With his signature spritzy edm effervescence, resembling what you hear collecting your trophy after completing rainbow road, Wave Racer has been a staunch figure in future bass genre for a while now. His massive 'Flash Drive' Australian tour is up and running, blending penchants of jazz, chiptune, and R&B amongst some pretty varnished visuals. With a bunch of remixes and originals now under his belt, we've seen a common trend with indescribable sounds being coined loosely 'future' in the bass house realm. And who knows, that may very well be the most accurate way to describe him. The thing is, though, Wave Racer's music doesn't sound like any other producers either. We caught up with Australia's king of the console to set the record straight with genres and get an insight to the wave just keeps getting bigger.
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THUMP: The sounds of video game nostalgia run deep throughout your music. Where does this love affair stem from?
Wave Racer: I think with video games, it's kind of just the element of nostalgia is the most important part of that, and I think that's why I've been drawn to using those kinds of elements sometimes in my music. It's not really anything to do with a stylistic obsession or anything I have. It's just the way it makes me feel. I think I'm naturally drawn to those kinds of sounds just from the way that I feel about them. That's pretty much it. I think because I was younger me and my brother were obsessed with Mario Kart and playing Nintendo 64 and Playstation 2 and stuff. I guess I have some sort of ingrained element of that in my brain that is going to … It's never really going to escape me. When I think about fun and music and having a good time, I guess that just naturally comes to mindThe term "future sounds", I don't want to put you in that pigeonhole, but I guess there's a lot of people that refer to you as that? What are your thoughts?
A lot of people do make that reference. To be honest, I've never really fully understood what they mean, like what that term is actually referring to. I understand the need to categorise music and I get that. It's totally understandable thing. It's just that that particular one … I've never actually been able to grasp what the sound is supposed to represent. I've heard the term used to describe a variety of different styles and they're all very different with the stuff that is being used, the stuff that is being described that way. There's no real consistency between what people are calling future … For me, I mean, I can't really use the term myself because that would be a little bit presumptuous of me to say that I'm the "Future." I don't personally use the term, but I mean, I understand if people want to use that. Whatever makes people happy. I really don't mind. If people want to categorize my music the way that they want to for them to understand it and them to enjoy it, then that's fine with me. It's just … Yeah. It's not something I fully understand or would personally use.
Wave Racer: I think with video games, it's kind of just the element of nostalgia is the most important part of that, and I think that's why I've been drawn to using those kinds of elements sometimes in my music. It's not really anything to do with a stylistic obsession or anything I have. It's just the way it makes me feel. I think I'm naturally drawn to those kinds of sounds just from the way that I feel about them. That's pretty much it. I think because I was younger me and my brother were obsessed with Mario Kart and playing Nintendo 64 and Playstation 2 and stuff. I guess I have some sort of ingrained element of that in my brain that is going to … It's never really going to escape me. When I think about fun and music and having a good time, I guess that just naturally comes to mindThe term "future sounds", I don't want to put you in that pigeonhole, but I guess there's a lot of people that refer to you as that? What are your thoughts?
A lot of people do make that reference. To be honest, I've never really fully understood what they mean, like what that term is actually referring to. I understand the need to categorise music and I get that. It's totally understandable thing. It's just that that particular one … I've never actually been able to grasp what the sound is supposed to represent. I've heard the term used to describe a variety of different styles and they're all very different with the stuff that is being used, the stuff that is being described that way. There's no real consistency between what people are calling future … For me, I mean, I can't really use the term myself because that would be a little bit presumptuous of me to say that I'm the "Future." I don't personally use the term, but I mean, I understand if people want to use that. Whatever makes people happy. I really don't mind. If people want to categorize my music the way that they want to for them to understand it and them to enjoy it, then that's fine with me. It's just … Yeah. It's not something I fully understand or would personally use.
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What was it like working with Lido on "World Record". Was the collaboration done sort of remotely? Did you go over there or spend time together?
Lido was in Melbourne awhile back. The first time I ever met him, I was in Sydney, just for the record. Lido was over in Australia doing some work. I had met up with him because he was a big fan of my music and I was a big fan of his also. We met up and ended up getting some studio time in Melbourne because I was on tour there. I had a show there and he happened to be there at the same time, which is very lucky. Basically, we got in the studio. We nailed down a couple days in a little tiny studio room in Melbourne. At the time, all we did was come up with a few different ideas for songs that we could potentially collaborate on, that potentially we could turn into something down the track. They were definitely nowhere near finished when we made them in the studio. That's where the idea stemmed from, from those studio sessions. A long time passed and after I had been on tour in America and had worked on other things and done other music, I revisited this demo that we had from that studio session, which was on my hard drive. I went back and revisited that and kind of rekindled a love of what we had made that day. Basically from then … I was like, "I really want to put this on my EP. I'm going to try and finish this and get it done."I understand you were making music with Basenji, he's been one of your bros from way back, yeah?
Yeah. We went to highschool together, actually. I've known him since I was about twelve years old. We used to make music together under a different name Pablo J & The Lobsterettes and a totally different project. We were making, like, disco house … It was a bit self-restrictive because we were making just a very specific style of French disco house stuff … We were basically sampling old seventies disco records and pitching them up and putting a house beat under it, that was our mission statement. It was fun and it was really good, but this style of music could only take us so far. so we decided to move on to other projects, but yes. It was a good time. I learnt to do a lot of basic production skills during that time. Basenji was actually the one who introduced me to electronic music back when I was about sixteen. He was the one who showed me Daft Punk and Justice and stuff. I guess I owe it to him that I am now in the industry, I suppose.
Lido was in Melbourne awhile back. The first time I ever met him, I was in Sydney, just for the record. Lido was over in Australia doing some work. I had met up with him because he was a big fan of my music and I was a big fan of his also. We met up and ended up getting some studio time in Melbourne because I was on tour there. I had a show there and he happened to be there at the same time, which is very lucky. Basically, we got in the studio. We nailed down a couple days in a little tiny studio room in Melbourne. At the time, all we did was come up with a few different ideas for songs that we could potentially collaborate on, that potentially we could turn into something down the track. They were definitely nowhere near finished when we made them in the studio. That's where the idea stemmed from, from those studio sessions. A long time passed and after I had been on tour in America and had worked on other things and done other music, I revisited this demo that we had from that studio session, which was on my hard drive. I went back and revisited that and kind of rekindled a love of what we had made that day. Basically from then … I was like, "I really want to put this on my EP. I'm going to try and finish this and get it done."I understand you were making music with Basenji, he's been one of your bros from way back, yeah?
Yeah. We went to highschool together, actually. I've known him since I was about twelve years old. We used to make music together under a different name Pablo J & The Lobsterettes and a totally different project. We were making, like, disco house … It was a bit self-restrictive because we were making just a very specific style of French disco house stuff … We were basically sampling old seventies disco records and pitching them up and putting a house beat under it, that was our mission statement. It was fun and it was really good, but this style of music could only take us so far. so we decided to move on to other projects, but yes. It was a good time. I learnt to do a lot of basic production skills during that time. Basenji was actually the one who introduced me to electronic music back when I was about sixteen. He was the one who showed me Daft Punk and Justice and stuff. I guess I owe it to him that I am now in the industry, I suppose.
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You've sampled video games for some of your tracks and your synths sound like they pay homage to classic Nintendo video games. I guess, what's your favorite video game?
Wow. That's a really tough question to answer. I mean, in all honesty … I actually now don't play video games as much as I used to. I guess my favorite from when I was younger would have to be Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64 along with Mario Kart as well. There was another odd one which I was completely obsessed with on Playstation 2, Spider-Man 2. It was one of those video games they made to promote the film. It was just a really, really well made game I guess. The physics of it was amazing because you could fly around Manhattan using a web sling thing. It was just insanely fun … I played that for countless, countless hours. The Spider-Man one is not something that would be typically associated with video game nostalgia, but it's definitely one of my favorites.I thought you'd be more of an Ocarina of Time kind of guy?
That's a huge one. That would definitely be up there on my list of favorites as well, except unfortunately, at the time I was playing those games, I was a little bit too young to fully grasp the concept of the ocarina and I never quite finished it. It was a bit too difficult for me. Looking back now, it's an absolutely beautiful game, obviously. At the time, I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have.
Wow. That's a really tough question to answer. I mean, in all honesty … I actually now don't play video games as much as I used to. I guess my favorite from when I was younger would have to be Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64 along with Mario Kart as well. There was another odd one which I was completely obsessed with on Playstation 2, Spider-Man 2. It was one of those video games they made to promote the film. It was just a really, really well made game I guess. The physics of it was amazing because you could fly around Manhattan using a web sling thing. It was just insanely fun … I played that for countless, countless hours. The Spider-Man one is not something that would be typically associated with video game nostalgia, but it's definitely one of my favorites.I thought you'd be more of an Ocarina of Time kind of guy?
That's a huge one. That would definitely be up there on my list of favorites as well, except unfortunately, at the time I was playing those games, I was a little bit too young to fully grasp the concept of the ocarina and I never quite finished it. It was a bit too difficult for me. Looking back now, it's an absolutely beautiful game, obviously. At the time, I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have.
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Who's your go-to character for Smash Bros.?
Well, in the original one, I used to play with Kirby a lot and also, Captain Falcon.If you could go back and give yourself advice when starting out, what would you say to yourself?
I guess I would say, try not to overthink tiny insignificant details of your music and just focus on the music, the big picture of the music. Often I get caught up in details that are irrelevant and I think a lot of people sometimes do that when they're producing music as well. They get caught up in little tiny things that don't actually make a difference to the song or their career. Which I sometimes am guilty of as well, so I would probably warn myself. I'd be like, "Just think about the big picture more. Think about the song as a whole. Think about the concept of your project rather than how many beats your injecting or the length of your kick drum or whatever." Even though the details are important, it's more important to focus on the overall music side.I guess, now that you've made music and have played all over the world from tours to festivals, how does this affect your outlook moving forward?
Well, yeah. That's a good question. Moving forward, I'm actually most excited about focusing on my next project. I don't know what it's going to be yet. I don't know if it's going to be another EP or an album or what I'm going to do next, but as soon as I've finished this Australian tour coming up this month, I'm actually going to really pin down a few months of studio time and music writing time and try and get as many demos as possible out. I would actually like to make a full-length album.That's probably something I would really strive to achieve. This is an outlook that I've sort of gained from, like you said, playing festivals around the world and traveling a lot and doing a lot of touring. When you do that much traveling, you see how artists are playing, and playing alongside them you notice how much music there is and how much people consume music and how people appreciate it. I'd like to shape more of a concept around what it is I do as an artist and really make something that you can really sink your teeth into. Something that people can listen to at length. Obviously, my EP was a taster of that being a small four track. I'd like to take that even further and make a proper album. I guess that's what's next on my agenda. Whether it's this year or next year or when it's going to happen, I do not know, but hoping in the future that I will make that a reality.Speaking of Albums, do you have a regrettable Album obsession you had when you were growing up?
From when I was younger, I used to listen to a lot of CDs. I had Weird Al Yankovic CDs and loads of Muse and Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Green Day and stuff. Actually, for awhile, I was obsessed with Green Day, like "American Idiot" and "Bullet in a Bible", which was their live album. I was also very into Tool. I had their entire discography. I mean, I'm not sure if any of those are really that regrettable just because I never really feel guilty about the music that I listen to. I mean, maybe Green Day. Looking back now, Green Day was a little bit cooked.Tour dates:Friday November 27 // Howler // Melbourne VICWave Racer on Facebook // Twitter
Well, in the original one, I used to play with Kirby a lot and also, Captain Falcon.If you could go back and give yourself advice when starting out, what would you say to yourself?
I guess I would say, try not to overthink tiny insignificant details of your music and just focus on the music, the big picture of the music. Often I get caught up in details that are irrelevant and I think a lot of people sometimes do that when they're producing music as well. They get caught up in little tiny things that don't actually make a difference to the song or their career. Which I sometimes am guilty of as well, so I would probably warn myself. I'd be like, "Just think about the big picture more. Think about the song as a whole. Think about the concept of your project rather than how many beats your injecting or the length of your kick drum or whatever." Even though the details are important, it's more important to focus on the overall music side.I guess, now that you've made music and have played all over the world from tours to festivals, how does this affect your outlook moving forward?
Well, yeah. That's a good question. Moving forward, I'm actually most excited about focusing on my next project. I don't know what it's going to be yet. I don't know if it's going to be another EP or an album or what I'm going to do next, but as soon as I've finished this Australian tour coming up this month, I'm actually going to really pin down a few months of studio time and music writing time and try and get as many demos as possible out. I would actually like to make a full-length album.That's probably something I would really strive to achieve. This is an outlook that I've sort of gained from, like you said, playing festivals around the world and traveling a lot and doing a lot of touring. When you do that much traveling, you see how artists are playing, and playing alongside them you notice how much music there is and how much people consume music and how people appreciate it. I'd like to shape more of a concept around what it is I do as an artist and really make something that you can really sink your teeth into. Something that people can listen to at length. Obviously, my EP was a taster of that being a small four track. I'd like to take that even further and make a proper album. I guess that's what's next on my agenda. Whether it's this year or next year or when it's going to happen, I do not know, but hoping in the future that I will make that a reality.Speaking of Albums, do you have a regrettable Album obsession you had when you were growing up?
From when I was younger, I used to listen to a lot of CDs. I had Weird Al Yankovic CDs and loads of Muse and Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Green Day and stuff. Actually, for awhile, I was obsessed with Green Day, like "American Idiot" and "Bullet in a Bible", which was their live album. I was also very into Tool. I had their entire discography. I mean, I'm not sure if any of those are really that regrettable just because I never really feel guilty about the music that I listen to. I mean, maybe Green Day. Looking back now, Green Day was a little bit cooked.Tour dates:Friday November 27 // Howler // Melbourne VICWave Racer on Facebook // Twitter