Create Nightclub, Los Angeles – On April 9th, the walls shake from the outside from all of the energy within. Thomas Gold is in there and he is “On Fire”.
Gold’s sound delivers a scene where the crowd looks like water as you look out and see the bodies swaying back and forth…the pressure starts to build – you can feel it coming. Suddenly, the crescendo starts at your feet, wraps around your waist and then all hands are in the air. Even when things stabilize, you’re already preparing to get hit with another wave as he relentlessly starts again.
I sat down with Gold at The Redbury in Hollywood a few hours before the show where he explained his formula for creating that tsunami effect.
“You have to follow some rules. You have to build up some tension. I really want to make my tracks like that – I love to build that tension to a certain point with the vocals and the instruments coming in and building stuff up…it’s creating flow energy throughout the track. I think that’s my signature – or at least the feedback I’m getting of what makes a Thomas Gold track.”
That signature sound creates ever changing environments and feelings minute by minute – all of the emotions that drive you to the club are satisfied by the epic ranges in his set on this Saturday night. Gold has played this venue before, telling me, “I expect a really crazy crowd tonight, people are always into it”.
Drawing us in even deeper when one of his killer collaborations becomes visual – DJ Helena Legend is dropped into the mix like magic. The two of them together creating yet another new realm for the packed house. I was interested to know more about his creative process and the origin of his work with other artists, namely his tour headlining track “On Fire” with Rico & Miella…
“I got in touch with them because I love what they have done in the past. These guys are in a band, they’re doing “real” concerts where they’re performing live with real instruments, so that’s why for example we have acoustic guitars and cellos on the track. It was a very interesting thing, a very musical approach to the whole project into the club mix. I loved working with these guys, they’re amazing people…very creative.
I mean it’s nothing new – it’s all been done a million times but for me at this time, when EDM is still so big, people are really embracing it and are happy to hear you include more organic stuff into your tracks. In a lot of ways it makes the track bigger, better, warmer – it’s a much more musical approach to the whole thing. You don’t have to worry about, is this string punchy enough? Or is the piano good for the drum…it’s just, does it sound good? Is the melody good. And then of course you mix it. But it’s not about making the craziest note, or bass sound ever or the most aggressive drum beat. It’s a different approach.”
Currently playing 25 shows in 8 weeks, Gold will soon be going into the studio with that energy for his first ever album.
“It’s inspiration that’s all in my head – I’m not following anything or copying anything, I want to put together some music without any limitations. I’m going for all types of ranges from 93 bpm, 105, 110, 118, 128, so it’s very diverse. I want to show what kind of ideas I have in my head and I really want to put something fresh together. None of these songs are old or remakes, it’s all done from scratch and I just did a bunch of vocal writing sessions here in LA back in January and that was amazing. To see all these creative people around me, and so much inspiration here. Now I’m going back to the studio working on all these ideas. It’s a totally different approach from making a club or a dance track, where you have to follow some rules. Now it’s all about, we have this song, we have this vocal, how can I make it sound good with these instruments, what kind of sound, vibe do I want to create? That’s really interesting to me.”
Not only is Gold killing it live and in the studio, telling me he has 20 plus tracks already that are viable candidates for his upcoming album, on April 22nd, he will complete his 200th episode for Fanfare Radio. To celebrate Thomas is giving back… “One of my fans will win a trip to New York. They’ll attend my show and hang out backstage, have a drink with me – we’ll grab a picture together in Times Square.” Visit his website for details on how to enter and for information on upcoming shows.
FESTPOP’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS GOLD BEFORE HIS LA SHOW AT THE CREATE, APRIL 9, 2016
THOMAS GOLD & FestPop Sr. Editor Persephanie Quimby
FESTPOP: You’re currently on your promoting “On Fire” – in San Diego last night, you’re here at Create in Los Angeles tonight – tell me how has the tour been so far?
GOLD: The tour has been absolutely amazing. I started on the 3rd of March and all of the shows have been great…it’s really exciting to see how good the feedback is on this track. You know it’s always one of the scary points in the set – to play new music you’ve created and you’re hoping for good feedback – it’s really been insane so far.
FESTPOP: Would you say it’s different from tours you’ve done in the past?
GOLD: No. I mean I have been doing these kinds of shows and of course half of the venues, I’ve played already before, so it’s a lot of re-bookings – so you know what to expect. Of course each crowd is a little bit different. The new thing for me is to do so many – right now I’m completing 25 shows in 8 weeks – so that’s been really cool. You can really focus on the tour and not doing a lot of other stuff during that time. I’m doing a little bit of production, but I actually got a lot of stuff done before the tour and I’m going back into the studio after the tour.
FESTPOP: So I’d love to know a little bit about the tour headlining track “On Fire” with Rico and Miella. What was it like working with this pair?
GOLD: It was amazing. These guys are from New Jersey. I got in touch with them because I love what they have done in the past. I reached out and said “hey guys, are you up for doing a track together…I love your voice, how you write your songs” and they were really into it. They sent me a rough ideas of “On Fire” and I loved it – we took it from there. We went back in forth in email and Skype – we talked about how we could put things together, tweaked the vocal and rearranged stuff, put the instruments together – because these guys are in a band, they’re doing “real” concerts where they’re performing live with real instruments, so that’s why for example we have acoustic guitars and cellos on the track. It was a very interesting thing, a very musical approach to the whole project into the club mix. I loved working with these guys, they’re amazing people…very creative.
FESTPOP: Do you compartmentalize these things – live music, instruments versus electronic – do you have different spaces in your mind or different creative zones where you work with these things?
THOMAS GOLD w/ DJ Helena Legend
GOLD: Truly, it’s all together. I wouldn’t say I have different spaces, and I think the interesting thing right now and especially what I’m gearing up to do is mixing all of these elements together. I mean it’s nothing new – it’s all been done a million times but for me at this time, when EDM is still so big, people are really embracing it and are happy to hear you include more organic stuff into your tracks. In a lot of ways it makes the track bigger, better, warmer – it’s a much more musical approach to the whole thing. You don’t have to worry about is this string punchy enough? Or is the piano good for the drum…it’s just, does it sound good? Is the melody good. And then of course you mix it. But it’s not about making the craziest note, or bass sound ever or the most aggressive drum beat. It’s a different approach.
FESTPOP: When you’re creating things, do you think about the listener’s reaction?
GOLD: I don’t think about it specifically – maybe when I’m making the club mix, it’s in my head. Because I’m used to that, I’ve learned that. You have to follow some rules. You have to build up some tension. I really want to make my tracks like that – I love to build that tension to a certain point with the vocals and the instruments coming in and building this stuff up…it’s creating flow energy throughout the track. I think that’s my signature – or at least the feedback I’m getting of what makes a “Thomas Gold” track. Many of my favorite songs – they have the build like that.
FESTPOP: In that same vein, the track “Can’t stop this feeling” with Amersy can you tell me a little bit about that creative process and how that was built?
GOLD: Actually, I had this idea with this cool robotic sound, I created the break down part where the pads and melody are coming up a little bit and then the vocal is looping and at that time I was listening to a lot from this great guy in Russia, Amersy – I really love his stuff and I was playing a lot of it in my sets. So I was like, man, maybe this guy can do something to this track, because I was looking for what kind of vibe I could create for the bass and for the groove. So I approached him and he liked the idea – he sent me some of his thoughts and ideas for the track and I was like man, this is amazing. Let’s do this.
FESTPOP: I love the track “Morphine”. Give the run down on how that came together?
GOLD: Yeah, this one was also a collaboration with Lush & Simon from Italy. The idea was the same. I was such a fan of their sound. I really wanted to figure out a way that we could do something together, so we started talking. We started a little bit different – we had rough ideas that we threw back and forth. And then we ended up with – hey let’s do this and take this lead melody and then create something out of that. We went back and forth with audio stamps – they added some melody sounds and then I added some of my sounds, the bass-line, the groove, the drums. It was a lot of going back and forth – but in the track you can hear both of us. They have more of a transient, or old school, big room approach and then it’s my melody build ups again and the sounds that are uniquely me. For me, it’s an inspiring process to work with people. At the moment I’m not doing any collaborations anymore, I’m working on an album right now, so this is all my stuff, but you know, it’s just cool if you have these young upcoming producers that are so into it and open to anything, it’s cool.
FESTPOP: So you just touched on us being able to look forward to your first studio album. Where’s the inspiration coming from for that?
GOLD: It’s inspiration that’s all in my head – I’m not following anything or copying anything, it’s just, I want to put together some music without any limitations. The good thing is, I’m not doing a club album – it’s still the “Thomas Gold dance” kind of thing, but I’m totally free for what I am doing for the album. I’m going for all types of ranges from 93 bpm, 105, 110, 118, 128, so it’s very diverse. I want to show what kind of ideas I have in my head and I really want to put something fresh together. None of these songs are old or remakes, it’s all done from scratch and I just did a bunch of vocal writing sessions here in LA back in January and that was amazing. To see all these creative people around me, and so much inspiration there. Now I’m going back to the studio working on all these ideas and I’m still getting sent demos and ideas for track and it’s amazing. It’s a totally different approach from making a club or a dance track, where you have to follow some rules. Now it’s all about, we have this song, we have this vocal, how can I make it sound good with these instruments, what kind of sound, vibe do I want to create? That’s really interesting to me. At the moment I am working on a bunch of tracks – we have 20 tracks which are candidates to go on to the album. Of course we have to pick and I’m doing this a lot with my team, throwing these ideas back and forth.
FESTPOP: So you’re here in LA tonight – tell me what you think about LA?
GOLD: I love how diverse the city is. The endless stuff you can do. You have the beach, then Hollywood, the Hills, all the restaurants, there is so much to do. I don’t have a lot of time right now, because I am traveling so much. But I love LA – so many different things to discover and explore.
FESTPOP: So each different show you play you have a different crowd – what you expecting at Create tonight?
GOLD: It’s not my first time at Create, I expect a really crazy crowd, people are always into it.
FESTPOP: You are about to complete your 200th show with Fanfare…how will you celebrate that?
GOLD: One of my fans will win a trip to New York. They’ll attend my show and hang out backstage, have a drink with me – we’ll grab a picture together in Times Square.
FestPop Sr. Editor
Persephanie Quimby
Email Comments: press@festpop.com