Pre Halloween 2014 Interview With Black Tiger Sex Machine
How are you guys doing?
We are doing great! Just working on new tracks and getting ready for the tour in South Africa.
If we had to spend a day with you guys what would our day look like?
We'd probably spend the day working on music or managing our label, Kannibalen Records. Then maybe play some football, video games, watch a movie; that’s pretty much what we do here in Montreal!
This is a staple TIE question, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear South Africa?
Beaches, sharks, wildlife, nature!
1. Can you tell us a little more about who each one of you are when you not making music?
We are Patrick, Julien and Marc-André. When we are not making music we run our label, Kannibalen Records! We have respective backgrounds in Finance, Law and Online Marketing, but today we all live and breath music 24/7!
2. From our end it seems like you are just 3 guys who make music together. We almost sure there’s more to it. How did you meet and what led to the forming of Black Tiger Sex Machine?
Marc and Patrick have known each other since they were about 3 or 4 years old, and Julien came into the picture in high school, so we’ve all been friends for a really long time. We became interested in making music and DJing in 2007 because we loved electronic music, and BTSM started being formed in 2009
3. Now this interview would be complete without asking something about the name and the tiger masks. The name is pretty outrageous, what’s the story behind the name and the masks?
The name is just really a bunch of words put together that we thought sounded cool, kind of dark but also ridiculous and over-the-top. The masks were made by a friend of ours who studied industrial design. His name is Gabriel Hebert and he can make anything!
4. Music is a staple in our lives. What inspires you about the electronic music?
Just the pure energy is the foremost part that inspires us, the way it gets people moving and dancing. The fact that there are limitless possibilities in terms of sounds and styles is also really inspiring.
5. When producing how do you ensure you stay at the top of your game and put out music that grabs attention and is unique?
Just keep working and try to learn from other people. Luckily we have a lot of talented producers on our label and we all share tips, samples, programs, etc. That keeps us all up to speed and sharp.
6. The genre of BTSM is described as futuristic thriller. What does this mean?
We like making music that would fit on the soundtracks of weird sci-fi movies.
7. We sure all the geek out there would like to know what your studio set up is and how you guys go from idea to finished product?
Well, for the production, usually the projects start out on Patrick’s laptop on Ableton Live, with just some headphones and a midi keyboard. Then they move to Julien’s workstation which has some good speakers, and stuff happens there. Then it goes back and forth between everyone until we are satisfied. Nothing too unusual; we don’t really have crazy production gear.
For the live show, Marc takes care of structuring everything, and we practice at his place, where we have a lot of controllers, virtual drums, etc.
8. Your performances are part DJ set part live performance. How do you prepare for shows and what makes attending a BTSM show stand out? Any pre show rituals?
We prepare for shows by sacrificing a small child to our demon overlords. For real, we don’t really have any pre-show rituals. I guess putting on the helmets is kind of like a ritual that puts us in the proper mindset.
What makes a BTSM show stand out.. we aren’t just mixing tracks one after the other. We are combining stems, samples, live parts played on keyboards, etc. So it means every performance is unique. We also get to play a lot of unreleased material from our label.
9. Talking about shows you guys have a massive South Africa tour coming up. What are you most looking forward to and what can fans expect from the show?
Looking forward to just discovering South Africa because we hear it is an amazing place! Fans can expect to be battered by waves of energy and bass!
10. You playing in Johannesburg for a Halloween Party. Do you guys believe in ghosts and such, we think you do..
Maybe we are ghosts, from another dimension!
11. Everyone knows it mandatory to dress up on Halloween what are you going to be dressing up as this year?
We are dressing up as tiger robots!
12. BTSM not so long ago you guys released a track with Haezer. What do you think your first words to him will be when meeting him in person?
That’s a very good question, haven’t thought about that one yet. Any suggestions?
13. Are there another South African DJ/Producers you look forward to seeing or hope to work with in the future?
We don’t know that many South African artists besides Haezer. Maybe Die Antwoord? We need to educate ourselves more on the scene there.
14. How do you guys balance your time running a music label, touring, and producing is no easy task?
Definitely hard. We coordinate through Facebook chat, work on Google Drive for all our admin stuff. We kind of all have our respective areas we manage so between the three of us it’s not so bad.
15. Which words or phrases do you guys overuse?
Patrick: Ridiculous
Marc-Andre: Probably some business strategy related word, like convergence.
Julien: Saying happy trigger instead of trigger-happy, and using that expression all the time. Really annoying! jk
16. Name one thing your fans don’t know about you each of you.
Patrick doesn’t eat olives, Marc doesn't like horror movies and Julien doesn't eat cheese except on pizza.
17. Lastly, What has been the weirdest thing you guys have ever been told or asked?
Nothing comes to mind, our fans are just pretty cool for the most part! Although we do sometimes get weird messages on Facebook because some people think our page is some kind of porno thing. At one point a year or two ago we’d get likes from people who’s profile pics were all penises and stuff like that, but I think Facebook cracked down hard on those profiles so it doesn't happen as much.
Any last messages for all your fans put there?
Thanks for all the support!