Long Time Coming
“I knew from the very beginning that it wasn’t going to be just drum’n’bass. That said, I wasn’t really sure what other styles I’d have on it, to be honest."
Karl Thomas has been on the rise for years. Equipped with a solid pedigree from the outset, Thomas' work as drum'n'bass producer ShockOne arrived after years spent drumming for Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen's pre-Pendulum outfit Xygen. Upon release, 2009 debut EP ShockOne immediately established Thomas' alias as one of Australia's most promising drum'n'bass producers. So much so that, eventually – like Pendulum – he was forced to relocate to London to meet demand.
“Yeah, I've been living in London for nearly two years. It's been cool being over here. I could've stayed in Australia; but I it's given me a good kick in the arse,” Thomas laughs. “You know, when you're in London, you're surrounded by your peers. Everyone is making really incredible music. And that's motivating – both in the sense that you're surrounded by music and in the sense that it forces you to be better. If I don't work twelve hours in the studio each day, I feel lazy.”
For the past three years, Thomas has been working on his debut album as ShockOne. In that time, he's topped the iTunes Dance Charts with Chaos Theory, the Beatport Drum'n'Bass Charts with Crucify Me and racked up over a million plays on Youtube with Relapse – as well as earning the good favour of tastemakers like Zane Lowe and Annie Mac. Expectations for his eventual full-length are high, in other words.
“There was never a due date or a deadline. I always said I would put it out when I felt it was ready. Fortunately, I had a label that was willing to work with that,” Thomas says of the album's lengthy gestation. “In retrospect, I think one of the main reasons it took so long was because I just wasn't a good enough producer to the make the album I wanted to put out. You can only tell that in retrospect, though.”
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“I look back at my early ideas for the album now... You can tell I wasn't really there. Subconsciously, I think I knew that. That's why I kept pushing and held off so long. I wasn't going to put it out until I knew it was a good album and it was really at that A-grade level of production,” he explains. “I'm actually glad I took so long with it now. Now, I know I'm releasing an album I'm genuinely proud of and have no regrets about.”
Intriguingly, said album finds Thomas not so much continuing that rise as subverting it. Universus is not a standard drum'n'bass record. Make no mistake; such productions are present and accounted for – but they're also mere components of a much more eclectic whole. Having already dived into dubstep with cuts like Relapse and Polygon, ShockOne diversifies further on his debut album. Big Bounce, for example, owes as much to nu-skool breaks and electro as D'n'B.
“I knew from the very beginning that it wasn't going to be just drum'n'bass. That said, I wasn't really sure what other styles I'd have on it, to be honest. When I started the album, dubstep was really in its early stages. In the end, there's only one dubstep song on it,” Thomas reflects. “There's some electro tunes, some drum'n'bass tunes, a tune at 110BPM. It was never about ticking stylistic boxes or hitting certain sounds.”
“It was more about...” the producer struggles slightly. “Well, I'm always about writing a good song first. Whether that be at 110, 130, 140 or 175BPM. I don't set out to write a dubstep or drum'n'bass tune. I write what works for each song. And that's all I wanted for the album – a collection of good songs.”
ShockOne will be playing the following dates:
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