Hey guys it's Zman, here again at Army of Hardcore!
I'm with the one and only Tim Shopp, uptempo man of the US, from New Jersey in fact.
So, how's it going, how have you enjoyed the event so far?
First of all, the Globe Theatre, I've never been here.
So coming in here, when you say "theater," I expect a theater. And I fucking got that.
There's Gothic lamps, there's old chairs, there's the balconies where people used to watch opera.
Obviously Mrotek killed it, Davide Sonar brought the classics, Amada is on right now,
Sprinky is going to be on later, and then I get to perform as well. So far, [it's been] a good night.
It's been great! So, I want to start by talking about...
we were just talking with James about the release you guys had, "The Dark" on Partyraiser Recordings.
But, there was another release you had on there with Unresolved.
So, what is it like working/collabing with a raw artist from this side [of the Atlantic vs] the guys in Europe.
What is the difference working in that capacity compared to with another American
where time zones line up a little better?
I can tell you that getting messages at 6 o'clock in the morning with ideas for tracks is always fun
because I'm usually up anyway and then I work until like noon my time.
Then at 6 PM his time, he [adds] his ideas.
For me, I think it's so interesting working with some of the rawstyle guys
because a lot of them bring crazy sound design, screeches, and kicks.
So it's really cool to work with them, have an idea, and kind of be on the same page with people.
And then they bring a lot of ideas to the table that I don't really know if I would have thought of this.
Then they're like, "well, normally I'll do this with a track," and I'm like "well, that sounds cool," so we'll do that.
Or even sometimes it's like, "fuck that, that's garbage, scrap that." But, it's really fun to work with some guys.
That's great! So, I talked a bit earlier about how you're going to be moving over to Europe which is set in stone.
If you had to choose the first three things to do when you get [settled in], what would [they] be?
What are stuff you've wanted to do but you never really got the chance [to do] as a visitor?
Believe it or not, ride a boat on the canal. Every time I go it's either winter or shitty weather.
I'd definitely like to go to some techno shows. I have a deep love for techno and everything like that.
So I love going to regular clubs and enjoying that.
Every time I get there, we go to this place in The Hague with the best weed that there is in the entire country.
So I always go there.
That's funny. So with techno, I was just over [there] for Defqon.1, Hard Island, and some other events.
I stopped over in Berlin for a few days.
I am not a techno person, but, I was like, "I'm in Berlin, you've gotta!"
You know, I actually talked with Crypsis at Hardstyle Arena a couple months ago.
He said, "You've gotta go to Tresor!" I don't know if you've heard of Tresor but it's a bunker,
a really imposing building with red lights going up the sides.
If you get in, because not everyone gets in, you need to wear all black and go alone, then you're good.
You get in, and you just keep going down.
Now that sounds like my type of party, I love that.
Right, and there's so much smoke and fog all the time, strobe lights going off everywhere.
You feel like you're on something even if you're totally sober, which I was just to experience it.
Unbelievable. This guy had a live set with a sequencer where you just plug in [cables to] different inputs.
So he was slowly adding in a kick, a melody, etc.
See dude, that's like, that's, wow...
Absolutely insane.
So, that's just my recommendation, check it out!
That's the nice thing about Europe, the US is fucking big and it's so hard to get places.
In Europe, getting to Berlin [from the Netherlands], you could easily get there by train, by Flixbus, or whatever.
Definitely big ups there.
[brain fart X_X]
What's something that I could ask you now...
How about...what's been your favorite part about playing in the US even though at times,
people like me, I'll be honest, I'm horribly educated with a lot of uptempo and I'm trying to learn more about it.
So, how do you present the sound to people without them like, recoiling [in response]?
To be honest, like you said, it's a hit or a miss.
There's no in between, it's either like, "I like this" or "I don't like this."
For me, in a lot of my sets, to be honest most of the time I just go.
I don't really know how to [ease in].
I know a lot of people aren't cool about that because [they feel] you have to DJ to the crowd.
But, at the end of the day, I like to play what I like to play, you know what I mean?
There's certain tracks that people want to hear, so I don't have a problem playing those but,
99% of my set is going to be what I like.
Fortunately, knock on wood, the shows that I have performed here in the US, it does go over well.
To be honest, it's shocking. Sometimes you go to these areas where you're like,
"I've got a booking out there, I don't really know what to expect."
And I go out there, and I've gone to places and been blown away.
For example, Wisconsin, I went out there and played a show at 8 o'clock in the morning to 10 o'clock
in the morning, breakfast. Like they were making pancakes and serving beer and there was uptempo.
On paper, you read that and you're like, "...okay, I guess so."
But it wound up being like, hands down, one of the best experiences and shows I've ever had in the US.
I know I have a lot of love here in L.A. so, something like tonight, I've been excited for months
waiting for this, and now it's finally here!
Yeah, and again, as we mentioned earlier, the venue is just fantastic.
We see these crazy ass lasers going off right now. Oh man!
So is there anything else you want to say to your fans about
maybe some upcoming releases you wanna just throw out there or anything in general?
Alright, so there should be a couple more US bookings before I finish the move to Holland.
I can't say where yet but it's known and when you see them, I'll see you there.
For releases, I have an EP coming out with a couple remixes of one of my favorite tracks "Terror Squad"
I have a couple remixes coming in, one from Levenkhan here in the US, Frenchcore producer. He did a remix.
Remix from MBK. The Dope Doctors who are a really good duo from Holland are coming up right now.
As well as Doctor Terror.
Then I have another track with The Dope Doctors that will be on the EP.
It's called "Serengeti," I've been playing it a lot here and just kind of testing it out.
But now that's going to be an official release.
And then on top of that, I have so much more music in the works.
I've been focusing a lot more on quality and trying to create these unique sounds and everything.
So I have a lot of original tracks coming too that might be "different" for some people,
but I think it's going to be really good.
And then I also have a remix by Yunke, who is in Spain,
of one of my newer releases "Engage" that came out at the end of 2017.
I have a remix of that and I'm going to test it here tonight to see how that goes.
There's so much more man, I have a list of tracks I could name off.
That's great, I was talking to James [Mrotek] about this earlier how both of you guys
are pretty meticulous [regarding] when you release stuff. It's not like you [rush the releases].
I try to be.
I feel like you guys are.
Not to say anything bad about these [other artists]
but there's no "Tweekay16" where you release a track a month, you know? There's a lot more focus [per track].
I know it's hard for you guys, the fans, who really want to hear more of Tim Shopp but -
A lot of the time it's out of our control.
When the track will be done, you can give it to somebody and it may take a year, a month, a week.
That's always a pain in the ass but what are you going to do?
Alright, so thanks again for the interview!
I'm looking forward to you giving me and a lot of other people [watching]
who might not be as familiar with uptempo a new education on the subject.
I think [your upcoming releases] are going to be a lot of fun.
Thank you guys for tuning in!
Thank you!
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