Interview: Paul Thomas

Written by Remco on 28 January 2020 in Interviews
Interview: Paul Thomas
On January 31st, UV will hit 100 releases and for that occasion Trance Podium's Michelle Christiansen had a chat with UV head honcho Paul Thomas about what we can expect from that release and the celebration throughout February.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today and congrats on your 100th UV release coming out on the 31st of January! Tell us a little about what to expect.

We have the UV 100 compilation out on 31st January which is 35 of the best releases on UV across 2 separate mixes. I wanted to showcase some of the great music we have put out over the past 2 ½ years.

Then throughout February we have a total of 4 releases celebrating the milestone, a remix of 4 of our biggest releases from Grum, Olivier Giacomotto, Rafael Cerato & Morttagua   

What has gone into creating this 100th release?

An awful lot of time and effort has gone into it, selecting the right remixers for the tracks, making sure they are both inkeeping with the track they are remixing and also the right artist and sound for UV.

You've had huge success with your UV releases, with 20 Beatport top 10's! What are your thoughts on that?

I think it goes to show how much people love the music we put out. We are quite selective in what we release which I think people appreciate. They know that whatever we put out is going to be the best it can possibly be and I guess those Beatport figures reflect that.

How did UV come about and what direction do you see UV going in the next few years?

It actually came about by a chance meeting with Fadi from Aly & Fila backstage at a festival we were both playing in India. He mentioned to me he wanted to launch an underground progressive / melodic label. So I went home, sent him a load of my material. He emailed me to tell me he really loved the music so we arranged to meet in Amsterdam a few weeks later. I remember sitting there and Fadi telling me he would start the label with me, sign me to his agency, have me DJing at the Pyramids and do a collaboration with me. Usually when someone tells you they will do all these things in the music industry, they rarely happen! But Fadi did all of them for me within 6 months.

Let's talk about your FSOE UV radio show.

What's one (or some) of your favorite new tracks from your most recent show and why?

You know, there is so much amazing music in the melodic house / prog house / techno world right now, that I could do a 4 hour radio show every single week. It is just incredible how fresh and exciting the music and artists are in this scene. I love a lot of the music on Stil Vor Talent right now, tracks from Heerhorst, Lunar Plane, Teenage Mutants. Morttagua, Rafael Cerato & Fuenka are also names I’m playing lot of.

You've collaborated with a lot of amazing DJ's/producers. Is there anyone in particular that you haven't worked with but would hope to collaborate with someday?

I am asked this question a lot and I probably change my answer every time! Maybe Artbat right now.

Can you describe your sound and is there anyone in particular that has inspired you to take your music in that direction?

My sound is changing all the time and I do find it quite hard to explain, so I usually just say I play house music! I think the melodic techno, progressive, deep house genres all fit with each other pretty well and the best thing about this sound is there’s no expectations, people don’t want you to play music from a particular box. There’s no boundaries and that is what inspires me the most.

Is there one place that you haven't had the chance to play yet that you would hope to be able to play at someday?

I have never been to Australia, which is pretty crazy considering how well the scene is going there right now. But thankfully I’ll be heading there this year.

What else can you tell us about what UV has in store for 2020 (new releases, shows, etc)?

We just announced shows in Miami and Colombia in March. We have lots of other shows in the pipeline, including a special boat party series we will be doing. My vision with UV has always been to do shows in places that aren’t a conventional club that everyone else uses. I want people to come to a show and feel like they have been to something special, not just with the music we play, but with the surroundings too. So we launched a new boat party concept at Amsterdam last October which we will be touring around the world this year.

Thank you again for taking the time to talk with us today! Is there anything else you wanted to say to your fans before we go?

Just thank you for all the support you give me and UV. I have always said that UV belongs to the fans just as much as me and Aly & Fila, so thank you for joining us on this journey we are on.

For the tracklist and pre-order of 'UV 100' mixed by Paul Thomas click here.

 



Other News