Nash T is one of the future talents on the progressive scene. He is firmly clenching his teeth into life as a top producer! His productions are unique, driving through the depths of progression to combine with funky minimal nu skool breaks.with enthusiasm to succeed, we present an exclusive interview here on i:Vibes!

>Could you begin with giving us a bit about your background. Where you
were brought up, how you got into music ect.

"I was born in Yugoslavia in 1978. Moved to Australia in 89, when I was 11. Started developing a taste for electronic music from a fairly young age, after hearing some of those "Synthesizer Greatest" compilations - had stuff like Jean Michelle Jarre and Vangelis on them. That sort of "spacy" sound realy appealed to me.

I'll lay it on the line and say, NO Kraftwerk was NOT an influence ;) (i was too young, and after hearing well produced albums like oxygen, I couldn't quite appreciate the blips and blops of tunes like Trans Europe Express... :) )"


>To begin with you first released a trance track back in 1999. How
successful was this?

"Honestly, not very successful... I feel there are 3 reasons for this... first being a record label that did very litle promotion for the tune, and second, an A&R guy that forced me to remove that famous Martin Luther King sample which was the hook of the track. Funny enough, Simon did free at last 2 years later, and it was massive! Finally, hearing it today,the quality of the production left quite a bit to be desired..."



>Now you are producing deep progressive, What made you change the genre?
and in your opinion .. is it fitting with how music has progressed?


"Melbourne, Welcome 2001, John Digweed. That was the first time I had seen Diggers play, and wow, what can I say... that was close to a spiritual experience... I got home 2 days later and wrote "The Bell" (out on Vapour recordings) over the next week. Orca was the track written immediatly after that.. As for music progressing, yeah, at the time it was where progresive was headed, but looking the scene as a whole, I'm starting to notice cycles, especially in the progressive scene:

music gets dark and minimal, and eventually dissapears up its own ass... music gets a bit more melodic... music gets a little too melodic.. music gets cheezy... producers rebel, and start writing dark and minimal... (repeat ad-infintum)"

>The release of 'Orca' held much more of an underground approach, has
this reached the success you wished? has it lived up to the
expectations you set for it?

"When I write music I tend to not have any real expectations in terms of who will play it or chart it. I feel Orca has done extremely well for the genre of music it is. I think you'll find this with most producers, but it realy is all about the music (for the most part). Certainly for me, as I do the production thing aside from my real day job that pays the bills. Its just a bit of fun. For every Orca, there's 100 other tunes or idea tunes that never see the light of day."


>'Innate' was remix duty, his remix held the underground vibe but added
a more 'melodic' approach, do you feel it was important to slightly
vary the style on the flip?

"Absolutely. As a record label you want to reach as many potential customers as possible. The more variety you provide, the better perceived value your record is going to be :)"


>Last week saw the release of the second release for you on EQ Grey,
'The Dark'. It is of equal devastation, the style of these productions
has been described as "a state of mind located somewhere between the
upbeat darkness of Bedrock and the funky tech dynamics of Junkie XL"
(Stomp.com.au) is this a fair description from your point of view? how
would you describe it?

"Ahh... promotion talk ;) Orca and The Dark were both influenced by the funky / dark sounds at the time of writing. The Dark specifically was written at a time when I really dug producers like Nukem & Chab (and still do!) As for describing my style in general, thats very hard to pinpoint. At the moment I'm working on a number of different tunes. One day it may be Nu Skool Breaks, the next it might be Melodic progressive, or tribal stuff... So that quote is ambitious, but I guess it describes the Orca and The Dark just fine ;)"


>What is the music scene like in Australia? Is there a large demand for
progressive?

"In my city (Canberra), I feel there is a steady demand for progressive. It is a small city by any measure though, so having 300 people turn up for a progressive event is considered a successfull night. By far the biggest crowd puller at the moment here is the Nu Skool Breaks sound. Australia wide, it really is varied. Sydney for example tends to realy push the harder sounds and breaks, Brisbane is essentially known as a Hard House town (although a few Progressive Dj's have managed to emerge from there!), Melbourne (and I'm biased!) is very much a Progressive & Techno city. Perth is Drum'n Bass.. well you get the picture... The scenes realy are quite different."


'Bluephaze' is also another name you work under-what releases have you had under this guise? and how do these releases vary in style compared to that of 'Nash T'

"Bluephaze was my name for tracks released for Kasey Taylor's Vapour recordings. Stylistically, there isnt much difference, its more for Legal reasons that I've opted to use 2 names (as it is difficult to use the same name for 2 record lables). In fact, on the Nash T records, you may see that the originals are always followed by (Original Bluephaze Mix) From Bluephaze, out now is The Bell, which features mixes by Main Element and Ocean Wave. Coming up is a (what I believe to be my best work so far) tune called "What Is Music". This features a remix from Quest. (One half of Melbourne superstars Traveller & Quest). Its causing quite a stir on CDr."


>What is up and coming for you in the near months?

"At the moment I'm working on a remix for new Vapour Artist Chris Fraser. Also starting work on a few projects involving vocalists. So plenty of stuff to keep me occupied :P"

>Have you thought about plans beyond that? What you aims are? where you
want to go? what you want to achieve?ect

"Well, I'm plaining to be able to quit my day-job and earn a great living from DJ/Production work. It trully is my dream job. I guess only time will tell this though :) Hehehe Interview me in 2 years time...

Now, DJing:

I've been doing it 3 years in various clubs & parties around Canberra (captial of Aus). Over the last year I've held 2 weekly residencies, a saturday in a club with the ridiculous name "Habana" where I play right through the spectrum of progressive styles - especially the more tribal & dirty house sounds (no, not latin music). When I get into more rockin moods I tend to drop the occasional set of Finger Lickin style funky breaks just for good measure!

Also, I play a regular friday night gig at a popular lounge bar. House music reigns supreme here -> Labels like Naked Music, Glasgow Underground, Some really define the sound of these evenings...

I've also played almost all the major parties here... alongside acts as diverse as Ferry Corsten, DJ Misjah, Infusion, Bill Hamel . Gosh, I'm sounding just like my bio now.. I'll stop. :p


Phew, that was a mouthfull...hope its all good people!"

many thanks to Nash... we will be seeing a lot more from him in the near future.. if you havent picked up on the releases so far-do so.. "Orca" is one of the finest pieces of production ive heard in a while!

many thanks to Stomp also for the redirection:
http://www.stomp.com.au