We had the good fortune of connecting with The Original iLLs and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi The Original, why did you pursue a creative career?
We decided that we would open ourselves to the possibility that we can create healing music and contribute to the world around us. We decided to have faith that the music would support us financially, spiritually, and physically.

We all worked career jobs that prevented us from having the time to devote to our gift and passion of creating music. Methodically, we each left those positions to record and perform our music.

We thought it was possible to thrive professionally and do it our way rather than work a 9-5 that didn’t allow us to express our gifts. We are grateful for the opportunity.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The Original iLLs are an American Rock ‘n Roll band with soulful sounds that will hit you deep in your bones. The OG iLLs are guided vocally and on guitar by the mad ingenious of Emiliano Flores. His older brother Benito Flores is the drummer and heartbeat of the band and Lady Los is a neo-soul artist turned rock singer-songwriter once she teamed up with the Flores brothers.

The Flores brothers refined their remarkable sound throughout their lifetime of playing together. They play from their soul in a way that is extremely compatible with Lady Los’ soulful voice and writing style. They describe this meshing of sound/vibration as ‘The Nexus’ or the “feeling of forming a portion of the justice league.”

They would not describe the work to promote, networking to find new opportunities to play in front of bigger crowds, or the administrative pieces of the journey easy, but, at least the music comes easily.

We want the world to know that we are a band, a record label, a publishing company, and we hand-make our own merchandise. In short, we own our music, and we distribute our own merchandise- that we created. So when you stream our music, buy tickets to our shows, or buy our merch, you are directly supporting a family-owned and operated business.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We won’t break down the entire itinerary, but here are some of the places we would want to take any of our good friends who came to Denver/Colorado.

We would like to shoutout these businesses and locations because they’re places we love and love to take people to:

La Abeja
Views from Barnum Park and Ruby Hill Park
Slow cruise Lookout Mountain.
Tour the city on bikes. We love our bike trails.
Concerts at Hi-Dive, Larimer Lounge, Globe Hall, Fillmore, and Red Rocks.
Tacos de Peluche food truck.
Kahlo’s Restaurant in Westwood.
Pregame on the lot before a Broncos game. Even if you don’t make it inside the game it’s a blast.
Catch a game at Coor’s Field.
Sit and watch a 303 sunrise and sunset on a rooftop with some Gravy Train from Good Chemistry

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would not be where we are without our family. We love you so much! We would not be where we are without each other. We would not be where were are without the city of Denver. We want to shout out Gregg Ziemba, Thadeus Mighell, Diego Florez, Frederick Remington, Lars ‘Soulrane’ Sverre, Derek Frank, and Ian Kane. Shoutout Santiago Jaramillo, D3 Arts Westwood, Victor Escobedo, Damaris Ronkanen, and Re:Vision Westwood. Shoutout to the Birdseed Collective, One Stop Bike Shop, and Bruce Trujillo. Shoutout to Andy Flebbe and Adelio Lombardi over at Side3 Studios!

Website: www.theoriginalills.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/theoriginalills

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theoriginalills

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH4ppAXxXVbkunXxv5esN4Q

Other: https://linktr.ee/theoriginalills www.tiktok.com/theoriginalills

Image Credits
Our photos were taken by Ian Kane/Far I Media Our logo was made by Lars Soulrane Sverre

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.