LF SYSTEM are the Scots DJs taking the world by storm after the epic success of their single Afraid To Feel.
West Lothian duo Conor Larkman and Sean Finnigan have recently joined the Ministry of Sound label and are going from strength to strength in the music world. After touring across the world in Australia, New Zealand and the US, Conor and Sean performed a trio of intimate homecoming shows in Scotland.
As well as their most recent gigs, the Scots disk jockeys have an exciting summer lined up on the festival circuit as they prepare for Glastonbury, TRNSMT, Ushuaia Ibiza with Calvin Harris, Parklife, Reading & Leeds, and Exit.
LF SYSTEM shot to impressive heights after 'Afraid to Feel' spent eight weeks at number one, and is the longest running number one dance record equalling fellow Scot Calvin Harris’s record with One Kiss. It also won ‘Dance Track Of The Year’ at the BBC Radio 1 Dance Awards, and was nominated for ‘Song Of The Year’ at the 2023 BRIT Awards.
The Scots duo spoke exclusively to the Daily Record off the back of their homecoming gigs in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as Sean insists: "It's always good when you get back to playing in Scotland. We had really good fun."
Starting at the beginning of their journey into music, the pair explain exactly how and why LF SYSTEM came to be. Sean explained: "We probably met the first time in 2015/16 in the Arches. We didn't really know each other, we knew of each other because we used to play football against each other.
"Our friends were friends with each other as well. We went to different schools but we met each other then and got talking and started a DJ collective. There was maybe eight or ten of us. We got closer and closer through that.
"As time went on, the DJ collective got more narrowed down and it ended up being me and Connor. We immediately thought 'Why don't we just do this together?' That's where LF SYSTEM started."
Speaking about how they got into creating dance music, as opposed to picking up a guitar, Connor said: "I think we were both the same. When we were starting to go out, it was early days when this EDM craze kicked off. We were watching things like Tomorrowland and all these big parties, when you're that young you just want to recreate it and go to all these things.
"It was a bit of that that got us into it and led us down this path."
He added: "My sister's husband now, boyfriend back then, when I was listening to this EDM stuff he was like 'That's no music' and showed me the Defected podcast and showing me all this different techno music. He had a pair of decks and showed me them, and that was it I was telling my dad 'I'm not playing football anymore I want to be a DJ'."
Sean joked: "It's funny because we are both big indie fans and we were when we were younger as well. I think we both tried to pick up guitars but I was terrible, I couldn't do it."
Connor agreed: "My dad tried to get me to learn the keyboard so many times but I don't have the brain capacity for that."
When it came to taking the jump to do music full time, Connor admits that he was fully jealous of Sean for being able to leave his day job before him. Sean, who previously worked in a petrol station, left his full-time job four months before Connor, who worked as a roofer at the time.
"Because Sean had left so early, it made me so jealous that he was getting to do tunes," Connor added. "I kept asking management 'When can I leave?' and they kept saying 'Not yet, not yet' and it was like two weeks before Afraid to Feel came out he gave us the all clear because he didn't want us to leave without having a decent income."
It was impossible to go anywhere without hearing the Scots duo's smash hit Afraid to Feel last year, as it spent eight weeks at No.1 on the UK charts - even beating out Beyoncé's comeback single Break My Soul. The song beat out Joel Corry's hit Head & Heart and is now the record holder for the longest-running number one dance track of the decade.
Speaking of their epic success with the single, Connor said: "It took us by surprise. Even just from signing the Warner deal up to Afraid to Feel it was just a total blur. It didn't feel natural because it was a total shock."
"It came out of nowhere and our life has changed since that. Forever grateful of that happening."
Sean added: "It just crept up on us. Since it came out, every day the numbers seemed to be going up and that's when it went to No. 69 of the Charts and we were celebrating down the pub because it went in the top 100.
"Then week after week it kept going up and we were like 'What is going on?' It was a whirlwind, total blur. We didn't expect any of it."
Speaking of matching that level of success again, Sean said: "I think we accepted the fact very early that it might not happen again. You hope it does but we never put too much pressure on ourselves to be like 'That's it you need to make No.1's from now on'.
"I don't think that's a good mindset to make music in. That's how we done it the first time, we just made a song for ourselves and people enjoyed it. We try not to lose the fun of making music otherwise you get caught up trying to chase something you can't chase."
LF SYSTEM recently released their brand new track Dancing Shoes (Take Me Higher) earlier this month in a bid to get fans across the world busting moves to the new tune.
On the new release and joining the prestigious Ministry of Sound label, they said: "We’re absolutely buzzing to be working with such an iconic label for the dance music scene and it feels like the perfect home to be releasing our new music on.
"And finally, we are able to share our new single with the world and hope that you love it as much as we do!"
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