Prins Thomas is responsible for a swag of the eclectic ‘space-disco’ sounds emanating from his homeland, Norway.
Thomas is producer DJ and remixer, for himself with his own releases, Way back in time, he started playing around as a DJ at a puerile age. Viewing it as an extension of his break-dancing efforts, Thomas began mixing hip hop, electro and the likes of Arthur Baker and Shep Pettibone. He then took up the bass and played in more bands than Norway has trees.
He joined forces with Hans-Peter Lindstrøm in 2003. They both have backgrounds in different Norwegian band projects, ranging from punk to gospel to heavy metal to folk and psychedelia, but they also shared a passion for collecting records and run their own labels Feedelity, Full Pupp and Internasjonal.
— Biography from Resident Advisor
Ronald Hajjar: You’re not a fan of genre tags, but you’re often labeled and pigeonholed under ‘space-disco’. How did that happen?
Prins Thomas: Personally I think as a dj, my job is to find music that excites me(and therefore my audience)despite of genres, not because it ticks some already decided boxes. I do understand the "industry's"need for these tags but having seen how it narrows down dj's willingness to take a risk by either dropping different tempos or mixing up different styles throughout a dj-set in favour of a streamlined, same-sounding 2 hour set I can't help to long back to the early 90's when a dj was forced to look everywhere for inspiration just because there wasn't enough music around to just play one style.
"Space Disco"I feel is just yet another one of these simplifying ways of describing something even I can't pinpoint. Whether I do a downtempo track or make a mechanical more techno sounding track it will still end up being called by it's predestined "Space Disco" name...
RH: Your latest release for Norwegian label, Smalltown Supersound celebrating 25 years is exquisite. We get 3 mixes, 81 tracks and a whole lot of genres. Tell us about that experience and how you’ve been supporting the Norwegian scene for years now
PT: First of all, thank you. The short story is that I've known Joakim for many years and around 10 years ago he asked me if I could do a mix-cd of the catalogue. Although I loved the label's output I felt there wasn't enough music available to choose from and that my knowledge of the full catalogue had some holes in it. It took me those years to get to know the music better and in the meantime Joakim's label also started to shift focus towards more dj-friendly sounds, not just jazz or experimental music The real fun in this project for me was to find ways of bridging these seeming gaps and possibly construct something new along the way. There's of course only a small percentage of the catalogue included in my mix and tons of stuff that either would not fit, so in the end this is only my take on it.
RH: You’ve been running your label, Full Pupp for over 10 years now. How did the label evolve through the years, and what are your plans for 2019?
PT: Full Pupp started as an outlet for my norwegian friends music. At the time the most typical way of releasing your music was to send it to some already established english or american label. My idea was that if we built something strong, showcasing norwegian talent on a norwegian label eventually the focus would more towards us and help us build our own scene. Todd Terje was the first artist releasing his debut release with us and the rest is history
RH: In the upcoming years, what aspect of your career would you want to focus on? Production, touring or label running?
PT: I don't really work with a long term plan but running the label can be at best be described as a time consuming hobby that doesn't pay, touring I guess will always be part of it besides being the bread-earner but as I'm growing older in this scene I feel the best way to represent what I do is by manifesting my ideas to the recorded medium. The rush of playing gigs usually only lasts for a day or 2 after the actual gig but what I make in the studio will live longer than me and for the better or worse be my legacy.