Teebee’s story of his musical career sounds like a collection of fables and myths. The young, audacious Norwegian conquered the world through persistence and determination, qualities that remain with him to this day.
After buying his first record at the age of seven (West Street Mob – “Breakdancin’ Electric Boogaloo”), Torgeir Byrknes began playing hip hop and electro, and when he turned ten, he discovered drum and bass during a trip to London in 1991. He was completely captivated by what he called the “crazy breakbeat sound.” Teebee began playing parties, making his own tracks and signing a contract with the already-established Section 5, a subsidiary label of Moving Shadow.
At 16, Teebee forged his own passport and left for London without telling anyone where he was going. The rest, as he says, is history. Through numerous releases on Certificate 18, Moving Shadow, Photek and his own Subtitles, Teebee became the first foreign artist to break through the perception of a UK-centred drum and bass scene and take his place among the elite.
After releasing his third album, “The Legacy,” Teebee finally felt that he had achieved a great deal as a producer. Taking a quick look back before beginning work on the next chapter of his story, Teebee found time to leave his home base in Norway and speak with Knowledge about the past, present and future of drum and bass music.
How has the weather been over the last few days?
The weather is terrible. Absolutely unsettled and horrible.
I assume that’s what inspired you.
There’s some truth to that. My surroundings partly inspired me to make music. Cold winters, darkness, silence, bleakness, beautiful mountains. That was the start of my musical career. Whenever there was a storm outside or the weather was really awful, I would always go down to the basement and write some nasty beats. My music always had to have a certain depth and uneasy shades, because what surrounded me was truly powerful.
Even though your latest album “The Legacy” is more dance-oriented than the last two, it still bears the sound of Teebee, that unmistakable vibe.
I’m still trying to find the perfect balance and make the perfect track. For me, that means music you can listen to anywhere—when you’re going to sleep, driving, walking down the street or when you’re in a club. I want to make universal music that you can connect with emotionally in all its aspects, like a kind of escape capsule. This album is very different from the previous two because I didn’t actually sit down to write an album. I suddenly realised, damn, the last album I released was in 2001. I had six tracks, and one of them was “Liquid Light,” which I actually made before the release of “Through the Eyes of a Scorpion.” Overall, it turned out to be something of a look back, but at the same time a test of what is still to come. This is my legacy.
You’re only 28, and yet you’re looking back to see what you’ve achieved. Is that really something to be proud of?
It’s a major step for me because it closes one chapter of my journey. It’s a closing because the young Norwegian managed to accomplish what seemed like an impossible task. I didn’t even know what I was striving for, and now I think that if I had known then, I probably would have done something else. But when I look back, I think that over all this time I’ve earned the right to pat myself on the shoulder and say, “Well done!” I’m almost never satisfied with myself, and even after reaching a goal, I try to find another one. But last year I found balance: I sat around doing nothing and enjoyed the moment. Now it’s time to close the book so that a new Teebee can appear, because there are many young guys breathing down my neck, without a doubt. I need to sharpen my claws and get to work. I haven’t even started doing what I intend to achieve. In the end, I’ve begun searching, after all these years of making music, for who I really am.
Subtitles seems to have really found itself over the past year. You’ve introduced many new artists, and the label has reached a certain level of success.
That’s what everyone talks about. Subtitles isn’t about me; it’s about the right sound, the right expression. I never wanted the label to be about me. I want it to be a cutting-edge label for artists, one that gives you confidence that you can sell a record and a place where you can express yourself. To be honest, it’s very comfortable to be surrounded by people who don’t lie and don’t “kiss your ass.” Take Noisia, for example: three guys who are only 20, and they say that some of my tracks are shit. I love it! When someone says, “Yeah, man, this track is great, but this one is just rubbish.” That’s what I like, damn it! I need to hear that. You know what I mean? People like that aren’t easy to find, because there are so many egotists in drum and bass. Even when I get tracks on AIM and tell someone, “Mate, great work, but it’s not what I need,” they reply, “You fucking asshole, I’ll never send you my music again.” That’s why I really like working with Photek. He’s so cold-blooded and cynical. It’s wonderful, poetry in action—he likes nothing. He always finds something that can be improved.
I know that Photek is the producer you’ve admired since your early days.
I was nervous as a child. I had a picture of Photek on my wall, cut out of an old magazine, with GOD written underneath it. He taught me how to be crazy, in a sense, without even speaking to me, because I liked that—if I do something and it really interests me, I’ll try to find what makes the essence of what I’m doing indestructible. And if I can find that, I’ll have a kind of foundation. That’s the kung fu principle: if you find the essence of an element and make that essence stronger, then whatever you create on its basis will be strong.
So, following the principles of kung fu, the very first thing you need to learn is to take the right position?
Exactly! It’s the same as when you see a small bush on the top of a hill but don’t see its massive roots—that’s me. Everyone knows that Photek always laughs at everyone, so when I came to his studio it was torture for me, but in the end everything worked out really well. Expect results soon on Photek Productions.
You also recently worked with Calyx.
Yes, we released “Follow the Leader” and “Cyclone” on Moving Shadow; the release reached third place in the sales chart on 1Xtra. We recently “cleaned up” the samples and prepared these tracks for the upcoming PlayStation 2 game “Midnight Club.” This will be the main soundtrack in all the commercial TV adverts and so on. We’re also planning to launch a new label—its name hasn’t been decided yet—whose policy will be somewhat similar to the epic Prototype project, where we could have only one release per year.
What will we see in the near future on Subtitles?
The CD release of “The Legacy” came out in March, and it will soon appear on vinyl. We’ll have a debut from Break and an EP from Noisia with a track called “Monster.” This track will flatten absolutely anyone. Also look out for a single from Chris.SU and the debut of one of the most technical new projects I’ve ever heard: Phace from Germany. Some things from Commix, believe it or not, as well as remixes from people such as Optiv and Calyx, and maybe Matrix, if I’m lucky.
And what about creating a subsidiary label of Subtitles?
Subtitles has finally become what I was aiming for: fertile ground for thinking people looking for an outlet for their music. Now another outlet besides Subtitles is needed. I could call it Widescreen, I could call it Subdivision, I could call it Subsequence—something that could mean many different things. I need a second label that would be more prestigious, so that people would have to work a little harder to get onto it. If, for example, Noisia makes a good track, it comes out on Subtitles, but if Noisia makes a really great track, it comes out somewhere else, you understand what I mean? It won’t be only for the dancefloor or anything else; it has to be something special.
Are you still into R&B and hip-hop?
That’s the direction I’m moving in more and more. If you listen to hip hop now, you’ll notice that it has begun returning to the analogue sound we were working with in the mid-’90s. I have a certain concept that I’m going to carry out with Armanni and Sharpness—two of the most talented MCs to come out of America, in my opinion.
You’re always busy with something…
That’s my normal state, a state of “not resting,” as I call it. I’m clinically hyperactive, and I consider that a gift. I don’t smoke weed. I sleep four hours a night and feel perfectly fine and work well.
And is all of that the new Teebee you’re talking about?
I’m just sitting here making music. It should be sharp but streetwise at the same time; besides, I mustn’t let myself be overtaken, and therefore I can’t wait.
On 30 July, the Norwegian Teebee will come to St Petersburg and delight drum and bass fans with his set at Soundtropolis.
Text: Chris Muniz (Knowledge). Translated from the Russian translation by Kontrax and Yegor.
