Tim Green is a hit-scoring entity: his first productions caught the attention of big fixtures from across the music world. Soon his tracks found space in amongst the sets of house music’s high priests and Tim himself started many florid collaborations, track that have stood the test of time and led to new projects. Then the big labels came knocking: Cocoon, Get Physical, Dirtybird and My Favorite Robot to name but a few of the big imprints he has adorned so far. Ever since Tim has been riding high, producing a consistently huge number of tracks, spanning from proper techno to mellow house with the incursion of instruments, vocals and minimal sounds form his ever-evolving style. MEOKO chased the big man to ask a few questions about the endless plans he's always involved with, about his life outside DJ'ing and above all, his views and feelings on our shared passion: music.
It is notorious how you have arrived to gain a place in the international techno scene a place you still firmly hold with your releases on Dirtybird and Trapez, back in 2008. What about Tim Green before Tim Green as we may know him?
Thank you for the nice welcome! happy to talk. Yeah before I started producing techno and what not, I was kinda gearing myself up for a life in music without much belief that I could actually do it for a living. My family is very musical, I grew up around reel to reel tape recorders, lots of vinyl, old synths and guitars etc… I always loved making music and playing around with all of this stuff. Mainly I was religiously practising the guitar from a very early age, to the point where I would rather stay in on a friday night with the guitar than go out with friends haha. I just could not get enough of it and music in general. Its what I love so much, just doing it for the music, hence why I never believed I could do it as a career, It just wasn’t really on my radar. I just was happy to do music for myself.
When did your passion for music spring and where were you having your gigs? Where you busy doing anything else at the time?
Like I said before, I have just always had music in my life for as long as I can remember. I can’t remember an exact point it all started. I was going to a lot of gigs (live band music) while growing up. My first ever concert was Paul Mcartney at Earls Court which I can still remember. It was incredible, and a great first ever gig. But being into the guitar a lot back then, electronic music I had not discovered by this point.
A few of your early tracks have been played in the sets of artists of great calibre, such as Sven Vath and Luciano, maybe in clubs you have never even played before. What did this mean for you, both as an artist and person?
It was a real honour firstly. But it was also quite strange, as it was I guess around the time when video phones and youtube became popular at gigs. So it was weird just watching videos of these awesome parties with Rich or Sven from my home computer on the internet. From the same computer that I was writing all my tracks on, then listening to the same tracks being played by them. I like to think of the strange full circle journey the songs have in this situation , kind of coming back into my computer again haha.
You are also a very skilled remixer. M.A.N.D.Y., Booka Shade and Seth Troxler are just a few names that have involved you in their work. How is it being asked to remix a track? As a DJ and producer, is remixing somebody else's tracks something that you enjoy? And how do you approach people for a remix of your own work?
Remixing is always a mixed bag for me. Sometimes I find it very hard to do, sometimes very easy. Sometimes I have had to really go through 4 completely different remixes until I am happy. So literally finishing 3 full entirely different remixes, then scrapping every version and doing the 4th which I’m eventually happy with. Which is very painful for me at times, so I can’t always say I enjoy it haha. But some of my favourite remixes have been the ones where I’ve gone through many versions to arrive at the final result. Im annoyingly a perfectionist, so I think on some level when I’ve had to work that hard to get the remix done, it must be better than if I was to just knock out a quick easy remix first time around. But being asked to remix tracks and me asking artists to remix me is 90 percent of the time just friends to friends asking.
You have released on several big labels including top Cocoon and Get Physical recordings in a relatively short amount of time. Does your music change to suit a certain label aesthetic, do you alter your way of working or somehow produce a different output for each different label?
Yeah actually I thought about this a long time ago when I first started working with both labels. Thinking do I need to keep a sort of style or direction independent from each other label. But in the end it never worked well for me trying to write music just for a certain label. Firstly it would be me limiting myself too much, thinking I have to achieve “that desired sound”. It would be too hard to reach that point and be happy with the music. Plus more importantly, I noticed the labels don’t actually want that particular sound that you think they want. I have regularly found that I finish a bunch of tracks all in different styles, send all the same tracks to each label. Thinking that I knew exactly what tracks each label would pick up and want to sign. And so many times I never guessed it right haha. You never know basically, the same with any of us into music. A lot of the time we can’t describe what it is in particular we like about a song, we just like it!
Just last year you also started your own label, congratulations! How is it going so far with Disc Over Music? What is the ethos behind it?
Yeah it has been a fantastic start for the label so far and it has exceeded our expectations, so onwards and upwards from here really :) We have been getting so much love from the most influential music publications, aa djs and tastemakers in the scene, which makes us feel the time and effort we put into this project is totally worth it. Its very hard to run a new label properly, pressing high quality vinyl on every release, working with visual artist to create standout sleeves for our records and paying attention to the finest of details, but this is a labour of love for me and the team behind it, so it has been a really fun and fulfilling project. I’m certainly not trying to put out out a new release every month for the sake of churning out volume of music. More just release music when the time is right. Quality over quantity you know! Its really a good platform for me and new artists to release new music on, music that I have been playing out a lot in the clubs, music that I am really into. No “band wagon jumping music” of whatever is cool right now, just music that I think is timeless, good electronic music.
Your ‘Just People/Monomania’ EP was the first release on your label. It included remixes by Timo Maas and Canadian trio My Favorite Robot who remixed main track 'Just People'. Your last, very fresh release (9th June) is actually on My Favorite Robot is this more of an exchange of favours between pals & peers? Do you base your work around close and friendly connections?
Networking in the music world, (as for arts in general) is essential, right? Yeah I don’t solely base my work round fiends. But like I said before with the remixes, a lot of the time it is this way. Which yeah I completely agree music and arts in general should be shared and enjoyed together. Its nice to do it this way, especially when you know the people on a personal level at the same time, its more like music and less like a business. But with MFR I have met the guys several times before when we have done gigs together, and I have always wanted to do something on the label. I did a remix for Sid Le Rock on MFR before my release, which was more of a swap yeah. But my MFR release was just me finishing a couple of tracks (‘Helpless Sun’ and ‘Seti’) which I did not specifically write for them. But once I finished it, I really felt it could be the perfect home, and has been such a pleasure working with them and am especially happy with the release. A very good representation of where I’m at musically right now.
The best way to experience the lead track from the single is by watching the official video we created with the amazing Steven McInerney of Digital Snowball and Paul Skawinski. We filmed a variety of different chemicals reacting under a light table from a very close distance, at super high resolution and very fast frame-rate, so we opened the gates to a world which is largely invisible to the unarmed human eye. We were blown away when we saw the footage we captured, so I hope you like the end result. This is all completely real world footage with no digital intervention at all, just the sheer beauty of mother nature.
You are always absorbed by several projects and it has come to light that you’ll be involved in a 'band project'. What is it exactly about?
Yeah its actually my debut album project essentially. I have always been asked to write an album since I have been releasing music, and I have always been hesitant to do an album of just house and techno. Its not something I think I could do well, or have the passion to do it. I come from a live music background, so all of the LP albums I love are to me all about the journey and experimentation. Including my favourite electronic albums. They was always very inventive, innovative and listenable all the way through. I think this idea gets lost sometimes with albums nowadays. They are more a bunch of 12 or so tracks that are bundled together. So I really want to do something completely new and different now. So ever since I started producing, I have been writing non-house and techno tracks. Basically me just sitting down and writing music, with no boundaries or restrictions. In whatever style I want to experiment in. Songs with me singing, playing guitar but still with an electronic edge, chilled, alternative, dirty, weird, experimental etc etc… Whatever I want. But I have always kept a lot of these tracks in the sidelines and never released them. So this was really the beginning of my idea for the debut album. Its now evolved and has a lot of new material along side some of the older tracks. With me forming a band as well to perform the tracks live. Its going to be under a completely new name and feature several other musicians and performers who also will be co-writing on some tracks. Im very excited about this project being finished after so long. So watch this space as more will be revealed soon!!
Your multitasking skills must be pretty developed as I have also read that you've been running parties for 4 years in a Napoleonic fortress. MEOKO crew likes to party, as our readers do, especially when the venue is so out of the ordinary. Your label was launched there, tell us about the venue where it all began… Are you going to organize any more events in this fortress?
Yeah its a very unique place, with such a great feeling and vibe to it. We have enjoyed throwing parties there so much. It adds so much to the night, just to have it in a venue like this. People come in really captured by the surroundings, it feels like a proper rave to be honest. Plus thankfully the sound is so good in there also. Dan Ghenacia is one person in particular who really could not say enough nice things about playing there. He’s loved it every time he’s played for us. So its such a nice feeling when somebody like him is really almost acting as an ambassador for us haha, telling other DJs and people how much he’s into it.
Talking about parties this summer you'll be a regular at Magna Carta in Ibiza. It mustn't be as exciting as in the beginning of your career, as you have already played 'en la isla' many times over and also had gigs in the best clubs around Europe & beyond. What would be something you'd really like to achieve and haven't yet?
Actually I find everything now more exciting than before. I think because I’m more comfortable with performing, and more comfortable with where I am musically than when I first started. So I actually enjoy playing new gigs and night now, as I’m just more relaxed and enjoying the moment.
Your job allows or forces you to travel widely. As sweet as it sounds, I bet there must be some hidden experiences within the chore of travelling and meeting gig commitments …how do you stay on top of a hectic, and possibly gruelling, schedule?
Yeah it always seems so glamorous to other people this lifestyle. Which on some level it really can be, just having the opportunity to be traveling so much I am so thankful for. But the amount of travel us Djs have to do, can be so so painful and it really pushes our limits at times haha. Personally I just have to be as relaxed and as calm as possible. Because there is really not much you can do a lot of the time if something goes wrong. Or if you haven’t been home in 3 weeks and starting to loose a grip on reality haha. So I have just learnt to roll with it and be very thankful to where I am and enjoy it all. The time off in between becomes less and less nowadays to be honest. Between my new album side project, producing original music for labels, remixes, running my own label, etc etc…. it becomes hard to find time to relax and have some sort of routine.
How would you say your production has changed from the time of 'Mr Dry' to nowadays?
I hope from the production point of view it has got better. Naturally I have tried to improve this all the time. Investing the time and money into new equipment. Learning new skills and techniques, pushing myself to achieve new goals etc… Although with the song writing side of things, I think its changed a lot also, but I’m not able to say it its better or worse. I was a lot less aware of the whole house / techno scene back then, so I think a lot of the stuff I was writing before was pretty odd and did not sound like much else. Which was such a great thing I guess. But I was trying to fit into what was happening in the scene, but did not know how exactly. Where as now I m more interested in trying to do something different, especially in the last 2 years. Without trying to fit in as much haha.
Your music cannot be pigeon-holed so easily, as every track is cross contaminated by several musical elements: xylophones, piano notes and instruments merge with powerful and shady bass-lines What elements and sounds have influenced you the most?
I have always been into “World Music”. Especially thanks to one of my favourite artists Peter Gabriel. He has always fused these new elements from different cultures and places in the world into his music. Which has really influenced me in what I write as well. I love random and interesting instruments from around the world. I try to collect them regularly. Especially percussion instruments.
Do you think it’s a modern obsession to try and classify things, to find definitions and limits to everything? Music composure dynamics are shifting, plus there are so many sounds that it’s probably twice as hard trying to completely define a genre, or a person's style. How do you rise above these traps?
I 100 percent agree and have been saying this for such a long time. Eventually I hope there will be no need to classify music into genres. Hopefully at a point where every music released is so fused together with various sounds, having too many styles at once, we won’t be able to so easily label music we hear. I think its obviously a lot to ask and probably not completely possible. But I truly think its a great mentality to have for any composer / writer. I think its the best way to progress with all music and not be too stuck to a certain style. People should be less interested into fitting in or following a certain sound and more interested in fusing sounds together to hopefully come up with something new. Although again its not an easy thing to do. I myself am not always brave enough to risk trying new things. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel right to experiment so freely. Plus sometimes you really have to draw a limit at how much you want to experiment with a song. If I don’t set up some kind of boundaries or limits when doing a song, I find it could be far too hard to actually finish it. As you could basically take the song into any direction or style at any point. Which you have to ask yourself, is it really warranted or good for the song etc? A perfect example is obviously dance music, especially dancefloor music for Dj’s to play out in sets at clubs. When djing, do you really want a song that goes so crazy or “out there”? It is probably going to be too much or too different for the crowd to appreciate or enjoy. So it goes to show that this music, and any other style of music has reached a point of ‘tried and tested’, where these particular formulas just simply work for a good reason. So it defines and adds to the genres they are bracketed into. Its an interesting subject and debate to me, but like anything else, I think balance is the key. But I really enjoy the debate and questioning it all.
