“I know it sounds cliché to use the ‘Oh, it’s intimate’ line, but seriously. It’s fucking intimate! Small clubs let me really see and feel what my audience is feeling.” tyDi, trance resurgence darling and explosive EDM star, is a man of many talents and many opinions. Last time he graced the Northwest with his signature combination of trance, glitch, electro and progressive house, he had just found himself thrust onto the Paradiso mainstage. “I was in the car and on my way out to the festival at the time. I was meant to be on at 2am but Gaz (Gareth Emery) couldn’t make it so he asked if I could fill in.”
[quote style=”1″ author=”tyDi”]I thought ‘Geez man…you want me to play to 50,000 people for you?’ Just kidding! I flipped out, I was stoked to play that spot…I’ve certainly been asked to do less exciting favors in my life[/quote]
Fresh off the brand new single Live This Lie and the success of his breakout album Shooting Stars, tyDi (Tyson Illingworth) revisits one of Seattle’s most storied (and intimate) venues, Last Supper Club, later this month. There’s a spectacular difference between the festival stages of The Gorge and the LSC platform. “The crowd is right up there in my face and I can see them all having a great time. Festivals rock but sometimes you can’t even see the individual people from the stage.”
Lately Tyson has made waves by pleading with rookie and established producers alike to “learn music theory.” Getting in a little deeper, “I had to do it. ‘EDM’ is getting so ridiculously boring now because everyone is doing the exact same thing. At first I thought it was just me who was going mental from this wave of repetition and lack of musical theory; but standing there on the side of stage watching other DJ’s all play constant ‘bangers’…well, I saw it in the fans. The crowd are like zombies.”
[quote style=”1″ author=”tyDi”]I love music because it can make you FEEL something. It can truly act like a drug. We’re losing that whole idea as the new producers start to think all they need is a computer, some loops, a sample pack and they are ready to ‘write music’. I still think the new ‘bangers’ are great, but lets inject some musicality back into them. Chord changes, interesting melodies…anything… ANYTHING![/quote]
tyDi at Trance Nation, Melbourne
It’s hard to argue with someone who trance trendsetter and maniacal genius BT thought was good enough to feature all over his latest album, A Song Across Wires. “When I last worked with BT it was out in his studio which is quite literally in the middle of a forest, a really cool place. He’d have his laptop out and would be working on strange glitchy ideas or chopping things up, I’d be on the other computer making a bass line or messing with vocals. Then if he heard something I was doing and had a way to improve on it then he’d take over and add in whatever he was thinking. In the studio he’s extremely creative, a genius, he knows music inside out and writing with that guy is never dull.”
So is there any hope for producers who can’t paint the keys like a pro? “Yes, they are doing it right now. I don’t know how long people will remember the songs for though, especially if they are just a loud kick drum and a screeching bendy sound. I’ll always look back to bands like Blink 182; I wonder if people will look back on today’s current trend of EDM in years to come and feel the same? I think what’s important is that the kids who do start producing now remember that they can teach themselves to play piano, if they can do that then they can create their own powerful melodies, chords, they can infuse EDM with emotion.”
[quote style=”1″ author=”tyDi”]Be unique! Music suffers when you copy others.[/quote]
That emotion is reflected in more than just his visit to intimate venues, where fans are so close he could touch them. Hotel Rooms, his latest album, is a complete departure from the high-energy, glitched-out sound he’s become known for. Self described as “all my non-EDM; everything from chilled out ambient, glitched up electronica to massive orchestral pieces,” Hotel Rooms could be the latest in a series of clarion calls to innovate EDM. “I could never have made an album like ‘Hotel Rooms,’ or any of the music I’ve been releasing lately, without some sort of background in music theory.”
We can expect to see more of this kind of passion and intimacy on November 27th, when tyDi steps back into the type of venue that is the polar opposite of large or overproduced. “The huge ‘roar’ is always a good sign but besides that it [playing huge venues] can often feel quite detached.”
Purchase tickets to see tyDi perform in Seattle on November 27th, here.
Enter to win tickets to see tyDi on November 27th at Last Supper Club here!
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