VISHANNA PHAGOO
Jamil "Lost Boy Jay" Thornton Daillie who was inspired by the pan which was taught to him by Salmon Cupid, a Trinidadian teaching in Toronto, brought his deejaying skills to downtown Port of Spain for the Sounds of the Underground (SOTU) Nights house music event.
"The steelpan was one of the first percussive instruments that showed me how music can make people move and dance. Cupid was one of the first instructors that inspired me to make music. From there I went on to the guitar pan, getting better at reading music and later joining the school’s classical and jazz bands."
[caption id="attachment_1029245" align="alignnone" width="683"] "The steelpan was one of the first percussive instruments that showed me how music can make people move and dance," says Jamil "Lost Boy Jay" Thornton Daillie. -[/caption]
One of his best friends, Brandon Hubah, introduced him to house music and to SOTU Nights team.
SOTU Nights, started in 2017, promote monthly events that are house-music centric and aimed at introducing other DJs to downtown Port of Spain.
Speaking to Newsday, Daillie, 27, gave the origin of his stage name which has two reasons; feeling disconnected from others, but ultimately finding his way, and the movie, The Lost Boys.
"I really enjoyed playing instruments, but was not huge into reading traditional sheet music. I understood the value sheet music had foundationally, but I wanted to produce and play my own music. I grew up in the era of computers and digital audio workstations, which helped me realise I could make music digitally. It really brought my experiences full circle."
A lot of his inspirations, though, are drawn from hip-hop and R&B.
[caption id="attachment_1029246" align="alignnone" width="683"] Jamil "Lost Boy Jay" Thornton Daillie -[/caption]
"I started producing music for a lot of emerging Toronto and American artists that I would connect with through Facebook and SoundCloud. After years of producing for independent artists, I stepped into my own solo career recording trap soul music, which led to me even opening for the likes of Migos during an after party in Toronto. At the start of last year, I discovered a new love towards house music through one of my best friends, Hubah."
With his inspiration being hip-hop and R&B, he has been bringing the two genres together and creating his own unique sound which can be heard on SoundCloud under his mix, Could Be Wrong, where he sampled Brandy's I Wanna Be Down. As for his production style, he said that is inspired by American rappers Travis Scott and Kanye West, R&B duo Majid Jordan and DJ Premier, who are American recording artistes.
"Their beat switch-ups, use of samples from the most obscure places, and expression they brought to their music helped shape my approach to music production. When I look at house music, I’m gravitating towards the likes of Michael Bibi, Kerri Chandler and Denis Ferrer who are all DJs.
I’m huge on New Wave from 1980-1990 to soul music from the 60s."
Daillie spoke of some of
