Music interview: T8PES

5 June 2018

A man with shirt dark hair and a serious expression, wearing a blue polo shirt, leaning forward slightly in a dimly lit setting. A cream coloured radiator can be seen in the background.

Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Birmingham artist T8PES to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
I’m from Birmingham, UK. I did the thing that many young people do when getting into music and formed a band at school. We were great in our eyes and probably terrible in almost everyone else’s.

I then didn’t do anything else musically really until I was 18 and bought a pair of decks and started DJ’ing. That was all born out of a passion I had for Rave music at a very early age.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Influences were extremely broad and varied growing up because my mom had a really eclectic CD collection, stuff like Steve Winwood, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Stevie Nicks, the list goes on and on.

And I also had this real deep love for Rave, Jungle and House, mainly due to my older brother being into that. Influences now go right through The Prodigy, MJ Cole, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Elbow, and great pop songwriters.

How would you describe your sound?
Old Skool Rave influenced Indie Garage Grime.

What is your latest single called and what was the influence behind it?
Debut single which is called ‘Flashback’. Influenced by 90’s clubbing culture and that feeling of togetherness that will never be recaptured.

What’s your local music scene like?
Thriving! Lots of great stuff coming out of Birmingham, particularly Grime & Hip Hop emcees. Also a real revival of the Indie scene in Birmingham which is fantastic.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months? Any albums or festivals?
More singles and videos to be released. Local live shows and then hopefully a tour / festival performances next year.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Sleaford Mods, Slaves, Skepta, Kano.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
On tour with someone who had a UK number 1 single, we managed to dare said person to ride down the street naked on a tiny tricycle.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
I’m passionate about vegan doughnuts!

You can find out more about T8PES via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok, Twitter or YouTube.