British house producer Curbi has made quite an impression in the dance music industry, with releases such as Hoohah, 51, Dishcarge and also an excellent EP titled ‘Fraternite EP’. We were lucky enough to interview him before his set at Vh1 Supersonic 2017 in Pune.
Check out the interview below:
EDMLI – This is your first time in India. How has it been to you till now?
Toby – Extremely excited man as well as very nervous. Actually its been amazing! It’s a great country but it’s very hot here!
EDMLI – What initially got you into producing music and specifically the new and upcoming sound which you’ve approached? How does it feel to be a part of this new wave?
Toby – When I was 7 years old I started playing the drums and that was like my main instrument but that was’t kind of enough for me and so i wanted to take it to the next level. Try to make a folk song and stuff like that. There’s this producer called as Darren Styles, he’s a hardstyle / hardcore producer from England, very close to where I live actually and so he got me into producing music if i go way back. But the guy who really inspired me to make something fresh and new was Oliver Heldens and his track ‘Gecko’ it was something different.
EDMLI – Can we expect a collaborating with Oliver Heldens in the future?
Toby – Hopefully yeah, We’ve talked about it a few months ago!
EDMLI – You’ve collaborated with Fox Stevenson for your hit track ‘Hoohah’. What draws the inspiration behind the track and how did you come about collaborating with him?
Toby – Actually we started that track at a Writing Session for Spinnin’ Records just out of Amsterdam. So he was there at this writing camp and we literally just got put into a room together (laughs). It was the first time I met him as well, I liked his music and we’re both British. So we got into the room and we were like yeah let’s make this track. So he has this like melodic but also this dubstep style and to combine that with my style we can make something really cool and then ‘Hoohah’ came out.
EDMLI – What do you do to relax in between studio time and gigs?
Toby – Ooh that’s a difficult question (laughs). I’m never really relaxed to be honest with you. When I’m home, I’m always making music there’s never a time that I’m off and it’s always flowing.
EDMLI – Your last solo release is ‘Red Point’. What exactly went into producing it and how did you come up with the track name?
Toby – The title ‘Red Point’ comes from the actual red point which is there on a track which is like very loud and my music’s like that so that track’s in the Red Point.
EDMLI – We know that you’ve already released an EP, can we expect an album in the future? What are your plans for 2017?
Toby – I think like I might do another EP and build these up into an album. I hope so. I’ve got a couple of solo releases planned for this year. A collab with Mesto which will come out in the next few months and a solo release before that which is supposed to come out in March.
EDMLI – What has been the coolest thing in your musical career uptil now? You’ve toured around alot of countries so what has been the coolest thing you’ve come about ?
Toby – I think playing in countries like these (India) and I’m not even just saying that I’m dead serious. It’s nice to be home and making music, travelling to the small countries in Europe and stuff like that but then when you go to like the full extreme of travelling all the way round the world and meeting new people on this side of the world it’s insane.
EDMLI – You’ve released a couple of remixes recently, one for Sidney Samson’s ‘Escape From Love’. What is the creative process involved while remixing a track and giving your own sound to it?
Toby – With that specific track I got the stems of that track from Eva Simons & Sidney Samson and it has really good vocals. If an original track has good vocals and I can work with it, then i can like implement my harder and energetic sound, and make it into a commercial kind of vocal track.
EDMLI – Have you thought about deviating from your original sound and creating aliases to release music in different genres?
Toby – No not at the moment. Like Oliver Heldens did it with HI-LO and it’s a really good idea but what I wanna do personally is focus on developing my own sound / style like you see I’ve experimented with ‘Hoohah’ which is a pretty melodious track. In the future I just wanna experiment with different genres but put my sound in it and keep developing my sound.
EDMLI – You’ve been touring alot lately. So how do you deal with Jet Lag?
Toby – Its a good question, I’ve never been asked that question before. Well I don’t really sleep that much anyway, when I’m home I’m always making music till like 5 in the morning and then waking up pretty late. So my sleeping pattern is quite messed up and if I have jet lag it’s just like sleeping stupid.
EDMLI – Alot of producers test their tracks on the live audiences. How do you road test your tracks?
Toby – Yeah I test my tracks Live quite alot but when I’m making the track I test it out on different systems, on my headphones, my speakers, my phone like literally everywhere and then once that’s done you have to test it out on the real big systems at the festivals and clubs and see it how it goes down.
EDMLI – Any message for your Indian fans? Any tips for the upcoming producers from India?
Toby – Well first of all I just wanna say a huge thank you to all my Indian fans. It’s been absolutely crazy being out here for 3 days, everyone’s shown me alot of support, they’ve been very loving. Some advice for the upcoming producers would be to try not to focus on one genre, like you have to focus on your own sound and try and work on that. Keep experimenting with different genres and keep on making new music!
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