New talent: Tom Budden

New talent: Tom Budden

16 December, 2009 | 7.43AM

• Written by: pollylavine
• Filed under: Music News: alive recordings, new talent, southampton, tom budden

Tom Budden has risen up the ranks of the UK club circuit in recent years via his solo productions, record label Alive, and club gigs, which includes warm-up sets for fellow Southampton boy James Zabiela.

With the South Coast increasingly being seen as a hotbed for new dance music talent, Budden has a ray of the limelight that currently shines on the region’s Dave Robertson, Alan Fitzpatrick, and James Talk.

Growing up on a diet of Sasha and clubbing in the mid 90s at clubs such as The Manor, Budden has notched up over 10 years of DJing, but confesses it’s not his main goal in 2009.

“I’ve DJed for over 10 years now, but I’ve only produced [my own music] in the last couple of years. Although I’ve had some good DJ gigs during my career so far, starting my own label and producing has really helped take things up a level.”

Indeed, it’s the mark he has made with his Alive imprint, and his solo productions such as ‘That’s My Fish’ and ‘The Tree Dance’ that have attracted the attention of big names such as Joris Voorn, Laurent Garnier, John Digweed, and Carl Cox.

With gigs lined up for Moscow, Bucharest, Italy, London’s Matter, and Edinburgh for New Years Eve, as well as new releases and remixes scheduled for 2010 for Paolo Mojo’s ‘Oosh’ Label, Endemic Digital and Brown Eyed Boyz, we decided to grab five minutes with Tom to find out more about this new talent.

Based on your mix from Shindig your DJ style is very deep, jacking funk, disco and deep house. Could you tell us a bit more about what you were listening to growing up?

All sorts really! I got into dance music pretty early and was listening to all the old rave stuff as a teenager. Around the mid to late nineties I heard a Sasha tape and it was all progressive house from there. When I started DJing I was still into the proggy stuff but was going to Fabric regularly for the Tyrant nights when it first opened.

Hearing Craig Richards and Lee Burridge playing really got me into tech house and all the West Coast house on labels like Siesta, through to the dub house sound on labels like Jah Love and Grayhound. I think that still shows in my sound now.

That sound can be heard on your label Alive too. Where did the name come from?

The label has been running for about a year and a half now and so far it has done really well. We’ve had lots support from loads of the big DJs from Carl Cox to Richie Hawtin right across the spectrum to a lot of the deeper house DJs.

I started the label as an output for my own material, but as time has gone on I’ve built up a little family of other like minded artists, all fitting into the Alive sound of deep and groovy tech house.

The name actually came from a local night that me and James Zabiela used to do years ago in Southampton. I then used the name for my radio show and James used the name for one of his Renaissance compilations around the same time.

The radio show on Proton has been running for about six years now, so when I came to start the label, Alive was the obvious name.

You’ve said in the past that ‘The Tree Dance’ really hit the nail on the head in terms of what you were trying to do sound wise with the label. How important is it for a label to have a clear sense of identity?

‘The Tree Dance’ is more about connecting with a lot of people than hitting a specific sound. With Alive we have a definite look with the artwork done by my friend Chris Martin, who has worked on everything from The Guardian newspaper, to Nokia and Phones 4U.

I like to stretch the music over a few styles but still give people what they expect, if that makes sense? Some of our releases have been a bit more on the deep house side of things and some more on the straight up tech house vibe.

But I think there’s always a common groove with all the releases. As for the next year, it will be more of the same with some housier tracks planned for the next few releases.

The next release from myself will have a Jet Project remix and an iO remix which I’m really excited about. I have some bigger names lined up for remix duties for a compilation in the summer, but I can’t say much more than that at the moment, so you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled!

Are you a producer or a DJ?

I’d definitely deem myself a DJ, 100%. That’s the background I have come from, and like I mentioned earlier, I only started producing a couple of years ago and that was really just about making tracks to play myself.

I think it’s healthy to have a good knowledge of both though. It’s probably easier these days to have the production behind you to get the gigs, but knowing how the dancefloor works and knowing what to play when you are warm up is really important.

What would you say is more important to DJs/producers - a good ear for club music, or technical knowledge?

A musical ear is always more important - the best kit won’t sound good if you don’t have the ear to know what to do with it. I think for those that are not technical, practice makes perfect. And can a DJ/producer exist if not technically minded? For DJing, yes, if you at least know how to beatmatch, but producing does take more dedication.

How’s your relationship with James Zabiela? Are you his protégé as some people say?

I wouldn’t say I was his protégé. We’re good mates and we’ve been touring a fair bit together recently. It works well for both of us as my sound leads into what he plays pretty well. I can play exactly how I like without stepping on his toes musically.

It’s good for him to know that he can turn up and someone before him is not playing too hard as well.

There’s a lot of competition so you have to do something that stands out, and on top of that you’ve got to really ‘want it’ as well

You’ve only recently started to break through, despite DJing for over 10 years. What’s the best way to break through in electronic music these days?

The best approach has got to be make tracks, get in the studio, hone your skills, get some tracks out to the DJs and labels you like, see what the response is and keep doing it. There’s a lot of competition so you have to do something that stands out, and on top of that you’ve got to really ‘want it’ as well.

How do you feel about the UK deep house/tech house sound at the moment?

It depends what you class as deep house. A lot of the stuff currently coming out of Europe would have been classed more as tech house a few years ago but now it’s tagged as deep house. Urban Torque is a good example of a great UK deep house label.

There are some really good producers at the moment from the UK on the deep/tech sound like Bearweasel, Simon Baker, Jamie Jones, 2020 Soundsystem, Burnski, Tom Demac, Will Saul, Glimpse and that’s just a few of the names that are really ‘doing it’. I’d say we’re doing ok!

Southampton certainly seems to be flying the flag. Is there something in the water in your home town?

Maybe there is something in the water! I think it stretches a bit further than just Southampton though, as there are a lot of DJ and producers 20 minutes down the road in Portsmouth too.

In Southampton there’s Alan Fitzpatrick, Phil ‘Moonface’ Thompson, James Talk, Ridney, James and me, and in Portsmouth there’s Dave ‘Reset Robot’ Robertson, Jon Gurd, Junior Gee, Tim Cook, Rich Jones as well as loads more I’ve probably forgotten.

We all get on well and hang out, which I’m sure helps. In Southampton there are some good nights happening. I’m involved with the High Tide Boat Parties, which happen every Bank Holiday Sunday. There’s also Junk Club, which have good nights on a Saturday. There are other one off nights that are worth a mention like Noctunal who are more on the disco tip. They’ve got Mark E coming up which should be great.

You’ve played abroad quite a lot. What are your thoughts on clubbing in different parts of the world?

Personally I prefer smaller clubs as they suit my music better than really big capacity venues. Also there’s more chance of them being busy, not that I’d be complaining either way.

I’ve only travelled around some parts, so can’t really speak for everywhere. I spent some time in South America at the start of the year and Argentina had some great clubs. Also Eastern Europe seems to be really good, they love it over there! I’m playing in Romania in a couple of weeks so really looking forward to that one.

What’s in your studio?

It’s pretty basic really. Just my laptop, a soundcard, a pair of monitors, Ableton Live and Reason 4.

What’s the best DJ gadget of 2009?

I’ve been lucky enough to use the new Pioneer CDJ-2000’s, and they’re pretty cool.

Funniest thing you’ve seen happen on the dancefloor?

I caught a mate on video falling flat on his face not so long ago, but that was a wedding dancefloor so I’m not sure if that counts. It was hilarious, but I ‘spose you had to be there.

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