Tim “Love” Lee interview

 

How and when did Tummy Touch/ Tummy Touch Music Group come about?

Tummy Touch started out as a club night in Nottingham in about 1993 when I got fired from my regular “Acid Jazz” gig at The Box. The label came about quite by accident in 1996 after I’d moved to London. I had another label at the time, Peace Feast that was kind of dubbed out and trippy down tempo stuff. My buddy Tony Global had made a track for the label but it ended up being a totally uptempo filtered disco thing, which was kind of a new sound back then, so I had to start a brand new label for it. Since then we’ve expanded to be involved in Music Publishing, Artist & Catalogue Management and all sorts of other music related activities, hence the Tummy Touch Music Group – it pretty much covers everything I do during my waking hours.

Tell us about the new album ‘Fully Bearded’ and the idea behind it – any particular favourite tracks?

I’ve always been inspired by the way dub producers created new music by taking stuff away from a track, rather than adding to it or changing it entirely, and the totally unrestrained use of technology to really mess with the sounds. That’s always been part of my sound, both as a producer and a DJ, and I wanted to make it pretty clear to the outside world and the compilation seemed like the best vehicle for that. My favourite track on the album is “Dub One” from Bud Bongo as it’s one my first dubs and I still remember how much fun I was having, flying the mixing board like it was a 747 coming in to land.
 
What are your thoughts on the Vinyl vs. Digital debate?

I actually love to use the Pioneer CDJs, you can do so much fun stuff with them and they do sound pretty decent. Nothing beats the sound of a well pressed 12″ but nothing can ruin a good set quite like a badly pressed LP that’s feeding back and jumping all over the place. Not a fan of using a laptop though, that’s just not sexy – ask the ladies!
 
How do you approach production, do you have a favourite piece of studio equipment/ instrument?

I have a few starting points for my productions, depending on what I’m doing. My favourite approach is just plugging in the synths (especially the Macbeth Studio Systems M5) and fucking around for a couple of hours, that’ll usually take me somewhere pretty interesting!
 
The label is sponsoring the Music & Sound Awards. Tell us about it?

I’m hoping it means lots of free booze, but also a chance to get together with the advertising folk who are so important to nurturing new talent and getting new music heard these days.

http://tummytouch.com

 

New video for the Phenomenal Handclap Band’s first single on Tummy Touch…