelled. Forty years ago the first album may not sell that well but [the label] would keep spending money on you and build you as an artist. But right now they’d drop you. In a lot of ways, that’s why we chose not to go major label route...”

A major label’s loss is certainly Future Soul Record’s gain! Listen out for more goodness from Jeremy Ellis on this label!