Ital Tek: “I’ll never think that I know what I’m doing because if you do, you’ll never try different things”

That’s interesting. Where do you draw your influences and ideas from?

Historically I’ve always been inspired by going out and playing gigs and listening to leftfield club music really loud, that’s inspired one aspect of my music, the other side is that I have always been inspired by a wide range of other music; I’m into loads of bands, lots of classical music, lots film scores and find old video game music still inspires me too.

I think my music sort of meets in the middle of all of these influences somewhere. I’ve always wanted to take a melodic kind of approach where it also sounds good in headphones as well on a big Funktion One system. I think from taking some time out from being in clubs has influenced where I am going with my next record.

Do think getting exposure from a big label like Mu so young was a good thing for you developmentally speaking?

I certainly wouldn’t change it and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. There is something strange about listening back to the records I did like 8 years ago and thinking “what was I doing there” – there’s lots of people that are into them, but there’s something definitely weird and surreal about learning on the job. The tunes on my first EP that were the first tunes I had ever finished that I was happy with.  So I think it was a good thing. Stuff like ‘Cyclical’ seems like a lifetime ago and I look back on that time fondly. But despite that I’ll never think that I know what I’m doing because if you do, you’ll never try different things and you’ll never learn anything new.

Have you been playing out much recently?

I’ve been playing a select few shows. Last year I was doing more of the, every weekend club nights, twice a week type thing. This year, I’ve been playing more select one off events. I just played the Bangface Weekender and I’ve been playing in Europe a bit, just not in the UK much. I’ve been doing just enough to keep things ticking over where I’m happy with the shows im doing rather playing than just for the sake of it.

What is the difference between playing a club night and a festival?

I treat it all the same to be honest, I really don’t care! I play my own music when I play out so I’m not really a DJ, so I don’t really cater my set for the audience as such. I might tweak what I’m doing, you get a feeling of what’s working and what’s not – and there is scope to do that in a live set – but most of the time I just do my thing and hope that the promoter knows what I’m doing and that’s the reason they booked me.

You’re playing at Noisily this year, how do you think your music will go down with their audience?

I haven’t played too many gigs like Noisily; you know where they play such a wide range of electronica… But, once, I was booked at Glade on the Psy-Trance stage – it’s not a scene of music I know much about – but the crowds are really great and really open and receptive and I think that is more refreshing than, for example, going to play a show in London on a line-up of similar artists because sometimes the crowd are just ‘too cool’ as such, so I am really happy to be playing to such an open minded audience who just enjoy music! The experiences I have had at playing places like Noisily have always been great.

How likely are we to see you ‘mingle’ in the crowd?

Um, if I’m by myself I do tend to hang around backstage and stuff, but sometimes that’s a wasted opportunity so I do like to check out other bands and other artists. It’s nice when people come up and say “hey” and stuff.

Sometimes it’s a bit surreal if you go out and play a festival in Japan or somewhere and you just keep yourself to yourself and don’t talk to anyone else, it doesn’t seem real! So it’s nice to chat to the crowd.

Are you going to catch anyone else on the Noisily line-up?

It’s a good opportunity to see some of my friends that I haven’t seen play before. Some people who I share studio space with in Brighton  are going to be there– we are always hearing each other’s music through the walls – so I’m planning on seeing Atomic Drop who are my friends. I’ll definitely be catching them and few others like that.

We’ll look out for them. How do you play your tracks in a live setting?

I jam stems, some straight up DJing of my stuff; I play unfinished stuff, loops of things, and alternate versions of tracks. I play all my own stuff so you need some interlude-y stuff and tools to get from A to B in the set, so it’s a nice opportunity to play stuff that hasn’t necessarily made it to a record.

Will we get to hear anything new?

I’ll probably play a couple of the more ‘dance friendly’ tunes for want of a better phrase, but I’m intending on designing a new live show for when the album comes out and that will be a stand-alone performance which will be playing that album live rather than incorporating the tunes into my current set.

Sounds good to us. What else do you have coming up this year?

I’m focusing on finishing this record really, that’s pretty much everything at the moment. I’m undertaking some other projects as well, including some scoring work which will see the light of day later in the year, but I’m just taking my time with the album really.

You can catch Ital Tek live in the mix at this years edition of Noisily Festival alongside the likes of Stephan Bodzin, Victor Ruiz and Whyt Noyz July 9-12th. Tickets are available here