Illenium Talks India Return, Rock Influences and New Music
Denver artist Nick Miller, who last visited in 2020, kicks off a three-city tour this week as part of Sunburn Arena
American DJ-producer Illenium aka Nick Miller.
Among the foremost names in future bass and electronic music, American producer Illenium aka Nick Miller has been taking his music to new places over time. His globe-spanning tour, which started last year, saw him scale up like never before with massive production and a band on stage with him.
Illenium will bring that energy to his upcoming India tour, as part of Sunburn Arena this week. The “Good Things Fall Apart” artist is slated to perform in Mumbai at Bayview Lawns on February 23rd, followed by Bengaluru at Manpho Convention Centre on February 24th and in Gurugram at DLF Cyber City on February 25th.
Illenium returns to India for the first time in four years, with his previous performance taking place as headliner at music festival Vh1 Supersonic in Pune in 2020. He says over an email interview, “Last time I was in India was only for a short while, so I am excited to actually get to spend some time in the country and experience all it has to offer!”
Although it was a short trip last time around, Illenium says it was memorable to finally come down to India for his fans. “They give me so much support online and I was so grateful to share my music live with them,” he adds. This time, Illenium says he’s looking forward to arriving a day early in India and having some time to check out more the country.
Best known for topsy-turvy, bass-heavy songs like “Feel Good” (a collaboration with DJ-producer Gryffin and singer Daya) and “Takeaway” (with The Chainsmokers) and “Nightlight” (with singer Annika Wells), Illenium released a self-titled album in 2023 that served as a thematic prequel to the stories and concepts guiding his visual and sonic aesthetic on the first three albums – Ashes, Awake and Ascend.
On the collaborations front, it built on the producer’s love for rock and metal. Where the 2021 album Fallen Embers had included collaborators like Blink-182’s Tom Delonge (“Paper Thin”) and metalcore act I Prevail (“Feel Something”), the self-titled 2023 album brought in Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker, Spiritbox and All Time Low. He says about the latter two, “I am a huge fan of both those artists! It was such an honor being able to collaborate with them (along with all the other artists on the album). I grew up listening to that type of music so it was a ton of fun working with both of them.”
Among the lead singles of the album was “Eyes Wide Shut” with Lavigne and Barker – one that placed familiar pop-punk hooks and lyrics over Illenium’s electronic style. He looks back at the album and says he’s very proud of how things were received. “I wanted to create something that would translate well to a live band playing it on stage and I think it succeeded at that. I was able to work with some of my favorite artists on it and I’m still stoked with how well it turned out,” Illenium says.
The wish list of collaborators, however, still remains as open as ever for him. “I think my top three artists I’d love to work with right now are Bring Me The Horizon, Halsey, or Ellie Goulding,” the producer adds.
Sonically, the artist says his newer production material has been inspired by “more electronic focused stuff being released by artists right now.” With one kind of story told with the Trilogy albums and his self-titled prequel, Illenium says the themes will be “similar” but packaged “very different.”
