Thomas Gold: Eyes Wide Open [Interview]

Thomas Gold is every EDM fans dream DJ and producer; a multi-dimensional artist who is equipped with all the tools for success in dance music. On one end of the spectrum, he is a talented producer with original tracks like ‘Marsch Marsch’, ‘Agora’, and ‘Alive’ under his belt. On the other end, he is a master DJ with skills behind the decks that are rare to come by.

Gold’s latest single, ‘Eyes Wide Open’, is another collaboration with Dirty South that has broken into the spotlight this week. Only 5 days after its release, the single has reached #4 on Beatport. However, it is not only original mixes that Thomas can cook up in the studio, it is his remixes and bootlegs as well. Set Fire To The Rain and Judas are his sure thing remixes while his bootlegs, also known as Thomas GoldLegs, are truly one of a kind. His live set from ‘Escape From Wonderland’ has been a unanimous fan favorite and he continues to impress the world with creative mixes.

At BassDownload, Thomas Gold is a personal favorite as we completely admire his work and trust him musically. In our interview Gold opens up about the production behind Eyes Wide Open, his relationship with Dirty South, his bootleg process, his live set from ‘Escape From Wonderland’, and his reaction to Simon Cowell’s ‘X-Factor for DJs’.

Thomas Gold & BDL

You’re kicking off 2012 with a US tour, how has that been so far, anything special in any cities?

I’ve been to Clifton in New Jersey, Toronto and London in Canada, Miami, Tallahassee, Boston and now New York. Tomorrow I am going on the Groove Cruise from Miami to the Bahamas. The tour has been really great so far – so much love. People are crazy – all the gigs have been fantastic. I can’t wait for the next tour already.

Lets get into your new single with Dirty South – Eyes Wide Open – broke into the Beatport chart and is already #4. Can you talk to me about how this song came to be?

Actually it’s a follow up to Alive, which we did together last summer. We had ideas flying around. It started with just an instrumental bootleg I did and Dirty South put the vocal on top. We were both playing this bootleg and we loved it. The vocals were just great and we loved it so much we decided to do a whole new track around it. We got back to the studio in Los Angeles for a couple of days. At then end we got this track done and we are more than happy, it is a great follow up. As you said, it just cracked Beatport Top 10 – Nothing better than that I am really excited about it.

This was a follow up to Alive in which you also collaborated with Dirty South? What is the relationship between you guys – inside the studio and out?

We are good friends meanwhile. We met for the first time February of last year. We stayed in touch and spoke. Any time we are free to chat we have some conversation and have some fun together. It is great to be in the studio with him because we have such great chemistry. We fit together quite well music wise. We go with the flow and its easy going. We have lots of fun.

In 2011 it was unanimous that the EDM fans favorite live set was your set from Escape From Wonderland. What was so special about that night and your set in particular?

The whole thing was very special to me. It was a huge thing and when I played there were 20,000 people in the tent. I was proud to play Size Matters with Steve again. In this set I tried to put together all the experiences and influences I had during the summer during all the festivals. I did a lot of new edits because I was so excited to play. I wanted to do something special so I put a lot of work into preparation of the set. I never would have expected to get so much feedback! There’s nothing better than that. That’s why I am doing it – to have fun and see people enjoying it.

On a similar note, you stopped by Sirius XM last week to drop a mix, how was that?

That was a special thing because I never did a live radio mix. It is a totally different atmosphere because there are no people and no dance floor. It is not at the high volume like at the club. It is just small speakers and a few people standing around – the engineer and the microphone guy. You don’t have the vibe of the club so you just have to get into it. In the beginning it was not that easy mixing tracks together because you don’t know if there’s anything missing without having a crowd. I played a couple of tracks I am not playing in my sets – some smoother stuff to show people what other tracks I really like.

Clearly, you’re more than talented when it comes to making bootlegs – I believe you’re even calling them Thomas GoldLegs now? What goes into a Thomas GoldLeg?

Sometimes a bootleg is quite easy to do. For me its not so much putting 2 tracks together. I am cutting tracks into pieces and rearranging them or reediting them. I love to sit in the studio and play around with a bunch of tracks just to see how they might fit into each other. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to do these edits because I see them as my own remix. I put a lot of effort into them and want to see them perfect. I test them out a lot and go back to the studio with the feedback I get and my own ideas to see what can be changed. I just want to play stuff for the people they have not heard anywhere else. These days you can just get tracks anywhere on the Internet like Beatport or wherever and everything is easily accessible. I just love to play around with these kinds of things – it is big fun.

The EDM landscape today makes it a lot easier for newcomers to enter. Who is a new producer that you expect to blow up this year?

I love the stuff Arty does a lot for example. There is a bunch of new guys like Matisse & Sadko who just released The Legend. I have a couple of demos lying around and I am waiting for some guys to pop up.

It was reported yesterday that Simon Cowell would be launching a new TV program, an X-Factor for DJs, on a mission to find the worlds greatest DJs. What do you think of this and where do you believe the worlds greatest DJs can really be found?

I think you will not find them on a commercial TV series that is motivated and driven by money. You can expect this kind of show to happen at certain times. It might be fun to see how it goes. I would rather say – a young DJ who is really looking for success in the business with a healthy career should not go and get wasted on this kind of TV show. You see with the singers – there is good talent there but most of them get thrown away after a year because they get a lot of hype and people don’t care too much. They get forced to do things they aren’t really into that they wont love. I would say for DJs who want to be in the DJ industry should try to make it step by step and send out demos. They should try to develop their own style and not be forced by a big TV show company.

It’s about that time of year again. Last year Miami Music Week you were introduced on the bill of Swedish House Mafia’s One Night Stand. What are your plans for Miami Music Week this year?

Actually there are a lot of things going on. Nothing is confirmed and I can’t talk about the plans yet. I am really excited about this year Miami Music Week. I can’t wait for it to happen.

So before you set off for this tour you were spending a lot of time in the studio. You even tweeted that you spent 17 hours in there on a single day. What have you been up to in the studio and what can we expect next?

I am working on a new remix for a very nice track. I spent all the time on that – time flies when I’m in the studio. Sometimes it happens that I am in the studio in the morning and I end up there until the next morning. Normally when I am in the studio I forget about everything else. People have to remind me to eat and drink something. 12-15 hours in the studio is normal. After a big studio session I am really happy.