TA-KU INTERVIEW

“You’re the music maker, you’re the person they want because your music sounds this way or the other — that self belief again comes into play — knowing that you’re the product they want. Therefore you should call the shots…If they’re not down for it, then they’re not the right ones for ya.” They, are the record label executives and this is the hold-steady rationale of a man about to go from top of the underground to the bottom of the mainstream charts, then inevitably back up again. However glamourous this all looks to outsiders, Reggie ‘Ta-ku’ Mathews, a Perth born and bred super-producer remains down to earth and sensible about the fame-game that’s steadily creeping its way to him; last month New Era launched a ‘Ta-ku’ five panel hat in collaboration with the label, Well Dressed Vandals, Ta-ku humbly did an interview on YouTube and checked it off his to do list. Now, Australian record labels have come knocking, looking to cross Ta-ku over to radio. And no, he didn’t enter a talent contest or come to their attention by some drastic act — he’s actually quiet and shy. Instead, over the past few years he’s been working a demanding nine to five and making beats when he can, ‘after dinner and before bed’.

While everyone else runs around networking and partying, Ta-ku’s been at home, taking care of his mum and sister and making music as he felt the inspiration to. He’s built his brand releasing projects like his 50 Days For Dilla or giving away free downloads on SoundCloud – something he says he’ll do even after he signs to a label and cuts his first LP. Though little can be said right now about contracts and which company he’ll choose, I gather Ta-ku has more options than Kanye West explains he had on ‘Last Call’ at the end of the College Drop Out album. Not a bad place to be in at all. For now, as he decides which route to go with his career Ta-ku will drop Vol.II of his Re – Twerk project, which is described on the Vimeo promo video — ‘a banana and a gorilla have a stand off’. Despite the point every artist hopes for — to be able to quit their day job — arriving for Ta-ku nine months ago, he says he might actually want to keep it, so he can always stay balanced.

How do you visualize all your projects, do you keep a diary or is it more a visual mind map to keep on top of everything?
Thats probably a good way to put it, it’s all visual. I keep it all, so I know what’s due, because I do a lot of remix work as well I always use my iPhone or whatever, I have a good grasp of what needs to be done and how long it will take to finish.

It’s quite hard to ask you what’s next because you have a constant output of work but what’s a big thing your fans can look out for from you?
In the last couple of months I’ve been meeting up with a lot of record labels about releasing a proper LP so without saying too much I’m not sure who I’m going to go with definitely, but yeah it should be a pretty big one nationally — and make more tracks for the radio.

Okay, hypothetically, will you feature emcees, do you know who you’d feature yet?
Yeah I’d love to feature emcees – I’d probably only get two because the album will probably be like 12 – 14 tracks, half instrumental and half with vocalists. I wanted to get two female vocalists and two male singing vocalists and maybe two emcees so I know it’s a bit of reach but I’d love to get someone like Posdnuos from De La Soul, I know that’s a reach — but you said anyone so…

How was you recent trip to the States, I saw you play the Boiler Room…You didn’t real look that nervous there? (Our last interview, Ta-ku mentions how nervous he becomes when playing live DJ sets)
I think because there was a lot of brown people…

Oh really!
Yeah when I did the show in L.A there was a lot of Latinos, Filipinos, saw a few Samoan’s actually and yeah I felt at home and everyone was really easy going and quite into it. Those shows were really fun and yeah I had a great time. Like L.A the actual city is kind of too spread out for me. But the people in it, you know everyday people and my friends, it was really cool — a big part of the Boiler Room L.A is the people themselves, so yeah it was cool and a lot of fun.

How is your record label Sunday Records?
Sunday Records is going pretty well, like we had the Ta-ku and Kit Pop mixtape launch at Ezra Pound and that was really, really cool. A lot of people came out and showed a lot of love. Sunday Records for me is always going to be a project that I’m always sort of chipping away at when time permits me but definitely at the end of this year we’ll launch it properly with a bunch of releases. We actually have a lot of ideas too where we want to do a lot of events and stuff.

Who’s we?
So its myself mainly but I have a lot of other people helping me out like Justin or Kit Pop who does a lot of events. Then I also have a business partner who finances a lot of things — he runs Highs And Lows out here in Perth and also journalists who intern.

What artists can people look out for to come out of there?
There’s Carling Ruse [a female producer] and I think there needs to be more female producers because we’ve only got a few like Tokimonsta and that’s all I can actually think of off the top of my head but she’s actually got a lot of skill and a lot of soul in her music so she’s one to look out for.

So you’ve said in an RTR FM interview your favorite things are ‘music, food and haircuts’ can you say your favourite sounds, hairdresser and type of food to eat?
So my favourite food would probably be Japanese – any day of the week, the best hair dresser I’ve been to would be Cold Cuts in Tokyo and they probably do the best cuts — which is pretty ironic because I like Japanese food, it’s pretty cool. My favorite music right now would be this duo from Sweden called Quadron – I only found them recently but they make really cool electronic vibey music. They recently did a song with Kendrick Lamar which is a really cool collaboration — they’re on the top of my list right now for listening.

It’s been about a year since I spoke to you last, in that time have you noticed your music develop or change production or technique wise?
It’s definitely got a little bit more electronic, especially with the remixes I’m taking on. A lot of them are for indie-electronic bands or they’re for sometimes rock bands. But it’s been a lot of fun — yeah definitely a lot more electronic but I’m still making hip hip-hop at the same time.

I was wondering too, because there’s been a lot of decent interviews coming out of Red Bull lately how did attending the academy give you an advantage?
Going to Red Bull definitely opened my eyes, even though it was a while ago. It kind of opened my eyes to the different kind of music and sounds there are. It taught me the art of connecting with different artists and pretty much anyone that’s involved in the scene because sooner or later you’re going to bump into these people again or collaborate with them down the line. So Red Bull was a great experience for me and it actually helped me — it inspired me a lot.

How else does it benefit artists?
I think it would encourage you as well and also kind of push you, so it would really give you that drive. Getting accepted into Red Bull for me was a huge achievement and I saw it as a boost of confidence, like maybe my music is worth pursuing or maybe I should take a bit more time with it. I think you tend to appreciate yourself as an artist because you’d be kidding if you got accepted there and you still didn’t think you had what it took or what it takes to make something good out of your musical career.

Some people I’ve met in the last couple of months have said about you, not knowing that I’ve met you, that you don’t partying which equals why you’re able to have such a large and successful output of material into the music market… Do you agree with that idea or is it more than that?
Nah it’s way more than that. I do admit that I don’t go out as much as the average person, but I still go out every Friday, Sunday and Saturday night — you know that’s my weekend. I don’t want to spend time on my weekend in my bedroom [laughs]. But seriously it’s all about time management and your work space. So I feel like for any artist whether you’re a singer, producer, graphic designer — I don’t believe in Feng Shui —but I believe that if you have a really affective work space and a nice, formulaic way to work; everything’s there when you need it, you’re not having to wait for this and wait for that; or this is broken or this takes for ever to load up; then you’re work ethic can like boost 100% That’s where I’m at right now, I know I can go home and get a remix done within and hour and then I can go back and touch it up over the week. I’ve actually got a few coaching sessions for this website where it’s going to be streaming and they want me to talk about that. I’m actually looking forward to it because to me it’s like a fine art now with realizing what you got and getting the best out of it and you can use it in any parts of your life hey, like whatever you do.

What kinds of things will you advise as a producer for utilizing time wisely?
So I guess when you do remixes, I don’t know if you work in an environment where you can listen to music, I do… I always listen to the remix throughout the day and try and pick it apart and analyze it, even stems they send through. So you know, you can multi task these kind of things. If you have a record you want to sample and you’re a beat maker, you record that, put it in your iPhone and listen to it throughout the day so when you get home and you’ve got limited time you already know which parts to dissect and you can get busy. There’s other things as well, making sure you don’t sell yourself short or you don’t kind of take short cuts with music equipment — you don’t need the best equipment but I really think you need good monitors and a fast computer. Pretty much that’s all you need. Everything else you get through software but those two things will set you up I think.

What other achievements have you had lately where you’ve thought, ‘Yup — I’m on the right track?’
You know my email is ridiculous as of late — everyday there’s between 100-200 emails a day and it’s becoming ridiculous. Even though I’m still not doing shows I’ve aligned myself with a US booking agent an Australian booking agent and a European agent just so they can deplete my inbox a little bit. But it’s going to be an exciting year because a lot of major record labels have approached me wanting to either work with me and put a Ta-ku record or feature some of their artists. I can’t say too much in terms of names…

How does that feel man, because this is the dream?
Yeah it is. I’m just trying not to get too ahead of myself and trying to take my time because I’ve made a few mistakes in my musical career where I’ve taken the first offer without really thinking about it and feeling kind of ripped off afterwards.

Are you feeling like you’re coping in terms of pacing yourself?
Yeah, I feel like I’ve got it down to where I want it to be and without sounding arrogant, I also feel like I’m in the drivers seat. So I’m not going to let the pressure of so many opportunities get to me. I really just want to work on an album and then pitch it to a label. I don’t want to lock myself down if I don’t even have a product yet.

Do you foresee a point now in your future where you won’t have to have your day job?
Yeah like that point probably came probably nine months ago where I could have done it but I would have had to tour and made money of touring, similar to what Flume’s doing and Flume’s killing it right now and making money but I didn’t want to take that route. I’ve got a lot of family responsibilities here in Perth – I’m not really wanting to be a touring artist anyway, I want to be in the studio. But it’s finally coming to a point now, where I can quit my job without having to tour so I’m really happy. But I’m also just going to take my time still and keep my job until it’s all set in stone — but who knows I might want to keep my job for two days a week – I don’t know. I kind of like having the balance of a full time job and music not being everything to me. I feel like that’s why I can be so creative, because you come home from doing whatever you do in your job and you’re refreshed to do something different. I think if I was doing music 9-5 I don’t know if I’d be the same and that’s another thing I’m weary of too.

I’ve been trying to put my finger on what it is about you that you don’t just consume this whole high like other people would — you know like with all these things being offered to you, you steadily pace yourself instead of just jumping straight in and going, ‘Yuss! This is what I’ve wanted forever’ sort of thing.
I’ve thought about it a lot myself and growing up, you know, my parents were good to me — they split up and it was tough then —but I don’t think that contributes to the way I feel. I think my parents and family have always taught me to be very grounded because in the end these kind of offers are great, and money’s great as well, but my foundations are my family, friends. I’m religious a well so God’s very important to me. I feel that’s another aspect I bring in to [consideration] when I try and make any decisions.

Who in your life is your kind of rock, who do you talk to when you need a sound board?
I had a problem a couple of years ago where I’d try and do everything myself and I’m not talking about music, I’m talking about life in general and I was in a bad place. But I’ve learnt now to vocalize my feelings. I got two really good home boys Dan and Josh and one really good home girl, Thy, who I can pretty much talk to about anything. They don’t even have to say something, just the fact that someones there listening is pretty helpful.

What’s your favourite instrument you like to sample?
Piano, always. The 25 Nights For Nujabes I did that one because I love piano samples, I love chopping up piano — that’s probably my favorite.

Okay so last interview, you said you don’t really going out to clubs, but now you’ve returned from L.A it sounds like you don’t really mind going out lately?
Being in L.A was cool because a lot of them were my friends to begin with and they’re all really similar to me. Beat makers-they’re not the craziest of people you know when we do the show all we do afterwards is eat and talk — yeah it felt like being with family. I still go to gigs in Perth like I went to Cashmere Cat last week and everyone here is so chill — well unless you go to those crazy clubs. Even tonight with P-Money and David Dallas is going to be really chill.

Actually speaking of self belief, do you look back at how you’ve managed to make the industry come to you on your terms? Is that due to self belief?
Yeah definitely I think you have to believe what you want to do and stick to your guns because if you compromise too much, the end product is not going to be 100% And no one wants that, so I couldn’t be happier with the way my music is going and the love and response that I’m getting.

What’s your definition of Grindn’?
My definition of Grindin’ would have to be just always staying busy and I think people mistake the word ‘busy’ for always having a lot on their plate but that’s not what it is — I feel like always being busy is always dabbling in something, whether it’s new music to get inspiration, pretty much anything as long as you have a goal and you always keep yourself busy in that creative field. Having a balance and not over doing it, you can really get things done. And self belief I believe is really important.

Interview by Aleyna Martinez