Somewhere far away, across the depths of the Pacific Ocean, a young man named Tom Wedel exists. It is 1988 and amongst the baroque castles and culturally rich artefacts of Darmstadt, Germany, there is a party. The young man is providing the music for the party, the young man is nervous. He places the first record on the turntable, the needle makes contact with the record working its’ way through each crease, the record is continuously spinning and the speakers transmit an array of smooth progressive overtones together with funky acid bass lines.

The sounds are so intense that the young man finds himself mesmerized, confidently lost amongst the bliss that he has created and captured. Continuing to spin record after record, the crowd is dancing and he is no longer nervous. It is now the year 2003 and the young man prefers to act under the moniker of Tom Wax. Notably, he has a list of various achievements under his belt. The modern day maestro is responsible for mixing, remixing and producing a magnitude of tracks; including ‘It’s our Future’, which ensued itself as the anthem and theme song for the 1995 Berlin Love Parade.

Typically, for someone of Wax’s status, travelling the world over, playing at some of the world’s most prominent events and clubs is all just a day’s work. He momentarily remembers and describes the insignificant club life that beckons within his hometown, “Darmstadt has never had a real techno scene. It is more of a boring city where not so much happens. We had a few cool warehouse parties in the beginning of the nineties, but that was all. We had one good techno club that closed in 1993 and we never have had another good one. Today we have just one good house club and two hip-hop discos.”

Like so many of his other German counterparts, Wax was initially attracted to the exciting and engaging sounds that trance, acid and techno had to offer. Consequently, Wax embarked on a musical journey, DJ’ing at local parties and clubs his love affair with dance music had begun. “I have one special track from “The Art of Noise” that inspired me so much that it made me love this special kind of music. One day in 1988 I wanted to present my taste of music to other people and two years later I wanted to produce such tracks by myself!” However, Wax was not alone, sharing the common goal and love for dance music was old time school friend, Thorsten Adler and it was not long until the two amateurs joined forces and started producing their own music within the walls of Adler’s bedroom. It was only a matter of time before the pair made excursions into the studio where befriended by Jorg Dewald the duo were taught the dynamics of mastering music. “Thorsten and I meet a studio engineer in 1990 and he told us how to produce music. We learned a lot from him and he bought us equipment to do it on our own. Our first stuff was an Ensoniq ASR 10 sampler and a Roland TR 909 and TB 303. We were music freaks and this was the consequence out of our passion,” said Wax.

Staying true to his life philosophy of ‘music, fun and good friends’, it is viable to note that the long withstanding relationship between Wax and Thorsten has truly manifested itself into the many creations and the driving force behind world-wide club sensations such as, ‘Freedom of Expression’ and ‘Discover your innerself’. Whilst collaborating with Thorsten, Wax has gained acclaim and recognition through the pair’s many flourishing projects such as, Arpeggiators, AweX and Microbots. With each project differing in sound and production each one has been responsible for an assortment of original releases and numerous reputable remixes. Now focusing his energy on his own projects, Wax has positioned himself as one of Europe’s most prolific DJs and producers. Proving that his capabilities extend beyond the boundaries of a producer and DJ, 1995 saw Wax establish his own record label known as, Phuture Wax, which he continues to operate today. “Today I have my focus on my TOM WAX project. The other projects in the past have differed in the sound. AWeX was our experimental project, Arpeggiators was our Hard-Trance stuff and Microbots was more UK-Trance oriented. “I started Phuture Wax to have a music platform for my own productions as well as for friends of mine who are into the same music that I am. Major companies work too slow and with my own label I can react very quickly and release whatever I like.”

Undoubtedly, Wax has acquired a multitude of achievements throughout his career as a DJ, producer and businessman that it is nearly impossible to imagine him operating within any other profession. So, if not music what would be his chosen path? “I think I would be a Tennis coach, because until the age of 18, I just played tennis every day and I was not too bad and enjoyed it a lot,” he adds. During Wax’s Australian encounter he hopes to provide the crowd with a decent dose of his personally prescribed banging kick ass techno and a great party. What is Wax looking forward to the most during his time in Australia? “The people! I love Australia and it is just amazing to come such a long way from Europe and find a crowd that knows you and loves your music.”

Tom Wax will be playing:

Mel – War of the Worlds, Sat 20/9 @ Altona Complex (BUY TICKETS)
Syd – Utopia Electronic Music Festival, Sat 04-09 @ Glenworth Valley (BUY TICKETS)