Because Of Art is the alias of London based producer Alex Grover, who has very quickly established himself as one of dance music’s hottest new talents, hailing attention from ravers, DJs and tastemakers alike.
Alex’s most recent success comes from his breaks influenced track ‘Elevate’ released on tastemaker Danny Howard’s Nothing Else Matters label. The ‘Generation Z EP’ highlighted three new producers tipped as the next generation of dance music. Elevate went on to spend over 6 weeks on top of the Beatport Leftfield House & Techno chart whilst receiving strong DJ and BBC Radio 1 support, most notably from dance music legend Sasha. The past 12 months have also seen strong releases on Sasha’s LUZoSCURA LP, Skream’s Of Unsound Mind and the prolific Stress Records.
Outside of the studio, Because of Art is a growing name on the UK DJ circuit, most notably sharing bills with the likes of Sven Väth, Dusky, Eats Everything and many more at Motion Bristol.
With the hopeful return of rave and club culture, 2021 is shaping up to be yet another breakthrough year for Because Of Art.
WWD: Hey Alex, welcome to When We Dip! Tell us, in 3 words, who is Because Of Art?
Energetic, Rave, Man.
WWD: You’ve had a lot of key industry support, can you share your biggest career achievement with us so far?
Without a doubt, my biggest achievement so far is gaining support from national radio here in the UK, in particular BBC Radio 1 and the support from Danny Howard and Pete Tong. These were bucket list producer goals from the beginning and I’m very proud to have achieved them early on in my career.
WWD: If you weren’t making and releasing music, what do you think you’d be doing and why?
Although the pandemic has been horrendous for everyone, it presented me with an opportunity to do something new alongside music. My time is now split between production, gigs, and being a groundsman for Premier League football club Watford. The time working outside definitely helps keep me fresh inside the studio. So, if the music was to stop, I’d be doing that full time.
WWD: Congrats on the single ‘Ethereal’ on Sous. How do you go about deciding and connecting with the labels you release on?
Thanks, I’m really happy this track is coming out on Anja’s label. Anja played my last release in all of her live streams; it was so amazing to see how happy she was whilst playing it. I’m thrilled to finally hook up with her & Sous on this track.
I generally make music without limits or record labels in mind. I then go through the finished tracks with my manager Matt, see what labels we’re into and which tracks I have that could suit them. Luckily, so far, we’ve managed to work with some amazing people at very respected labels.
WWD: Do you feel the making it in music is going to be harder than ever before after the Pandemic, or are you positive that it’s had a reset? If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
I don’t feel it’s harder after the pandemic. Obviously, without the clubs, I was inspired to make some very different sounding records which I think levelled up my production skills. Now the clubs are back open again, I’m so inspired to make more club-focused music and get back out dancing and DJing again.
My one piece of advice would be not to be disheartened by people not playing, not liking or labels passing on your music. Make what you like to make, and if you enjoy it that is the main thing.
WWD: Everyone has a goal, what’s yours for the next year?
The goal for 2022 is to keep releasing music on key labels like Sous and DJ at some festivals in the summer.
WWD: Finally, we can see you play at Motion in Bristol for Halloween, big show! Who should we be checking out on the line up and what can we look forward to from your set?
I’m looking forward to everyone on the line-up but definitely going to try to catch Sarah Story’s set. From me, you can expect euphoric vibes, 90’s breaks and a proper rave-up!