Wu-Tangy: Pretty Lights

WHEN DEREK VINCENT SMITH performs under the name Pretty Lights, he brings audiences his own blend of hip-hop and soul inspired electronic music.

Just, don't call him a DJ.

"I've never considered myself a DJ," he said over the phone during laundry duty somewhere in Louisville, Ky., late this past October. "I've never had turn tables and a mixer and spun records or done a show like that."

For Smith, the compulsion to explain to others the difference between a DJ and a producer, as he considers himself, goes past the simple fact the he prefers equipment like MIDI controllers to the more standard DJ set up when playing shows. Instead, it's something that has spawned from the time he has spent on the road interacting with groups of fans he believes have applied the most common DJ stereotype to him: that he plays other artist's material.

"There's a difference between maybe the guy who opened up, who can play anyone's music in the world," Smith said, "and the fact that I've got to make everything."
                           
Still, Smith realizes that to some, he may sound like he's over analyzing it. "It's a weird thing ... Whenever I do explain it," he added. "I feel like a dumbass."

Whether he's being too technical or not, it makes sense as to why Smith would want recognition for the music he has been playing six days a week on his most recent tour — his production, in every sense of the word, has gotten Pretty Lights where it is today.

The sole mechanic behind Pretty Lights' sound, Smith's project is the culmination of a love affair between electronic music and hip-hop, a genre that he became enthralled with from an early age.

"My homie gave me Wu Tang's 'Enter the 36 Chambers' on a cassette tape," he said. "I'd listen to it while I did my paper route."

In high school, Smith began experimenting with electronic musical instruments, but never really considered crafting beats as anything more than a hobby.

"Production was something I did on the side, all through high school and the college that I went to," he said. "My main thing in that time was my live band."

It was only after his band fell apart in 2005, that he felt confident enough to go out on his own.

"During those years," he said, "that's where I feel like I really honed my productions skills and when that band started to fall apart, then I felt like I was just getting to the point where I could produce music that was good enough to release; that I was proud of."

By putting up all of his records online for free in between touring, which includes the double disc "Filling Up the City Skies" and the recently released "Passing Behind Your Eyes," Pretty Lights began to cultivate a steady fan base in Smith's native Colorado and the rest of the West Coast.
                           
Now in 2009, it has been less than a year since Smith and live setting drummer, Cory Eberhard, first played on the east coast and the duo has been enjoying a slew of sold out shows all over the country at venues like the Metro in Chicago and the Bowery Ballroom in New York.

With each tour, Smith tries to improve the quality of his live performance, which has recently meant allotting funds toward a more sophisticated light show. Then again, this might have been the product of another misconception that Smith learned about while on the road, one that can take shape when you tour as a group called "Pretty Lights."

"A lot of people assume that the name Pretty Lights was like, 'Oh, let's make a band and have a really crazy light show and we'll call it "Pretty Lights."' But that's not at all what it is. The name came way before I even considered spending ridiculous amounts of money on touring with LED walls."

Smith also has future plans for the production of Pretty Lights' live sound. For his next tour, he hopes to incorporate more live elements and showcase some of the instruments he plays on the albums, such as bass guitar and synthesizers. This will not only add more diversity to the show, but might also help further his point on that particular issue of his.

"It'll make it a lot more fun for me as far as just being able to experiment with a different improvisation on stage," he said. "And also, it will make it more clear to my audience that I am not a DJ."

Photo by Darren Mahuron