The producer- and dj-duo TOM & JAME is a team to watch. With their full time dedication and addiction to music, they already have evolved into a steady Dj act, performing around the globe. They have accomplished a big amount of highlights in their relatively young career.
Not only did they receive the amazing early support from the likes of Hardwell, Nicky Romero, David Guetta, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Martin Garrix, W&W and many others, but have also gained a big interest from major influential labels. In their first year being a duo, this resulted in doing an official remix for the worldwide hit of Martin Garrix and Jay Hardway’s ‘Wizard’ and scoring big releases like ‘Blazin’ on Spinnin’ records and ‘Combat’ on Hardwell’s imprint Revealed Recordings.
Hey, Tom & Jame! On July 31st, your last single “Ready” with Dannic was released. How did the track get to your fans?
We are absolutely happy with all the reactions. “Ready” was an attempt to make something fresh and we think the attempt was successful. Just like in the past, when we did “Clap” with Dannic, we mixed our styles with this project and the fans like it, so we are totally satisfied.
How did a collaboration with Dannic come about and how did you like working with him?
Well, we’ve been good friends for many years and are always sending new projects back and forth to each other. We already had a collaboration called “Clap” in 2015, so we thought it was time for a new track. It’s always cool to work with Daan because we get along very well. We always have fun during production.
People say Drop from Ready is a mix of Bigroom and Groove House. How would you describe the drop?
Yes, it’s a mix of different styles. We love to produce festival tracks but always try to build a good groove, because we want to see people dancing during our sets and not just jumping.
In parallel, a remix has been released on “David Guetta & Afrojack – Another Life”. The drop is very different from the usual tracks of you. How did such an innovation come about?
We always try something new to develop our sound. This time around, we wanted to produce a creative sound while staying with a certain “in-your-face” style. So we created a new lead sound for the remix. Later we decided to “chop” the sounds in the drop, which led to this unique groove.
Can we expect new tracks in this style or do you want to go back to your signature sound?
We like the sound we’ve done so far, so you’ll probably hear that again. But maybe in the future, sometimes in a different way. We have a lot of music at the start, which will come soon. Among other things, other sounds and tracks with new friends. Recently we have already published a collaboration with Mike Williams. That’s a cool mix of our styles. We combined his future sounds in the breakdown with our hard but funky sounds in the drop. That worked very well.
Most of your tracks will appear on Revealed Recordings. Do you know the label boss Hardwell personally and maybe a collaboration is planned?
Yes, we’ve known Hardwell for years. It’s always fun to spend time with him. A collaboration would be cool, so yes, that’s on our wish list.
People say Bigroom is threatened with extinction. You are a bigroom project, so what’s your opinion on this?
We think last year was a difficult year for most dance artists. The scene has changed a lot … many new styles have become established and a lot of artists have tried a new style. You can also see that at the festivals. Acts that are less dance-oriented and more of a kind of radio tracks have been able to make a name for themselves. We think that’s good. It provides many opportunities for producers to find their own style. What strikes us is that good club / festival music is therefore less. But it’s not easy to call Bigroom dead. We realize that the crowd still loves it, so we continue to do what we love and that’s dancefloor music.
Another controversial topic is the development of an EDM artist. One side says producers should stay with their signature sound. The other side says producers should try new sounds and develop themselves. What’s your opinion about …?
We think it’s very important for an artist to do what he really stands for. Finally, if you want to make the music you like and by trying new sounds, the sound can change. It’s good to keep evolving because nobody wants to listen to the same music over and over again. In addition, it is possible, despite a development continue to hold on to a signature sound. It’s not true, for example, that U2 or Coldplay have changed their sound dramatically in recent years, but you can say they’ve evolved their sound, right?
Let us go back to your beginnings. Tell us more about the story of Tom & Jame. How did this project come about?
We met back then because we both made music and liked each other’s music. So we sat down together in the studio, started making music and that never stopped.
Can you give us a fact from the music business that not many people know?
In addition to the full calendar a music label has, a lot of music being released is actually produced between half a year to a full year in advance. Put simply, today’s hits could also be called “old music”. Many people do not know that.
Now a little task for you. Rate the following eight chart hits, according to the criteria, how much you like these songs. Despacito, 2U, Mom, More Than You Know, Know You No, Know No Better, Pretty Girl, OK
1.More Than You Know -> a brilliant production
2.2U -> very well produced and sounds really fresh
3.Despacito -> a great song
4.Know No Better -> great piano and breakdown, the drop sounds a bit too much like the old stuff
5.There For You -> cool number
6.Mama -> we love the summery sounds
7.OK -> cool breakdown, but drop is way too boring
8.Pretty Girl -> not a nice drop
Name each three DJs and producers who have inspired you the most in recent years.
DJs: Dannic, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Hardwell
Producers: Skrillex, Axwell ^ Ingrosso, Don Diablo
Thank you for the interview! Do you have some last words to your German fans?
We’ve always liked the German fans. They are very dedicated and they love to party. We just played on the “New Horizons” festival and there were many Tom & Jame fans, which was wonderful to see. We hope we will be back soon!
https://soundcloud.com/tomandjame/tom-jame-yearmix-2017