Prins Thomas
Norwegian DJ and producer Prins Thomas made a splash in the early 2000s with his twisted-to-fit “space disco” sounds. But don’t call it that because he isn’t a fan of genre tags. In addition to production and an ever-busy DJ schedule, Thomas also acts as label manager for Full Pupp.
In this lecture at the 2007 Red Bull Music Academy, the Norwegian disco superhero retraces the key sounds of his formative years.
Hosted by Gerd Janson This gentleman to the left of me is a guy from Oslo, Norway, he’s running a label called Full Pupp, been producing music with a guy called Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, and is on the forefront of the recent resurgence of… disco. Prins Thomas Don’t say it… Gerd Janson Of the d-dot music… And his name is Prins Thomas and he’s a bit afraid of falling asleep next to
me, so please give him a loud and warm welcome. [applause] Prins Thomas Thank you. Gerd Janson So you see people love you already. But how would you explain to the
proverbial old lady on a plane seat next to you what you are doing for a
living? Prins Thomas I would say that I make dance music. That’s the easiest expression to get away
with. Try not to be too specific to anybody when trying to explain what I do. Gerd Janson But the old lady thinks of waltz and stuff like that if you talk of dance music. Prins Thomas Let her. Gerd Janson You don’t want to get into a conversation with her at all, huh? Prins Thomas When I was nine years old and breakdancing, my grandmother used to put on Harry
Belafonte and asked me to do some breakdance and I obliged. There was no reason to try and get her to understand what breakdance music was. She wouldn’t get it. Gerd Janson So Belafonte was fine with you? And what came after Belafonte, when you ruined your hips and your knees? Prins Thomas I’m not sure. Gerd Janson Afrika Bambaataa maybe after Belafonte? Prins Thomas Yeah, maybe. Gerd Janson And when did you pick up being actively interested in making music instead of just dancing to it? Prins Thomas I think it was about the same time, like ‘84 or ‘85. I had seen some
documentaries about graffiti on Norwegian television. There was a really good book called Subway Art
that got me enthused about the whole hip-hop culture. Then you had Beat Street and, I
guess, for all the kids my age it was the cool thing to do. But at the same time I was taking cello lessons and playing clarinet and my parents used to
play me all kinds of different music. I mean, we used to go to the opera and
see operas. Go to the church and hear classical music. Be taken to jazz
concerts. So to me it’s always been a mixture of all kinds of stuff. And then
I went from breakdancing with a lot of people, suddenly I was the only one
still into that kind of music and playing around in my bedroom with belt-driven turntables and learning to mix the old school way, where you have to
push the record all the time, which is to beat mix. Gerd Janson And sounds a bit rough at times, huh? Prins Thomas No, I think I was actually quite good at it. When I later started playing with
Technics turntables I used them in a nightclub and it took me one mix and it was down. It was like,
“This is easy!” Turntables actually do all the work for you. I learned the hard
way first. Gerd Janson But they don’t call you king yet? Prins Thomas No, no. Gerd Janson I just interrupted you talking about your cello lessons and the breakdancing. Prins Thomas I thought I was going to try to break myself off before any of you fall asleep. Gerd Janson Oh yeah, if anyone has questions, don’t hesitate to ask them, just wait for
the microphone. It doesn’t have to be a question round at the end. So? Cello? Prins Thomas OK, OK, my life story. I played the cello badly for a few years and I tried to
learn to play the bass guitar with a teacher. It kind of killed my enthusiasm for
learning any kind of instrument. Gerd Janson The teacher or the bass? Prins Thomas The teacher. Going to classes and learning stuff from someone else. So what
really got me into music was I joined a really lousy punk band in ‘91 or ‘92. I
was still buying some early house stuff and still buying some hip-hop music
but I was just taken by doing something new and I had a punk revolution in
‘91-’92. And then I played in all sorts of different bands for a couple of
years and then got back to DJing again by accident. A friend of mine opened
one of the first house clubs in Norway and asked me to be the weekday bartender and DJ. So I served beers and played my old records and after a while I
found out, well, I should stick to DJing. I was actually better at serving beers to myself. Gerd Janson You were your own best customer? Prins Thomas Yeah, that’s always bad for a bartender. Gerd Janson And was there a big scene in Norway at the time for house music or dance
music? Prins Thomas The early ‘90s to mid-’90s, there was a growing scene. All the clubs put on house
nights, drum & bass nights, there was a lot of stuff happening and a few
record stores opened. Most of it was based in Oslo, the capital city where I’m
living, but it died out. People had too much to choose from and most people
weren’t that interested, it was more like a fad. Gerd Janson Too much to choose from, like there were too many things going on? Prins Thomas I think only in Oslo. I think in the whole of Norway there’s three million
people living so it’s a really small country. I think there were maybe 40 or
50 DJs making a full-time living out of DJing. Before I started making records
I used to be a DJ making a living DJing only in Norway for at least 12 years. Gerd Janson You played every day? Prins Thomas No, but often four, five days a week. Gerd Janson And is there much of a scene right now? Because you’re not the only guy from
Norway doing dance music and releasing it, peers like Todd Terje and Rune Lindbæk and Hans Peter Lindstrøm, one could think that there’s this big thing happening? Prins Thomas I wouldn’t say that there’s a big scene, but there’s a gang of people who know
each other and at some point we’ve worked with each other in some form. But I
think when the commercial nightlife in Oslo died out, from ‘95 to 2000 maybe, it
just went downhill and some of us started focusing more on going into the
studio and making music. For me, I’m DJing because I found it really boring to be
playing the same venues over and over again, and when I played in bands we
went into the studio and recorded demos. I wanted to make music but I never
had the time or the energy to do it when I was DJing full-time so I decided
just to cut down on gigs and make music. Gerd Janson So maybe you could play something for us of your own music so that people who
haven’t heard about you or your stuff get an idea what you’re about? Prins Thomas Is there anything you want to hear? I’m not actually sure that I’ve got
anything of my own music here. Gerd Janson Maybe the one you're least proud of. Prins Thomas I’m usually so fed up with my own stuff that
when I’m finished I never play it again. So usually, what I have with me is
stuff I’m working on. Work in progress. Gerd Janson You could use a laptop to flip through all those files, huh? Prins Thomas I have everything on my hard-disks, I don't dare bring them out of the house. Gerd Janson And you don’t care
about playing with a laptop either? Prins Thomas No, no, that’s too fancy. This is a remix I’ve just done. It’s a bit of
cheating, it’s a remix on my own label. (music: Ytre Rymden Dansskola — “Kjappfot (Prins Thomas Multitrack edit)” / applause) Thank you. Buy the record. Gerd Janson It’s on your own label Full Pupp. What is the name meaning? Prins Thomas Actually, directly translated it’s an expression like “full gas,” like push the pedal or something. It also means big tits. Yeah, wow. Gerd Janson You’re putting out only Norwegian artists, right? Prins Thomas Yeah, on Full Pupp there’s only good friends of mine. Gerd Janson You don’t care about other people then? Prins Thomas No. Well, I got another label for all the other stuff, which is starting up
now. It’s called Internasjonal. Gerd Janson What does that name mean? It's actually international in Norwegian. But the idea was actually to give my friends a kick in the ass as well as myself. And until Feedelity, Lindstrøm’s label started and my label started, most
people I knew, when they made music they sent it out to English labels or
American labels. And I thought that was kind of silly, giving the attention to
labels that didn’t back you up or didn’t pay you or anything. I thought doing
a Norwegian label with Norwegian artists hopefully would bring some attention to Norway. And I decided it isn’t a scene but the scene as in my friends and so far it has worked very well. Gerd Janson And how hard do you find to keep a record label running these days with all
the lamentations about no one is selling any copies any more and “blah, blah,
blah.” Is it slowing down? Prins Thomas I think that’s felt by people who made a living from doing labels or actually
once had the possibility to have somebody in to do the promo, someone in to be secretary or
whatever, and that’s not the case with this label. All the money we earn on the label, we just put directly back into the label again. I make my living on
DJing and doing remixes, so this is just a bonus if we earn any money. And I think we already earned enough to terrorize people with these crappy records for a couple more years without selling even, we can still go on. Gerd Janson You just mentioned remixes, that’s what you do mainly when you’re producing? You’re in demand with your remixes, maybe you could talk a little bit about how you approach doing your remixes. Prins Thomas I’ve done remixes mainly because I find it easy to do them. I find it
really hard to make my own tracks from scratch. I can work with other people and have somebody else pushing me, but to make my own tracks it’s really difficult. Gerd Janson You have no ideas? Prins Thomas I do have ideas, but with remixes it’s like you have the original track, which
is alternative A and with all these parts you can come up with alternative B. And I
might spend only six hours doing a remix and I’ll be really happy with it and I’ve made a new track, basically. And I might as well have said, “OK, sorry, I
can’t do the remix, remove the vocal parts and have my own track.” But I’m not that smart. They come very easily for me, I don’t know why. I might be very sloppy but still I get offered to do them. I must be doing something right, or maybe I’m just cool at the moment, I don’t know. Gerd Janson Do you actually have to like a song or a track if you get offered to remix it? Prins Thomas Sometimes I’ve gotten tracks and I’ve hated it and just thought, “Well, I should show them how the track should have been.” But yeah, nowadays I try to weed out basically the ones that are most interesting to do for me, not
necessarily the ones that pay the most, but something I enjoy doing. And I never have any rules. Like I always start with a blank sheet every time.
Sometimes I use only parts from the original, sometimes if the track is really badly produced, I might go to the studio and re-record everything. With some tracks I have done with Lindstrøm, we made just taking the vocals and
we re-recorded everything, like drums, bass, guitars, made up new melodies. So yeah, there’s never any rules. Gerd Janson So you also did an album with this Lindstrøm guy, right? You could feed off of his ideas? Prins Thomas With him, I think the main difference when working together for both of us is
we can blame each other. Like, we both have our own projects where you always
have specific ideas of what you want to do, but when we work in the studio
together we’ll try to let the other ideas come through. Doesn’t matter if you think it’s
shit when you hear it. Just, “OK, let him have it.” It’s a very democratic form of music-making. Gerd Janson And you showed us one of your remixes. Maybe you could play us something that
was very influential or is very influential in what you’re doing? Like music that inspired you? Prins Thomas Yeah. Let me see. [looks through record bag] I mean, I could play anything basically, but something specific. This is actually harder... Gerd Janson Than you thought? Prins Thomas I’m inspired by a lot of different things. For me, it’s probably harder to say what my music is inspired by or play something that sounds a little bit like it, it’s more like it’s a mixture of all types of things. Gerd Janson That’s an approach you are also following when you are DJing, right? A mixture of all kinds of things? Prins Thomas I try to. Sometimes I go the easy way and just play a bunch of new records I
like. But I always try to mix it up and keep it exciting. To me, exciting is not just
playing the same kind of records all night or one specific genre of music. To play with tempos and moods. I mean, even though I think it sounds horrible when you say,
“you are going to take them on a journey,” or whatever, I like to build things
up but I like to break it up sometimes, put on an AC/DC track or something. Gerd Janson Like writing a book then, right? Prins Thomas No, it’s like playing records. [laughter] Gerd Janson Well, then maybe something exciting? Prins Thomas Something exciting? OK. Gerd Janson But you don’t like to be pigeon-holed, right? Into that whole cosmic, whatever DJ kind of genre thing? Prins Thomas It’s one of the better ones to be put into. Gerd Janson It could be worse? Prins Thomas Yeah, it could be worse, but I like all sorts of music. Something exciting, let me see, oh yeah. (music: LCD Soundsystem — “Us Vs Them (Any Color U Like Remix by Windsurf)” / applause) Gerd Janson That was epic. Prins Thomas Yeah, epic is the word. Gerd Janson I think we have a question? Audience Member I couldn’t help but notice some similarities with Lindstrøm’s music. The
sequenced beats, the use of percussion and this float-y feeling. Do you think you can
talk about a Norwegian sound or a Scandinavian sound? Prins Thomas Yeah, I mean, the first thing is we share a studio so it’s all recorded in the same room. The remix I played is actually a remix of a Lindstrøm track, so that’s not
that weird. It’s harder for me to say anything about a Norwegian sound because to me, I think it’s really diverse. I think what we have in common is probably
different reference points than, say, if you come from New York, you then have a different idea of what “classics” is and house music is. It’s a few things that are house music in all these genres. But I think it’s more diverse in Norway. We haven’t really had any scenes where you stick with one type of music, so I think
Norway’s sound – if there is one – is more about mixing up all your influences and doing something new with it. I think what most of us have in common is disco. Gerd Janson You said it now. Prins Thomas Yeah, oh damn! But disco can be anything too. At least to my ears. I mean, I can say I play contemporary disco and I wouldn’t be lying, it’s contemporary music made for discos. Audience Member Do you ever do remixes for free? Prins Thomas Yeah, yeah, if there’s a track I really like. Sometimes it’s a good thing just
to help out people if they’ve done a good track and my name can help them sell 200 more records or something, then why not? [responding to inaudible question in the audience] Yeah, give me your record, I’ll listen to it. If it’s good, maybe. If it’s shit, then it’s going to be really expensive. [laughter] Gerd Janson And you make it a good record? Prins Thomas When I used to do that, I didn’t do too many remixes in the beginning, so I
took all the chances I could, like, “Anybody want a remix?” I mean, I offered my remix services to everybody. Gerd Janson Classics in New York, what is it? Like you talked about? Prins Thomas I mean, like the canon of hits. For I guess somebody who grew up going to legendary clubs,
you have one specific idea of what classics are. The music they used to play in a specific time at a specific club. Gerd Janson But you don’t have any role models or DJs that you looked up to then? I mean,
it can’t come out of nowhere, right? Prins Thomas No, I always had them. My first role model was a guy called DJ Strange Fruit in Norway. When I was ten-years old and he was 15 or 16, he invited me home to
try his turntables. Gerd Janson That was a big thing then. Prins Thomas Yeah, he’s followed me, we still play together now and again. Like in Berlin
last week, he’s sorted me out with gigs, he used to be a well-known Norwegian
DJ before I started playing out. He gave me support slots. Gerd Janson So you paid it all back now? Prins Thomas Oh, yeah. Gerd Janson And how much can you actually enjoy DJing if you’re on the plane all the time
going back and forward between Toronto and Hawaii and wherever you’re around?
Isn’t all the traveling spoiling the fun? Prins Thomas Not really. The alternative for me has to be working as a secretary in
Norwegian immigration office, so I’d rather sit on a plane now and then doing what I do. Gerd Janson So you don’t feel like complaining at all about what you are doing for a
living? Prins Thomas No. I can complain and say I’m tired, but I never complain about traveling, no. Gerd Janson I’m just asking because it’s some kind of integral part of DJs and producers that you’re
always complaining about how it should be? How you work? Prins Thomas No, I get the chance to read books. I’m a father of two boys, I’m married, I
travel two, three weekends a month, I work in the studio more or less 9 to 5. So to me, traveling is actually a relief. It’s the only time I don’t actually
have anything to attend to, I can just sit down and read a book. My idea is that
I’m being paid to travel, not DJ, so it kinda makes sense for me. Gerd Janson Because you’re an international DJ, how would you say is
the state of the club scene or dance scene worldwide? Prins Thomas I don’t know. I feel I’m still new to playing bigger clubs, and I think it’s exciting
now because I think some of the divides between genres is getting more-or-less
erased. A year ago everything you could hear in the main rooms were minimal or
electro house. I don’t even know what it is, but one type of sound playing all
night long. And I think it’s already getting more exciting. Different genres or
different people playing in the main rooms different styles, so it’s going somewhere. Gerd Janson So you feel like a child in a candy store then? Prins Thomas In a way, to me to travel now and make a living of doing this, it’s my second chance. Like, five years ago I went bankrupt after not paying taxes in Norway
and I gave up being a DJ and found a proper job, which I obviously had to. Gerd Janson You would have ended up in jail? Prins Thomas Maybe. So yeah, I’m just enjoying this. Gerd Janson And we haven’t talked about edits yet, right? Prins Thomas No, do we have to? Gerd Janson I think a little bit, maybe. So, you are also known for doing these things,
right? So what constitutes a good edit? Prins Thomas I don’t know. I do a lot of edits just for personal use, and that’s the main idea.
Once in a while you make something into something special, more like an accident. There’s been a couple of times where I’ve put out two edits funded by a friend, 500
copies, stuff like that. But I haven’t really released any edits. I feel there
is actually no point, at least not at the moment because the market is flooded with really boring edits. Gerd Janson So you think it got a little out of hand, the whole edit-mania and everyone is doing one? Prins Thomas Yes. Everything that’s cool, everyone wants to do it so there has to be a lot of shit. Gerd Janson Maybe you have an edit that you like with you? Prins Thomas Sure, let me have a look. [searches for records] Gerd Janson What is an edit? Prins Thomas An edit is bascially when you’re reworking a track, not using the multi-tracks but... Audience Member Just to go in a little further, what do you mean in terms of edit? Prins Thomas An edit is when you’re actually doing a remix of a track but you’re only using the track itself. Not parts of the track or no additional stuff. That’s like the basics of an edit. Gerd Janson Like cut and paste, right? Audience Member Is it that you don’t like it or you didn’t finish it? Is it something that has been released and then you rework it and re-release it? Prins Thomas If you take a track you like, record it, and rearrange parts, then you’ve done an edit. Gerd Janson It’s often done with old records, right? Prins Thomas Yeah. A radio edit. An edit is when you rearrange things or cut out parts or whatever. I think the cool thing is that, to me, there’s no rules. You can take a shitty track with a good part and make something. In a way, what has happened, is that when a lot of people do edits, personally I think a lot of people take away the good parts in the song, or what makes the song special. But whatever works for you.
I’m going to play you one of my favorite edits. It’s like an old disco track by a band called Montreal Sound, it’s called “Music Part 2.” I think I might have done some additional editing on it, so let’s see. This is
proper cheese. (music: Montreal Sound — “Music Part 2 (Prins Thomas Edit)” / applause) To me, that’s a lot of the stuff that’s lacking in new music or new edits. Yes,
it’s cheese and it’s funny and kind of raw, it’s not strict in tempo all the time, and it usually loosens up the dancefloor. Either it empties it or it
loosens it up. Gerd Janson One should never be afraid of the cheese? Prins Thomas I don’t think so. I think there’s too little cheese, a lot of new stuff is too serious. Obviously, I like serious stuff, too, but you have to mix it up. Gerd Janson So you want to play something else for us? Prins Thomas I thought I could play something that probably more people have heard about. (music: Daft Punk — “Robot Rock”) (music: Breakwater — “Release the Beast”) And then you can do edits and basically do anything, sneak it in. I really
like the original of this but it’s often hard to get people dancing to it
because, yeah, this is the edit. (music: Deep Purple — unknown edit / applause) Suddenly you’ve got them all dancing to “Deep Purple” and I love that. Gerd Janson So is there actually any musical genre you dislike? Prins Thomas No, not a genre. I mean, there’s stuff I dislike. I’m getting older now so I’m a bit skeptical of the hip-hop made after ‘92, of course. Gerd Janson Ooooh. Prins Thomas Other than that, I'm, yeah, country, blues, jazz, techno, like, yeah. Gerd Janson You played that track, the Daft Punk sample. What was that again? Prins Thomas Breakwater. I'm not sure if it's called “Release the Beast.” I think so. Yeah. Gerd Janson What is your take on sampling then? Is it still something that is needed or that has to be done or today? Or do you think it's a relic of the past? In order to make music. Prins Thomas I mean sampling has always been there in some kind of form. I think it's a good thing. I mean this is dance music. We're not talking about composition or I think even stuff like mashups, which I personally I don't like many of them. I think the idea of doing it while you're playing, actually making something live, I like that. But even stuff like that is keeping dance music exciting and fresh. It always has to go somewhere and pick up some new ideas. Yeah. I sample stuff myself. I don't mind. I usually use my pseudonym, Major Swellings, if I do a lot of sampling, because he's a thieving bastard. Gerd Janson You will get sued now. Prins Thomas Yeah. Maybe. Gerd Janson Admitting it openly. Prins Thomas No. [laughs] First they have to pick the samples, though. Gerd Janson What are the legal issues related to edits? Is it the same as for a sample? Prins Thomas It's basically if you make a track sample something and the people who made what you sampled, if they care then it can mean trouble anyway. But the general rule is if you have a hit song, then you have trouble. If you sell a lot of copies. But not necessarily. There's been people who's bootlegged stuff and sold ten thousand copies of stuff and people still don't care. I mean, you're not going to be rich by doing it. Gerd Janson But it's still slightly immoral, right? Prins Thomas Yeah. It is. That's what's fun about it. [laughs] No, I mean I wouldn't say what's wrong or right. I've done some sampling myself and I still know I make tracks like I go into the studio and make something from scratch. Of course, it's like stealing, but it's the same as like sneaking on the bus or something. OK, society pays for it, it will get cheap. Like more expensive bus tickets because somebody's sneaking, but oh well. Gerd Janson What would you recommend someone who comes up to you and is like 15 years old and wants to start doing music? Just get a laptop or...? Prins Thomas I would probably say, get a laptop and find some free software on the
internet, I don’t know. Gerd Janson Cheating again? Prins Thomas I think people should start there before they start investing in a lot of equipment. Gerd Janson Anymore questions? Audience Member [inaudible question] Prins Thomas I can't say. Gerd Janson What? Audience Member [inaudible question] Prins Thomas You know, I share a studio with Lindstrøm and he’s an equipment-obsessed guy. I only buy records. We’ve got a full studio with drums,
percussion, instruments, analog synths, old organs, a lot of stuff. We
record the raw material of stuff there and I edit it together on my laptop.
But I’m kind of clueless, I’m trusting my ears. I really don’t know the terminology for all the stuff I do. I’m self-taught. Gerd Janson You’re a natural guy? Prins Thomas Kind of, yeah, I think so. Gerd Janson Any more questions for Prins Thomas? [no one in audience speaks] You intimidate them. Then, maybe we’ll listen to something that lets us slip to lunch easily. Prins Thomas I’ll try this. (music: unknown) Gerd Janson That Steve Reich and guys like Holger Czukay and all that krautrock stuff, it's pretty important for you, as well, right? In terms of… Prins Thomas I think not only were they there first, but they also did some of the freshest stuff ever. Predating a lot of IDs and yet to me Holger Czukay is still up there. Unreachable. Though he's done a lot of shit, as well, though. Gerd Janson Like almost everyone, huh? Prins Thomas Yeah. Everybody has to do some shit, too. Oh, yeah. I've got this really exciting record. Some crazy Japanese techno. (music: unknown) That’s a large record. Escape before I put on another one, which is even crazier. Gerd Janson So really no more questions? Oh, another one? And another one? [audience members speaking, inaudible] Thank you very much. That was certainly enough. Then we’re off for lunch. Thank you very much, Prins Thomas. [applause]