Being responsible for converting an entire nation to dance music sounds like a tough feat, but that’s exactly what Japanese house DJ and producer Satoshi Tomiie is famous for. Back in the late 80s, Tomiie teamed up with Frankie Knuckles on a track called Tears, that would later become a house classic and lead to a life-long series of successful collaborations and worldwide DJ tours for Tomiie.

Since the beginning of this decade however, following the widespread success of his track Love in Traffic, he’s been known for pushing the deeper, more progressive and underground side of house music and most recently, he followed in the footsteps of fellow artists Dave Seamen, James Zabiela and Hernan Cattaneo to produce a Master Series, double-disc compilation for the Renaissance stable. “It represents the music I’m into,” explains Tomiie. “I tried to do something different from my live set. A lot of the DJ sets you can download for free so there’s no point doing it the same, so I wanted to give people something different to listen to.”

Similar to many other DJs and producers right now, Tomiie has ditched the vinyl in preference for computer technology and mixed the album mostly on his laptop in hotel rooms, and even on airplanes. He also uses Serato software when playing live sets, and I was curious to discover how he found the transition. “I think I’m gaining more than I’m losing. Back in the days of playing only vinyl, I was always worrying about luggage. I had major logistic problems with my checked bags going missing. Then I started using CDs, but burning and labeling takes a lot of work. Switching to computer for me is the best answer. There are some techniques you can’t do on vinyl. I do miss it a little bit, but I definitely don’t miss carrying the vinyl!”

So the laptop is a great option for DJs, but what about partygoers who’ve come to listen to music and to also see a performance, rather than just someone playing on the computer? Tomiie admits feedback from clubbers isn’t always great. “For sure, people feel different,” he explains. “For example, I don’t need headphones. I use a custom made monitoring device that I put inside my ears and one when I was in a club and this guy was gesturing to me like ‘where are your headphones?’ He was giving me the face like ‘what the fuck? You don’t look like a DJ. Some people have even asked me, are you checking your emails? But they’re getting used to it. I’m sure kids now see the vinyl and they think, what the fuck is this? It’s something my grandfather had! The technology is evolving really rapidly. Everyday it’s changing. It’s like you don’t have time to think about it. You just have to deal with it.”

Besides the technological changes, Tomiie’s obviously seen a lot of other changes in the house music scene over the last twenty years and says he’s struggling to keep up with all the genres that now come under ‘house’. ambient house, ghetto house, dark house, deep house, hip house, electro house, vocal house… The list goes on and on…

“I don’t how many names you have with house on the end,” he says. “A lot of people only listen to one style of house. But I like the different stuff, the newer styles. I like something I haven’t heard of. That’s my inspiration. It’s still really interesting. There’s lots of great music and great new producers. House is still exciting. It’s just the names that confuse me!”

“There’s almost a revival in house right now but they’re not exactly different styles. It’s like adding to the style that’s already been around for years. I don’t really follow trends in that sense, but I understand that people are into it. If something becomes popular then they have to crush it. Nothing stays the same but I think the change is good.”

Keeping in theme with Tomiie’s aim to keep house fresh and interesting. he launched his own label in 2001 called Saw Recordings. He and partner Hector Romero set up the label with the vision to create a platform to showcase ideas and creative styles that are more experimental. The pair created Saw as a place to take chances, on new sounds, producers and artists. And the label itself is now changing to keep up with the times. “Saw has now become 100 per cent digital. There’s no more stock,” Tomiie explains.

“There’s no point in having the office in Manhattan anymore. Rent isn’t cheap and the record business isn’t the same as 10 years ago, so this is the time for change. But thank god for the internet and Skype! I speak to my partner all the time. Almost everyday. He’s busy touring too. He’s in Hong Kong today and I’m in Dubai. So it’s a bit crazy. But we love the label so we find time to do it.”

Tomiie’s touring schedule is endless and he’s already booked up gigs word-wide until
September. From all the places he’s been to, Tomiie says he’s mostly enjoying playing in South America right now. “My favourite place is Argentina. Not because of the clubs but because of the people. The energy is amazing! I did Creamfields in October, with like 56,000 people attending. The arena was 10,000, and when you play in a big place like that sometimes you can feel isolated from the crowd, but in Argentina the gig still feels like it’s intimate.”

Tomiie’s Australian tour is next up on his busy schedule. So what can audiences expect to hear from his upcoming sets across the country? “People will hear what I’ve been playing on the internet, but not exactly the same of course. I’ll try to give them by best shot and hope to inspire them with my set.”

Satoshi Tomiie’s Renaissance: The Master Series is out now in Australia through Stomp. Catch him touring over Easter…

Thursday 9th April – Shape, Perth
Friday 10th April – Brown Alley, Melbourne
Saturday 11th April – Chinese Laundry, Sydney
Saturday 11th April – Ladylux, Sydney
Wednesday 15th April – Liquid Club, Byron Bay