Twisted House | Feature | Interview With Tom Stephan (original) (raw)
Interview With Tom Stephan Tom Stephan aka Superchumbo is truly an artist. Raised in the upstate of New York and later moving to London to go and study there, Tom's career soon took off in the UK. Tom Stephan better known to many as Superchumbo, came out with many succesful productions and releases not to mention his compilations such as "Nite:Life", "The Sound Of Superchumbo" and "Soundworx Sessions Vol 2". After releasing his artist album, titled WowieZowie, he further cemented the quality of his own productions and more recently he teamed up with Roger Sanchez to release a more darker side with the "After Dark" compilation. Tom generously took some time out to answer some of my questions and this is what developed... Q: Well many by now know the name Superchumbo or Tom Stephan or even Plastic Surge, but they may not know much about how it began for you. So how did you get into the scene of electronic music with DJ'ing and producing? Tom Stephan: I've been fascinated by electronic music since I discovered DEVO and new wave music when I was a kid. I fell in love with house music the first time I saw Junior Vasquez at the Sound Factory. Inspired by Junior's dark NYC sound, I started making my own music and the DJing naturally followed. Q: Yea Vasquez definitely has something going especially with the whole Sound Factory thing. Now I won't even go into your aliases because I know you get that all the time but I have to ask, the name Tracy And Sharon [which you recorded under]. Where did that come from? Tom Stephan: Well, I had just moved to London in 1991 while I was in college. [A 6 month visit which has now been 15 years!] I went to my first rave and as we walked into this massive tent, my friend said "this place is full of Tracys & Sharons!" I had never heard the expression before and thought it would make a great name for a band. At the time I was trying to convince my friend to start a band with me. When he didn't keep up with the idea I decided to do it alone and kept the name for just myself. Ultimately I had to change my name though, because people kept expecting 2 girls or 2 drag queens to show up! Q: Hahaha quite a story. Going back to your career, do you still feel the same drive since you started your career and if not, how have things changed? Tom Stephan: I'm surprised myself but yes. I'm still just as driven. I love what I do and I really feel a need to play music and to make music. Q: Definitely, its good to be passionate with what you do. On the influences side, You mentioned Vasquez earlier but what influences did Danny Tenaglia & Junior Vasquez have on you and your career? Tom Stephan: As I was a musician before a DJ, I used to think that DJing wasn't very creative... only playing other people's records. And then I heard Junior. He was the first DJ who showed me how creative and expressive it really could be. A few years later I became friends with Danny. He has been a big supporter and I have tons of respect for him. Q: What was your first piece of music you bought and does it still play a part in your influences today? Tom Stephan: I think the first album I bought was KISS Alive 2. There's probably some influence there... I still like the darker, harder side of house. Q: Staying on the topic of first albums, a couple of months ago, your first artist album was released. What made you decide to do one and what had led up to this? Tom Stephan: While I was compiling the first compilation album "Leadhead - The Sound of Superchumbo", I wondered what it would be like to make an album from the beginning instead of compiling already existing tracks. Also, I had more ideas than time. I couldn't release my music fast enough. And finally I wanted to expand on the Superchumbo sound. I started to feel like I knew what a Superchumbo 12" sounded like... but what would a Superchumbo album sound like... Q: When you were putting Wowiezowie together, did you have any second thoughts or did you want to turn back at any point? Tom Stephan: Well honestly the biggest problem with the album was the artwork. I'm fairly experienced in getting sounds from my head on to vinyl, but not so experienced with getting the pictures down on paper. It was frustrating and took nearly as long as the music. Q: *Laughs* Well at least the artwork looks good. Wowiezowie seems to have a certain sound and atmosphere to it. Was this your goal to create an artist album with a particular sound and if so why? Tom Stephan: It is important to me that there is a Superchumbo sound, but actually my goal as I mentioned before was to expand that sound and I think I was successful. There are tracks on WowieZowie which never would have come out on 12" like "Tranquilizer" or "Some". And yet they very clearly sounding like Superchumbo tracks. Q: Speaking of tracks, your production... what do you use produce and remix tracks? Tom Stephan: I held on to my analog hardware as long as I could but there's no denying that soft synths offer some amazing possibilities now. I use Logic for producing and ProTools for editing and just about every plug-in out there. I really love Native Instruments. They're great for really out there sounds.
Interview With Tom Stephan Tom Stephan aka Superchumbo is truly an artist. Raised in the upstate of New York and later moving to London to go and study there, Tom's career soon took off in the UK. Tom Stephan better known to many as Superchumbo, came out with many succesful productions and releases not to mention his compilations such as "Nite:Life", "The Sound Of Superchumbo" and "Soundworx Sessions Vol 2". After releasing his artist album, titled WowieZowie, he further cemented the quality of his own productions and more recently he teamed up with Roger Sanchez to release a more darker side with the "After Dark" compilation. Tom generously took some time out to answer some of my questions and this is what developed...
Q: Well many by now know the name Superchumbo or Tom Stephan or even Plastic Surge, but they may not know much about how it began for you. So how did you get into the scene of electronic music with DJ'ing and producing? Tom Stephan: I've been fascinated by electronic music since I discovered DEVO and new wave music when I was a kid. I fell in love with house music the first time I saw Junior Vasquez at the Sound Factory. Inspired by Junior's dark NYC sound, I started making my own music and the DJing naturally followed. Q: Yea Vasquez definitely has something going especially with the whole Sound Factory thing. Now I won't even go into your aliases because I know you get that all the time but I have to ask, the name Tracy And Sharon [which you recorded under]. Where did that come from? Tom Stephan: Well, I had just moved to London in 1991 while I was in college. [A 6 month visit which has now been 15 years!] I went to my first rave and as we walked into this massive tent, my friend said "this place is full of Tracys & Sharons!" I had never heard the expression before and thought it would make a great name for a band. At the time I was trying to convince my friend to start a band with me. When he didn't keep up with the idea I decided to do it alone and kept the name for just myself. Ultimately I had to change my name though, because people kept expecting 2 girls or 2 drag queens to show up! Q: Hahaha quite a story. Going back to your career, do you still feel the same drive since you started your career and if not, how have things changed? Tom Stephan: I'm surprised myself but yes. I'm still just as driven. I love what I do and I really feel a need to play music and to make music. Q: Definitely, its good to be passionate with what you do. On the influences side, You mentioned Vasquez earlier but what influences did Danny Tenaglia & Junior Vasquez have on you and your career? Tom Stephan: As I was a musician before a DJ, I used to think that DJing wasn't very creative... only playing other people's records. And then I heard Junior. He was the first DJ who showed me how creative and expressive it really could be. A few years later I became friends with Danny. He has been a big supporter and I have tons of respect for him. Q: What was your first piece of music you bought and does it still play a part in your influences today? Tom Stephan: I think the first album I bought was KISS Alive 2. There's probably some influence there... I still like the darker, harder side of house. 
Q: Staying on the topic of first albums, a couple of months ago, your first artist album was released. What made you decide to do one and what had led up to this? Tom Stephan: While I was compiling the first compilation album "Leadhead - The Sound of Superchumbo", I wondered what it would be like to make an album from the beginning instead of compiling already existing tracks. Also, I had more ideas than time. I couldn't release my music fast enough. And finally I wanted to expand on the Superchumbo sound. I started to feel like I knew what a Superchumbo 12" sounded like... but what would a Superchumbo album sound like... Q: When you were putting Wowiezowie together, did you have any second thoughts or did you want to turn back at any point? Tom Stephan: Well honestly the biggest problem with the album was the artwork. I'm fairly experienced in getting sounds from my head on to vinyl, but not so experienced with getting the pictures down on paper. It was frustrating and took nearly as long as the music. Q: *Laughs* Well at least the artwork looks good. Wowiezowie seems to have a certain sound and atmosphere to it. Was this your goal to create an artist album with a particular sound and if so why? Tom Stephan: It is important to me that there is a Superchumbo sound, but actually my goal as I mentioned before was to expand that sound and I think I was successful. There are tracks on WowieZowie which never would have come out on 12" like "Tranquilizer" or "Some". And yet they very clearly sounding like Superchumbo tracks. Q: Speaking of tracks, your production... what do you use produce and remix tracks? Tom Stephan: I held on to my analog hardware as long as I could but there's no denying that soft synths offer some amazing possibilities now. I use Logic for producing and ProTools for editing and just about every plug-in out there. I really love Native Instruments. They're great for really out there sounds.