DJ NELIO MUSIC THERAPIST

Signed to Sony in the 1990's, DJ Nelio enjoyed success with French underground rock band ONEYED JACK, playing over 700 shows across Europe and N America as their drummer. 

Back in France he developed a growing interest in electronic music at at Paris underground techno parties and at Spiral Tribe raves and Teknivals.. He was soon seen DJ'ing in all major clubs in Paris.

Originally a tech-house/techno DJ, living in Goa for 8yrs inspired DJ Nelio to experience mixing trance - which he accomplishes now under his 1EyED project.  He is part of the Arambol Experience crew and is music director / resident DJ at the new Goan super club, 'Bardo'. 

DJ Nelio has played over 200 gigs as a DJ in India, Nepal, and Thailand including appearances at festivals worldwide.

DJ Nelio's journey from techno to trance began when he headed to Goa 8yrs ago, in contrast with Thai DJ Lady Oh's recent story of trance to techno (Koh Phangan to Europe) around the same time - when the psy trance scenes where still predominant in Goa & Phangan - the Psy Trance Hippy Trail!

These two Asian party havens have seen a flourishing of underground house & techno parties in the last five years in tandem with the psy trance scene, and DJ Nelio/ 1EYed mixes both styles fluidly and fluently.

Nelio arrived from Goa to Koh Phangan for the first time last year, and this year has the last spent two months playing trance gigs at Half Moon, Hansa Full Moon and Ban Sabaai, and tech house gigs at Mellow Mountain and most recently The Place.  He heads home to Goa this week...

First time I ever came here was in May 2012 after the end of the Goa season. That visit I just had time to do a massive 9hr long tech house set at Recovery Room, thanks to Oz Dawson. 

I'd headed to Nepal for some gigs, then came to Koh Phangan on holiday to relax. I was really amazed by the beauty of the island.

I only went to a few parties - I crashed my bike in the middle of the island dirtroads - and got rapatriated to France with a badly broken leg which took three months to heal. So now I got one big Phangan tattoo!  

"Yeah I remember the nutter!
He started just coming to do a normal 2 hour set which just turned into 9 hours because other DJs were not around... He was mental, his tunes were banging and people loved him, I told him he had a job anytime, he is professional, kind, funny and is a wicked DJ."    Oz Dawson, Recovery Room.

This year on KohPhangan I played in the last two Half Moons thanks to Jao. First time I played my 1EyED DJ set (new school Progressive PsyTrance) and second time I was lucky to play a trance set and also a NeLiO InTheMiX set (pumping tekhouse to techno). 

Had a very amazing experience at Half Moon, superb venue and incredible sound in the DJ booth. I also got to play at the last two Hansa full moon parties (1EyED trance sets). So happy that I bumped into Jao, beautiful person and a high level professional as well.

My trance project 1EyED had very good response from organisers and crowds here, I was very happy to see. Even though it’s a fluero kids type of dancefloor, I adapt a bit to more commercial and ‘easy to get into’ tracks and it seems they are loving it.

I played mainly trance here, it fitted well with Jao because I play new school progressive trance with breaks / dubstep / Psytechno influences. I must say that Phangan is more open to this than Goa where there is a very fanatic but classic trance scene.

I also played Ban Sabaii in May and June. The techno scene is much more closed than the trance scene here, but at the end, if you stay a bit and people start knowing you, doors slowly opens. Thanks to Fabrice PHB who got me a techno gig at Mellow Mountain and also Jonny Acrobat who booked my last gig on Koh Phangan at The Place where I'll be playing deep house and deep techno ... cant wait!

OK, I will tell you why I love Phangan in the first place: As soon as I got here, it reminded me of that TV series called LOST.

I always came here low season so I was - and still am - in a trip of being in LOST series sometimes; the landscapes and the fact it's really empty (except fullmoon weeks) makes me relate to this, cant help it...

LOST was huge for me.  I love to get on my bike and get lost in the middle of the wilderness in the island and discover new secret spots and beaches which are amazing, above all when there is so few people on it ...

I am a beachboy after all, héhé. 

You live and play in Goa – How is the party scene there, what are the differences?

Goa scene is very different from here I must say. It used to be only Trance when I got there 8 years ago; it still mainly is in Anjuna (trance started from there in the 70s and went worldwide) but tekhouse/techno is catching up fast and there are now almost as many parties in both styles. Many new venues (big clubs Ibiza style) only want to have techno, especially at the resorts of Ashwem / Morjim to the north.

Goa / India is also such a different world than Phangan / Thailand that we get different style of tourists and visitors, so crowds on the dance floor are very different with more longstay people too. No fluero at all there, less kids, no buckets - people more aged than here and more of a psychedelic way of life; less alcohol, so more freaks coming there I guess.

GOA: NeLiO InTheMix vs Axailes Solar in CocksTown 23.03.2012

On the dancefloor, I love to tell stories with tracks and bring people high with the music, make them escape and transcend themselves. I’m so much interested in Musicology and the effects music makes to the people - you can hear it a lot in my mixes.

At home or to relax, I'm listening to loads of deep/ambient/house and tekhouse that makes me fly and get high with the music, always with positive thinking that makes you be in love and happy - and most of all inspiring - bringing you to higher states of consciousness...

Discover new worlds, new consciousness, new paradigms and ways of thinking, make more outstanding experiences outside my comfort zone = constant evolution / no routines; after all, I’m just a part of the Oneness, a soul that incarnates a body to live human experience …

So at the end, the only thing that matters is unconditional LOVE, discovering yourself, the others and the cosmos, improving the only thing that remains after we die:

Our soul and come back wherever we come from, a part of the Oneness, a part of the LOVE , that’s again all that matters, sometimes we forget this in this human experience that separates us from the creation héhé... oopps sorry, got distracted …

I can also bring it on and play more flying, kickin, pumpin and rolling techno with trancy vibes, its my favourite fusion, the one I really love to play to dancefloors and probably going to switch to producing very soon in the future.

Being a bit older now, I like positive tracks with loads of soul and heart mainly, giving up on the hardcore / full on / extreme / dark ego sides which I already experienced being in a band when I was in my 20s.

I was drummer for 12yrs in a famous rockband in France signed to sonymusic, Oneyed Jack: 3 albums, 4 videoclips, +700 concerts including big festivals in France, Europe and Canada - had a blast to live my childhood dream! My life since I was very young is all about the Music and will always be I hope.

On Koh Phangan I like all the nature, green-blue colours, transparent waters, wilderness of the middle of the island. Thaan sadet is my favourite beach cause it goes deep so you can swim properly.

It's always very hard to leave here, I will come back more and more, but always off-season...

Musically and partywise, I will bring back great house music ideas from Loi Lay parties and DJs like Darragh, Lance and Acrobat - a new generation of Phangan DJs I really like.  

Also it's great to know more about the freaks scene here, takes more time than in Goa to meet people here, but there are definitely good crews here!


What are your next projects?

As I’m heading back to Goa in 10 days, I will spend my summer locked myself inside, build a small recording-studio and start to make original music, hopefully produce tracks and/or liveset on weekdays …

On weekends , I will tour big cities and festivals in India, cant wait for that India summer-tour as my popularity is increasing a lot since 2 years rocking Goa parties and gigs in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune… There is quite a lot of demand for me to tour and I don’t have time during the very busy Goa season!

Music wise, after being longtime a drummer (still got a band in Goa called the Essence)  and since few years DJ, I feel ready to go next level and start producing my own tracks and make livesets, both in techno and progressive trance.

I also want to go on organising my Arambolized parties (mix of art performances, music, exhibition, etc) where I try to link different crowds and style of people in the same state of mind of freedom, creativity, avant garde...

As I will get old, I would love to have my own label or booking agency for the artists out of the norm and pushing the new ideas forward!

Now I'm very pleased also with being able to live in Goa, organise parties (founded a crew named Arambolized which throws parties in Goa, France and Nepal, hopefully Phangan one day), book talented DJ friends and international DJs, artists and performers.

Currently I'm also involved in a big new adventure becoming music director / booker / resident DJ at BARDO - named after Tibetan Buddhism's heavenly state of suspended consciousness - a big Ibiza style venue that just opened last December in Ashwem, Goa. Hopefully I'm going to honour this same job next season as well!

'Just live your dreams and dream your life, power of intention is very strong and we can all co-create in a respectful way with the cosmos what we want to be, have no boundaries and trust the universe and most of all the LOVE in this world. 

Never give up and don’t let anyone tell you what to do if you don’t feel it in the first place; be crazy, take risk, challenge yourself as much as you can so you will gain progress; respect yourself, the others and mother nature … Be happy!!! 

Art is the best way to express yourself and feel total freedom. 

Music is one of the best therapy in this world'   

DJ Nelio