Jay De Lys of Argentina has been steadily building a strong catalogue of Tech House releases over the last five years, releasing on the likes of elrow Music, Repopulate Mars, Roush label and more. Most recently, he made his debut on Solardo’s Sola Records, with his track ‘Stay’ featuring on Sola’s Summer Of Rave 2021 VA. We’re excited to be chatting with Jay today fresh from the release!

WWD: Hey Jay! How are you doing? Whereabouts are you based right now?

Hey! I’m doing fine, a bit bored and really looking forward to starting travelling again and enjoying what I do to the fullest. I’m based in my hometown in Argentina right now, where things are pretty slow with all these COVID restrictions but it feels good to be close to my friends and family in these hard times.

WWD: How is the music scene where you are right now? How is the pandemic affecting it there?

The scene here has always been huge. As everybody knows, Argentina and South-American parties and fans are super passionate and grateful to every DJ that comes here to play. Right now, with all the restrictions on nightlife and flights the situation is difficult for all the artists, promoters and club owners. We are all waiting on the vaccines to work well and be back to normal as soon as possible!

WWD: Congrats on your latest release! We really enjoyed ‘Stay’ on Sola’s new Summer Of Rave 2021 VA. How did this track find its home on Solardo’s Sola Records?

Thanks so much! I really like the track too. After a couple of years sending demos to Sola, having a couple supports from Solardo and respect from the A&R, one of my dreams came true. I always wanted to be on the label, so getting “Stay” signed to such an important compilation as “Summer Of Rave” is a big honour for me.

WWD: Can you tell us a bit about how you created this track?

Well right now I’m trying to do my music more in a “single” format. Focusing on special elements such as catchy vocals and organic synths with the idea of arranging it a bit more like a song than a club track at some point. That’s how I chose this housey vocal on “Stay” and built the track to work around that vocal but keeping my “tribal” and percussive style on it.

WWD: You’ve been putting a lot of great music over the last 5 years, on the likes of Elrow, Saved Records, Snatch! Records and more. What helps you keep your inspiration and your output so high?

Thanks so much! I always got my inspiration from listening to music I like and spending a lot of time in clubs regardless if i’m playing that night or I’m there just to see a friend or a big DJ I admire. I think it is super important to never give up on big labels and always keep trying, most of the time you will not get signed on the first or the second time you send demos. In my opinion, you need to be patient, sending only music you are 100% happy with and stick to the style you like and you feel comfortable despite the new big trends on the market.

WWD: How did you first get into producing and DJing?

I started producing when I was very young, I think I was 13-14 years old. Luckily I went to a Technical school where I had “Music Production” at the same time I was having regular subjects, which helped me a lot to get through High School and gave me a lot of tools to perfect myself on producing electronic music. DJing came a couple years later when I realized I needed it to consolidate myself as an artist. At first I was super shy and it was hard for me to stand in front of a crowd, but now it’s fair to say that playing tracks in a club makes me feel alive.

WWD: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

I listen to a lot of types of music. When I was young I used to listen to The Ramones, The Clash, Rolling Stones and I still do… but more on the electronic music side, the heroes of my childhood were Daft Punk and Justice. As a DJ, my main influences are Marco Carola, Nic Fanciulli and Paco Osuna. As a producer, i’m really enjoying what guys as John Summit, Tomi&Kesh, Sllash&Dope and Westend are doing right now.

WWD: Thanks a lot for chatting with us today Jay! It was great to speak with you and we look forward to hearing more music from you in the future. To round things off, are there any other releases coming up from yourself that you can share with us?

Thanks so much for the interview, it was a pleasure. I’m trying to keep my releases organized as opposed to getting a lot of tracks out, to be able to promote every one of them better. I have a big single called “Closer” coming out on Spinnin’ Deep soon and a couple ones I can’t reveal yet. Can’t wait to play all my unreleased stuff in a club soon!