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Tom Budden interview

DJ and producer Tom Budden is a multi-talented artist whose diverse yet distinctive style
of music has gained him the respect of his peers and has seen him play alongside major
artists such as James Zabelia, Steve Lawler, Nic Fanciulli and Sven Vath…

Congratulations on AliVE reaching 20 releases. Tell me, did you launch the label
with certain aims and what was the thinking behind ALiVE?

I had just started to produce some tracks, mainly collaborations with friends and
although I had been dj’ing for 10 years or so, I was an unknown producer. I wasn’t
sure what to do with this material, so decided the best solution was to set up a label
as an outlet for the music. So with a little help, ALiVE was born! Musically the aim was
to be a representation of the sort of stuff you would hear me play in a club whether
it’s the start of the night or later on.

The first three releases on the label were your own materiel, was there a conscious
decision to release your music yourself rather than other labels?

The fact that these were the first few releases I had put out and that I was unsure of
which labels to send them to really gave me one option, to put them out myself. It
seemed to work quite well from the start so I’ve carried on.

Your “3-D” project takes the label over the 20th release, can you explain it, you
produced the first three releases on the label and now these three, it doesn’t
signal the end does it?

Oh definitely not! There’s plenty more to come after number 20. The three tracks
were going to come out a little earlier and separately, but some things got held up
as I’ve found they often do when running a label. I was then going to release all
three as an ep, but had some people that I wanted to get involved for remixes so
decided this was the perfect opportunity to call them in and release as 3 separate
releases. It’s basically 3 tracks, each with 2 remixes from label regulars like Teva
and Daniel Dubb, to artists who’s music I’ve been playing heavily over the last 6
months or so, like Jet Project, ONNO and Arnaud Le Texier.

Your rise to fame certainly hasn’t been an overnight success, would you agree?
Is there any particular artists that have played a big influence in your sound?

Its taken a while that’s for sure. I’d been dj’ing for over 10 years and had some
pretty good gigs like Cocoon at the End, Renaissance at the Cross and a residency
at The Key in London just off the back of my dj’ing, but I’d say the production and
running the label is really what helped push things forward. It’s really a mix of all
kinds of people that have influenced my sound and although I’m into all sorts of
stuff, Craig Richards & Lee Burridge at the early Tyrant nights at Fabric were a big
influence with their dubby tech house along with Danny Howells’ warm ups at B
edrock at Heaven.

How do you do ‘The Tree Dance’?

That comes from an old friend of mine, Andy, who really loves a party. Quite often
we’d be sat around after a night out, some years ago, having a drink and a talk and
what not with a bit of music on, and Andy would be sat in the corner with his eyes
closed doing what looks like some kind of spiritual dance with his arms. That’s
where the name came from. I made a little video for the Tree Dance for YouTube
and Andy appears on that.

ALiVE proudest moments over the last 2 years?

The biggest one was when Richie Hawtin was playing The Tree Dance every week
for a few moths last summer. I saw a video of him dropping it at Sonar, then every
weekend it would appear on his Twitter feed.

Is there a particular genre or style that ALiVE follows and can you sum up ALiVE’s
sound in only a few words?

Not really! Some of it’s a bit more ‘deep house’ whereas some is more ‘tech house’,
whether it’s one or the other it always has the groove and has something about it.
It has to fit in to the kind of stuff I play, but then that could be the start of the night
or peak time, so quite broad really! Basically just music I like!

Its great to see a dance label maintain a strong visual identity, something that
ALiVE has quickly established Tell us a little about the fantastic hand drawn cover
artwork that appears every release.

The artwork is all done by a friend of mine called Chris Martin (not from Coldplay).
He was just finishing his art degree at uni in Southampton when I started the label
up and he said if I needed anything doing for the label he’d love to get involved,
I’m not sure if he knew how much he’d be in for when I took him up on the offer.
He’s also done work for Nokia, The Guardian, Deisel Jeans, Phones 4U and loads more.

ALiVE has been a platform for showcasing new producers, not only yourself but
artists such as Pedramovich. How important a role to do think a label plays in the
development of new talent.

It’s really important for labels to give the new up and coming artists a chance,
I’m really happy I’m in a position to do this. Most of the new artists on the label
are friends of mine who have been making some amazing music with really high
production standards. Every now and then I will get sent something from someone
I don’t know that needs to be snapped up.

Tell us a bit about a few of the key artists on the label and what is it you look for
when signing a new artist to ALiVE?

Teva, previously known as No Brainer is the latest signing. He’s a classically trained
pianist (which you can hear on ALiVE17, ‘You can’t Teach This’) and a studio demon
and only 21.
Pedramovich from Sheffield has done some other bits for Audiofly’s ‘Supernature’ and
London/Brighton based ‘Hypercolour’ has now appeared on the label a few times and
has a few more tracks and remixes to come this year.
If I’m signing a new artist then I guess I’d be hoping it would be something I would play
out and really interest me, along with having a certain standard of production.
There’s some new artists I’ll be introducing to the label after ALiVE20 like James Dutton
from Leeds and Arjun Vagale from India.

Do you think ALiVE has changed at all over the last two years and has the labels
output stuck to what you planned to do when you launched?

I think the label has only changed in that I’m a bit pickier about what I put out. I think
its musical identity is really starting to show now because of this.

What are your aspirations for ALiVE and how do you see it developing in the next 2 years?

To carry on introducing new artists and also bring in some more well known names
here and there to help give it some weight all mixed up with the occasional release
from myself. I’d like to do some more ALiVE events with line up’s from the roster,
we’re also re-launching the Podcasts soon. I hope the label can grow and be well
known for releasing quality music.

Travelling and Djing alongside James Zabiela, How have you found it on the road
and do you find yourself with any restraints on what you can play before him?

It’s been great and to be honest and I can play pretty much whatever I want before
him without stepping on his toes musically. It’s also nice to turn up somewhere
and it be busy

What’s been your best gig in the last 12 months?

There has been a few. Sankeys in Manchester, Stiff Kitten in Belfast in the UK. I’ve
done Kristal in Romania a few times now which is always amazing. Also Arma 17
in Moscow was pretty special.

What grooves and artists are currently exciting you?

A lot of the Dutch stuff like on 2000 and One’s various labels. (UK?) guys like Glimpse
and Shenoda for the deeper stuff, Jet Project for the chunkier stuff. Also some people
that will be appearing on ALiVE soon, like ONNO and Philipp Ort.

How strongly do you feel part of the South Coast house movement and do you feel
like artists like yourself James Talk and Alan Fitzpatrick all help each other out in
on way or another? As a close knit group of djs trying to emerge into the scene
did it ever feel at the time like there was a particularly strong hotbed of local talent?

We’ve all been good friends for some time and will regularly hang out together. I’m
not sure if people would know how many of us are from such a close area, other than
the two you mentioned there’s also Dave Robertson (Reset Robot) who’s been a massive
help with my production stuff, Jon Gurd, Junior Gee and Ridney. There’s also a load of
others that aren’t quite as well known, but I’m sure will be soon like John Barber, George
Pearson, Friction Machine and Aaron Binstead. I think we’ve always known there is a
really healthy scene.

Away from dance music how do you like to spend your free time?

Eating, sleeping, a little bit of tv, a few 5 mile runs a week and when I have the time,
the odd cycle ride, and that’s about it.. the rest of the time is taken up with music.

What’s your personal good and bad elements to the electronic music scene at the
moment? Is anything you’d like to see more or less of in dance music culture?

Good: There’s so much good music out there at the moment!
Bad: There’s a lot of snobbishness where people will not like this record or that record
because it not made by a trendy producer of the moment. I’d like to see things go back
to the old acid house way of thinking where anything goes and people being a bit more
open minded.

You’ve built up a hugely strong reputation over the last few years, any advice for
any aspiring Dj/Producers out there?

I think you have to do as much as you can. Cover every base, mixes, production,
soundcloud, myspace etc. Just get it out there, if your music is good and your
doing everything you can to push it, then it should get noticed!

What’s your plans 2010?

I’m just on my way for a tour in Australia and Asia which I’m really looking forward
to. After that there’s a possible few dates in Brazil. I have some remixes coming
out on Renaissance and Paolo Mojo’s ‘OOSH’ label in the coming months and a
couple of tracks on Fergie’s new tech house label. I’ll have some more tracks
coming out on ALiVE and we’ll be sticking to a release a month on the label with
artists such as Jet Project, Philip Ort, ONNO and some newer names.

Tom Budden links:

www.TomBudden.co.uk

Tom Budden Myspace

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