Shock One Interview

 

Kick-starting his musical career in a metal band with Pendulum, this drummer turned dnb producer is fast becoming hot property both in his native Australia and in the UK.  With a Beatport chart-topping ‘Shock One EP’ under his belt, the impending debut album promises to be even bigger.  We caught up with Shock One to chat dislocatable thumbs, illicit dating sites and, of course, music…

Introduce yourself!

I’m Karl Thomas, aka Shock One, from Western Australia. My interests include entomology, ghost hunting and I’m a life member of the Big Foot research association. Particular talents include spelling, parallel parking and having a dislocatable thumb. My shoe size is 11 U.S.. I think that's the important stuff out of the way.

What were your early musical influences? What attracted you to the dnb scene?

Earliest musical influences I have to attribute to my amazing parents. Pink Floyd, The Police, Midnight Oil, T-bone Burnett, Alan Parsons to name a few. As I got older and moodier, Daft Punk, The Prodigy, Unkle, and a lot of 90's grunge/ rock were big influences.

I've been a drummer since aged 4 and was actually playing in a metal band when I discovered drum and bass. As a teenager you're looking for the heaviest, angriest, most bad-ass shit around aren't you?!  So dnb provided that for me...

Rumour has it you used to be in a band with Pendulum.  Are you still in touch with them?

Yeh the previously mentioned band was with Rob and Gareth (from Pendulum). It was great fun and we learnt a lot from each other musically, including discovering dnb together. Rob taught me heaps about electronic music production, and I'm pretty sure it was Gareth who showed me my first tracker (Fast tracker 2).  They’re still among my best mates.

How did you first hook up with Futurebound and Viper Recordings?

We met on an illicit dating site. He liked my profile pic and asked me to send more snaps, except instead of sending photos I accidentally sent a tune I'd written, 'The Calling'. By coincidence he ran a record label called Viper and wanted to sign it..... In seriousness though, Viper have really helped me develop as an artist. They’re always putting out fresh sounding music that appeals not only to the dnb heads, but also to those who aren't necessarily big into dnb. Hence why I've stayed with them. But in REAL seriousness, he liked my profile pic....

What have you got coming up this year?

I've had a string of remixes out this year, including 'I refuse' by Netsky, and 'Come back' by Chicane.  I’ve just finished one of 'Die for you' by Cutline, which will be out soon.

Next up, I’ve got an EP of remixes from my previous ‘Shockone EP' out in September, and I’m currently working on my debut LP for release in 2011.  I’ll be in the UK for some shows in October too.

How would you say the dnb scene differs here from Australia? 

It definitely does differ. The whole wobble/ jump up sound doesn’t get as much love in Oz.  The new skool sounds seem very popular though (Sub Focus, Brookes Brothers, Chase & Status etc), and there’s a large following for the more techy sounds like Spor and Noisia. Dnb has recently gained loads more major radio play out here, so it’s less of an 'underground' scene now.  We’ve got new producers popping up too that you’ll no doubt hear of soon – Echo and Sidetrack, Talon, Dub Z, Grafix and Cubist to name a few.

How would you describe your sound in 3 words?

Purple monkey dishwasher

What are your 3 top tracks at the moment?

Phetsta – Prism

Shock One – Polygon (Dirtyphonics remix)

Metrik – Lightspeed

What’s your proudest moment to date?

Probably when ‘Polygon’ got high rotation airplay on Triple J (Australia's version of Radio 1), or when Annie Mac referred to it as the ‘biggest drum and bass track around' on her show.

Your funniest moment?

Watching Phetsta walk around nightclubs in central Europe saying to the locals 'You vould like to see mien bratvurst yah?' while looking down at his crotch was pretty good..

And your most embarrassing moment?

I fell down the stairs out of the DJ booth at a Perth club recently... like completely down them, flat onto my face, onto the floor of the club, in front of everyone. The worst thing was, it was just before my set, so I had to get up and play after that....

Who’s your secret crush?

My girlfriend, but don't tell her that, I'm trying to play it cool...

Wanna find out more?  Visit Shock One’s myspace page for full tour listings and track release dates.