We have the great pleasure of interview these two great individuals, they are special, unique as they come …. It has not been easy, and who are always wandering in unexpected and remote places, a form of very special life. We talk about TThomas Von Party and Dreems. Two artists, philosophers and leaders of the Canadian label Multi Culti.
CLG:How would you describe yourselves? You are DJs, programmers, producers, you have your own record label and artists. In which creative discipline do you feel more comfortable?
TVP: I see myself mostly as a DJ. That’s kind of at the root of all this stuff for me. I’m not much of a musician, so even production for me is a lot like DJing… layering elements, stealing little loops from tracks I love. All the bizz stuff is basically just half-baked attempt at earning a living from music.
Dreems: I feel pretty comfortable as an artist. It feels as though every important decision in my life has been made as an artist and without any care given towards how my career or bank account may benefit from it. Detrimental at times to all around me, but definitely makes life more exciting and when it comes to being a dj – I think that’s what keeps me going.
CLG:It has already been more than 10 years since you started heading and handling A&R for Turbo Recordings, taking it as your first steps until you created Multi Culti. How do you see your evolution? How is it different working for a label and having your own? What’s the situation with Turbo now?
TVP: I guess the obvious difference is that Turbo was founded by my brother Tiga and already had its history before I got involved (starting from Turbo 031. Tiga and I definitely ‘get along’ musically, so the A&R process was always very natural for us, but after 10 years of hard work, it felt important to me to do something new. To be straightforward about it – at Turbo I would never be like Jackmaster or Ben UFO… and I got hungry for some glory of my own. Gus is a great partner who brings very different skills to the table.
CLG:How did the idea for Multi Culti come about? How is it to work with so many artists and styles so distant from the one in Turbo?
TVP: Basically me and Gus hanging out, tripping on exotica, traveling the world, getting older and occasionally wiser. We’ve both always been very diverse in our tastes and in our DJing, so it’s an organic reflection of that. Turbo has a great range to it as well, but it’s definitely become more known for harder-edged stuff. It’s been fantastic working with all the artists on Multi Culti, they’re generally all super cool people and great DJs with a lot of musical knowledge. Not just tech-house nerds who’d do a sad job of DJing a friends wedding.
Dreems: AS TVP said – it all seemed to happen very naturally as we both had become slightly bored with the scene we were both involved in and were fortunate enough to be surrounded by artists who were giving us music to play that gave us a new love and energy.
CLG:What software/hardware do you use more often for you’re the tracks you release on Multi Culti? What is your favorite synth and what never misses from one of your tracks?
TVP: Ableton. Samples. Usually weed.
Dreems: Ableton always – but my production always encompasses anything that can make a sound that is close to me. I’m not really purely into one thing and I don’t have a favourite synth. Its about the noises that are happening right then whether it be samples from records or from my iphone or friends playing instruments its all influential.
CLG:After having worked with such different artists as Moscoman, Manfredas, Xanga or Bird of Paradise, which track would you say best represents the sound that Multi Culti looks for?
TVP: It’s obviously hard to pick one track but I’d say the madcap fun of Manfredas’s GLASSWALK is a pretty dope overall flag-bearing Multi Culti jam.
Dreems: That’s a hard call. I think I wont answer this question properly and pretend I heard you ask ‘who as a personality’ represents Multi culti. That would be Ccolo – a true individual and a man who is a world unto himself.
TVP: Totally. Ccolo is our posterboy.
CLG: Lastly, what news can you share with all our Grecas for 2016? Any Multi Culti Label Night in Spain soon?
TVP: Dreems and I have new EPs that are on deck, as well as a dope ep from Zongamin. Lots of European dates this summer and some cool festival stages in Canada as well. Oh and I started a radio show ‘Multi Culti Transmissions.’
Dreems: I’m going to hitch-hike over to Spain and do some pop-up shows busking my way down to the coastline.
Dreems
Thomas Von Party
Multi Culti