This past Saturday at Mamby on the Beach in Chicago, EDM Chicago had the opportunity to sit down with Thomas Jack and talk about new music styles and where his sound is going in 2016. The Australian-born artist has taken the world by storm since he founded tropical house music, yet recently he has strayed away from that sound. Now, Thomas Jack is heading for new horizons by experimenting with new genres such as house music. Read our exclusive interview with Thomas Jack below.
What do you have in store for the Mamby crowd today?
Thomas Jack: I’ve got some old music and a lot of new stuff as well. I’m just going to see what the vibe is like, honestly I\’m not quite sure where the set will take me. Definitely a lot of summery and groovy stuff though.
So you come from Australia, and if I heard correctly, you worked on a farm. How did an Australian farm boy start making music and touring the world?
Thomas Jack: I started making music at home, and then that slowly started evolving. I was getting my name out, and people started liking the music more and more. Then I started getting bookings and I moved to America, and now we’re here.
What made you realize you wanted to make music?
Thomas Jack: I always just loved it. It always made me happy. I didn’t plan on doing it as a career or anything, it just happened, and I’m happy it did.
Who have you recently been drawing your inspiration from?
Thomas Jack: One of my main inspirations is Arthur Russel. He has always been one of my main influences. Some artists come and go for ideas, but it has always been him as my sole inspiration.
You coined the term “Tropical House\”, and as of recent, you have decided to create a new and more interesting sound that doesn’t necessarily fit under the tropical house genre. Tell me about that change and where you see your style of music going in the future.
Thomas Jack: I think everything to me was just becoming the same thing, and I get bored of doing the same thing. So when you do the same thing over and over again, you just get over it. For me, I love having a challenge and doing new things and experimenting with new styles. I always want to do more and more and more. I really felt like I was just done with Tropical House; I did as much as I possibly could, and now I just want to do different things.
Where do you see your style of music going?
Thomas Jack: At the moment it’s really house-y. I’ve been experimenting with lots of different styles to see which ones I like more. But really, I have no idea.
This year at Ultra Music Festival, I caught your performance at the Live Stage. What was it like for you playing live instruments? Do you think you’ll do it again anytime soon?
Thomas Jack: 100%, I will be doing that a lot more. I want to go way more into the live aspects, so having a live band with me. I jam with a lot of friends on the piano, guitar and bass, even the sax. We have a lot of fun doing that. I also think live music is such an important part of our culture. I want to be more of a part of that.
What is in store for Thomas Jack for the rest of 2016? Should we expect new music, an EP, an album?
Thomas Jack: A lot of new music. I’m doing these mix tapes again, but instead of tropical house I’m doing a once monthly mixtape of all of my original songs. Each will have about 9 or 10 songs. One is being released next week.
If you could give any up and coming artist some advice, what would it be?
Thomas Jack: Follow your heart. Don’t listen to anyone else. You can take peoples advice, but always do your own thing. That is what will give you success.
