London interview: Tim Paris

London interview: Tim Paris

26 February, 2008 | 6.51PM

• Written by: Lee Smith
• Filed under: Music News: crack & speed, ivan smagghe, tim paris

Tim Paris has been knocking out his distinctive brand of buzzing tech house to considerable acclaim over the last few years, as well as overseeing the labels Crack & Speed, Silver Network and Marketing.

Now living in London, he’s hooked up with a bunch of Parisian ex-pats to form a secretive production bunker in the heart of the city’s East End.

We met him to see how he’s getting on with life away from home.

Hi Tim, hope you are well. What are you doing right now (apart from answering these questions, of course)?

I’m great thanks. It’s 9 pm and I just got back home. 

I had a pretty busy day at the studio and I’m looking forward to resting my ears.

Many listeners first became aware of you with ‘Future Now’ in 2004 on 20:20 Vision, but I understand you had been involved with the scene in Paris for some time. How did you first become involved in electronic music?

I had learnt various instruments during my teenage years and was already passionate about music then, too.

The need to stand among the “cool” guys in my college brought me to my first rave party at the age of 17.

Two weeks later I had my plan in mind: I was going to make music in my life, and electronic music was the least limited field I had ever dreamed of.

For a while, it seemed like there was a very cool scene in Paris with you, Jef K, Chloé, Alexkid, Ivan Smagghe and others. Was it an exciting time back then? What was it like?

Those were great times when you could feel something was really happening musically in the Paris club scene.

After the interest around French Touch [the rise of French house music in the 1990s] reduced, there have been a few less creative years.

Although, it all started again with places like the Pulp or the Batofar.

Though they were very small places, the atmosphere was electric.

You set up Marketing with Jef K in 2005. What was your plan for the label?

We already had Silver Network and Crack & Speed at the time.

We had in mind to make a label dedicated to my music and my vision only.

I was also starting to get in touch with great producers and I wanted to give them a chance to release music without any pressure.

Being a producer myself, I knew exactly what was the type of label I would have liked to release on.

Marketing only releases a new record now and again, but they are always singular, quality releases. Is this the idea? Or are you just too busy to release more often on the label?

Thank you for the kind words.

I wanted to stand against the idea that quality means underground and show it was possible to avoid compromises while doing music that may appeal to anyone.

The reason I don’t release very often is because of the very precise idea I have regarding the type of production I want for Marketing.

But still, there are many many artists I want to have on board… You can expect some exciting new releases in the next weeks with people like Idioma (first release), Shitrobot, It’s A Fine Line, Pete Herbert and some others.

You are part of Le Studio Bancal Bancal [a “franco-english resistance bunker in East London including Tim Paris, Danton Eeprom, Pete Herbert and Ivan Smagghe”, according to Tim’s myspace page]. How come you guys decided to move to London?

Ivan arrived first 3 years ago, and I got there a year later.

Danton has just arrived and Pete was already here.

We all knew each other more or less for years, but I think music is really our motive here.

We wanted to have our own place to experiment and maybe also try to propose an alternative to the club music production today.

We believe standardisation is going a bit too far nowadays with the way people use Ableton.

“Bancal-Bancal” (which means ‘wonky’/’wobbly’ in English) is all about experimentation with various digital and analogue tools to create music.

Do you notice many differences between the British/London scene and the French/Parisian scene?

The size is the major difference.

France is a large country, but music isn’t as important as it is in the Brit’s life.

Historically there are so many things that happened here in terms of music.

Moreover, I do really enjoy the diversity of the music styles in the UK; there’s a living scene in every genre, and that’s the most precious thing to me.

Your music can be quite varied in style – from rave-y type stuff to disco, to straight up techno and buzzing electro. Do you think there is a common “Tim Paris sound” to all your work? Are you able to describe it, if so?

I can’t really say why, but my friends always recognize my tracks.

I guess I might have a personal way to consider the carrying out of a song which people are aware of.

The thing is, I avoid applying the same method over and over so I start all my tracks from a blank page — like not using the same drum kit twice, for instance.

You’re also a DJ. What producers and labels are rocking your sets right now?

There are so many, it’s hard to say.

My mates Danton Eeprom, Chloé and Botox are still some of my favourites in my DJ bag.

But I’m also very much into Inaqui Marin and Runaway, to give you some upcoming artists.

What are your plans for the future? Do you intend to stay in London for long?

I would love to stay here a lot longer — I love London.

There’s a truly great energy, it feels like the centre of the world sometimes.

It’s a tough place but very challenging, and hopefully very rewarding too.

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