- Hey Thrillhouse, how are you? Happy to have you here to ask you some questions about your ‘It Came From Planet Funk’ EP, and more about your artist career so far.
Hey! I’m doing well, thanks. Happy to be here. How are you?
- For starters, can you tell us the story behind the EP? What’s the song you loved working on the most from the EP? And how many songs does the EP has?
This EP came from a strange combination of getting back into disco and funk music. Like a lot. It was almost all I listened to in 2021 and it has become a huge part of my life since. That and I watched the movie Mars Attacks! And just thought to try to combine funk with alien sounds to see if it would work and luckily it did.
With getting super into disco and funk, I came across a lot of music that had talkbox in it. So during the lockdown I decided to pick up a talkbox and add it into every song in the EP. The EP has 3 songs on it. “Space Disco” is my favorite. It is the one I have been working on the longest and I think is the best overall.
Buy the EP on Beatport – https://www.beatport.com/release/it-came-from-planet-funk/3589867
- How do you decide on how you name the songs you produce and the EPs? Is it just something on the spot that comes up in your mind?
Kind of, yeah! It depends on the song itself. A big factor is the mood of the song. All of the instrumentation, and the vocals especially. Everything that the song is trying to convey. After you have a good chunk of the song written I find it pretty easy to come up with names for them, personally.
- Can you tell us the story behind your face mask? We’re so fascinated when we hear a song from a person who has never revealed his real face. It’s that moment when you fall in love with the production and not with the person behind the mask.
That makes me so happy. Thank you so much! I found it at a mask shop in Amsterdam when I was 21. I thought it looked cool and for some reason I didn’t buy it. The following summer I went back and it was still there. It’s going to sound weird, but when I saw it there the 2nd year it spoke to me. I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.
- How would you describe your sounds, and where do you take your inspiration from?
I would describe it as dark, dirty house music. This EP particularly is funky, dark, dirty house music. When I fell in love with electronic music some of the biggest artists were in the electro house genre. The Bloody Beetroots, Daft Punk and Justice are definitely my biggest inspirations. Daft Punk has been inspiring me since I was a kid. The Bloody Beetroots and Justice were part of me finding electro house and electronic music as a whole. The Bloody Beetroots helped me bridge the gap between metal and electronic music back when I was a metalhead. Justice was a huge inspiration for this EP along with other artists like Chromeo, Flamingosis, Khruangbin and legends like Prince, Rick James, Zapp & Roger.
I love bass house and bassline. Artists like Taiki Nulight, Malaa, Digital Koala, Skepsis. So, I try to mix elements from all of those genres to create my sound. Especially for this EP.
But I take inspiration from everywhere. Even if I find new music on Spotify, that can and does influence me. A lot of my friends are artists and musicians as well and they inspire the crap out of me. Music is such a broad spectrum, you can find inspiration almost anywhere.
- We heard that ‘Space Disco’ will have a video, can you tell us a little bit more about the video?
Oh yes. I am VERY excited about this. Luckily I have friends in the film industry that know the ins and outs of that world. They have been a HUGE help in getting the process going. I couldn’t do it without them. Part will be live action and part will be animated. I am a huge comic book lover, two of my favorites being Sin City and Spawn. They may or may not have an influence in the music video.
- How did your passion for music start and at what age did you get into the music industry? What’s your favorite instrument you play and at how many do you play?
It started very early. The first album I ever bought was The Prodigy’s “The Fat of the Land” when it came out. I was 7 at the time. Then in elementary and middle school I played trombone and tuba. I picked up guitar very casually when I was 19-21 and then stopped for some reason. I started to travel the world and go to a lot of big festivals like Tomorrowland, Ultra, NOS Alive, Shambhala. Also, some metal festivals like Hellfest and Wacken. That was when I decided to pursue it as a career. When I was 25 I moved across Canada to the west coast to go to Nimbus School of Recording and Media and I have lived here in Vancouver ever since. Last March I joined Cosmic Academy and that was one of the best career decisions I’ve made in my life.
In 2020 when COVID started, I started playing the talkbox (through a DX100 synthesizer), and also started playing guitar again. So at the moment I just play those two instruments. Hard to pick one. Probably the guitar, it’s more of a challenge to me.
- What’s the one thing you always do in your free time? Why?
When I do have time for myself I love to play video games. Usually with friends, but sometimes by myself. My brother got me into video games at a young age and I find it fun and relaxing (sometimes relaxing). It’s just a way for me to let off some steam and forget about any other responsibilities I have. It doesn’t happen very often. I usually only play games as a reward for finishing / working on music.
- What are your plans for the future? What about your dreams?
At the moment, I am in the middle (or hopefully at the end) of a 5 year long back injury that has gotten worse and worse over the years. Full disclosure I am looking at getting 1 of 2 kinds of back injection and potentially surgery if those don’t help. So my plans for the immediate future is to fix my body, because I have been building a show for a few years now. When I can actually stand up long enough to play a show again, I will have something pretty neat to show everyone, if I do say so myself. Other than that, I have a few other singles that are almost done after this EP is released. So I will keep releasing music.
The dream would be to take this show that I’ve been building touring. All over this beautiful planet, wherever people want to see it.
- This is all for now, thank you for being here and answering our questions. In the end, if you think we forgot something to ask you and you want to share it with our audience please write it down. Also, where can people find more about you?
Thank you so much for having me. Keep your eyes peeled for the video for “Space Disco”. My EP is out on Beatport December 24th and out everywhere on December 31st. I feel like it’s appropriate for the EP to be released on New Years. I think they’re good party tracks. Even if new restrictions were just placed here in BC, pump it anyway.
You can find more about me on my Instagram and Facebook or on my website www.iamthrillhouse.com
Download and Stream: https://fanlink.to/ItCameFromPlanetFunkEP
