Dive Into Poolside at the Wiltern

“Dubstep was very popular at the time and people would play it at these low-key parties, which never felt right to us so we wanted to soundtrack these parties with more fitting music,” he says. “We never anticipated that anyone but our friends would hear this music, so everything that has happened since then has been a pleasant surprise.”

Paradise describes the sound on new album Blame It All On Love as “daytime disco.”

“It differs from previous records in that it takes more stylistic chances and explores more corners of my influences than any of my previous records,” he says. “The palette includes disco, funk, bedroom pop, shoegaze, indie, lo-fi, yacht rock and more. But what ties it all together is a heightened focus on personalized songwriting.”

The album was mostly recorded at his home studio in Malibu.

“What wasn’t recorded there was recorded in the various studios of friends around the country,” Paradise says. “A lot of people touched this record, mainly Vito Roccoforte (Poolside’s drummer and founding member of the Rapture), Ben Browning (Cut Copy) and Alton Allen (Poolside’s touring guitar player). This record was the first that prominently featured other artists in a collaborative or top line vocal capacity, among them Panama, Vansire, slenderbodies, MUNYA, Ora the Molecule, Ben Browning, Life On Planets and Mazy.”

“It also was the first to prominently feature me as a  vocalist,” he continues. “‘Moonlight,’ ‘We Could Be Falling In Love’ and ‘Lonely Night’ all feature me on lead vocal in a way I’ve never put on record before and I’m very proud of those tracks. The main theme is all there in the title – whatever you do you should do for love, whether that’s literally doing the thing you love, or doing something you don’t love so that you can support or afford to focus on what you love in your free time. And if you fail, at least you did so knowing that you did it for love.”

On January 26, Poolside plays the Wiltern.

“The Wiltern show is going to be a big deal for Poolside,” Paradise says. “We would have never dreamed of playing such a big room in L.A. back when we started. It’ll be one of our first shows since the record came out and I’m really looking forward to playing all of these new songs live. We have ‘Hold On To You’ collaborators slenderbodies opening things up which I’m very excited about, and who knows, maybe we’ll even play that track live together. Beyond that, a lot of other collaborators live in L.A. – I’m told it’s an industry town – so maybe there will be some surprise special guests.”

Looking ahead, Poolside has plenty planned for 2024.

“We’re going on our biggest headline tour ever in January and have festivals confirmed in Mexico, Colombia and Ireland with more to be announced, so I’m planning to be on the road most of the year,” Paradise says. “Beyond that we’ll be putting out a lot of remixes, b-sides and more…going to be a busy year!”

Dive Into Poolside at the Wiltern: Poolside’s Blame It All On Love is out now. They play on Friday, January 26 at the Willtern.

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