It’s been in the works for some time, but in November we finally got the next Pythius album on Blackout Music, Turmoil, five years after he released his Descend LP. Though on the same label, expect something different. Touching the whole spectrum of drum and bass, he is showing us he can do more than pounding bass music. Turmoil represents three things in Pythius’ life: the state of this world, the journey of the album, and the chaos in someone’s head.
Fans of those heavy sounds don’t have to be worried though. The album is still getting a release on Blackout, and bassheads all know what that means: some incredible sound design to look forward to. We caught up with Pythius and talked about all things music, touring, and mental health, just like we did 5 years ago.
Congratulations on your second album! You’re releasing on Blackout Music once again. How well do you know the label by now?
It’s just a nice and familiar label. I’m from Utrecht, Blackout Music is from Utrecht. For as long as I’ve been in the scene, I’ve been going to the infamous Blackout Events at the Oude Gracht. Now as an artist, they’re giving me artistic freedom as well, they let me release a liquid track on a neurofunk label, because why not? That’s what I love about them.
How did I get to know the label? That’s a good story actually. One night I went partying in Utrecht, and I was at the same bar as Micha from Black Sun Empire. I was a little tipsy already, so I felt brave enough to walk up to him and introduce myself. I told him I made music too, and asked if I could send him some tunes. That’s how it all started, over some beers. Afterwards I got asked to open some Blackout events a couple of times.
At the time I was still studying at the Herman Brood Academie, a music academy in Utrecht, and at some point during my education, I had to look for an internship. You don’t want to know how many times I asked Blackout to do my internship at their label. So many times, they probably got sick of me at one point. But eventually they gave in. In the end I worked at Blackout for six years before becoming a full time musician.
One thing you love about Blackout is how they let you experiment with your sound. Is that something you want to take even further in the future?
Yeah that’s true. In July 2022 I released a double single called ‘All I Know/Byss’, which was awesome to do. It was nice to experiment with a different subgenre for once and it’s something I’d like to do more. Trying out new styles is important to me, I want to keep growing at all times. Because if you don’t grow, if you’re always doing the same stuff, no one’s gonna be happy with that. Well, maybe one group, the group that starts complaining if you try out something different, but maybe you don’t want that group to be happy because in the end they complain about everything.
It’s just, I don’t want to be tied to one specific subgenre. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always keep making harder drum and bass, but I want to broaden my horizon and my portfolio. I also like to listen to different subgenres, and I love playing surprise sets at events like Liquicity and High Tea. It’s nice to have the chance to play some completely different sets once in a while.
There are a lot of vocalists you’re featuring on your album, another new thing for you. Can you tell us more about that?
Yes! I’ve got two songs with REEBZ, ‘In My Head’ and ‘Erase Me’, a vocalist who does drum & bass vocals, but she’s also a metal vocalist. She was really cool to work with, because she has this really pretty high voice in the first part of ‘In My Head’ and then in the chorus she does her metal screams. ‘Erase Me’ also has quite the interesting origin story as I came up with this song using an AI powered vocal synthesizer. When I made this song using that AI tool it did sound good but it was just against my nature to release it. You can feel way more emotion and expression when a real person is singing it, so once again I hit up REEBZ to record the vocals. Because I had everything planned out already, that one went really smooth.
Coming back to using AI tools though, for ‘Arrival’ I used Uberduck, a text to speech website. It’s just easier to use that than to go looking for movie quotes or track samples, and then having someone knock on your door because you didn’t clear it correctly. It also gives me the chance to be way more creative, it gives me more freedom. I’m not dependent anymore on already existing quotes and samples, with their existing emotions and expressions.
Working with REEBZ gave us two metal tracks on Turmoil, whereas with Rhode as a vocalist you stayed true to your original sound, is that right?
Rhode is a Dutch vocalist I got to know because she has worked with IMANU, Buunshin, and The Caracal Project before. I worked with her for the track ‘Back To Life’, which I made together with Burr Oak. She made the vocals for it, and it went really smooth. I chose to work with her specifically because I love her jazzy sound, and I love how it contrasts with the heavy drop of the track. It makes everything a lot more intense and interesting.
And then with vocalists MVE and RIENK you seem to go in another, more liquid, direction.
They are both songs I wouldn’t normally make, but I had a lot of fun experimenting with the new sound. They are more liquid, and have way more emotion to them. It was a step out of my comfort zone, like a few of the songs on this album. This gave me a lot of inspiration because new subgenres bring new issues that I never had before while producing, and I had fun solving them. I guess it was nice to make something other than balls-to-the-wall heavy drum & bass for a change. With liquid D&B you have to make different choices. You can’t just keep every sound in the track, every note has its own meaning.
With the second album finally out, what’s next for you ?
I’ve got the taste for experimenting now! I’m still going to make heavy drum & bass, but I’ve got a lot of things I still want to try, maybe I’d even like to make more techno. It’s such an interesting genre. It’s a completely different scene and I think it’s quite hard to get big and break through. It seems like I’d have to put in a lot of time and effort to make it work. I love labels like Afterlife, so it would be awesome if I could work with them once. And I like metal as well! It’s such a nice genre, and because it’s a bit similar to neurofunk, the newer neurofunk at least, it’s a bit easier to write for me.
Is that why you have a second DJ name? On Instagram we saw you call yourself Tropical Hylke, is that right?
That’s right. But that name is more of a joke that started about 12 years ago, when I worked in a supermarket with friends. We joked about having a music collective with some other colleagues and called ourselves ‘The Golden Boys and Tropical Hylke’. For some work in progress stuff for different genres I use Tropical Hylke. When I was studying at the music academy and I made other things than drum and bass, I also used that name.
By the way, before I chose the name ‘Pythius’, I called myself DJ Fiets, which translates as DJ Bike. Not serious at all, and it didn’t get me anywhere either, thank god. But it was funny. Until half a year ago it was my voicemail, so when you called me up and I didn’t pick up, you would hear “Hello, DJ Fiets speaking”.
Next to writing music, you’re also touring a lot nowadays. How’s that going?
Yeah I’ve been travelling a lot. At the end of 2022 I had a few months where I was gone every weekend, which was a bit heavy, but also nice to do! It’s doable though, because I’m a full time musician now. After working for Blackout for six years I made the choice to become a full time musician. I could have chosen a better timing maybe, because a few months later covid started, but here we are and I’m still making music and playing shows.
I’m planning to play a lot of shows now that the album is released as well. It’s awesome to play out tunes from the album, let the people know it’s out and let them have a good time with it. On the 2nd of November we had our first release party in Basis, which was a lot of fun. It’s just nice to have the album finally out. And the fact of me having ADHD didn’t make it any easier. But we got there in the end!
And how do you, as an artist, cope with your ADHD?
Sometimes I just don’t. You try your best, learn to live with it, I guess. I’m also taking medication for it, which helps massively. I did notice a massive increase in productivity since I started taking it a while ago. I’m thankful I don’t have a high dose though, and I only take it if I have to do work.
And the thing is, the reason why I only started taking it not that long ago, was because I didn’t notice I was struggling with it, or at least I didn’t notice it that much. I think I just didn’t realise it, or maybe I was too stubborn, I don’t know. I did get a diagnosis 10 years ago, but I was always like ‘No, it’s stupid, I’m not struggling at all’, even though a lot of stuff in my life was one big chaos. Before covid it was easier to cope I think as well, because there was still a lot happening. But then with the lockdowns happening, everything stood still, and then you suddenly got a lot of ‘peace and quiet’. That’s when I really got to know myself, and that was the point where I had to admit to myself my ADHD was a lot harder to deal with than I had told myself before.
How did lockdown help with that process?
It was quite a journey. I did some therapy, took medication, went talking with people and then they teach you some coping mechanisms. Those really helped me to get stuff done, both professionally and personally. I’m happy the music scene is more openly talking about mental health nowadays, because it might help other people. Maybe there’s some people reading this, going through the same thing.
When playing shows, how does it affect you?
At shows I don’t really struggle with it, because there’s a lot happening. Actually, that’s not true, sometimes it can be a bit heavy. There was this one time a while ago, where I had just travelled for eight hours, and had to play a set after midnight. Well, then you arrive at the club, with no time to rest, with everyone being a bit tipsy already. At that moment I felt really tired and then it can be quite hard to be very social. But after an hour I got used to the vibe and I was feeling good, luckily.
Thank you for the chat! Any final thoughts?
I hope everyone will like the album as much as I had fun making it. I’m so thankful I get to do this every day, that I can make music all the time.
Follow Pythius: Soundcloud/X
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