Holic‘s Tomoki Tamura is a DJ, artist, producer, label boss, promoter and all round house head whose infectious love of the house music scene has seen both him and his Holic brand continue to develop and become an ever important fixture across the globe. With his Holic Trax label going from strength to strength and his Holic party about to celebrate its 8th birthday in London this weekend (Saturday 20th) with Rick Wade and Stuart Patterson as guests, LHM.com are pretty confident that there are many successful years ahead for Tomoki Tamura.
London House Music – Holic celebrate their 8th birthday at Trapeze Basement in London this Saturday but you were djing in London before you started the party. When did you move to London and what enticed you here? Please also tell us about your early club experiences in London.
Tomoki Tamura – I moved to London in 2005 to feel and experience european dance music and club culture. I was US house man when I was in Osaka and tried to get a feel for more European & UK house to influence my style of music. I did not know anyone when I arrived in London and went to a lot of parties to meet new people. My friend JADE is one the most important people to me, helping to start my DJ career in London. She showed me a lot of great London Underground House events, from some of biggest club nights to crazy secret open air parties. Young as I was, it was a very exciting time and I met many great people through her. Stuart Patterson was also one of these great people i met early on. After waking up on his sofa following an after party, this was my first time to meet him lol. Faith was one of the most important early club experiences for me. Faith DJs have a lot of respect for the history of US house while at same time they dig the latest sounds from Europe dance music, it was totally what I was about.
LHM – Holic began 8 years ago at The AKA (End) in London. Where has the party taken place since then and tell us about some of the best nights and djs you have had play.
TT – Yes we ran a monthly night at AKA on Thursday and it was amazing. Our first guest dj at AKA was actually Stuart Patterson and Spencer Parker so I am very happy to have him back for our 8 years party.
We had many great names at AKA, such as Andrew Weatherall, Xpress 2, Terry Farley, Recloose, Jimpster, Glimpse, Dan Berkson & James What but the best night for me was our closing party where I played the whole night from start to finish. I will never forget it, totally packed till the end and big queue at outside all night, it was Thursday,not a weekend! After The End/AKA closing, we have moved venues to East Village, 1001, taken over a secret warehouse, Fabric and more. I must say at 1001, we had a lot of good nights with labels like Dynamic (Solomun&Stiming), Robsoul (Phil Weeks& Chris Carrier) & New Canada (Adam Marshall & The Mole), also amazing & crazy NYE parties every year including Techno legend Juan Atkins for NYE party alongside Steve Bicknell’s Lost. That was a top night.
LHM – Holic Trax the label is now firmly established, how long has that been running and which artists have been releasing with you.
TT – Almost 3 years and over this time worked with great artists like Mr.G, Tuccillo, Chris Carrier, Rick Wade, Dan Curtin, Ekkohaus, Rufus, Sierra Sam, Burnski, Nightdrivers, Keita Sano, John Dimas, Djebali & more. I am very lucky that they have created a lot of wicked tracks for us.
LHM – You are now based in Berlin, how does the nightlife there compare to London?
TT – Berlin is top city like London, full of people who are up for parties every weekend and a lot of amazing clubs. I could say Berlin is less troubled by the council than London in respect of parties, it still has a sense of freedom. But it is changing day by day, with some clubs now having a few problems. We hope it won’t change too much.
LHM – You are of course Japenese. Do you head back there to play regularly and how is the club scene in Japan at the moment.
TT – Yes I have my residency at WOMB Tokyo so go back pretty often. We do not have many DJs, producer & labels who are well known in the world (but of course we have some of legends like Satoshi Tomiie,YMO). These days there we have a number of upcoming producers, DJs & labels working hard to push music out from Japan to the world market so we are hoping japanease house music will rock more over the years ahead. We have top international DJs playing every weekend in Tokyo like London, I could say we have strong culture for dance music.
LHM – It’s your 8th birthday celebrations this weekend, Friday Berlin, Saturday London and Sunday Barcelona. What can London expect?
TT – I will play B2B set with Stuart Patterson and both of us are proper House men so expect to hear me playing lots of lovely house music with him to close the party with happiness. Plus of course we have the Detroit master, Rick Wade playing too, something very exciting and can’t wait to hear what he will produce on the night.
For all information and tickets for Holic 8th Birthday with Rick Wade at Trapeze basement, click the ticket button below. Visit our mixes page for a stunning promo mix from Tomoki himself, exclusive to LHM.
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