Ahead of hosting his own Turbo Recordings arenas at We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System this June, Canadian club king Tiga caught up with ITM’s Deputy Editor Dave Ruby Howe to chat about perfecting his new Planet Turbo stage show, the busy year ahead and where he sees dance music going from here.

Hey Tiga, it’s Dave from inthemix here.

“Hey man, how’re you?”

Very good mate, and glad to catch you. What’re you doing at the moment?

“I’m in Munich at the moment, working in a studio.”

Okay, is that for business or pleasure?

“That’s a good question. I’m not sure if it is business or it is for pleasure at the moment. It’s definitely supposed to be pleasure, but it hasn’t been like that so far. It’s kind of half way between the two.”

Well, I guess right now it’s business as you’ve got a couple of interviews to do for your trip down here in June where you’ll be playing at the We Love Sounds, Winter Sound System and All Our Friends festivals. Are you excited to be coming back?

“Yeah, absolutely. I always look forward to playing in Australia, even though it will be winter time for this trip.”

You were out here quite recently playing at the Parklife festivals last year, so that’ll be twice in 12 months that you’re touring Australia, what’s pulling you back so soon?

“I had a great time doing the Parklife tour, it was really a lot of fun. And I always have fun in Australia, I can’t remember being there and ever whining about it, it’s just fun. With Parklife I was doing it with a lot of friends and that was kind of the inspiration for putting together this Planet Turbo tour that we’re doing. So this time I’ll be there again but with my whole crew of artists and I think it’s going to be great.”

You’ve got the Turbo Arena at the winter festivals this year and, to me at least, that’s a big sign that your label has taken on its own identity of sorts. It’s become more than just a record label thanks to its solid roster and consistently themed releases. Have you felt that Turbo has really grown that way in the last few years?

“Well there’s definitely been a lot more work put into Turbo in the last couple of years. My brother is a really big part of it and we’ve got a lot of really good people involved in the business side of things. Turbo is about a lot of detailed work. We’ve always put a lot effort into our artwork and image, and with the releases we’ve put out I think there’s a real consistency to them that’s paying off. I don’t know if I’m giving it enough credit, but I think we’re being rewarded for staying the course with the label in a time when a lot of other people are disappearing. And I think that people respect that somewhat. There aren’t a lot of proper record labels anymore, and we’re still operating like one, doing it the way it’s be done for the past 50 years. And I think because of that we can create a connection with people. That’s not to say that there’s a financial connection with people, that’s not really happening.”

But I guess because of the identity of your label and the artists on Turbo, you can do something like this and host your own arena at a big festival in Australia, right?

“Yeah, that’s exactly right. It is in a sense a big payoff, it’s a big chance to reach new people and that’s exciting.”

This year is also big for Turbo because you’ve got a lot of releases on the way, including The Proxy LP.

“Yeah we’ve got a very big year ahead; the Chromeo album is out this year, The Proxy album will be out this year too, we’ve signed these new guys called Azari & III and they’re fantastic and they’ve got an album done as well. And the reason I’m here in Munich is because I’m working on the ZZT album with Zombie Nation, so there’s a lot of music coming up, and we’re also doing the Planet Turbo tour across Europe.”

Tell us a little bit about that because you’ve been working really hard on that for a while now, right?

“It’s something that we’ve never done before. We’re working with Andreas Nilsson, who did all of the visuals for The Knife’s live show. It’s the first time that he’s done something that’s kind of more upbeat and so far it’s just been fantastic to collaborate with him. It’s something that we’ve been looking at doing for a long time, to change it from just having a banner up behind us while we’re playing. We’re trying to combine a kind of all-night warehouse rave feel with a little bit more a cinematic visual concept. So it’s like a really really long concert where we just play together. That’s what’s going to make it a little different, it won’t just be fans hearing me or Erol Alkan play records.”

Dance acts doing live shows has been a big thing lately with people like Daft Punk, Etienne de Crecy and even Deadmau5 doing these very elaborate stage shows. Is that something we’re going to see more of you think?

“I think it’s a bit of a domino effect how all this has begun to build up. Nobody is really confident about making money on records anymore, that part of the industry is either dead or dying. So that leaves people with a lot more urgency to tour, and that means there is more people touring and it’s a more competitive market place, so everyone has to offer a little bit more. That and there’s always a natural desire to try something new, especially if you’ve been doing this for as long as I have.”

So your decision was really based on trying something new that would give your show a fresher edge?

“Yeah absolutely. One of the first times I was playing in Australia, I think it was five or six years ago at Field Day, maybe, I distinctly remember the feeling of ‘fuck, I have to up my game’, because I was coming on after De La Soul I think it was, and they were dominating the stage with like fifteen guys, and I was just a skinny little DJ with a record box on a massive stage. It was absurd. How do you even compete with that?”

So it’s only fitting that us Aussies will get a little taste of the show as well then!

“I’m glad that we get to come back there and show it to you guys. It’s definitely going to be a lot of fun, and Australia’s essentially going to be the testing ground for the show with a big tour before we take it back to Europe for the rest of the summer.”