Groove Armada's Tom Findlay speaks to Skiddle

Jack Oughton caught up with Groove Armada's Tom Findlay ahead of their appearance at We Love… Space to talk about Lovebox, DJ gimmicks, and why football is the greatest thing ever invented by man.

Hi Tom. First things first, what got you into making music?

I'm just a music lover more than anything. Probably just playing in bad funk bands, and then meeting a sampler for the first time when I was about 18. 

What's the best gig you ever played?

The time that we headlined at Glastonbury. That was probably the high point of my career. 

Must have been a hell of an experience?

Amazing yeah. I've been back there since, but I just hope we get the chance to go there with a band at some point, or as DJs. It's one of those gigs that you really wanna smash, and I definitely felt we did, which is great. 

What's your favourite track that you've put out?

There's lots I quite like. Of the downtempo tracks, there's one called 'Hands of Time' which we did featuring an artist called Riche Havens. That's definitely a high point of the downtempo work. And for a more rocky thing, I suppose I'd pick 'Get Down'.

If you were to write an autobiography what would you title it?

Something like 'The Other Man'.  

What advice would you give to anyone looking to carve out a name in electronic music today? What was the best thing you did for your career?

I think that timing is really important, that said I'd hate to be trying to make a name for myself now. It seems to be harder and harder. There's so many more people around, people who seem to be incredibly talented, though there's certainly enough space for everybody.  

Basically it's doing all of the obvious things really, coming out with some sort of sound, and then trying to be true to it.  Producing popular artists. I think that if you are doing something slightly daft and then backing it up with quality, that's a good thing. So it's got that Deadmau5 combination of wearing a mouse's head and making good music. So you can get some piece of fancy dress like a big 'tache and then back it up with some kind of heavy techno... that could work. 

So having a gimmick can be good?

Yeah the music business is littered with people who just have a gimmick. But if you back it up with a little welly, you've got yourself a Deadmau5 

What was the first album you ever bought?

First album I can remember buying was probably Michael Jackson's Thriller. I really remember taking it home and popping it on. But I probably bought something like Sesame Street Fever. I did have that for quite some time before. It's sort of Sesame Street dressed up as characters from Saturday Night Fever. 

But the one that sticks is Thriller?

Yeah, more so. 

It was a hell of an album!

Yeah it's got like eight songs on my one. I was listening to it the other day. I was quite surprised by its excellent brevity. It comes in at like 38 minutes or something. Brilliant. 

Yeah in a few hundred years I think people will be talking about it. It'll be classical music...

Yeah totally, it's a massive record. It's not really got any bad songs, though it's got a duet with Paul McCartney, which isn't brilliant. But apart from that... 

What's the best part of being Groove Armada?

I think it's the things its allowed me to do. There was a kind of moment we got to in Groove Armada that was just a brilliant end in itself. And the touring, the gigs are cool, but being on the road with a group of mates that you just really love being with, it's great. It's like being on a huge extended holiday. Looking at it now, new doors have opened to stuff, opportunities to do things like Lovebox, which is a real labour of love. 

Well Lovebox seems to be doing really well, it's got a great reputation

Ah… the weather is so shocking, sometimes it doesn't matter how good the line-up is, or how great the site looks, it just pisses on you all the time. It can be a bit hard to raise your spirits. By Sunday this year, that was definitely the case. But next year is gonna be great, 10 years of Lovebox, so it's time for us to come out and make some noise with a great summer line-up. 

So I assume you are planning the next one already?

Yeah, some people seem to have already booked their line-ups. We're just very loosely planning it at the moment, like the vibe and who we'd like. But yeah, conversations are starting with agents and stuff now, so it's a game of cat and mouse that has started again, but never really stopped. 

What got you into producing music and events management?

Well we were in the middle of making an album called Lovebox. And a friend of ours had a license to Clapham Common for a day and asked us 'do you wanna go play a gig?' And we were like 'yeah let's do it, and call it Lovebox 'cos thats the album we're making'. So it was pretty much an accidental thing, and I'm one of those people who once he gets involved with something, finds it quite an exciting conundrum. I  want to see how to make it better. Like in producing music, it's a restless pursuit of perfection and that's what keeps me going. Same thing with Lovebox. Trying to make it better, you do it, you think 'Christ, if we'd just done that and that it would have been even better!' And I'll just keep doing that until I die, presumably. 

So it'll keep getting better, 'cos you're always working on it...

Yeah you never get to a point where you think 'that's it - that's the ultimate event'. It's a really lovely thing to do, playing shows, going to other festivals and seeing what they do, and don't do so well, and learning from it. 

What's your creative relationship like with Andy?

We don't really spend a huge amount of time together anymore, which in some ways is a good thing I think. We work quite separately, and we're trying to get more out of working together online, but I don't think it totally works. So we both work independently, and fire bits and pieces back and forth.  

Despite our grumblings about each other, there's a level of mutual respect, and whatever we both mutually like is usually the thing that tune or the set becomes. So I think without that you don't really have a working relationship. 

Yeah you gotta get some creative tension there right?

Yeah! And I think I'm now mature enough to realise that I'm not right all the time. It's only taken me 10 years to realise that.

OK, if you weren't a musician what would you be doing instead?

Well I'd like to say I'd be doing something really interesting, like being a football coach, which I used to do for a while. But probably I'd be a teacher. 

What would you teach?

I'd probably teach history and coach football like that bloke from that movie Kes. Shouting at children and living out my dreams. So maybe running a football team and teaching as a sideline. 

What do you see coming up in the future for Groove Armada?

We're quite into this place that we've found ourselves now. I'm pleased to be outside of the rat-race side of things, and not chasing playlists. Maybe we'll  go back into a bit more of just doing dance music, we're playing that game and feeling that, so that's fine. 

Time for some ridiculous questions!

OK 

If your music was a food, what would it be and why?

Hmmm... spaghetti bolognese. Because it's meaty and it's full of lots of good things. 

That is a very good analogy.

Thank you.

If you were an Egyptian God, what would you be?

I would be Isis. But only because it's the only one I've ever heard of. 

What's your favourite beverage. Alcoholic or not?

Probably alcoholic. Probably the first beer of the day. So it could be an ale one day and a lager the next. 

As long as it's timed to perfection?

Yeah and it can shift from day to day, wherever you are… 

If you were a computer game character which would you be and why?

I don't game much but I'd probably be Pac Man. Yeah, it's something to do with pills, but i've not made the connection yet. 

Ok, if you could have a pet mythical creature, which would you pick and why?

A pet mythical creature? I'd probably have a Pegasus, cos it'd be useful. It'd be quite good for sliding out of bad situations, like awful gigs where you've had enough. 

Yeah you could fly out the hell out of there.

Yeah, just leave immediately... 

All right, what is the greatest thing ever invented by man?

Ah there's so many amazing things we've done, but from my perspective, probably football. 

How come?

I think on every level its just a brilliantly invented game. You can't really make it any better. 

OK, last question - would you rather have four eyes or four legs and why?

I'd prefer to have four eyes. I'd stick a couple on the back of my head and then go for a combover. It'd be quite nice to occasionally have eyes on the back of your head. But I dunno where you'd put the other two legs without it looking really fucking odd. 

It'd be hard to retrofit them...

Yeah. I think the four eyes are definitely the way to go.

Interview: Jack Oughton

Catch Groove Armada at We Love Space... on September 18th. Tickets are availabe below. 

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