Catskill Chill takes place September 18-20 at Camp Minglewood in Hancock, NY. Leading up to the big Farewell to Minglewood, we’ll be bringing you your regular dose of Chillfam Corner News. Stay tuned for exclusive videos, interviews and more!

**Get tickets to Catskill Chill here**

Today we bring you an exclusive chat with Mike Greenfield of Lotus, the Stratosphere All-Stars and Electron, as well as never-before-seen pro-shot footage from Lotus’ 2013 Catskill Chill set.

Evan Levy: Catskill Chill takes places at your old summer camp, French Woods. What memories can you share of your experiences there when you were a kid?

Mike Greenfield: The first time I played a rock show outside of my elementary school was at French Woods and it was at the same place where the bands also, on that main stage. For me to have my very first show there and come back there four years in a row playing the same stage, it’s very nostalgic for me and it’s an honor for me to go back there. The very first time we were there I was just wandering around looking at some of the buildings and memories of my time there were just flooding back to me. Looking up at the rafters in one of the bunks, I remember we took a fellow campmate’s bed and threw it in the rafters as a practical joke and seeing those again brought that back.

EL: You’ve been on the lineup for the Catskill Chill for the last four years in a row. What do you love most about performing at that festival?

MG: Catskill is different from most festivals. You’re not in a big empty field or a parking lot, and that gives it a very different vibe. I think the size of it is the perfect size for a festival. It’s big enough to have the energy and diversity where you can bring in some good artists but it’s not overwhelming and you don’t have ten of thousands of people trying to use bathrooms and everything like that. It also seems like everyone is like-minded, which makes for really pleasant experience. Usually at festivals I get there an hour or two before I play and then I leave as soon as we’re done, but when I got to Catskill, I make sure that I’m there as much as possible. This year I’m there the entire weekend playing four shows, so I’ll really soak it up for the last year the festival takes place on those grounds.

L4LM Exclusive: Lotus at Catskill Chill 2013

EL: You’re part of the roster for the Chillfam All-Stars Herbie Hancock Tribute. What do you love about Herbie and his music?

MG: I first was introduced to Herbie Hancock when he had the song “Rock It” when I was a kid. I liked that song and I had no idea that he was a jazz legend until I started doing some research on him, and he was actually a part of the Miles Davis Quintet, which to me is the epitome of jazz, and I still listen to some of the Miles Davis Quintet records and I’m just blown away that human beings can make that music. And then when he moved forward and started embracing funk music and just going in different directions I was just always a fan of everything he’s ever done. So for me to revisit his catalog and get together with some great musicians, some of whom I’ve never played with before, will be exciting. We’ve already decided on a set list or at least some possible songs we’ll include in the set list and I’m starting to go through those a little bit too so it should be fun. I don’t think that’s the last time that project plays either. I think it could be fun to take project on the road and play some club shows. We all live several hours from each other so it would be difficult to practice, but I could see a demand for that and I think we would have fun doing it as well, so we’ll see how it pans out at Catskill Chill.

EL: Why do you feel Lotus is such a good match for Catskill Chill’s lineup?

MG: We’re electronic and we’re also organic at the same time so I feel we have something for everybody. I feel the music that Louts puts out encompasses the general direction I think that Catskill Chill is trying to go for with the festival and I think they compliment each other very well.

EL: Are you working on any new music with Lotus or the other bands you’re performing with at Catskill Chill? Do you have plans to perform any of it during the festival?

MG: We’ve been throwing out some new covers lately and I don’t know what our set list is going to be yet but hopefully we’ll have something new. We have 20 new songs that we haven’t played yet, which will be coming out on our new album. I don’t know if we’ll be playing any of those either. I guess time will tell about that. With Stratosphere All-Stars we’ve talking about bringing a few new covers in as well. I’m sure there’ll be a few in there somewhere.

Stratosphere All-Stars Supergroup (Members Of STS9, Particle, Lotus, DTM) To Play Phish Philly Afterparty

EL: That’s exciting that a new Lotus album is headed our way. What can you tell us about the upcoming release?

It’s in a very different direction. I think Lotus’ main focus is our live shows, that’s what we’re about and the studio is where we experiment so with this album it’s much more dance-oriented, it’s funky, there are vocals for every song which is probably the biggest change. We tapped several different vocalists from around the country to help us out with the album, so it’ll be different.

EL: What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever gotten from a fan?

People make marbles, custom pins, blown glass pieces and I have a whole collection of them, we have a little shrine here at my house which is cool. I always like getting them; it’s a pretty cool interaction with the fans.

By Evan Levy of Chillfam News