Tim Deluxe- Spiral Tribe's Speed Garage Inventor Steps Up
Author: Jonty Skrufff
Monday, December 1, 2003
Because while Ginger Club Kid is his debut artist album, he's already enjoyed a glorious decade of dance culture, that's taken him from early Spiral Tribe outdoor raves to the heart of speed garage and on to his current spot of being Darren Emerson's number one filthy house protege. His best known track so far remains his Double 99 track RIP Grooves (co-produced with his old Islington sparring partner Omar Amidora) which in 1997, single-handedly launched speed garage, a scene he rapidly disowned.
"I never liked that bling thing associated with speed garage," said Tim.
"I think that attitude has been embedded in me from my Spiral Tribe days because their parties were never like that. You'd get a man with a dog turning up wearing the worst DMs (Doc Marten boots) and combats who hadn't washed for months dancing next to other people wearing all the latest rave gear on who knew the coup and that was that- it was about a mix of people. You never judged anyone."
Six years after his brief speed garage adventure Tim's now firmly ensconced in Darren Emerson's Underwater stable, DJing and producing the funky, filthy house that the former Underworld man currently favours. Chatting in his Farringdon studio last week, he's enthusiastic about his life and even more the new album.
"I've always wanted to make an album because I think the vibe about having an album out is quite different from singles. There's a prestige that comes with putting out an album and it's an achievement to record nine or ten tracks, to do a body of work that you can put out to people and say 'this is me, this is what I'm into, this is what I like," he told Jonty Skrufff.
"It almost feels like doing a really cool school project, it has that familiarity about it where you want to prove that you can do something, and you can do it well. It's almost as if the public are the teacher, deciding what mark you get. If you get an A that means you sell millions of albums."
Skrufff: What result are you hoping for with the album-
Tim Deluxe: "The mission is move the perception of Tim Deluxe from being a DJ and a cool producer and remixer to being 'Fucking hell, he makes good records and when he goes out live, he rocks.' I keep relating the record to my younger days and people ask me if I always wanted to do music. I actually wanted to be a footballer when I was school but I wasn't good enough. I get goose pimples whenever I see someone get adulation, maybe that's what it's about, I want to send people crazy. That's why I've had successful records on the dance floor, because I put that energy into the music and get off on seeing people going absolutely mad."
Skrufff: In a recent interview you name-checked Basement Jaxx and the Chemical Brothers, how ambitious are you-
Tim Deluxe: "I want to take it to their level, those people inspire me, as do other bands. If you flick through my CD collection you'll see Kings Of Leon, Herbie Hancock, Layo & Bushwacka, The White Stripes, Coldplay and Air and the connection between all of those people is that they're album acts, they're not just one-off people. Some of the problems I've had over the last few years have come from having one off big records then not doing an album. (he draws hard on a hand rolled cigarette)."
Skrufff: You're bursting with energy and clearly aren't affected by smoking. . .
Tim Deluxe: "The suggestion that weed slows you down is bollocks, though of course drugs affect people differently. All I've ever done is smoked or drunk alcohol, I don't actually do class A drugs, whatever you call them. I can sit here all day and smoke weed and be unaffected and yet I can't do hard drugs, or rather, it's not that I can't rather that I< Tags