Interview with Thought (Tyhh) for DOGSONACID.COM [Translation]

DOA: There must be many people who are unaware of what happened throughout Bulgaria’s history and what influence those events may have had on an individual. What was your experience of growing up in Bulgaria, and how did that upbringing shape or influence the music you create?

Thought: Really good question… A lot of people know nothing about our small country and the struggle it has gone through… Bulgaria was under a communist dictatorship for decades, right up until 1989, and if you say it was like a milder version of North Korea, you wouldn’t be too far from the truth. The government told you what to think, what to love, where you could travel, what music to listen to and, from time to time, even what to eat. People were imprisoned for listening to The Beatles or to a radio station that had been banned by the government. The Secret Security Service could come after you for making jokes about the government, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Most of my childhood took place after ’89—years of struggle—and everything was definitely much more abnormal than in most other European countries. Politicians were connected to the mafia, or were most often members of the mafia themselves; the police were—and to a great extent still are—corrupt. Teenagers with unrestricted access to alcohol and tobacco were a massive plague dragging our country down—I’m essentially not part of the communist generation, like my parents, but I represent the generation of drugs and alcoholism that surrounded me. This particular freedom spread across every social circle and age group. Add four decades of communist architectural heritage, and you get an idea of what things are like.

Drum and bass for me is a fast, harsh form of music that fits this place perfectly, and I soon discovered that it was an excellent tool for describing the everyday life I saw. Of course, things are better now, but the scars of the past will always remain in people.

DOA: When did you first become interested in making music? Have you always composed drum and bass, or did you experiment with many different sounds?

Thought: My interest was first sparked in ’99, when a friend accidentally showed me a very early version of FL Studio, formerly known as Fruity Loops. As soon as I realized that I could shape individual sounds into a single track, it was love at first sight. I have stuck with the program over the years; in a way, we have grown up together, and it is still the main tool I use to write music. When I started, I was simply finding my way around, and tempo really didn’t matter—and still doesn’t to this day—but I suppose that at some point I began getting pretty good at energetic little pieces when I focused on drum and bass. I’m always open to experimentation and variety; that is what stimulates music and allows an artist to develop.

DOA: How does Thought go about creating a track—do you write the drum parts first, or do you have a particular sound or melody that you work hard on?

Thought: Sometimes I have a specific idea that I want to play; at other times, I take a more general approach. It’s me, after all, describing my current mood. As I said, most of my tracks begin with creating a drum break and the main bassline—it’s drum and bass, after all. Sometimes I have a melody or groups of sounds interacting with one another that I want to bring together into a single composition, but I have to wait for the right drum and bass combination to let them out and shape everything into one… In general, yes, in most cases drums are a d’n’b producer’s primary concern.

DOA: Your sound could be described as dark, and you use many different broken rhythms in various parts of your compositions. Are there any particular artists, either in the drum and bass scene or outside it, whom you could say had a strong influence on your drum and bass style?

Thought: The first thing that properly drew me into DnB was the Metallheadz compilation titled “Platinum Breakz” II, as well as Photek’s work from 1997–99. There is something magical about the music of that period—many tracks from that era influenced me just as strongly, whether they were more melodic or darker/harder; I simply love them all. At the time, I felt that this was how it was supposed to sound. Outside drum and bass, I’m interested in all types of music, from Nujabes to Nine Inch Nails—it all depends on my mood; the more variety, the better… I tend to look for artists who don’t get stuck in a particular genre, but simply make good music.

DOA: Your sound received immediate support from Dylan and other advocates of this style. What was it like to release your first record on Dylan’s label, “Obscene”?

Thought: It was an honour for me to release my first 12-inch there and join a team of so many talented artists. At the same time, I have other projects for Freak rec.; it opened many doors for me and created a good foundation for my subsequent musical work. When the record came out, the reaction was really good, and it genuinely pushed me to work even harder.

DOA: Another starting point for you, as many might think, was your inclusion on AK1200’s “Weapons of Tomorrow” compilation, a project that was formed within the DOA forum itself. It is a big step for any artist to appear on a record that received such a large pressing. Did your career begin to gain more momentum after the compilation was released?

Thought: I remember being very surprised when I saw that AK1200 had chosen my track for his project. Technically, it was my first release ever, so it became a very special event for me. Overall, the idea seemed very fresh and was executed quite well; it was a very good start, so I’m genuinely happy with how things turned out.

DOA: You have many upcoming releases, including your remix of “Whorror” for Freak Recordings, “Floodgates” with Counterstrike, a mad four-track EP with Kantyze for M-Atome, and an EP for Vampire rec., a 12-inch for Tantrum Recordings, and tracks for Temper D. and Soothsayer Recordings. Do you have a favourite among this batch of tracks, one that you think people should really look forward to?

Thought: My remix of Temper D.’s “Eye for an Eye” is receiving serious support from Bailey on his show on BBC Radio 1Xtra; it has already been released on Temper D Productions. The joint Kantyze & Thought EP “Seclusion” has been released on Kantyze’s own label, M-Atome. We made this EP diverse—from tech sounds to the experimental and back again. The whole project took almost a year to bring the tracks together. The Dylan & B Key “Whorror” remix is a dancefloor destroyer that has received huge support from almost everyone you could think of. It’s a dirty, intense track that is due to come out with another classic remix on Freak Recordings. The Thought EP for Source Direct’s Vampire Records is planned for early 2011 and will showcase my deeper sides of DnB. I was very happy when Phil Source signed four tracks—Source Direct have been a major influence on me for years. The 12-inch for Soothsayer is something we have been preparing for some time, and now it will be a tribal sound with additional crunchy dancefloor seasoning, alongside the black-and-white “Holism” and “Resist”; I have sent the track files to the label for mastering. Tantrum is a new label that will be launching soon, a subsidiary of Fallout Recordings; it will release a record with a solo track of mine and a collaboration with Kantyze. It is very difficult for me to single out any particular track or release, because each one has captured a different period and part of my life.

DOA: We also know that you have an EP coming out on Ohm Resistance, which has always released some really exciting material. What will we hear, and are there any thoughts about further projects with Ohm Resistance?

Thought: Ohm Resistance has been a label that released innovative and new music. If you look through the label’s catalogue, you’ll see so much quality and variety from artists from every continent, from Herbie Hancock to Bill Laswell, Silent Killer & Breaker, and of course Submerged himself. I’m very happy to announce that I have worked on a four-track record for Ohm Resistance; the work is nearing completion, with some surprises for non-DnB listeners. Our track “Floodgates” with Counterstrike will also be on this EP. The other tracks will include a collaboration with Ohm Resistance artist Imaginary Forces, in a more classic rufige vein; a techy solo piece called “Scarcity”; and a percussion-heavy dubstep track. The EP is due to come out in spring 2011, immediately after the albums by Submerged, Current Value & Donny on Ohm Resistance and Obliterati, the subsidiary label of Ohm Resistance. I’m very happy to be part of this family. A lot has happened at Ohm Resistance, but that’s all I’m going to say for now… Stay tuned.

DOA: Looking at the list of people you collaborate with, including Counterstrike, Zardonic, Kitech, Forbidden Society, Gremlinz and many more, we have to ask: what do you prefer—collaborating with other musicians or working solo, and why?

Thought: Collaborating with other talented artists brings a great deal of variety, and it is always good to exchange working methods and ideas. The best thing about collaborations is that the final result is music that surpasses your current artistic approach in a way you could not achieve by working alone. I usually move between moments when I want to work with other people and moments when I want to concentrate on my solo projects. Too much collaboration can make you simply get bogged down and lose your own identity as an artist. Collaborating with Zardonic drives my neighbours crazy:)

DOA: We spoke with the wonderful Joanna Syze a few months ago, and she was very supportive of your work and contribution to the Bulgarian scene and the international scene as well. When did you first team up with Syze?

Thought: I met Syze in 2005, when she played here with John B. in Sofia, Bulgaria. It seems she blew one of the speakers at that event. She still claims it wasn’t her…, but we all know that’s how it was. We talked and stayed in touch for several years over AIM until she returned to perform in Bulgaria again. Around 2009, we actually began working together on several tracks for the first time.

DOA: Do you run the Bassline agency alongside Joanna, right? What is it like balancing the behind-the-scenes work of management with being an independent artist yourself?

Thought: You have actually named the key word here — “balance”; it takes great skill to be able to set aside enough time for yourself and your own work, and then turn your attention to another group of talented musicians. It is not always an easy task, but planning and recording our daily activities always helps both of us.

DOA: We also know that you have worked on tracks with Syze, both as artists and with her as a vocalist. What is your working relationship like?

Thought: It actually took us a long time, mainly because our styles are somewhat different, so finding common ground required a great deal of effort. I have always followed more organically sounding, dirty tracks, while Syze settled on darker, more metallic-sounding material. Once we reached a compromise, we composed several tracks that will appear on her forthcoming album “Rodina” on Ohm Resistance — “Final Days” and “Lies”. I think both of them demonstrate our two elements. For the future, we have even more tracks in development, as well as other 12-inch releases presented by various artists. We are trying to develop the Bassline agency as well as we can in 2011, so that we can support artists in more ways than before. This mix for DOA, which is Bassline Podcast #1, is only one of the small projects we are starting on our path of growth. After Syze performed at numerous events in the US over the years, we decided to bring the Bassline agency show to Europe; we organised a large-scale Therapy Session party in Sofia, Bulgaria, and are looking confidently towards the future of holding even bigger events under this brand in Europe.

DOA: What are you working towards as an artist while building your career? Do you have plans to create your own label, or are you simply focusing on your sound?

Thought: In the future, I am going to show my explorations in more diverse areas than drum and bass, whether down-tempo, dubstep, IDM… Drum and bass was the starting point for me, and I will always love making and supporting it, but I do not want to be limited to one genre or tempo, since this can express a greater part of an artist’s vision. At the moment, my release schedule is mainly drum and bass, but when the right time comes, diverse music will also be taken into consideration. The music industry is a strange place to be in, with everyone trying to figure out what is going on and how to keep it at a high level; it is no secret that the music world has become even more complicated for many — you cannot be only a musician, promoter, or label manager… You have to be many things at once. There is a time and place for everything; I just want to grow as much as I can without sacrificing quality and while staying true to myself.

DOA: We have heard that you are trying to arrange a tour for yourself — any dreams or plans regarding the places in the world you would like to visit?

Thought: Soon, as soon as my EP on Ohm Resistance is released, alongside the other releases, I will be fully focused on my tour. I would like to visit as many places as possible and bring my music to drum and bass fans all over the world. But if there were one place at the top of my wish list, it would be Japan… I love Asian culture and even use a lot of Asian sounds in my music from time to time. We will see where the road takes me in the coming months:) Thought’s official pages:

Translator’s note: At present, Thought is working under a new alias, Tyhh, and all his subsequent work and releases will be issued under this artistic name. The aforementioned Scarcity EP is being reworked and will be released instead as tracks making up the debut album by Tyhh, presumably also on Ohm Resistance.

Tyhh on SoundCloud.

Originally published in English by Dogs On Acid (dogsonacid.com). Russian translation: DJ Darrel; this English version is translated from that Russian translation.