By Ariana West
Photos by Lindsey Byrnes
Addiction is all consuming. Nicholas D. Miller, known to the world as Illenium, saw just how bad heroin addiction can be when he overdosed in 2012. But at rock bottom he found his purpose in life – music.
“I was trying to find something, not even knowingly,” says Miller. “I was already obsessed with finding music and carefully analyzing everything that happened in a song. As I started learning more about electronic music, I took that obsession and started using it to produce music. It was just one step at a time to become as good as the people I looked up to. It has been very helpful to me spiritually and in life because it has become my career.”
Miller sobered up living in Colorado, where he discovered electronic music. Sobriety gave him the time to immerse himself in this new passion; He devoted himself to going to shows, discovering new artists and learning whatever he could. When the time was right, he started making his own music. “I started making music and it was really bad for the first three years, but I just loved it,” says Miller. “Then I moved to Denver and met my current manager and some great roommates. Since then we’ve been making music together almost every day.
“I was drawn to electronic music because every aspect of the sound can be manipulated – it’s like unlimited creativity,” he continues. “When you’re in a band, you’re one element among many. But you can really do anything you want with electronic music.”
Miller dove into electronic music at a time when EDM was dominating the charts. What was once a niche genre went mainstream almost overnight, with countless fans building a thriving community around the music they loved. “It was also such a cool scene when I came upstairs,” he recalls. “The bass music scene in Colorado really started to explode and you could see the community it was building. It was very easy for me to settle into it and feel comfortable. Which wasn’t normal for me because I always felt like I’d jumped out of my skin. But electronic music became this amazing mix of creativity and a really cool community of people.”
Miller began releasing music through his own trial and error method. In the early years he produced a steady stream of singles and EPs through SoundCloud in the hope that his work would be noticed by the EDM community. He soon became addicted to the feeling of sharing new music with his friends and aspired to be as good as the scene’s big DJs. The manner in which Miller strove for greatness was monumental in shaping his signature sound today.
“I think every musician is really just a combination of influences,” says Miller. “To say you created a genre from scratch is pretty abnormal. Everyone has influences and that’s what your sound becomes. If you take this and that from different artists, it sounds different and it’s exciting. I think it was natural in the beginning and I did everything – trap, dubstep, melodic bass music etc. It started to form into this more specific category that still allows me to go everywhere.”
Miller’s efforts paid off as he gained momentum in the EDM scene and released his debut album Ashes in 2016. “Ashes” put Miller on the map, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. In 2017 he quickly followed up with his second album “Awake”. The success of those two albums led to Miller joining the Astralwerks label for his 2019 album Ascend, which took him to #1 on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart and peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Response to “Ascend” shot Miller’s career into the stratosphere in 2019, but came to an abrupt end in early 2020, as has happened for all touring musicians. The interruption, while disappointing, was possibly the thought-provoking opportunity Miller needed. “I feel like we took things for granted when it was normal,” says Miller. “I’m going on my big tour in 2019 doing bigger venues like Madison Square Garden and Staples [Center], it felt like we were on this rocket ship and it was really exciting. Then the pandemic came and I kept asking myself, ‘Do I need to do more? Do I have to do less?’ Then coming out of the pandemic and doing the stadium show in Las Vegas, that was the highest high ever.”
Photo by Lindsey Byrnes
At the Las Vegas show, Miller performed music from his forthcoming fourth album, Fallen Embers, for the first time. The record showed how far Miller had come in the last decade and earned him one of his biggest achievements to date – a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
“[‘Ashes’] wasn’t anywhere near as production-wise as ‘Fallen Embers,'” says Miller. “Since then, of course, I’ve learned a lot and can get things done faster. Ashes came about song by song and these days I do 30-50 songs at a time, then narrow them down to my favorites. Making Ashes was definitely an amazing experience and many of my fans think it’s my best album. I definitely disagree with hardcore, but a lot of people have their favorite song or album because of where they were at the time.”
Miller is currently working on his next big project. Whether this will be an EP or an album is unknown at this time, but he plans to showcase his work in his biggest headlining show to date. In June 2023, Miller will perform “Trilogy: Colorado,” which will consist of three performances at Denver’s Empower Field at Mile High. This showcase comes full circle for Miller and is a way for him to say thank you to the community that has supported him from day one.
If you’re not familiar with his story, which he only made public with his 2018 single “Take You Down,” you’d be shocked to know where his career began. Miller intends to be a beacon of hope for those struggling with addiction and hopes his music can offer a way out. This is a feeling he not only promotes through his music, but a message he carries on his body every day.
“My sleeve is probably my favorite tattoo. It’s a lot of sacred geometry mixed with things I love — nature, the seed of life merging into the flower of life, and then a phoenix,” says Miller. “It’s about rebirth and finding yourself. The tattoo symbolizes my journey from addiction to finding my purpose in life. My goal is not just to make music, but to share my story and let people struggling with addiction or mental health know that not being in the depths all the time is achievable. There is an out and a lot of people go through it.”
Often you can’t tell a person’s problems just by looking at them, but their tattoos can reveal their inner workings. Looking at what Nicholas D. Miller has accomplished, you would never guess that he almost took a very different path. But his tattoos allow him to wear his story on his sleeve and show the world he’s proud of how far he’s come.