Interviews
Brother Brooks opened for Topher Jones on Tuesday night. His set set the stage for Topher Jones to rock the house. We sat down with him a few days later and talked to him about his set, Aesias Finale and TekTak Music.
TF: You were brought on pretty late in the game. Was it difficult to have so little time to prepare?
I didn’t really have time to learn the in ands outs really. I just sort of had to put together a set that I knew was going to make the house to crazy before Topher Jones got on. They had told me there would a lot of indie music fans and Birmingham had sort of these indie nights and electro just sort of goes well with that. I practiced for like 2-3 hours each day. I just had it in my mind that it would be flawless; I didn’t want to let anyone down. I am a firm believer that you set yourself up for success so that’s what I did.
TF: What were your expectations for Cornerstone and your set?
I had heard from last year that it would be pretty energetic. I had watched some video of last year but it didn’t really prepare me for what these kids were like. They were just getting down all night long.
TF: What are you plans for your future in djing?
I think me and Kevin are going to start tag teaming more and more. I write music not only for Aesias Finale but for myself; which is completely different. It’s down tempo and breaky. And I was going to try to hit up places other then clubs. I want to play in places like bars and places that are really chilled where people just come and listen.
TF: What productions are you working on?
I have written my first album. It’s like 14 tracks and I am really just trying to get a title and such. As far as Aesias Finale goes, I tend to write faster then Kevin. Production sort of fuels my life a lot. And I mean a lot; I average 1 or 2 tracks per week. Even if they are really bad, I still finish them and lock them away in a vault that no one will see. But I need to finish them for myself.
TF: What is one technique or sound can you just not make a track without?
I don’t really like using the same thing over and over. I never want to be classified or gimmicked. I can make a list of people who do, but doing it well. But I do use a reverse crash with a “45 angle” ping pong delay on it. I manage to use that all the time and I tend to use the same structure for my intros and outros; it just makes it really easy to mix in and out of.
It has been a great year, I have really enjoyed Cornerstone. The people are really nice and it has a real underground feel I haven’t found else where, sort of a 1999/2000 feel.