There’s no rest for the eternally wicked as the globetrotter is planted in the studio when we catch up with him. The man behind blistering anthems like The Sun and Crucify Me is actually enjoying a rare weekend off from his typically hectic schedule to focus on his album. “Pretty much every weekend I’ve been somewhere in either England or Europe,” Thomas says with an underlying hint of tiredness in his voice. “It’s been a bit of a struggle trying to write the album and still keep playing at the weekend. I can’t really afford to stop doing shows at the moment, I’ve just gotta keep pushing it and building a profile over here.”
With the proverbial iron hot now is the time for ShockOne to strike. There are few places that have been free from his onslaught, from Eastern to Central Europe and everywhere in between. “I was in Russia a couple of months ago, that was an experience. I did this party about two hours outside of Moscow. That’s a bizarre country, you really feel like you’re somewhere different. I’ve been doing a lot of shows in Central Europe, there’s a really big scene in Austria, they’ve got a really great bass music scene. I did some shows in Germany, played a festival in Hungary a couple of weeks ago. Slovakia, Belgium, a lot of shows in France, kinda all over the place,” he says somewhat nonchalantly.
To sum it up, ShockOne has been a hell of a busy dude. “It’s been quite spread out over the whole of Europe where I’ve been doing shows.” Central and Western Europe have been two of the most vital markets in his global expansion, thanks to their appetite for that everlasting bass. “Dance music and particularly bass music at the moment is really healthy there, maybe more so than in the UK even, it seems like there’s more parties happening in Belgium and France and Austria compared to London. It’s all good though, as long as people are interested in your music and I’ve really found that lately.“
Those positive vibes plus the fact that there are more people to play to and gain as fans is what inspired Thomas pack up and head to London. Comparing the 22 million-plus population in Australia with the 738 million-plus population in Europe made the move a no-brainer. “It’s hard to be an electronic music artist and make a living touring in Australia because there’s just not that many big cities and you can’t keep playing the same clubs because people will get sick of you. Whereas with Europe you can literally be in a different country every weekend and you can do that all year and not go to the same city twice.”
Rather than just making a big decision on a whim, Thomas’ move to the UK was more calculated. “Before I moved I’d already done three tours over here, I definitely already had fans. I don’t think I could’ve moved if I didn’t already have a strong fanbase across Europe.” With a large base of fans established he was able to consistently line up multiple shows each week in short order. “I’ve been at it quite a while now and I think I’ve had a bigger fanbase and demographic in Europe than before I did in Australia, before anyone even knew who I was in Australia I had toured Europe twice because the style of music has always been bigger over here.”
Even with all the groundwork laid few can be prepared for the sheer enormity of the EDM scene in London. It was a climate and sub-culture that Thomas had to adjust to before diving straight in. “There is that London dance music scene and if you don’t know everyone it’s a bit harder to break into. It’s something I have to work on now that I’m living here.”
The dynamic DJ, however, is not overwhelmed and understands that he has to put in the hard yards to make it in such a bustling musical city. “So many genre-defining artists have come from London. Everything I do comes from London so it’s only natural you’ve gotta work a little bit harder to get noticed here.” Thomas sees this as his challenge to show and prove what he can do on a grand scale. “There’s so much of it and they’ve seen it all before. They had the drum and bass explosion in the late ‘90s, early 2000s so you’ve really gotta work that bit harder to excite people because they’ve got everything at their fingertips, so I think it really it is that small fish in a big pond thing in London.”
The motivation that type of environment has provided to Thomas has been invaluable to his career and growth as an artist. “I think it’s a great kick in the arse to motivate me and make me work even harder and push myself even further. It’s forced me to raise the benchmark for myself which is what I’m doing with this album at the moment. If it can’t match up with the best world there’s no point in putting it out in my opinion.”
As such, his debut studio album Universus lives up to its name and is truly international. Starting the recording process back in Perth two years ago things were put on hold for the move to London. With those European vibes in his system things began to really take shape. “I had to move everything over here and get into my creative flow, which took a couple of months and it was really hard because I was touring back and forth so much. I’d have about two then it’s like ‘fucking hell, I have to get back on the road again.’ So it’s hard to get continuity in your writing and that creative vibe happening.”
Once he got into the swing of things however everything started to click. “The move over here has probably made me reassess the album and the songs I was gonna put on before because like I said I’ve raised my standards again. There was some stuff from the past that wasn’t really cutting the mustard any more so I started to write something that was more new, a bit more current. Dance music is moving so fast now that a song I wrote a year ago could sound out-of-date. It’s been quite a mountain to climb but you definitely learn a lot about yourself as a producer.”
Much to the delight of his fans worldwide Thomas confirms that the album is about two tracks away from completion. Meanwhile his fans in Melbourne can expect a newer, bolder ShockOne when he hits Brown Alley. “I’ve been changing things up with a lot of different styles of music and being a bit braver in challenging the crowd.”
While it’s been almost a year since he made the big move he has been back and forth between Europe and Australia for tours and doesn’t feel that disconnected from his homeland. Making his last visit to Melbourne for Creamfields earlier this year he will be returning for a headline show at Brown Alley next Friday. “I’m really looking forward to getting back,” he says. “I love playing Brown Alley, it’s always such a sick vibe there. It’s also a really educated crowd, the crowd there know the tunes and are on the ball even when you drop something that’s not a total anthem and they are keen to hear new music, which unfortunately is rare now. So it’s great to have a crowd that is pumped for the newer sounds.”
Not stopping at Europe, the ShockOne revolution is also inching towards that new hot bed of dance music, America. The ‘land of opportunity’ could be fertile ground. “I’m looking at going over there in early 2013. Dubstep is blowing up over there, its fucking huge so that’s my next area to conquer.” Much like our native land the U.S. has for the most part been rock dominated throughout its musical history, something that is changing thanks to the dubstep invasion.“I think dubstep is starting to change things and once America gets on something they get on it 100%, they get fanatical and big things happen.”
BY ANDREW ‘HAZARD’ HICKEY
