Tom Staar

World get ready! Here comes a superstaar…

Interview : Dan Prince

Production guru Tom Staar returns to Toolroom Records for his debut single release, ‘Rocket’. The name behind countless killer records and recent smash remix of Dave Spoon’s ‘At Night’, Tom Staar’s refined and renowned craftsmanship is instantly recognisable and has ensured his veneration amongst producers from all corners of the dance music scene. One of the UK’s most formidable new talents, 2014 is set to be a huge year for Tom Staar, starting with the release of the aptly named ‘Rocket’, already proving a huge success with its recent worldwide premiere on Steve Angello’s new BBC Radio 1 show and having received early support from the likes of Axwell, Thomas Gold and Danny Howard amongst others…

Hey Tom welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you at the moment?

“I’m in the studio right now Dan working on some new music ready to unleash on the States at the weekend. I have shows in Toronto on Friday and then back to Pacha NYC with R3hab on Sat.”

Massive news for you right now with a brand new single ‘Rocket’ swinging our way on Toolroom Records. Talk us through the tune…

“I’ve been working with Mark Knight on music for quite a few years now and had been saying for ages I wanted to do something for Toolroom. ‘Rocket’ was what I came up with. I’m just so tired with all the music from the scene I’m in sounding all the same so wanted to make a record no one else was making at the mo.”

Where did you first roadtest the tune?

“I think I played it out for the first time when at Avalon in LA a few months ago Dan.”

The other exciting news right now concerns you setting up your own label Staar Traax and are currently scouring the planet for new material to sign. What is the ethos behind the label…

“I just want to release quality big room house that doesn’t sound like all the other EDM crap that is about at the mo. Still banging but a little different.”

What is the current top 10 you are spinning…

“When I play out most of the music I play is that of my own or other people I work with. My current Top 10 would probably be…

01 Tom Staar – Rocket

02 Kryder – Tarzan

03 Marlon Hoffstadt – Shake That (Tom Staar Rmx)

04 Micha Moor & Alvaro – Kwango

05 Icona Pop – Just Another Night (Marcus Schossow Rmx)

06 Tom Staar & Kryder – Big Momma’s House

07 DVBBS – Raveology

08 Lowboys – Pump Side

09 Tom Staar & Kaz James – Matterhorn

10 Deniz Koyu – Ruby

Okay let’s kick off for a moment. You like so many were drawn into the evils of dance music by the likes of heavyweights such as The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Basement Jaxx. When though did the idea of a career in music start to form in your mind?

“I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be involved in music in the future, probably at primary school when I was about 9 or 10! My effort have always been focused on that, I wasn’t that into school and my education.”

If you hadn’t have become a producer, what else was a possible career for you?

“I have always been interested in design so maybe something like architecture would have been a good route for me.”

Where were the first clubs we would have found you chewing wasps in?

“When I first started clubbing it was in the early 2000’s at places like Gatecrasher, Gods Kitchen, Passion etc. and then also the hard house clubs like Sundissential and Storm, I had some great times.”

Wow – if I’d have known you were going to become one of the UK’s most exciting producers I’d have let you into Sundissential for free!! So, early DJ heroes?

“When I first started going out DJs like Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, Ferry Corsten and Fergie were all big influences on me.”

Tell us about the slight change in direction you decided to take at the start of 2012, a move away from behind the scenes to start concentrating on your own stuff. What prompted this decision?

“I just took a step back and realised I’d been helping build the careers of a lot of other artists while neglecting my own for a long time. I decided at the start of 2012 I was gonna make more time for my own music and it started to pay off pretty quickly. I now try to split my time equally doing two weeks of engineering/producing for others and two weeks of my own, obviously now that time is taken up quite a lot with touring.”

Tell us about your studio set up?

“My studio set up is very simple, and all in the box now. I have a PC running an old version of Cubase 4! It really doesn’t matter what you use, as long as you know how to use it. Some of my synth vsts are Massive, Arturia Minimoog, FM8 and Sylinth. I use a lot of processing on my sounds, distortion vsts like Izotope Trash 2 and Ohmicide are very important to my sound.”

It’s always nice to start the year with some great DJ gigs confirmed for the months ahead. The US, Brazil and Canada are coming up for you, where are you really looking forward to smash up?

“I can’t wait to get back out to Brazil in Feb/March for Carnival. I have a five night residency alongside Nervo at Camorate in Salvador, guests include Steve Aoki, Armin Van Burren and Roger Sanchez over the 5 days I’m there. I played the venue once at a similar sort of time last year with Fatboy Slim and was amazing! Brazil at Carnival time is something else.”

You have already played in Brazil of course, what was your highlight of Carnival with Fatboy Slim – you and him are great mates right?

“I’ve had the pleasure to tour with Norm quite a lot and he’s a really great guy. It’s mad that I’m touring with him after buying his records for so long and looking up to him as a DJ when I was younger.”

We all loved your remix of Francesco Rossi’s ‘Paper Aeroplane’ – how did you approach such a massive rework?

“I knew as soon as I heard about the offer what I wanted to do with it, try to keep the original vibe as it is soooo cool, but just beef it up and give it more energy. It took me quite a while to get it right but I knew if I did it’d be great, and it worked out well.”

What does your wife think of the music you play?

“She’s very supportive of it. She often comes with me if I have a few days away somewhere nice like Brazil or sometimes the States. She enjoys the music when it’s in a club environment but outside of that I think it grates on her a little!”

You are no stranger to the dancefloors of Ibiza, we were in the crowd at one of your Ushuaia journeys…what is it about Ibiza you love?

“I’ve had the pleasure of spending a lot of time in Ibiza over the years, in fact I got married out there last year! It is without doubt my favorite place on earth!! It just has this amazing vibe there, obviously you have all the clubs and DJs performing there all summer but the island itself is beautiful and just has something about it that really does it for me.”

Who are some of the producers you are giving high fives to right now?

“My mate Kryder is someone I always support, because like me he tries to always do something different with his tracks. Nom De Strip is someone I play a lot of music from and also Marcus Schossow.”

And finally, what else is coming out from you studio wise?

“My next track out will be a remix of Marlon Hoffstadt – ‘Shake It’ on FFRR in a month or so, I was really into the original, it features a Nate Dog vocal and is a really groover. My remix had turned out pretty hard though, probably one of the toughest things I’ve done!”