Some of you may not yet be familiar with his name, but it’s only a matter of time. The Dutchman Toman considers that it was in 2017, after his first international gig in Romania, that his career as a professional artist reached its turning point. This debut came alongside the Romanian Mihai Popoviciu and a few months later, Toman was already reaching big goals and playing in stages of the calibre of Awakenings. Some important Berlin clubs have already known the freshness of his rhythms. Other meccas of the party, such as Ibiza, are still on his list of dreams to be fulfilled. Although the greatest dream of all, he tells us, is “to share my music with the whole world”. Today we meet Toman, one of the most promising talents on the European tech scene.
“The most important thing is not to forget to enjoy it”, you said once. What % is joy and what % is seriousness -or even suffering- while playing?
Good question. For me the most important thing is balance. Lately, I’m travelling a lot, and this is new for me. I am trying to find out how to keep the balance between joy and seriousness. Weekends can be crazy: party, meeting a lot of new people and travelling can be exhausting. When I get home on Mondays, I take a step back. Meditation is something that really helps me. Without giving my mind a rest, I can’t enjoy what I’m doing.
In fact, your career is quite short for now, but you started doing music with some pans and pots in your kitchen a long time ago… Music has always been in you, hasn’t it?
As a kid, I often improvised my one-man-band. Pans and pots as drums, a piano toy, an air-guitar… I did it all. I started playing the drums when I was about 5 years old. Already after a few months, my teacher told my mother I was really talented. I played the drums for 7 years, but when I got older, I didn’t like to read music and just wanted to improvise and play around.
How did the story continue?
When I found out about FL Studio I started making my own hip hop beats. Again, just playing around and not really knowing how to finish a full track. A few years later, I found some tutorials on YouTube and learned the basics. When I was 16, I went clubbing and immediately knew I wanted to be a DJ. This was also the moment where I switched from hip hop to house music. At the same time, I started using Ableton Live and finally finished some tracks. After high school, I tried to study and work but always ended up with music. When I got accepted to the Herman Brood Academy (Electronic Music Producer), my life changed a lot. I finally found a place with like-minded people (Luna Ludmila, Luuk van Dijk, Colyn, Lewski, VNTM) where I could focus on music and find my own sound. I started playing my first local gigs then.
At what point would you say you realized music was definitely your path?
When my first release with Cyclic Records hit the Beatport Top-10. That gave me a huge boost. I got booked for my first international booking in Romania and I think my career started after that trip, which happened in 2017.
Cyclic Records is owned by Romania’s Mihai Popoviciu, which explains that first international gig. What’s your relationship with him? How did you end up releasing your first track on there?
I was a big fan of Mihai and the label and I liked every release. After months of working on that EP, I decided to send the demos to his email. I didn’t know him by that time. 2 days later he told me he loved the tracks and wanted to sign them to the label. This was a dream come true. After it hit #7 on Beatport, I got booked in his home country. I decided to stay a full week and Mihai invited me for dinner in his hometown. We spoke a lot about music and the scene and afterwards went to party with some of his friends. I kept sending music and did a few EP’s after that. Last summer we met again when we both played at Key Conference in Uruguay. He is still a big inspiration for me and I’m proud to say we played b2b with James Dexter at Fabric some days ago.
All that beginnings happened in 2017. 2 years later, you’ve already played at Awakenings. Such a quick growth…
2 years ago, people told me it can all go really fast. I didn’t understand what they meant. Now I definitely do. It was one of my biggest goals to play at Awakenings and something I was dreaming to happen after years and years of hard work. It’s still hard to believe and I will never get used to it.
Tell me about your birthplace and Amsterdam. I guess it’s a good place for a DJ to be based.
I was born in Alphen aan den Rijn, a small city next to Amsterdam. I moved to Amsterdam 3 years ago because of the music scene. It’s important to live near the heat. I see my friends from PIV and NO ART almost every week in the studio, for a nice dinner or a quick coffee. This keeps you going as DJ life can also be very lonely. I’m very happy to be surrounded by a nice crew.
The Netherlands is, in fact, one of the countries with a higher number of successful DJs & producers.
I think this has to do with our history in the electronic music scene. We have a lot of parties and festivals going on every weekend. It’s funny how often I meet Dutch people in different countries working in event production. There are also a lot of big companies in the business based in Holland.
Everybody considers Berlin the capital of electronic music in Europe, but its scene has moved towards much more industrial and dark music than the music you make. Maybe you’re more looking forward to playing, for example, in Ibiza?
You can say Berlin is more industrial and rawer, but I loved playing at Watergate or Sisyphos. To compare Berlin to Ibiza is impossible. I’ve been partying in Ibiza a couple of times but never played there. It’s definitely one of my next goals. But yeah, when I play in Berlin, I play a totally different set than what I’d play in Ibiza.
In general terms, how would you define your music?
In-between tech-house and deep house. Mostly happy and chill, but some of my releases can be more deep or hypnotic. I like the “Amsterdam sound” at the moment, which is uplifting with wonky basslines and a lot of chords and pads.
What gear and processes do you use to produce it?
I just use Ableton Live in the box. I use some VST’s as if they are hardware synths (recording them and processing the sample afterwards). Next to that, I use the Ableton Push for all my drums. The cool thing with the Push is the Scales section. You can select any scale and play only in the key you prefer. Sometimes, I record my own vocals or drums. I’m a big fan of the Arturia V Collection and Ultra Analog (Applied Acoustics).
What can we expect from your studio work in the upcoming months?
Next up is my solo EP with Drumma, which will be released 18 December. I also have some remixes planned. I can’t really tell you more about 2020, but I got something coming up with a very cool UK based label.
What about DJing? Any special gig you’re looking forward to?
I’m really looking forward to my Australia + New Zealand tour at the end of December. I played at Sydney’s SASH in July and the energy of the people was something else. It was winter back then, so I’m going to enjoy the summer during Christmas.
The last two: the best day of your career so far?
Playing at Awakenings Festival. It was one big dream come true. I remember going there every year and imagining standing on stage, playing my own tracks.
And your greatest goal yet to achieve?
Seeing people dance to my tracks around the world, signing vinyls in the booth, people singing the lyrics of my tracks. The most special feeling is to share my music with the world. This is a life goal.
(Cover Image: © Toman Press Kit)