Catching Up With: KLUTE

First finding his feet behind the drum kit of a punk band, Stupids, renowned drum & bass producer Tom Withers – probably better known as Klute – has always had somewhat of an individual outlook on his music. Along with the vibrancy and texture of his own d&b productions, his label, Commercial Suicide, is home to the work of people like Amit and SKC, producers who push boundaries within their chosen tempo(s). Never one to pull any punches his fascination for the intensity of thrash music and his keen ear for the weird and warped, has been encapsulated on his numerous releases to date, but with his new album, ‘Music For Prophet’ set to see a release at the end of this month and a slot lined up in Room Two this Friday we caught up with him to shoot the shit on his music and stuff…

He went the extra yard and compiled a Top 10 of his favourite punk albums too.

So, the new album’s nearly out. Care to give the low-down on it?
Well, it’s not quite out just yet, but almost. There’s a big chain of events involved with an album release, sometimes there are some weak links and things get delayed, nothing too serious this time, so we’re now going ahead with 26th July 2010. It’s a great album if I may say so myself, perhaps think of it as my ‘Exile on Main Street.’

This is now your sixth album to date; do you ever find yourself running out of ideas? How do you keep inspired?
To say that I never find making music difficult would be a lie and would indicate that I am a machine rather than a human musician. Ebbs and flows are part of nature so; yes sometimes inspiration feels like it’s gone for good. I think you'll find that it’s every creative’s worst nightmare. You just have to keep going to break through the brick wall, and then it comes flooding back.

A lot of people, including us, are very intrigued about the reforming of your punk band The Stupids. What anchored you in to getting back behind the drums?
For a few years now I’ve secretly fantasized about recording a hardcore/punk EP for fun. Coincidentally the original guitarist for the band got in contact and we started to play again. The chemistry was there and eventually we decided to record a new album and do some shows. It’s been great and we’re soooo much better than we ever were. Drumming and singing at the same time and talking to the crowd in between the songs is such a different experience to DJing, I love it. It makes we want to grab the mic during a DJ set and start abusing the crowd in between tunes. They’d love it!

So how has ‘The Kid’s Don’t Like It’ been doing?
It's been doing really well, I think people are blown away that we actually managed to reform and make a better album than ever.

Do the years of being immersed in drum & bass ever seep into your work with The Stupids?
Yes, I think so definitely. My drumming is much more "funky" if you can imagine that in the punk.

There’s a lot more movement in d&b than in punk rock, the crowds always dance whereas with rock they often just stand at the front and nod their heads. Back in the day it was the complete opposite. Stage diving; crowd surfing; the lot. How things have changed…

How do you find balancing tours with both The Stupids and yourself as Klute?
Well, last year it was tough, but great fun. This year so far I’ve had to set aside time to finish off the Klute album project and take it on the road. We'll be back for some more Stupids next year. I’m desperate to make another record.



Where are you going, tour-wise, with each name?
Klute will be going everywhere this year – in the last two months I’ve already been to Australia, New Zealand, Prague, Mexico, Budapest and Berlin. After that’s calmed down a little, The Stupids will finally get back out to Europe to tour extensively and also Japan.

And how does the atmosphere of a rock venue fare with that of a club?
As I said before, quite often rock crowds are a bit inert. That’s certainly not true all the time but I still find d&b crowds a lot more expressive and less self conscious. Who’d have thought!?

In a past interview you stated that it is a of part human nature to sub categorise; with genres being merged and submerged across the board, do you feel people, as a whole, have become more open to diversity in music throughout the years?
Yes I do think people have diversified in recent years, but I’m not entirely sure how much they are absorbing. From what I can see, people have lower attention spans in the advent of more choice and as a result they are exposed to more.



Back in the day it seems it was very stringent in terms of the music people listened to depending on the social group you were in; mods and rockers, punks and new-romantics etc. do you feel this same level of cultural categorising is evident today?
Definitely not, people seem to have morphed into a kind of grey slurry. We seemed to have individualized ourselves into nothing.

You’ve worked with a range of artists from all scopes, namely with John Tejada, whereby techno was the main course. Do you see yourself driving down any more 4/4 routes in the future?
Absolutely, I’m REALLy feeling the 4x4s again. I just got hold of Motu's BPM with the intent of getting crazy with the beats again.

Being such a forward thinking producer, how do you think the public generally perceive drum & bass?
I actually think a lot more people like drum &bass than they care to admit. As we discussed earlier, people aren’t finding themselves so defined by their cultures anymore and you find people who like Razorlight also like d&b, which is great. A few years ago, that was quite unheard of. All we have to do now is ween them off Razorlight......

What’s in the pipeline your Commercial Suicide label?
Gosh, there’s so much. Obviously there’s the 6th Klute album... we’ve also just dropped 2 superb Mindscape 12"s and the massive ‘Matchstick’ by Nymfo.

Next up will be 12"s from Amit, The Upbeats, Dom & Roland and something from Vicious Circle too.

There’s so much more to come and I’m real excited about what I’m going to do with 4x4 stuff too, so who knows what’s coming....

Finally, what subgenre title do you despise most in drum & bass?
mamamaMinimal.

KLUTE’S TOP TEN ESSENTIAL PUNK/METAL ALBUMS:

1. The Stranglers - Black and White
This was just about the first album I ever got and I love it. The tight rhythm section, the greatest bass sound known to man and just great rigid angular songs.



2. U.K. SUBS - Another Kind of Blues
Often overlooked due to their lack of arty pretentiousness, The Subs were one of the greatest punk bands of all time, great musical themes with a hint of the blues buried within their street punk vision.



3. DESCENDENTS - Milo Goes To College
From start to finish just amazing songs with themes you can directly relate to without having to pretend to care about war or vegetarianism. In my opinion this is one of the most influential American records ever.



4. DISCHARGE – Why
The original and best hardcore punk album. Hard as nails, there’s nothing else I can say.

5. BAD BRAINS - Roir Cassette
This list is starting to look rather clichéd but there’s a reason why people always pick things like this as the best ever, ‘cos it simply is. Forget anything else they ever did, this is the best, period.

6. SS DECONTROL - Get It Away
Not so much a great record in its own right but the best representation for an entire era of American music. This album is more about momentum and power than anything melodic or tuneful. Superb Pushead album artwork too.

7. RAMONES - Leave Home / Rocket To Russia
These 2 tie equal for me. Forget the first album, it’s just a gimmick, the second and third album is where the best stuff is. All the best songs to sing along to.

8. RITES OF SPRING - Rites of Spring
Even though they’re a bunch of pretentious c*nts this is an insanely good album. The proto-emo album if you like. Half of everyone involved went on to form Fugazi, a vastly over rated band.

9. STUPIDS - Peruvian Vacation / The Kids Don’t Like it
What list would be complete without shamelessly celebrating yourself? The first album because we were young, dumb and full of junk food and the latest one because it’s the best album we’ve ever made.... 100% middle-age angst. Watch this space for more.....

10. THE CARPENTERS - Close To You
What’s punker than being a lead singing female drummer and then starving yourself for da cause? Seriously, fronting a band in a pastel yellow evening gown makes anyone wearing skinny black jeans around their ankles look retarded. We need more Karen Carpenters in our lives. RIP.