A so amazing interview for LTX Magazine dedicated to one of the most wonderful and beautiful American female dj, singer and artist: Iluminatè Steele. With videos ;)
Interview by Marc Thurisaz
IG: @marc_thurisaz
We are proud to have such an evocative and complete artist as Illuminaté Steele among our pages. Let's get to know her and her thoughts better.
Hi, thanks for this interview on LTX Magazine. Of course. Thank you as well for having me!
In the introduction we have said that you are a complete and evocative artist. Do these definitions reflect you? Evocative? Yes, actually to a fault. Complete? I’d like to think so, but know that I still have a lot to perfect and achieve before I would label myself a "complete" anything. I will humbly state that as an artist, I aim to be within a perpetual state of evolution creation wise. Always learning, and evolving in order to reach that next creative phase or plateau.
How did your career as an artist begin? From your posts on socials I read that you were enlisted in the army. Or am I wrong? I actually enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps for about a decade, starting in early 2001. I started with music production when I was 16 years old, and from there went on to study recording engineering and school for cinematography before I dropped out to enlist into the military.
Usually I do not listen to this kind of music or at least not as it is interpreted today, I must be honest, but your videos, your music, your performances made me think again. You are fresh wind that overwhelms us with both firm and soft sounds, sensual and strong at the same time. Engaging and never abusive. You have style and class. Where does all this energy come from?
Well thank you! You actually just encapsulated everything that I felt when I first saw LTX Magazine! I believe that my work is a projection of my own dualities, my personal embracement of both Anima & Animus traits within my own personality personified. I see beauty in both masculine/strong & feminine/soft archetypes, so in my opinion, it is unjust to embrace only half of an aspect when it comes to fully embracing the complete picture of what “power “is defined as. Kingdoms and civilizations have been destroyed through the sheer desire of man to possess and capture the desires of a woman. To not honor such lethal softness, seductiveness, and allure of woman or her desire would be a tragic example of masculine patriarchy and a warped sense of power. As far as style and class, I always reflect back to my love of anything and engineering Anne Rice, to include "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty" trilogy. I really fell in love with the ideology of the story, where there are plain examples of walking a fine line between power, excess, and unbridled indulgence via the royals, while simultaneously going to the depths with another person, where a “master” is ultimately enlightened by the power and truth of the willingness of the submissive to freely be dominated out of the sheer pliability of their own will & desire to push their own boundaries just to please. "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty" is the perfect example of how the origins of BDSM has always almost been an exclusive perk of the affluent, or high-class royalty lifestyle tailored to the rich and their need for sexual pleasure and excess. I also am a huge Die Form fan, and attribute a lot of what I envision to the Avant Garde darkwave fetishism of such a groundbreaking and legendary group. The art of BDSM, control, permission/domination and everything else that comes with the fetish scene is an art in itself. I strongly feel that the majority of the “vanilla” world think of a kink or fetish lifestyle as low-class stripper raunch, full of tacky cheap weirdos and perverts hiding behind dusty XXX VHS cassette tapes in a sex store or something. It’s important to me to show that there is honorability, truth, freedom of just being and living your truth. That is definitely what I am trying to showcase through my work always.
What are your musical influences? Darker Shade reminds me a lot of the sounds of Kraftwerk (which, lately, I'm listening to in an assiduous way ^ __ ^).
I have always regarded Gary Numan, Die Form, Martin DuPont, Asylum Party some of my greatest influences, period. I like to utilize a lot of heavy synth hooks throughout my music production; I am an Oberheim, Virus TI, Quasimidi fanatic.
So, This is only the first part of the interview with Illuminaté Steele. If you want to read the full version, you can find it on our magazine and print on demand:
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