Hailing from Perth the epicenter of the Australasian drum and bass scene, ShockOne aka Karl Thomas is fast becoming one of D&B’s major talents.
From his origins in a band with Rob & Gareth from Pendulum, through to his recent assault on drum and bass dance floors worldwide, his musical energy and expression is powerful to say the least.
Karl quickly found his own voice in the drum and bass sound, which culminated in his first two singles being picked up instantly by DJ Friction for his Shogun Audio imprint, in the shape of "Silverscreen", and the party smasher "It's On", before putting out a devastating 12" for Andy C's Frequency label, in the shape of "The riddler" and "We be droppin this", which saw his sound gain airplay on BBC Radio 1.
2008 saw ShockOne continue working with the mighty Viper Recordngs, and put out the electro tinged 'The Calling' smashing dancefloors all over the world, and the cheeky led zeppelin sampling 'Way you move' which held stead in crates months after release. 2008 also saw Shockone take out 'best tune of the year' at the Perth dance music awards for the second year running, this time with Phetsta for the tune 'The sun', as well as 'best drum and bass dj' and 'best broken beat producer'.
With two European tours now under his belt Shockone is not slowing down in '09.
Only 3 months in we see the release of a self titled EP of gargantuan proportions.
'The Shockone EP' really sees the producer take his growing sound to the next level. Having already gained regular airplay on BBC Radio 1, and being play listed on the BBC Asia network this eclectic release of drum and bass and dubstep simply rocks all corners of the dancefloor.
SHOCKONE TRIPLE J MIX UP EXCLUSIVES WEEK 1 320 by Shockone
So guess we will just start from the beginning, How did you start off Producing? Obviously it wasn’t an overnight thing.
I've been a drummer since I was four, and have been playing in bands since I was about 11. It wasn't till I became friends with Rob Swire and Gareth Mcgrillen (of Pendulum fame)at the age of about 15 and played in a band with them for about 5 years that I started messing around with electronic music production. Rob had been making electronic music since he was a kid, he introduced me to the early trackers (Fast tracker 2, Buzz tracker, Fruity loops) and it all kind of began there. We all kind of discovered drum and bass when we were about 16 or 17, going to rave parties and seeing acts like Bad company and Ed rush and Optical at clubs. It was when our band split up due to the guys having to move to the UK for the Pendulum stuff that I decided I was going to take electronic music more seriously. Me and the guitarist from the old band formed Shockone and about a year later 'Silverscreen' and 'Dropping science', our first single came out on Shogun Audio. A while after that Jay decided to stop producing so I carried the Shockone stuff on myself.
You have a pretty epic sound, What are some of your influences?
My biggest influences would have to be Pink Floyd, Daft Punk, The Prodigy and The Chemical brothers. All these artists are the guys that inspired me to make electronic music in the first place. I also listen to a lot of ambient music like Sigur ros and Caribou and Jon Hopkins. I guess I'm just attracted to the escapist nature of music, the notion that it can take you somewhere else and emote something in humans that can't really be described with words.
Do you still keep in contact with the guys from Pendulum?
Yeh a lot, we are still just as good friends as we ever were. We were all best mates before any of us had any success in music, so the fact that we were lucky enough to all end up doing the stuff we dreamt of would never change that.
Your track "Polygon" was picked up by Triple J and it just exploded from there, How did that come about and whats some advice you can give to younger up and coming producers?
It was actually a pretty random occurrence of a friend raving about me on a forum and someone from Triple J seeing that and asking where they could hear my music. It kind of all just fell into place, almost as if the planets aligned and it was the right time to happen. A lot of people don't realise that 'Polygon' and the 'Shockone EP' that it featured on was actually my tenth or eleventh release and I had been working hard on my music as Shockone for five years leading up to that. It's not as if it were an over night success, that is the advice I would give to young producers. It's not going to happen quickly, you have to be extremely dedicated and passionate about your music to get anywhere. My motto has always been that if you want to succeed in music, you can't have a 'Plan B' in case it doesn't work out. If you do, you will almost definitely end up choosing plan B when everything gets to hard and you feel like the whole world is telling you to just give up and get a 'real job'. I realised early on that I was going to be making music for the rest of my life whether I was poor or not, because its the only thing that would make me happy, so the question whether I would 'make it' or not became irrelevant, and that free'd me to write music for the right reasons.
The track "Crucify Me" is just blowing up at the moment and there isnt a day that goes by that I dont hear it get some air time on Triple J, What is the meaning behind the song name?
The song is essentially about the breakdown of a relationship and the lies and deceit that go along with it. I guess the term crucify me came from the notion of being made to feel like you are the one in the wrong, when if fact you are the one being lied to. The self imposed suffering that you wouldn't have to endure had you been told the truth. On a more wholistic level though I think the song is about cycles, the end of one cycle means the beginning of another, that's where the Part I and II idea came into play. Part I could be scene as coming to terms with the end of a cycle, where as part II represents the energy and excitement of the beginning of something new.
I managed to make it to catch you at the Family in Brisbane last weekend, was insane! Whats it feel like knowing everyone is there just to hear music that you made?
It's an amazing feeling, and something that I am so grateful for. If someone had told me when I was 15 that I would get to fly around the world playing my music to people I wouldn't have believed them. There is nothing quite like the energy that you get from a bunch of people losing it at a show. That's what I really love about Djing, the energy shared between the performer and the crowd. The crazier the crowd goes, the crazier I get and all that energy just keeps feeding off itself.
What were your first thoughts when One Love asked you to mix CD1 of their new Dubstep Invasion album?
I was stoked. It's great to be able to share the tunes I've been getting into over the last six months through a medium such as this. I've put a lot tunes people know and love on the mix but I've also tried to expose people to a bunch of great music they may not have heard yet.
Your touring with Glovecats at the moment, how’s that going?
It's been great so far. The Brisbane show last saturday was actually our first show together for the tour. They are great guys who are very much on the same wavelength as myself DJ wise. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the tour with them.
What are your thoughts on the Drum and Bass scene in Australia at the moment?
I think the bass music scene is the best it's ever been in Australia. There are more talented young producers making amazing drum and bass and dubstep in Australia than ever before. Artists like Echo and Sidetrack, F3tch, Graffix, J.Nitrous and Killafoe, Rekab and Cubist are all making really great tunes. And of course there are your more established artists such as Phetsta, Greg Packer, Rregula, Q-bik, Sardi, and Kito & Reija Lee already making world class music.
Did you ever think about relocating to the UK as the scene over there is much more "advanced"?
I am actually moving to London this September. I don't think the scene there is any more advance or necessarily better than anywhere in Australia. At the end of the day it just comes down to the fact that there is that many more people there. Of course the style of music originated there, but I don't know that that fact has that much importance anymore with the nature of the music industry these days. Being an artist in an isolated city isn't that much of a barrier anymore. People can get access to the newest music just as easily in Perth as anywhere else in the world. The only reason I am moving there is that the higher population over there equates to more opportunity to perform and expose my music to those people.
How has having a label backing you helped you out?
Working with Viper has always been awesome. They have really invested a lot in me and helped me develop so much as an artist over the years. The best thing about working with such a great label is the fact that I don't really have to worry about the business side of getting my music out to the people. I can trust them to do a good job of that so I can concentrate on writing the music.
What can we expect from you in the Future? any collaborations in mind?
Well my album will be out later this year/early next year on Viper recordings. There are several collaborations on there with Phetsta and my sister Reija Lee as well as a bunch of other vocalists. Getting the album finished is the main focus for me at the moment.
Cheers for taking the time to answer these questions, cant wait to see what you have in store for us in the future :)
Check SHOCKONE out at his SOUNDCLOUD or FACEBOOK :)
Also dont forget to check out the free stuff we are giving away to celebrate the release of ONELOVE's new album Dubstep Invastion vol 2, Remixed by Shockone and Glovecats
click click --- > GIVEAWAYS < --- click click
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