We recently connected with Elliot Anderson and have shared our conversation below.

Elliot, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I don’t come from a musical background and never had instruments around the house until I was 7 or 8 years old. However, I did grow up listening to all sorts of different music from my parents. Eventually around the third grade, I started taking lessons and performing with the Denver School of Rock (where I also learned that I could sing). After doing a couple shows including The Who, Led Zeppelin, and others, I decided to try out for the House Band. The House Band was the best kids of the bunch who would rehearse and play other events outside of the shows we were rehearsing for. When I was in the 7th grade, we (the house band) got booked to open up for Movie on the Rocks and played Red Rocks together. From that moment on, I knew that music was what I wanted to do with my life and was my purpose for being here.

Around the same time (2010/2011), EDM popped and took over the globe. I was enamored by artists like Skrillex and deadmau5 (someone who I’ve now opened up for twice) and the music they were making. I saw videos of them performing at insane clubs, including what was Beta Nightclub here in Denver and wanted to be a part of it. That year (I was in 8th grade), I got my first DJ controller for Christmas. I had already been messing around with illegally downloaded versions of Ableton and trying to produce my own music, but I had all the tools. I signed up for Sub.mission’s (an iconic Denver bass music artist collective + promotion/management agency) Electronic Tuesdays, a weekly DJ competition that they held, and told them I was older than I was just so I could participate. My concerned mom dropped me off alone at Cervante’s Otherside, and I went in. I won the battle. That was when my true love for electronic music, for production, and for djing truly began.

Fast forward to college. I was 2 years into failing out of CU Boulder “earning” a degree in PR, and I knew at my core that I didn’t want to be working a traditional office job strategizing ideas for companies. I hadn’t made music for the better part of my freshman and sophomore year, so I decided to leave CU Boulder and pursue an education/career in audio engineering + production at a smaller trade school, KMG. Once I was going to school for something I enjoyed, was good at, and that fulfilled my passion, I knew it was the career path for me. I knew that it wasn’t going to be east or traditional by any means, but I knew it was what I wanted to do.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Most of my musical background and upbringing was mentioned in the prior segment, so for this I will get into the here of now. By trade, I am both a touring musician as well as a freelance audio engineer. For my freelance work, I provide both mixing and mastering services for all audio related projects (music, podcasts, audio books, etc.). From my education and time interning in studios, I also have an extensive background in advanced recording and have tracked everything from Soundcloud rappers to full 8 piece bands. This side of my career allows me to constantly be working with audio and with sounds, but that are not all too familiar or to my liking. One of the most difficult projects I had to do a mixdown on when I was still in schooling was a Bluegrass track. It was a genre that I was familiar with, and I loved all of the instruments individually. But I had to dive into a place inside of me creatively and use different tools, plugins, and techniques than I normally would. Most people look at the post production for any digital process to be monotonous, boring, and tedious. While it may be one or all of those at one time, it is also a process that opens a door for me to be creative and put my own touch onto somebody else’s creation. It is really cool to be an integral part of that process.

While audio engineering is certainly a passion for me, and is something I take seriously and make an equitable portion of my income from doing, my true passion, dreams, and ambitions over the past 2 to 3 years have been predominantly focused on my own musical project: Parmajawn. The name started as a joke; it was quite literally just my Instagram handle from a meme that I’d seen back in 2017 when I was still in college and making my transition into pursuing a career in music. Slowly, however, I just started releasing beats under the name without any rhyme or reason behind it. The music, however, has always had the utmost rhyme, reason, rhythm, intent, and love. I was starting to get booked for bigger shows at the Fox Theater in Boulder in 2019 and the Winter/early Spring of 2020. Then the world shut down for a little while.

Although the pandemic was the worst possible thing to happen at the beginning of what I thought was some pretty good momentum with bookings, it opened up the opportunity for me to really focus on my production and writing. I used the time off (while I was also still finishing audio engineering school) to dial in my sound, to allow myself to be creative without worrying about how it might be perceived by the listener. Some of the best words of advice I’ve heard regarding writing your own music are these: “If it sounds good, it is good.” That is the real driving force behind my music. Making whatever I want to make, surprising myself by experimenting with new sounds, tools, and ideas, and never taking it too seriously.

That being said, I do also have to take things seriously. After almost 5 years now of being Parmajawn, I am still fully self managed and funded. I handle all of my own bookings, arrange and coordinate all of my own social media content + music releases, host a successful monthly event at Bao Brewhouse here in Denver, and also still work with my freelance clients. All in all, I’m a 1 man band. But my goal by the end of this year is to have a team working around me of people that I trust and that believe in my project, music, and vision as much as I do. I’ve only had one goal in life since I played Red Rocks all those years ago as a kid. I’ll be back.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parmajawwwwn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parmajawnbeats
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5l0nkQZ7L47ZHczHlk7kCd?si=KJiVfBkYQ_umcrPLpxj-dw TikTok: @parmajawwwwn Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/parmajawnbeats Trackstack: https://tstack.app/parmajawn

Image Credits
Sadie Shwarz Brandon Colby My mom (the one of my as a kid)