Sometimes LWE suspects Prins Thomas is hiding a few extra sets of hands to keep up with the dozens of projects he’s juggling at any one time. The Norwegian super producer manages to find time to breathe and tend to a family between recording organic interstellar disko tunes, remixing everyone from Doves to Black Devil Disco Club, running the Full Pupp and Internasjonal labels, and DJing for rapt crowds around the world. Yet Thomas still had a moment to chat with LWE in anticipation of his appearance at NYC’s Electric Zoo festival, telling us about his forthcoming solo album, his jammy influences, and a tip or two for fighting jetlag/airplane boredom.

As something of a master of remixes, I wondered how you approached remixing and what your process is like. Do you develop a set idea before chopping things up or is it a more organic process? Is it important to you to keep many of the original elements or to maintain a similar vibe? Do you prefer remixing dance floor tracks or more rock/pop stuff, like Doves?

Prins Thomas: Well, I usually listen to the track over and over a few times before setting up anything. I sometimes just edit the original track to see what parts that can be extended then try out something based on the edit. I don’t like the usual remix approach of replacing all the elements with a different melody and just sticking the hook/vocals on top. Ideally the track has to be good in the first place and I often tend to stick with the old school mindset where you just add subtle things, percussion, maybe re-record a punchier bass line. I always work with the full multitrack masters laid out in front of me so basically I’ve got the original version as the starting point.As with everything else I’ve got periods where I like to shake things up a bit to keep myself sane and interested but I find it harder when remixing stuff like The Doves or basically any proper song than if I rework more housier stuff. Variety is good so the best balance is to work on many projects with different vibes at the same time.

What remixes did you most enjoy making? What about least? Why?

I enjoy most of them, I have to say. I don’t really do any remixes where I don’t like the track or at least have a good idea on what I wanna do from the beginning. It can be a pain in the ass if your ideas don’t gel immediately or working with too many channels at a time but then I just remind myself that at least I’m not working as a caseworker in the Norwegian immigration office anymore.

Tell me about your new album. Most of the LPs you’ve made so far have been in collaboration with others, so what was it like to have all that space to fill by yourself? What sort of sounds and methods were you going for, and how does it compare with your Lindstrom collaborations?

Ahh, the album… I’m still in the process of deciding if I should do it as a single or double CD, so it’s a bit frustrating actually. I had the same problem in the mixing period of me and HP’s album to where you don’t really have an overview until you’ve decided on a track selection and track order. Maybe we should try making shorter and more “arranged” songs, hahaha. I’ve been working on material for the album the last couple of years but it wasn’t until we finished the last album that I realized all the pieces I had recorded actually fit together and somewhat fell out of the ordinary 12″ type of stuff. I sometimes feel my tracks fall out of that category anyway though. I don’t really go into the studio with an idea of what I want to do. I just start by laying down some drums or maybe program a simple beat and fool around with synths and guitars until I’ve got something I find interesting. The biggest difference working alone is that I tend to work more groove based and play around more with effects than focus much on melodies at the first stage. Melodies usually comes up later, if at all. I guess I’m being inspired by some of the music I’ve listened to but there’s not been one single influence for me making this stuff and very little of it is dance music. I hope deep inside that in some mystic way some adventurous DJs will find something in there to play though.

Who are a few other musicians/artists with whom you’d like to collaborate? Is there a Prins Thomas dream team?

I’m actually very happy collaborating with myself. When working with somebody else the most important skill is just to bring something to the table. I recently had Colin The Mole in the studio a couple of days and we knocked out some fun little ideas which might come out at some point. That was a lot of fun and most of all because we’ve got different ways of working and obviously different ideas.

Tell me a bit about how the Live at Robert Johnson mix came together. Despite the title, I presume the mix was not done live; what was it like making a “live-feeling” mix while outside the club? Did it impact that track selection? With all the podcasts and live sets available online, what for you is the value of a mix CD?

I’ve had a sporadic residency at Robert Johnson for a couple of years now and Ata had an idea of showcasing some of the resident nights there. The mix was done live but in my studio, not the club, and I think we licensed something like 40-50 tracks for it so I could sit down and do it spontaneously instead of rehearsed. I tried as much as possible to reflect the stuff I play there but with a couple of filters added in: 1. You can’t license all the stuff you want and 2. You’ve got one hour to showcase your usually six or seven hour long set. The funny thing with the RJ CD is it was actually supposed to come out almost a year ago. I originally licensed something like 60 tracks and did the mix in a couple of hours at a club in Oslo; it was closed but some of the staff was hanging out sweeping the floors and checking stock etc. I sent the mix to Ata and he was super happy. They sent it of to mastering and they realized I had recorded it in mono. They told me I had to do it again but then I wanted to clear a new round of tracks instead of repeating the same mix. Only a couple of the originally cleared tracks actually made it on to the second mix, hahaha.

I know there was a “let’s jam” mindset to the II album, and you’ve cited it as well when discussing your own productions. Besides Hans-Peter, what sort of jammy music inspires you? What do you like about longer form music that isn’t as present in shorter tracks?

I think it’s just where my head has been the last years, exploring the groove and letting the tracks grow naturally as they roll along, which I guess sounds kinda hippie. The reason why the tracks end up so long is probably because I find it hard to chop away stuff that’s been recorded if I’ve listened a lot to the raw demos. Everything tends to become a crucial part to the track in my ears. the next step would definitely be to learn to structure tracks more and write proper songs ;). I tend to go back to the 60’s and 70’s for inspiration, for me a period with much more interesting sounds and experimentation than now. Santana, Can, Bohannon to name some names most people would know, or even the early 80’s where there was a lot of interesting blends of 70’s and 80’s studio technology like the early proto-house records.

What’s coming up from you, Full Pupp and Internasjonal over the next year’s time?

Way too much stuff! Hahahah. To start with Internasjonal, there’s a bunch lined up for mastering as we speak. Hunee, a second 12″ with The Mole’s new project Guilty Pleasures, The Main Stem from Birmingham, two 12″s with Al Usher’s old “Lullaby for Robert” with remixes from Bogdan Irkük, Mark Seven, Gatto Fritto and myself, Cole Medina’s “Red Hot” with a joint remix from me and Todd Terje, some things I can’t remember at the moment and some very secret and very interesting projects ;). On Full Pupp there’s a new 12″ from Magnus International, Marius VÃ¥reid, Jarle BrÃ¥then, Mental Overdrive, Ytre Rymden Dansskola with remixes from Frisvold & Lindbæk then another 12″ with a Bjørn Torske remix. An album by Ytre Rymden Dansskola just around the corner, albums in progress by Marius VÃ¥reid, Mental Overdrive, Magnus International and most likely another label compilation showing off our plans of world disko domination.

I’m currently also working on my own solo album for Full Pupp which sadly looks like a double cd release as I’m having a hard time cutting down the length of some tracks. There’s a bunch of material recorded with The Mole that might come out at some point, some more singles and possibly more album material with Hans-Peter, a compilation for a great little label and remixes of LCD Soundsystem, Nissenenmondai, Von SPar on Italic and Jacob Korn on Running Back to name a few. I’m currently working on a remix of Cerrone’s “Supernature” with Hans-Peter, solo I’m doing two mixes for a great new disco band in Brooklyn called Phenomenal Handclap Band, and I’m starting to work on one for Moebius & Neumeier which were in legendary Kraut bands Cluster, Harmonia and Guru Guru. There’s also one planned for Sly Mongoose which is coming out on on Ene Records in Japan later this year. Hans-Peter and Joakim from Smalltown Supersound is re-releasing an old prog rock record from an Norwegian guy called Alf Emil Eik and I’m working on what will likely be a double 12″ of versions for that. There’s a bunch more but these are what I can remember at the moment.

As someone who spends a lot of time traveling, I was wondering if you would share any travel/anti-jetlag tips? What do you do to keep from going crazy on all those plane rides?

I don’t really have any useful tips except drawing the line at the third whiskey;) Travelling is a necessary evil if you wanna get around; I try to think of the traveling as the actual work and then I entertain for free ;). Having a good book and a charged iPod helps cutting down on deadtime, the laptop I leave at home otherwise I’d be working non-stop. With a wife and kids besides a hectic studio schedule the only time I can really sit down with books is when I travel so it’s not all bad.