Unveiling Allie Teilz

In a world where musical trends ebb and flow, some individuals possess an innate ability to transcend temporal boundaries with their musical taste, embodying a natural sense of cool far beyond their years.

Allie Teilz, a multifaceted artist whose name has become synonymous with eclectic vinyl musical curation and an unmistakable sense of style, stands as a prime example of such timeless charisma. Here, Allie offers insights into her artistic journey, shedding light on the enigmatic fusion of influences that shape her sound, now in the form of an album that is as much at home on the dance floor as it is in the comfort of your lounge.

Hi.

Hey there.

Can we just dive straight in?

Yeah, sure.

How did you first encounter music? Where were you and who were the first people - family or friends that introduced you to music?

I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. As long as I can remember, music was such a big part of my life. My dad and mom both love music. I remember my Dad always playing Talking Heads, The Clash, The Smiths and The Cure around the house and my Mom being much more of a disco queen with Donna Summers and the Bee Gees. But I always was gravitating towards music if I was always there, I just loved it.

When did music become a little more serious for you?

I was training to be a professional Olympic athlete in volleyball and I got really sick when I was 11 years old. I got this disease called Valley Fever that you could only get in Arizona at the time. It started to shut down my organs so I had to stop training and instead was in the hospital a lot. My mom she was a teacher and at her school she found this old record player and I was between the hospital and bed rest and so I became obsessed with records and the feeling of the vibrations and the healing power of music and so I would just like sit in bed and go to thrift stores and buy records, I loved mostly dollar bin classics, a lot of 70s, 80s and the occasional rare groove. With the illness it just it shifted everything radically in that direction. And I learned later that sometimes the body has a way of manifesting illness when you're not in the right place in life.

The body is a wondrous thing.

Yeah, so even though it was really intense, it put me on the track where I am today, and I still love records and I love that discovery, love that you can absorb the artwork and the liner notes, images, the feeling, the whole record experience.

How old are you around this time?

Well, I started at the record store when I was fifteen and I started making my own music around that time. But it wasn't until I was about sixteen that I went off on my own and started playing shows in New York and Los Angeles, and I would save all the money from producing the shows in Phoenix to go play, buy my plane ticket and go to these cultural epi-centers where it felt like there were more like-minded people.

Your first wage from the record store, what was the first record that you bought with your money?

Ooh, okay, I have to think because I have like an image here in my head. I wish I had a more exciting answer, but it was In Rainbows by Radiohead and it already had been out for a few years at that point but, I hadn't owned the record and I wore that down. It really pulled on my heartstrings. Everyone had that record, but it was mind blowing and then a few years later some of my first shows in LA were DJ’ing with with Thom York and Nigel Godrich, and so it felt like a very full first circle moment.

What was it like when you first flew into New York as a fifteen or sixteen year old?

I had one friend there who looked out for me, but the internet was around. I was so grateful for having that, I was able to already connect with people who were interested in similar things that I was so made some friends through that. But it was amazing experience. I I was so hungry for something more. Phoenix is a big city but it has that small town mentality, like everyone listens to the same things and dresses the same and acts the same. The feeling of touching down and you're seeing this whole simmering city of unknown. Even though I think we naturally fear the unknown, there's also this sense of adventure attached to it and this excitement, from the moment your feet hit the pavement there it just feels like infinite possibilities, and I never wanted to turn, turn back.

What year was it when you first went to New York?

It must have been, let's see, because my first show there was it was I was let's put 2010. My first show was in Brooklyn at this venue called Glasslands.

Thats a pretty iconic spot for that time.

Right, the whole ceiling is clouds and yeah now I think it got torn down into being where the Vice headquarters are, but back in the day that was the spot. Glasslands, 285 Kent, Monster Island, all of those venues within a few blocks. You could just bop around and see ten different bands in a night.

Which record do you think was the first one that really impacted your life?

As far as discovering a record that you hadn't really heard, and affecting you in a way that you didn't kind of expect. I'd probably say Devotion by Beach House.

That record is beautiful.

Yeah, Victoria is a dear friend of mine and I adore her and everything she does. She's magic. The other big one was Remain in Light by the Talking Heads. Amazing. A favourite for all time.

Two iconic records. So we'll fast forward now. You've been DJ’ing since you were 15, have you always wanted to produce your own record, is that something that's always been on your mind?

No, I've probably made at least two hundred records at this point.

What??

But it's always been this private world for me. I've played stuff in dj sets but I've never released it. It's always been something so close to my heart I've never felt inclined to put it out in the world. But a few years ago one of my dear friends, Nick Sylvester our love of weird disco, funk and house. We have a very similar vibe so we got in a studio together and we co-wrote and produced this, it just came from so many songs I've made over the years and so many edits. This felt like something that didn't exist, like hasn't existed in the world that I really felt inclined to put out.

So where are all those songs that you've made, the two hundred songs? Where do they sit now? Are they all in your mind, or are they like on drives, pieces of scrap paper?

They are all over the place. There are like various hard drives from the last like fifteen years, um different laptops. Some fully mastered and produced songs. But maybe I'll start releasing more of them, but so much of it was just about enjoyment and the process and finding my voice.

What sort of genre would you describe the songs within this one that you’re releasing?

I would say kind of rare disco tracks that I spend hours digging for in record shops.

Nice.

Definitely dance. You know something to move you, bring you closer, connect to you, a warmth. You know that feeling. 

I do! Do you feel there's healing tendencies in the songs?

I mean, for me it was such a healing process to make them. I was actually just reading a study that dancing is one of the most effective treatments for like any type of sadness. Movement is so, so good. The pandemic really amplified just how good it is to dance and to feel connected, whether that's alone in your room,risky business style, or under the disco lights with you know a crowd full of strangers.

Have you played these new songs in your sets yet?

Oh yeah, I've been playing them for the last year, I was playing them and tuning them and little changes. That's what's so fun about being a DJ, well one of the million things about being a DJ is that you have this opportunity to test different things and test different sounds and see what works and what doesn't work.

How well do you think you can read people when you're playing music these days?

I really think the best djs out there that's just kind of part of their personality, being able to, to empathize with people and feel where they're at, then to have the ability to take them on a journey and to take them to a higher place and raise their frequencies and tune in to people in a really special way. I've just been listening to some of your playlists on Spotify, there's so much music on those that I haven't heard before. And I think that's another amazing thing about music that there is so much music out there that you're constantly exploring. I love that discovery and the constant search for something new and different.

Where would you the ideal scenario for people to play this album of yours?

I mean it's funny because I would say it's hard to choose just one. I mean, my first answer that my brain goes to, is being in a space with someone you love or someone that you could love you know. With really beautiful lighting, great ambiance or driving at night I love listening to music in my car.

Yeah, I'm the same.

Also this club that Ian Schrager designed called Sunset Edition, it's in LA. The whole ceiling is coated in disco balls and I've been very blessed to play there a lot over the years and it's just magic. My friend Ben Freeman is the director there and he's a legend and it just reminds me of being in this beautiful space under the glow of light and in the realm of infinite possibilities.

Have you ever bought records just based on the artwork of the cover?

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, and I hate to say you know don't judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you can be very amazed by the different artwork that will reel you in. The one that comes to mind is this record Adventures in Success, which is a Will Powers record. The artwork is just seared into my head. It's this like beautiful graphic of this woman's features.

The white album with the face on it?

Yeah that's Nick Goldsmith. He's a photographer and just a wonderful human and this was this record she made at compass point, which is my favorite studio of all time.

Is there a story behind the photo from um your album?

It was one of my first or second tours in Japan, I had been playing a show in Kyoto with my friend Soko, and we had gone up to Nara, this little town that's not too far from Kyoto, it's this beautiful. So we've, gone up there for the day and then we're on the way back to Kyoto and we got off the train at the wrong stop, like two stops too early so we had to hop in the cab get our way back to the hotel and then I I hear, like Allie, Allie and I look out the window and my friend, and photographer, David Morrison, was walking out the train station in the middle of the night in this random town in Japan, and just snapped that picture.

That's amazing.

Yeah, we got out of the car and hugged each other Like what? A completely serendipitous moment.

With the music on the album. Did you have a lot of friends help out, or did you do a lot of it yourself?

I'd probably say the person the most. The person the most is Arrow, our amazing daughter. She's probably the most musical person I know. It just pours out of her Ever since she was a

baby. She was just crawling and going through my records and then. I have this great video of her like scratching these Beastie Boys records and totally on beat. It's a very musical house,

we're always playing music.

Was Spike helpful?

He's helpful with everything. You know, Arrow and I always say he's our favourite artist, he's locked into this childlike mind of his is just something else. He was the first person I played the song for, driving in the car listening to it together.

Listening to a new song that you've made, with someone you care about. I think that sounds pretty special.

Yeah, so special.

And, on that note I’d like to say thanks for your time.

Thank you, I’ve loved your questions. Type of Girl is out March 29 with all the usual suspects.