Click on the picture to access Tim's new label Get Human

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what happened, but I’d say internally there were issues I hadn’t dealt with on a personal level. This then began manifesting in a negative way and resulted in me drinking more and not really enjoying what I was doing professionally. For sure it was hard to take a break, but in the end I needed to for my own sanity.”

Headlining Ministry of Sound’s main room aged 17 and releasing one of the biggest club records of 1997 soon after (speed garage anthem RIP Groove (with Double 99 co-producer Omar Amidora), Tim Deluxe epitomised overnight success.

Following up with a string of high profile (and highly lucrative), gigs, releases and remixes (including hits for Black Grape, Robert Miles, Mighty Dub Katz and Ultra Nate) he raised his game still further in 2001 with radio hit We All Love Sax and 12 months later “’It Just Won’t Do’, a worldwide club and chart hit that cemented his superstar DJ status.

Picking up weekly residencies at Pacha Ibiza soon afterwards and travelling non-stop, he appeared to be living the dream, though chatting about the period in an interview with Trax Source two years ago, said life soon became ‘like a hamster’s wheel’. (Trax Source: http://bit.ly/gPOeen )

Also confessing to collapsing on stage (‘it’s not fun or professional’ he recalled) he’s similarly candid talking to Skrufff today.

“I needed time for myself,” says Tim. “There I was having worked obsessively from 1995 to 2008 without really taking proper time out and it was scary,” he admits.

“I was earning serious money and ‘living the life’ in most people’s eyes but in reality I was ready to walk away. And though it took a lot of courage to do so, once I’d done it, it felt amazing.”

“This was the moment when I decided I needed to look inside myself so I stopped drinking and smoking. I changed my diet to a vegetarian one and took up long distance running.”

“Running has helped me massively, physically and spiritually. I completed my first marathons last year and will be running the Tokyo marathon and the Berlin marathon again next year. There’s nothing like 26.2 miles to find out about yourself. I’ve learned a lot about myself on those runs.”

As well as radically reinventing his lifestyle, he also changed the company he kept:  so did he discover any, or indeed many- fake friends who betrayed him when he stepped back?

“Well for sure those types of people did used to appear from time to time, but actually because I had strayed off my path,” he muses.

“What I’ve noticed in life is that when I’m a little more balanced and more in tune with myself these people don’t seem to be around. For example, when I stopped touring, certain people dropped off the radar who I thought were real friends. Betrayal is a strong word and I wouldn’t go that far but it was a moment of realisation for sure.”

Transformation

Taking a serious break, he’s now firmly back on track and recently unveiled his new label Get Human and his best new track since 2002’s It Just Won’t Do: Transformations. Coming in at over 12 minutes long and built around a thumping, old school house style piano riff, it’s a massively engaging epic club record that’s both accessible and perfectly produced for delivering dance-floor mayhem (click here to listen: http://bit.ly/uI78Xk )

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): How did Transformations come about?

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Tim Deluxe: “’Transformation’ the track came about as a result of me having started studying Jazz/blues piano this year. It was something I always wanted to do but never had time before. It’s time consuming but what you put in, you get out.  I could play the piano a bit before but it was all by ear and not so fluid. I would give up and get musicians in for the more complex stuff. Now I am starting to understand the theory side more and more, that coupled with the practicing everyday is helping.”

Skrufff: How long did to take to make from start to finish?

Tim Deluxe: “The track took a while to write and was developed over time. I started with the main riff idea right at the beginning then I let it breathe and stepped away from it waiting for new ideas to appear and lo and behold they started to present themselves. As the composition side of it started to take shape I felt the production value needed to have a more ‘classic’ feel. It’s all analogue machines ,909,Jupiter 8 and Moog. All in all it took around 3 months or so from the initial idea to finishing it off.”

Skrufff: What inspired you to make such a melodic track?

Tim Deluxe: “Well at the moment, I’m hearing a real lack of melody and harmony in a lot of house and techno. Most releases feel like they are only drum loops and bass coupled with the latest Native Instruments effect.

I therefore am going the other way with both my studying and future productions. I want to keep as far away from throwaway music as possible.”

(Not) Playing the Game

It feels like everyone is just shouting at the minute. Facebook . . . Twitter . . .Youtube all of it. I prefer to stay away from it so I can actually hear myself.”

Noting that sales of house and techno have largely collapsed in recent years, Tim agrees ‘the game has changed massively’.

“My reaction has been to not play the game,” he explains, “I’m now just concentrating on making the best music I can and hopefully the rest will fall into place. From experience I have found that good music will eventually rise to the top.”

Skrufff: You’ve had several massive club hits in your career: and lots of critically rated tracks which didn’t crossover: how much did each track’s success add pressure to match or overcome it?

Tim Deluxe: “When I was younger, it played a part for sure, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. The pressure came in different shapes and forms but ultimately the biggest of all came from myself. It’s pure ego and very much an illusion. At the end of the day no one cares.

Once I realised, this I then became freer and more comfortable again. I found my creativity flows more when I’m not putting obstacles in its way. The intention has to be real, as in; I have this idea, I need to express it. It’s pure and more enjoyable, I’m not thinking about sales, will this person play it, is it ‘the follow up’; all that stuff is ego.

Finding out the hard way of carrying pressure and expectation into the studio is not helpful and usually produces unsatisfactory results, which I’ve had a few of. Ha ha ha!”

Click on the picture for more on Sherry Turkle's book

Alone Again: Unnaturally (the analogue to digital revolution . . .)

“I feel our connection to one another as human beings is becoming more and more eroded in some kind of twisted ironic form. Here we are in an age where we can share information in minutes, even seconds, via the connectivity of the devices we have, yet from my perspective we seem further apart than ever; that’s what I mean by us becoming more robotic.”

Sherry Turkle’s book Alone Together says in its synopsis ‘technology has become the architect of our intimacies . . . We may be free to work from anywhere, but we are also prone to being lonely everywhere. In a surprising twist, relentless connection leads to a new solitude’ a message Tim admits he strongly identifies with.

http://alonetogetherbook.com/

“We are living through a revolution; the analogue to digital revolution,” says Tim.

“Sherry Turkle is a professor, author, consultant, researcher, and licensed clinical psychologist who has spent the last 30 years researching the psychology of people’s relationships with technology. Sherry has written a book called ‘Alone Together’ which is a recommended read. She talks about why we expect more from technology and less from each other.

Some of the common questions she raises include these:

How many times do I text someone instead of actually calling?

Would I rather communicate with ‘real time texts/tweets’ rather than face to face?

Privacy, do I care about mine?

How do I feel if I leave my phone /computer alone for an extended period of time?

Do I wake up and go straight to my computer?

Do I treat friends as ‘pause-able, when I’m face to face with them so I can text/take a call?

‘Text speak’, short answers.  Are we dumbing down  ?

http://alonetogetherbook.com/

“Technology is moving so fast that we can’t seem to find the middle ground, from what I see and feel, the balance is out of sync in my opinion,” he continues.

“I’m not a Luddite by any sense of the imagination, but I do feel we struggle with the rate at which technology is coming at us. Facility always gives man problems,” he says.

London 2012- Brave New World

Writing on the press release of Transformation, Tim says he’s called his label Get Human as a reaction to today’s “strange times, (we) humans are almost becoming robotic.”

“Ultimately it’s all ones own perception, strange to me is maybe not so strange to someone else but having said that I think we are living in strange times; the events of 9/11 and 7/7 have changed the world,” he says.

“We are bombarded with the fear of an ‘attack’ from ‘the enemy’ constantly, Governments do not trust their people at all. This has filtered down to Courts, Police and Local Councils etc and as a result we have moved into a more Draconian/Authoritarian state.

As a result accessing using and controlling data and information on people has become a huge industry. Corporations and Governments want information, and they want it for a reason. They are trying to predict our behaviour. Governments and the Police especially are increasingly making decisions about who they think are going to be trouble makers, they are not basing this on what you or I have actually done, but basing it  on what they think you or I may do in the future.

It’s turned into a ‘if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about’ culture. We’ve seen evidence of this recently with the arrest of people before the royal wedding and around the protests in London.

If you believe the promise that an authoritarian Government/State will keep people safe because it has enough knowledge on every citizen, then you are in for a letdown. That’s a false pretence.It doesn’t actually happen.

History and people’s experiences tell us most of these places were really horrible to live in.

On the other hand you have corporations who are using the data to make money and target us with ‘products’. This all stems from our searches, text messages, emails, chat logs, purchases etc. Data is the new currency for these guys. While our privacy sails off into the distance.

We saw it recently with the UK Census how much information they wanted.

The sale of the electoral register to companies, credit companies, background checks etc. We are all affected by this.”

Skrufff: How concerned are you about the future (in relation to the economic crisis, the recent London riots etc?)

Tim Deluxe: “Massively! The situation is tough at the moment for a lot of people for sure. Like you mentioned the recent riots in London were not a good time and were definitely a cause for concern. The global economic crisis is hitting hard, the disparity between rich and poor is widening for sure.

We see the biggest earners moving further and further away from the reality, and not surprisingly, further and further away from the people (literally).”

Skrufff: You also say in the press release, Get Human is a reaction to these changes, why have you launched the label now? (what stopped you from doing it earlier?

Tim Deluxe: “The time felt right. As I said earlier, I want to delve deeper into my relationship with music. Doing it this way I have complete control over what I release: Artistic and creative freedom. Nothing had stopped me before, I work heavily on my intuition and it didn’t feel like the right time until now.”

Skrufff: How much has happiness coincided with your most commercially successful periods?

Tim Deluxe: “I feel happiness is the wrong word. Balance I feel is better suited. Looking back I can see that whenever I was stressed or external factors were hanging about, records would end up sounding crap. The irony is when you then gain commercial success it drags you away from were you should be at. You see it time and time again in this industry.”

“New producer/s makes hot tunes > blows up = gigs everywhere > remixes instead of original productions > tours too heavily > physically and mentally tired = no new records. Also add copious amounts of free alcohol and drugs and you’ve pretty much got the picture. Burn Out, Divorce, Addiction take your pick! This cycle is so common.”

Japan/ Tsunami

“’Transformation’ EP is dedicated to the people of Japan with all proceeds going to Japanese Red Cross Society for the tragic events of 11th March 2011 . . .’

Skrufff: All proceeds of the Transformation EP are going to the Japanese Red Cross Society: why did you choose this cause in particular?

Tim Deluxe: “Well ‘Transformation’ EP is dedicated to the Japanese people after the events of 11th March 2011. The whole EP took on another meaning after that day. Japan has been amazing to me over the years and it’s now my time to give a little something back if I can.  Most artists who are fortunate enough to get to play there will tell you they are one of the best audiences in the world, if not the best. They really listen and are very open to hearing what you have to say musically.”

Skrufff; Have you been back there since the Tsunami?

Tim Deluxe: “I went back to Japan in September 2011 for Metamorphose Festival which I was due to play at. However, the gig got cancelled as a typhoon had struck and wiped out the festival site. 50 people died that weekend in various locations as the typhoon passed through. There were four typhoon parties put on in Tokyo across 2 nights and various venues with the artists from the festival. I ended up playing with Talvin Singh,Orbital,808 State and 2562. It was amazing.

The atmosphere was insane and the people were so happy something was happening and we all just didn’t get on a plane and go home. They have had such a tough year so it felt like the right thing to do. Kudos to all the artists/promoters/record labels who got involved and made it happen.

The vibe in Tokyo itself was strange, they are saving energy so lights are off or very low at night. A very strange feeling as normally Tokyo looks like Bladerunner with lights everywhere etc.

As regards the radiation, of course it’s a real threat, maybe not so much in Tokyo but other areas it certainly is. I have friends from Japan who are all very sceptical about what they are being told by the government. Me personally, I don’t trust any government and what they say. Most of the time you find the opposite to be true.”

Tim Deluxe- Transformations EP is out now on Get Human.

http://soundcloud.com/tim-deluxe/horizon-new-day-feat-ben-onono

http://www.gethuman.info

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff