1. Growing Up
I remember telling my dad that I wanted Michael Jackson’s Bad on tape but he was like, ‘No no, you should definitely get it on vinyl, it will last so much longer.’ Oh how right he was [laughs]. My parents weren’t really musical, but they loved music and supported me though all my instrument-learning vibes and such.
2.Inspirations
When I started really getting into music it was a mix of punk, hip hop and rave… Frenzal Rhomb, The Offspring, Wu-Tang and Dutch hardcore. Not sure if they all really shine through in what I do now, but definitely all inspirations. I remember the first time my next-door neighbour showed me Frenzal Rhomb’s Coughing Up A Storm; back then you couldn’t burn music, so I borrowed his CD for ages, then went to Red Eye and copped it.
3.Your Crew
[I’ve got] so many mates that I work with, probably too many to go deep without writing a novel. The scene here in Australia is all pretty close so we are all one big crew, sounds wack but it’s pretty true – well, a lot of us are all really good friends. I’m full-time music vibes at the moment, but also run a few things on the side.
4.The Music You Make
I play and make all different kinds of music, I always have, but I guess it’s always pretty much based around club action and the dancefloor. If you look through my discography, it’s pretty fucking random and I’m always trying new things – I guess ‘big basslines and lots of vibe’ is a good summary of my sound. A lot of people would probably say I’m an electro house producer, and to some degree that’s true if you don’t know all my vibes… but I don’t see myself as that at all.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
I think the scene is pretty healthy at the moment; there’s lots of good music coming from Australia and plenty of shows and parties happening all over. Sure, there are definitely some things going on that are pretty wack too, but in all I think we’re pretty all G! It’s very possible to make what you want, release your own music and get out there and play it.
Tom Piper will be playing at Chinese Laundry on Saturday May 3.
