At only 19 years old, UV Boi is about to embark on his third, national tour.
Rewind 15 months and Brisbane musician Emmanuel John first created UV Boi. Since then he has been shortlisted as Triple J's Unearthed Artist of 2014, collaborated with the American producer Ryan Hemsworth, and had regular airplay on Triple J's Mix Up with Nina Las Vegas.
Now he has released his new single, ‘LUV’. “I wouldn't really call it dance music,” says UV Boi of his music. “I would call it electronic; whatever idea comes to my head I try to make – I don’t really try to pigeonhole myself in one genre.”
A mixture of heavy 808s, hip hop influences and melodic sounds, UV Boi enjoys listening to jazz and classical music. “You don’t really hear it so much in my music but I do listen to that, I try to use everything and put it in together into what I am trying to express.”
'LUV' has been three to four months in the making. “I linked up with my friends from New York, from Brooklyn, Brasstracks, and they wrote the brass in there. And from there I fell in love with the whole track.” Fionn Richard’s vocals were added later. “The song came together real nicely, it was real natural. I loved it all together,” beams UV Boi.
For the 'LUV' tour, UV Boi has been working on a larger, live show. “My first tour was more DJ based but through the Tkay [Maidza] tour I was able to try some different equipment. I was able to bring my keyboard, my drum pad with me to see how that goes. Now with me going on my third tour I have this live show planned out and it is working very well.”
UV first met Tkay after winning a spot on the Listen Out festival last year. “I am so glad she chose to tour with me – it was a really good experience.”
It did not take long for people to take notice of UV Boi, after he self-released his earlier songs: 'Thank U' and 'Ghost'. “Before Triple J and Nina [Las Vegas] hopped on board with my sound, and my music, I was getting a lot of love from online from places like America and Europe.”
Las Vegas has been a major supporter of UV Boi and his work, playing him on her Mix Up exclusives as well as introducing his sound to her friends including Canadian producer/ DJ, Ryan Hemsworth.
An instant fan, Hemsworth started emailing UV Boi. “We were chatting and all of a sudden he was like 'hey, do you want to make a song'. I was ecstatic. I was like ‘holy crap, Ryan Hemsworth wants to make a song with me’, but I had to play it cool so I was like ‘yeah, cool, let's make a song'.”
Written by Kerry Restante
UV Boi Tour Dates
Fri 26 Jun - Cats (Adelaide)Sat 27 Jun - Shebeen (Melbourne)
Sat 4 Jul - Woolly Mammoth (Brisbane)
Fri 17 Jul - Mr Wolf (Canberra)
Sat 18 Jul - Goodgod Small Club (Sydney)
Sun 26 Jul - Splendour In The Grass
Fri 7 Aug - Jimmy's Den (Perth)
