An interview with Toby Tobias, recorded on Thursday 9th August 2007 outside the Hive Bar, Brixton, London.

DS3: Hi Toby, right, tell us about growing up/early influences

TT: Right, well, my earliest influence, without a doubt, is break dancing. That’s where the whole deepness came from, that’s when I realised I was into deep music, at the age of 11, and that’s a fucking weird thing! When you’re 11 and you hear Cybertron ‘Clear’, and you’re like ‘Oh my God!’ this is fucking amazing! Why do I like this so much? It’s so deep, this is getting me right there, you know? There’s not much music going on, buts all in the mood and the groove of it.

Then when I was around 13 or 14 I started getting into rock, discovering rock and pop, just chart music, you know, what’s popular. When Bros came out, there was something about them I liked, and I don’t know what it was. One of the first remixes I ever heard (are you gonna broadcast this?!!?)

DS3 – (laughs), continue..

TT – yeah, the first remix I ever heard….r.e - m.i.x, you know, when I first understood a remix, I mean, I’d probably heard remixes, you know, when I was into break dancing, but this older black guy, Tunji, (a bit of a dude) gave me this bros remix, ‘I Owe you Nothing’, I was like, fuck man!

DS3 – have you still got it?

TT – haha, no no.., it was on a cassette. I just remember thinking, fucking hell, that’s dubbed out, spacey, clubby..

DS3 – and how old were you when you heard this, early teens I guess?

TT – I remember, I was 13 when I heard that.

I also remember that ‘Captain Rock’ tune! To this day I’m still thinking of doing a re-edit of that! Its got this part in it that’s just SO good, I could probably still do something with it. Also, Warp 9 at the time I didn’t know it was produced by Jellybean

DS3 – Were you actively hunting these tracks out at the time?

TT – No, no…I was getting to hear them because I was a break-dancer. We had a DJ, it wasn’t me, I wasn’t into DJing then. I was interested in DJing, but I used to get all my music through our DJ, a guy called John Race. We did breaks at the carnival, we had a guy called Ian, he did the graffiti, then there was John, he was the DJ, then there were 3 of us breaking. My mate Steve, he was doing the head spins….head spinning on concrete, needless to say he’s bald now!

DS3 - and you, were you doing head spins?

TT - No, I was more of a bopper, doing the hand-spins and crazy legs. My mate Mike did the windmill. We had great fun..

I also knew at that time that I loved Paul Hardcastle, I loved his shit. Zero One, Universal Funk, the one with the graffiti on it. I think 19 came out around that time? It was all about piecing together the parts. When you’re that young, you don’t really know the roots of what you’re listening to, you just know that you like it. It honestly wasn’t until I started properly getting into disco…after the rave scene, after getting into house, that’s when I started discovering disco. Then I started piecing together the puzzles.

The first 12” I picked up was around the early house period, although I was buying 7”s from around the age of 11. Psychotropic ‘Hypnosis’ that might have been the first 12 I bought? Or Stone Roses ‘Fools Gold’. That’s another period of early influence, when I was about 16, I went to college in Basingstoke, the whole ‘baggy’ scene, I was massively into all that. Then going to Camden, and going to the Soul2Soul shop, and buying the S2S clothes, thinking I was the coolest fucking thing out there! I still wish I had them. It’s all about discovering I guess, discovering yourself, especially at that age. Going on DJ History (forum) the other day reminded me of something; Remember Greg Wilson talking about the whole ‘mad’chester thing?

DS3 – Don’t think I read that one?

TT – Well, when I was 16 there was a show called Madchester on telly, and it focused on the happy Mondays and the club, the Hacienda. They were in the Hacienda and Yah ‘De-shake’ was playing, and its goes ‘Yahhhhhhh….Yahhhhhhh’ with a lovely baseline. Anyway, I saw that on this show, in the club, there was loads of smoke and loads of those floppy hats, and when I saw that program, I think that was a defining moment, i was like, that’s where I want to be….in there! Getting into that, I was fixed. Again, it was the deepness of it that got me. So, I went out and bought myself one of those floppy hats…. straight away! A floppy hat, with a big Adidas sign on it! All of that just made a massive impact on me.

This was the same year I first went to raves; I went to Evolution in Basingstoke.

DS3 – so now you’re actively becoming a part of it, buying the music, the clothes, going to the parties…

TT – yeah man, you know, getting involved. Getting on it. Just having such a party man. So for the next 4 years that was what it was all about, that was it. That’s when I also started buying vinyl for DJ purposes.

DS3 – so you’re Djing now?

TT- well, basically, I was listening to Colin Dale on kiss. I was recording their shows on cassette, making my own mix tapes out of their shows…pause you know…pause! It fucked me up tho as I was pausing out the talking, which meant I didn’t know the names of the tracks! So I had my own mix tapes anyway. To be honest though, I was more interested in dancing. A few of my mates got decks and were happily playing away; so then I bought a sampler. My mate, Steve, also got a sampler, and we started making house and hip hop compilations, well, he was making hip hop, I was making house.

DS3 – so now you’re buying hardware

TT – Yeah. I went up to London, I wasn’t living there at the time, I went to London and bought my sampler and then started making tunes, but I wasn’t really DJing so much at that time, I made tunes before I really began DJing. But what I was doing was passing on all the information that I’d learnt to my mates Alex and Mike who were the main DJs. We’d go to Ourprice! Back then Ourprice was actually a good record shop, they were actually selling good tunes, and I passed on many-a-good tune to those guys. Luckily I since managed to get many of them back, through hunting charity shops etc..

DS3 – So how did you then go from hardware into software?

TT – Well that was a very big time for me. I mean, I was using hardware for years, but wasn’t really getting anywhere. You know, if you’re doing this stuff in your bedroom, it’s just so hard to get that polished sound, you know what I mean? I probably did have quite a good sound but it took a long time to make just one track or try to get a demo together. It didn’t fill me with any encouragement, didn’t make me think, ‘oh yeah, I can do this.’ So because I was never feeling confident about it, I wasn’t sending demos out.

DS3 – so you were hitting a brick wall?

TT – yeah, yeah. But that all changed when I met Craig (Macculough).

DS3 – how did you meet?

TT – I met him whilst working for an investment bank doing a day job setting up audio visual stuff, and er…me and him chanced upon a cushy little number where we were actually sitting up top most of the day, sitting upstairs in this little room with 15 laptops, and I quickly learnt that Craig was a computer geek! But he loved music. Loved techno. He introduced me to acid, not the drug, but the software, and also Soundforge. It’s a loop-based program, quite easy to use. Quite like Ableton, but not quite as advanced. We were basically making beats through the day at work, headphones on, totally getting on it, making shit loads of music, and leaning, and that was it. I was converted, oh dear, software mate; there was no going back!

Pretty much straight after that he introduced me to Reason, which is basically a studio in one. Before long I’d sacked off all the hardware, and started busting out tunes on Reason, and that was wonderful mate, all my ideas came straight out; it was then that I started giving out demos.

The first demo that I sent out, or one of the first ones, no, it wasn’t the first one! One of the first ones, I found again, just recently, and it’s on my myspace, called ‘Cosmic Slang’. When I found it I was I like, ‘oh my God! I’m loving this tune! It’s quite housey, I’m not sure if it’ll see the light of day, but it’s got something about it though that I really love. Unfortunately the parts are all long gone, but maybe one day I might revive it.

Anyway, about 3 demos down the line, I sent one out to Steve Kotey. I’d picked up one of his Big Bear edits, and thought, wow, this is really on my level. So I found a little blurb on the web, and sent him a demo, and I didn’t think anything of it. Then, I got a call from him, saying ‘hey mate, I really love this tune, and I wanna sign it’.

DS3 – so that was the first one..

TT- Yeah, well he signed the tune, called ‘Cry Me A Bongo’. It was called that because it came out about the same time as Justin Timberlake’s, ‘Cry Me A River’. Funny thing is, it’s yet to see the light of day. It took a year, and it was about to get released then it so happened that I was with Stevie and he passed me the parts for a remix, and I did the remix in a couple of days, and passed it back to him, and he was really into it. So he said, right, this is gonna go out straight away! I’m like, fuck! I’ve waited a year for my single and then this 2-day remix comes out first! 

DS3 – and the remix..?

TT – This remixes was a remix of Akwaaba, and on the other side of that was a remix by Todd Terje & Prins Thomas, and that was their first vinyl outing. Well, it was definitely Todd’s first Vinyl outing, and I think was Prin’s Thomas’ as well. So that was a nice little package.

DS3 – So you’ve got a lot going on right now, tell us about your album..

TT – It’s very nearly finished. I was working on it before I came out to meet you! I'm putting some serious hours into it. Every spare minute I'm putting into it. I'm getting up at 7am and doing an hour before work, and what I'm doing at the moment is literally just checking all the tracks, checking them through, because I’ve got 15, well we had 15, Matt and James from Rekids both came round my house, and we went through my whole computer, and we basically went through all my tracks that I’d done over the last few years, and we picked out 15 tracks that aren’t coming out on any other labels, and have no samples, no cheekiness. James doesn’t wasn’t to risk any legal implementations

DS3 – That’s cool though, because it’s all your own stuff..

TT – Yeah of course, although there is material, that has got cheekiness in it that I’m gonna be putting out elsewhere you know, so that’s cool. But yeah, they went through my hard drive, we took out the 15 tracks. Not one of them was ready, they were all unfinished…. well, maybe 2 of them were ready, but most of them needed tweaking, shortening, or maybe even a little bit more put into them. So that’s what I’ve been doing, and I’m now very close to finishing them all.

DS3 – and have you got a release date?

TT – Yeah, end of September. But I will have a blueprint at the end of this week, the finished article. I'm just waiting for the vocals from Kathy Diamond and Nesreen. Pete Z does some keyboards, and hand claps from my girlfriend Charlie (laughs)! Anyway, the albums called ‘Space Shuffle’.

DS3 – So obviously you’ve released on a variety of labels as opposed to putting all your eggs in one basket. Do you think that’s helped you a lot, having people become aware of your music because you’ve spread yourself out?

TT – Well – first and foremost I am in residence with Rekids – they re putting my album out , and its like my musical home - but I’ve built up a lot of music I thought worthy to put out there, and once I'm happy with it, I don’t like to sit on it too long. So I’ve been farming it out to other labels. Having said that, the Cry Me A Bongo thing, I’ve sat on that now for 5 years!

DS3 – Is that going to be on the album?

TT – No it’s not actually. I don’t know what’s happening with that! I mean there was talk of it coming out on Bear Funk soon, but I'm not sure, and I’ve haven't spoken to Steve for a while. It still should see something, but we’ll see. Generally I don’t like to sit on things, particularly if I'm really happy, I’ll push it.

DS3 – This process must come easier now, being that you’re now an established producer?

TT – Yeah, things are easier, people take notice! I’ve also been lucky, in having so much stuff released. I’ve only ever sent stuff to the labels I really like, and I’ve had some good feedback, like recently with Tirk.

DS3 – great label..

TT – Yeah, I mean, I’ve always loved Nuphonic, and now Tirk are doing a wicked job, you know what I mean. If I’m going to be involved with them, that would be a great privilege.

DS3 – We hear a rumour of an EP coming out on Tirk?

TT – yes , a 3 track ep is looking to be released in February 2008 .Its been just recently confirmed .

DS3 – Ok, so lets now talk a little bit about Late Night Audio. This is the promoter side of you coming out, putting on a party, and a successful one. So, how did that come about and what were your hopes for it when it started, and how do you look at it now?

TT – Well, basically, it’s just a nice way to……what I like about it most is that it’s a great way to get hold of the DJs /producers that you really like and get them to play, you know what I mean? That’s what I like about it most. I play a big part in arranging the line up – with the emphasis on fresh and creative! (Danny (Clark) does the design, Charlie does admin/accounts, Ben does promotions) , it’s a good team .

DS3 – fair to say it’s one of the best regular parties in town right now..

TT – I think a lot of that is down to the club. We’ve got a great sound system, a nice late, late license and a good location. As long as we can keep on putting on people we like and respect, and definitely don’t do the sell out thing. It’s definitely not about making money. I mean, yeah, money is important in terms of the kitty, to get the DJs, but the main thing is to put on a great party. I’ll be honest with you; I haven't played in many better places then that. I’ve done quite a few gigs, and there are not many that come close to it. A lot of the best sets I’ve done have been at that club. It’s that rammed up, low ceiling, proper basement vibe. A lot of the DJs have come to us and said, ‘fucking hell man, we wanna come again! Richard Sen for instance, he loved it so much, that we’re now putting him on live; he’s doing September live. You know, he’s really looking forward to it, especially after the last time. That was the same with Diesel; he recommended it to a lot of people.

DS3 – So you’re intending to keep it going then?

TT – Yeah, there’s no reason to stop! Keep on giving Shoreditch some descent music!

DS3 – Tell us, do you prefer making records, or playing them?

TT – Well, I think making records has got to be it really. Playing records has got some magic, but sometimes you don’t like playing records, sometimes it can be a bit of a struggle, and sometimes it can be fucking great. But, when you create a track in the studio, and it’s something you’re really happy with, and when you’re on a vibe, when you’re on it, it’s…it’s a bit spiritual, you know what I mean? Especially when you’re on your own, when there’s no one else around, its just you, and you’re like ‘oh my God’, this is flowing, this is flowing! I can wait to play someone this and see what they think! Obviously now you know you’ve got a little bit of an audience, before, you know, it was like, I cant wait to play this to a mate and see what he thinks, now it’s like, I cant wait to play this at LNA or maybe, see what happens when it gets released, see what sort of reaction it gets, because I'm feeling it, so maybe some other people will too.

DS3 – So plans/projects for the future?

TT – Well, there’s something secret on the horizon, it’s erm…..it’s a secret! It’s something I’m involved with one other person, it’s nothing that…erm….well, it’s just a future project! Well actually it’s not a secret, its just I'm not going to be telling anyone that’s it me!

As for other things; I’ve just done a remix for ‘Exceptional’ which is an interesting label. They approached me. They’re a group called Play, but it’s spelt ‘Plej’, they’re a Swedish group. They’ve always sounded quite interesting, kind of jazzy, Scandinavian sound. The original was definitely nice and I was feeling it, that’s why I said yes. So I’ve done two remixes for them

DS3 – and they’re forthcoming?

TT- Yeah, very forthcoming. I’m really pleased with them. Quite underground, dubby, disco with a bit of an acid side to it, but that’s coming out very soon. I’m interested to see how that does, should be a nice little package.  
Oh yeah, there’s this one other little project, you know ‘Chocolate Factor’ that Greg Wilson did on Redux? Well they're basically an offshoot of 20-20 vision, and I did this little track it was called Randy house, but it was a stupid name, so I’ve renamed it ‘Twilight Lady’, and I’d sent that our to a lot of people and I got an amazing amount of feedback, more than I’d had off any track, so I considered bringing it out myself, but Redux were taking an interest in me particularly, so I sent them the track and they loved it. In fact they came back 2 weeks later with the offer to put it out. So that’ll be coming out pretty soon. Also, SolidState (Product of Society), I’ve done a remix of an old track that he’d done a few years ago called BOOM! I originally did a re-edit of it, then I recently scrapped the re-edit and decided to play around and put some synths and shit onto it, and I’ve had a nice bit of feedback off that as well. It was one of those ones that came together really nicely. Hopefully Chris Duckenfield is going to do something on that EP too.

I think that’s it….Oh, there’s also a thing called ‘The Mythical Beasts Project’, which is me and Felix and we did a live sort of thing a while ago and that’s in the pipeline.

 I’ve done some stuff for Felix’s label, ‘Urban Myth’, well, we are working on a quality little production for that which is going to be coming out very soon and believe me, it’s going to be hot! One last thing! Before the album drops, there’s going to be a Rekids single, an album sampler with a remix from someone shit hot!

DS3 – I guess you’re DJing has picked up nicely too..

TT  - Yeah it’s going great, thanks! I’ve got Fabric coming up in November, playing in the third room. I’ve also good Leeds, Asylum coming up, and the Luxx in Portugal, a special Rekids party there, that’s actually in conjunction with a label called ‘Bloop’ recordings in Portugal, for whom I’ve just done a remix.) Then there’s the Warm stuff, that’s going nicely. 

DS3 – Sum yourself up in 3 words.

TT – MAN ON MISSION

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