Interview: pyxis talks to Ellis Dean

Interview: pyxis talks to Ellis Dean

In a time where everyone is looking at the next big thing and swiftly forgetting what precedes, artists are faced with a unique struggle for relevance that can be hard to overcome. As one of liquid’s most timeless artists, pyxis knows too well how it feels to combine staying current in an ever changing landscape whilst never forgetting her roots and commitment to the scene. Approaching an impressive 30 years immersed in the ocean of DNB both in and behind the scenes, if you don’t know who pyxis is by now you only have yourself to blame; boasting releases on UKF/Pilot, Fokuz, V Recordings, Galacy, Goldfat and more.

As a mother of six and slave to countless fish, reptiles, dogs and even parrots, pyxis has her work cut out daily and yet still manages to push out banger after banger for the liquid scene. Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing her to discuss the sea, the stars and her criminal record.

What is it about drum & bass that drew you to it?
“For me, it’s always been about the faster pace of the broken beats twinned with the atmospheric soundscapes and harmonics, I was originally an old skool/jungle fan, but when it turned to the (what we all hate to call) ‘intelligent’ drum n bass, I was even more hooked and have been ever since, most especially since LTJ Bukem’s “Music”, which anyone who’s read my previous interviews will know, that was a real turning point for me.”

⁠Why is it you make liquid as opposed to jungle or other popular styles?
“Well as above, there is just something so hypnotic about the pads, strings, (H)arps, atmospheres all working together with a beat behind it, without the beats, I’d just be permanently asleep in some euphoric nowhere land, the beats keep me focused but the soundscapes keep me relaxed.”

Despite not being the most social person, you have grown a large network of connections, how has this felt for you?
“Well, the very fact I can email, message, Zoom, call people, but not physically socialise, is a game changer and a lifesaver for me to be able to connect and communicate freely, without turning up. Thankfully, I can run a business very effectively this way and I can share stems for a tune with anyone around the world and still make a tune together, or share a spreadsheet, or a contract, or whatever it needs be, like this interview. It’s really helped keep me in touch, otherwise I’d be festering away with a fax machine, or a pager.”

You don't use your own vocals in your songs, why so and would you ever consider it?
“I can sing a little bit, I’m not completely adverse to the idea of singing my own vocals and I love writing lyrics and have done for some of the tunes, but I think I’ll leave it to the real experts, I don’t even have a vocal booth at home, but I don’t think my range is good enough to ruin a perfectly good tune.”

What has been your favourite year or the year that has done the most for the drum and bass scene?
“This is the million dollar question really! Anyone could debate this topic for days and days, they have done for years. For me, I’ve probably not been concentrating enough to pinpoint specific dates, although it could be a toss up between the turning point from jungle to drum n bass, which I suppose wasn’t a year but a period of time between 93-94 or the evolutionary introduction of the techy rolling vibes that people like Ed Rush, Optical, Bad Company, Moving Fusion etc brought to the table in 98-99, but undoubtedly no matter what times we moved through, one thing is for sure, every single person in the scene has done something amazing for drum n bass and in particular the pioneers of a new sound that came with each era.”

You're known as Marisa, Mel and pyxis by lots of people. Does this ever get confusing or hard to keep track of?
“So originally, in around 1998, when I started working with S2k, then Stage 1000, I was told that Marisa was a mouthful to say and I was to be known as M, which I hated and point blank refused. That turned to Mel and it stuck. It doesn’t confuse me, but it confuses the hell out of everyone else who contacts me on Facebook, then gets an email from Mel, they say “Hi Mel, nice to meet you, I’ve just spoken to Marisa on Facebook, who suggested I contacted you” it’s something I have to explain a lot haha. And most of those people won’t also realise, at first, that I’m also pyxis so it does get a bit long-winded yeah.”

Along the same lines, what are the origins or your nicknames?
“Oh I just answered the whole Marisa/Mel thing above, but the pyxis pseudonym came from me pondering the internet for ideas, when the name of a constellation called Pyxis came up, I really didn’t like the look of the capital P, so I made it small and it means “the Compass”, it was like I’d really found my way in the scene and it felt right, but it also had a second meaning, as it represents the Mariner’s Compass, and my name Marisa means ‘of the sea’ and the constellation itself is from the ‘Heavenly Waters’ family of constellations, it all sounded so perfect with the added bonus that the last three letters in reverse is ‘six’ and I have 6 children so there we are!”

Heads Bass has seen massive success in the sense of fostering and recruiting young talent, would you consider more youth initiatives to help the organisation grow?
“Headsbass definitely does love a newcomer, but they aren’t all necessary young, I think it’s really important to give all newcomers a platform, whether they are young or old, bearing in mind I was in my 40’s when I started producing - if I had more time, I’m sure I would love to do more for the young people of the scene, sadly it’s not something I can facilitate but thankfully there are other wonderful people in drum n bass already doing that, so I will leave it to the experts.”

Since you so frequently interact with clients internationally, have you ever considered learning a second language to diminish the language barrier?
“Well the funny thing there is most of my international clients speak better English than some of my English clients loool, we are very blessed in the UK to have the rest of world cover our arses, they teach English all over the world, I have the attention span of a flea, so I doubt my efforts in learning a second language would ever pay off, big up all the international clients who have a better attention span than me.”

Do you have a criminal record?
“Yes, I am currently on bail for the serial killing of several perfectly good samples, I pleaded guilty. Other than that, I have a squeaky clean record, don’t even have points of my license, so that makes me either a highly recommended role model, or a really boring c*nt.”

Post-Mortem
With the rest of 2024 looking bountiful for the plucky artist you can expect a fair few releases yet to come as she approaches her 5th anniversary of gracing us with tune after tune. Luckily for you dear reader I can exclusively reveal that pyxis is in the throes of tying up her second album as we speak; another dose of her Head2Head series due to land in February 2025! I know personally it's gonna be stuck in my Head(sbass).

pyxis:

linktr.ee

Beatport / Juno / Soundcloud

Facebook

Interview conducted and written by Ellis Dean

Posted by Brenton Clerkin