“I’ve got a hectic week. I have to play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, until Sunday”, says a tired and barely awake Tom Novy from his Munich residence. He speaks in a German accent, however with hints that he’s spent a lot of time outside of the country. Germany has long been a hub for arts and culture, and along with Tom, we have electronic artists like Booka Shade, M.A.N.D.Y, Tiefschwarz, and Timo Maas, to name but a few. “Yeah, I think it’s got to do with the past, and the history of how techno developed here in Germany. There was the USA with the Detroit sound, and of course, Germany started doing proper electronic music quite early on in the early 90s. It’s probably why we have a large history and a great catalogue of good artists and great music.” Tom’s own style ranges from progressive to funky, electro and vocal house. His remixes can contain elements of minimal or tribal, a bit of everything really. “I’ve always tried to not put ‘Tom Novy’ in a certain box of music. I think the most proper word for it is ‘house music’”.
Somehow, we start talking about Fedde Le Grande, and ‘Put Your Hand Up For Detroit’. “It’s the bassline and the vocal,” states Tom, “that made that song so big, I think. But, do you think that they just did the right music at the right time, as it’s the fashion at the moment to play that kind of music?” The interviewer was being interviewed. I replied; “Yes, it’s the whole electro thing, electro, electro, god damn electro!” Tom was suitably shocked. “Is it still like that in Australia?” I confirmed Tom’s suspicion, but then we started talking about the next sound. “I think that’s the next big thing coming up, people just wanna get rid of the whole electro thing. A lot of stuff came up after the big hits that just sounded the same, and it got boring, so I think they [the people] want more melodic, more funky stuff that you can sing along to. [Stuff] that works in the club and in the lounge room. That’s the next thing that’s coming up.” This is certainly my belief also, as a lot of promos of forthcoming releases that have been arriving in my mailbox of late have been on more of a housey tip.
Back in 1986, there was no house, Tom remembers it clearly. “First of all I was a DJ, because when in started in ‘86 there wasn’t such a thing as house music, so I was playing soul and funk and hip hop, a scratch artist. I was collecting records since I was a boy anyway. When I first heard ‘French Kiss’ I thought ‘that’s what I wanna do’.” Those who remember this record all remember it with fond memories, as it’s undoubtedly a bona fide classic. “My first record was released in 1995, that was 9 years after I started DJing, so I was a long time DJ first.” Of course playing other people’s music can get boring, a fact that many people attest to, including Tom. “When you’re into the music and you love the music you just wanna do your own stuff, which is the main reason [that I started producing]”.
Most of Tom’s music is produced at home, in his small studio, although he has his own production company with a proper recording studio. That studio is used to record vocals, to do vocal arrangements, and other studio trickery that require lots of expensive outboard gear. “Most of the stuff I can do at home, you can use anything really, there’s so much out there. I’m into Logic, lots of kids use Garage Band to play with, but the proper software is probably Logic or Cubase.” In this age of software and super fast computers is there a place for hardware sound modules and synths in his setup? “I have a lot of hardware, because I’m too lazy to sell it. But actually, you don’t need it at all, because it’s all plugins at the moment. Some of the sounds though, if you have you will use it, if it’s analogue it sounds a bit warmer, a bit dirtier, but these days if you’re doing production for radio, for clubs, you don’t hear it at all.”
Controversial indeed, especially after so many people profess that they can hear the difference between vinyl and MP3s in a club. “It’s one of the [on going] discussions, playing vinyl, or playing MP3s. Of course if you’re used to playing vinyl, and have been doing so for the past 15 years, then of course you can hear a difference because it sounds a little bit warmer… but the sound systems in clubs nowadays are just so massive, you can’t hear the difference,” Tom states. “In my opinion, the internet is gonna destroy vinyl in the next two years, but that’s probably how we should do it. Some things run out, and in comes some new stuff. That’s just the way it is.” Despite this, Tom still likes vinyl shopping. “I like seeking out small labels, small records, stuff that isn’t available elsewhere. But I do some Beatport, some DJ Download, and get sent a lot of promos. But my vinyl is all burnt to CD and played off CD.”
A lot of DJs these days are embracing the digital revolution, moving beyond CDs and also taking their laptops into clubs, using programs such as Rane Serato. “The whole Serato thing is a nice possibility to still make it look like you play vinyl. But I wanna go and party with the people, I don’t wanna look after my computer. If someone pours a drink on it, it’s all gone, and your night is destroyed. Playing CDs still looks like proper DJing. With Serato you have a screen, you have your blue face. I don’t like it, it’s just not sexy you know? And you might just be watching porn!”
Tom Novy’s album ‘Superstar’ is released on Hussle/EMI, March 10th. You can catch Tom touring Australia throughout March when he joins the Future Music Festival:
Mar 4 – Future Music Festival, Perth
Mar 10 – Future Music Festival, Brisbane
Mar 11 – Future Music Festival, Melbourne
Mar 12 – Future Music Festival, Adelaide
Mar 17 – Future Music Festival, Sydney
