A diet of Nitzer Ebb, Steely Dan,

and a liberal dose of drag queens

makes for one twisted individual.

Meet SUPERCHUMBO aka Tom Stephan

* * *

Dance music producer Tom Stephan – best known as Superchumbo – on the brink of release of his new artist album Wowiezowie shares with TWISTED’s Rob Di Stefano what is perhaps the only good reason anyone might be in this business: his love for it.

TWISTED: Give us the quick background on Tom Stephan, the boring but essential bits of one’s past. You got here, which means you came from somewhere.

TOM STEPHAN: I came from Olean, New York, a small, forgettable town in upstate New York which is not necessarily on most maps. I moved to London in 1991 to study film & cinema for six months. I cancelled my return flight and I’ve been here ever since. There was so much potential here. It was and still is the true inverse of Olean. London’s exciting, especially when you’re young. I wasn’t there more than a week when a fellow student in film school invited me to go see a concert by, as she explained it, her “friends.” “My friends are playing a concert. Do you wanna go? They’re kinda weird.” I said “Sounds like my thing. Who are they?” to which she replied “Maybe you heard of them. Nitzer Ebb?” They were my absolute favorite band at the time. So we went to the show and ultimately went backstage.

TW: That had to be an exciting moment. Did you get the feeling from that experience that you might want to be in the spotlight?

TOM: No…actually, I was shy and just stayed in the background. In fact, I may not have even have had the nerve to say hello then, though eventually, I got to know them. We’d go clubbing together, and I almost joined the band at one point.

TW: That’s a big jump from Olean. I don’t recall seeing your name on any of my old Nitzer Ebb albums. Guess it wasn’t meant to be?

TOM: Well, I went to the audition, but I didn’t know they were looking for a drummer not a keyboardist. I thought…”Well…there you go.”

TW: They heard you and said…

TOM: “There…you can go.” (laughs). Although I didn’t pass the audition, I ultimately took the job of babysitting Bon’s old Roland modular synth system when he was traveling with The Ebbs and needed someone to care for it.

TW: But it wasn’t your first brush with electronic music equipment, as you were in a band in high school…a DEVO cover band, right?

TOM: Close enough. DEVO turned me on to electronic music definitely. But the band I was in covered more Madonna than DEVO. Don’t forget, we were playing at High School dances in towns smaller than Olean.

TW: OK, moving along the timeline. You’re young, you’re in London, you’re babysitting electronics…a recipe for success. What happened next?

TOM: Around the same time I moved to London, my best friend from college moved to NYC. When I’d go home to see my family, I would come through NYC and would stay with Ed. One fall night, Ed dragged me to Sound Factory (ed: possibly New York’s most famous and influential club after Paradise Garage). I actually didn’t want to go. Living in London gave me an appreciation for the rave scene, so I was more interested in clubs and parties like Disco 2000 (of Party Monster/Michael Alig fame). But we went anyway. The first few hours I was spent watching these crazy club kids but I wasn’t really aware of the music. And then it happened. I heard my first DJ Pierre record. it was when Junior first played the song “Atom Bomb” that everything changed…lights, sound, mood. Junior would flash these white spotlights across the whole dancefloor. The hard music, the absence of color…it was the first time I saw the black & white side of music.

TW: So the change wasn’t in the music, it was in you?

TOM: It wasn’t really a change as much as a discovery, like “This is the music I spent my whole life searching for.” I started going to the Factory on every trip to NYC, even scheduling some just to go hear him in that room. I would plan my arrival to coincide with that Pierre, DJ Duke, Xpress II sound Junior was starting to make so famous in the underground. I’d come to New York, hear these records, go back to London and look for a scene that played this.

TW: And did you find it?

TOM: Not quite, but I clearly wasn’t alone in my appreciation of it. London DJs Tasty Tim and Phil Perry (of the now-legend Full Circle parties) were playing some cuts like Junior’s “X,” but there was nothing dedicated to that sound. That inspired me to start doing it myself. But before my conversion at the Sound Factory, I had zero respect for a DJ, only because I didn’t know or appreciate the culture behind it. I’d never stopped to think of it as an artistic option. Some of this surely came from my Father who, as a musician in the 70’s, saw the rising DJ as a threat to his career. Live music was pretty much standard at clubs and bars in Olean when I was a kid. That was just starting to change when I left.

TW: It truly was the turning point in our industry, when DJs started replacing live entertainment.

TOM: It was clearly a turning point in my life when I became interested in “the art of the mix.” I’d listen to Junior, and some of the things he would do with the music, and I couldn’t fathom what he was doing or how. It was a true revelation and I became obsessed with learning this new-found method of musical expression.

TW: When did you make your official debut as a DJ?

TOM: My first real gig in London was, hard to believe myself, opening for Danny Tenaglia at Ministry of Sound- although my name was left off the flyer! I had been hounding promoter Wayne Shires (another pioneer helping to advance the NYC underground sound in London) with mix tapes for months and suddenly he needed someone with a NYC sound to open for Danny. It was my break. Shortly after that, I started doing guest spots at Wayne’s Substation club, filling in for Cool Hands Luke or Antoine909. Before long, I was playing Tuesdays regularly.

TW: So those are your humble DJ beginnings, how about your debut as producer?

TOM: It was in September 1994 with the record “Filthy Hetero” on Manchester indie Flesh Records, run by Paul Cons from the Hacienda. It was my tribute to John Waters, who I love. I was calling myself DJ Tracy & Sharon, a nod to the quaint English phrase for “cheap girls” regrettably for anyone named Tracy or Sharon I suppose (laughs). It’s the British equivalent of Bridge & Tunnel. The first time I heard the expression I thought it was hilarious…even funnier if I were both Tracy and Sharon. My initials are “T.A.S.”

TW: Was there a second T&S release?

TOM: No, although I continued to use the name as a DJ, confusing everyone including the promoters who – when I turned up alone – always asked “are you Tracy or Sharon?” “Filthy Hetero” was used on my first compilation, 1994’s Just a Drag Queen, for Paris nightclub The Queen. It was loaded with the “bitch tracks” of the day. The early to mid 1990’s were the peak years for “bitch tracks,” which usually required the vocal performance of a drag queen who would “read” (i.e. bitch about) someone or something. The grooves were almost always great, and the vocals really made the songs fun. Artists like Roxy, Candy J, Franklin Fuentes, Robbie Tronco, Kevin Aviance were leaders in this sound. And Junior, with his core underground following in NYC’s most important gay afterhours club, made this sound famous.

TW: It was a big scene at the time, but there aren’t many of those fun and funny records being made these days.

TOM: Which is why I’ve done a couple of “bitch tracks” on Wowiezowie.

TW: A little education for the new generation of House fans?

TOM: Yeah, and a little nostalgia for me, I suppose.

TW: We talked a lot of your passion for Junior and the Sound Factory. But I know there’s another important “father” figure in your professional history. When did you first meet Danny Tenaglia?

TOM: It was at Queer Nation, at London’s Gardening Club. I had come with Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys and my friend Ed specifically to hear Danny. We knew of him, as did everyone, from his remix of “Surrender Yourself” by The Daou. I got to spend some time talking with Danny that night.

TW: Do you remember what you talked about?

TOM: Yeah, I do (chuckles)…the horn stabs in “Surrender Yourself.” He was telling me they were from MFSB’s “Love is the Message” (the 70’s Philly Soul classic). The only “Love is the Message” I knew was from Sheffield’s electro-techno act LFO. So, immediately I was getting an education from him. It was my admiration for Danny that led me to TRIBAL America, which I wanted desperately to record for. But TRIBAL closed before that happened. TWISTED being the natural successor to TRIBAL, I continued building my relationship with you and Danny, following TWISTED as closely as I did TRIBAL. My first Superchumbo release was the 1997 single “Get This.” Danny was playing my remix of Neneh Cherry’s “Kootchie.” I remember you saying to me, “Give me a track like this and I’ll release it.” So I thought, “I’ll give you this.” I stripped off the vocals, reworked the track a bit and eventually turned it into “Get This.”

TW: Was it well received?

TOM: When I heard Danny play it at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, I thought that is success to me. I started doing more and more remixes, many for TWISTED, which helped increase my profile. I’d remixed one of the Funky Green Dogs singles, and, as luck would have it, TWISTED’s re-release of DJ Pierre’s “Atom Bomb.”

TW: Your DJ career was really going strong, after years at Substation and later, London’s Crash. But it wasn’t until 2001 that you really grabbed people’s attention as a producer and remixer.

TOM: Right. “The Revolution” changed all that. It was my most successful record at the time, and is really where my recent career history, and path to Wowiezowie, begins. Shortly after “Rev,” I had made a mix of Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On” for my own use in gigs and sets. To me, the track sounded like a slowed-down, R&B version of the music I was playing. So I sped up her vocal, put some beats beneath it and the first time I played it out, I knew it was something special. Pete Tong was already championing a lot of my stuff, so I sent it to him and of course, one to Danny. Between the two, they made it popular enough to convince the label to give it a proper release.

TW: You say you like Missy Elliot’s work. Who are some of your other influences?

TOM: Obviously Pierre, Vasquez, and Tenaglia. Also X-Press II, Farley & Heller, and Cajmere. It’s not as though I’ve always played tons of Cajmere records, but I’ve been very inspired by him on more than one occasion. I love his jerky rhythms, and he’s more of a showman (e.g. Green Velvet) in different ways than the others who’ve influenced me. Outside of dance, I’ve recently developed a real appreciation for Steely Dan. I was shocked when I first realized that they’re on the “most played” list in my iPod. I think they balance out the rest of what I do. They’re super, hyper-musical. Their songs have more notes in 30 seconds than on possibly the entire Wowiezowie album (laughs). They used sounds in such different ways, always fluid, expanding and contracting.

TW: Name two of your favorite songs which illustrate the extremes in your tastes.

TOM: “The Look of Love” sung by Dusty Springfield and written by Burt Bacharach, from the film “Boys in the Band, and “Stainless Steel Providers” by Revolting Cocks. They’re both on my most played list. Can you get more extreme?

TW: Not without hurting yourself (laughs). Give us a peek at who Tom Stephan is beyond the music. Without this career, who would you be? Is there a second great passion in your life?

TOM: I was making music anyway, before people bought my records, before it was a career option. I came to London for a film career, pressured at that time in life when you’re pushed to make a decision. Although I loved film school, I wasn’t motivated to make films. But there is an undeniable drive, from somewhere inside me, to make music. Despite the problems in our industry and with pop music of today, I’m neither bored with music, nor making music. When making Wowiezowie, I was curious to see if I would run out of ideas. It didn’t happen. For me, the music is an outlet for something. It’s an extraordinary persona…Superchumbo.

TW: Like any quality artist, you use music to express yourself. How about lyrically? Are there messages in your songs?

TOM: I don’t think the dancefloor is any place for preaching. I don’t like “complaining” House records, with negative messages or all about the darkness, etc. This kind of music is about escaping to a better place. Even though it might be dark & twisted at times, it’s still supposed to be fun, and a fun place to be. House music isn’t about the blues; just the opposite. Perhaps that’s why I listen to Steely Dan or the Smiths. That’s where I get in touch with my blues. The lyrics on the album are more like mantras, something you can chant along with while dancing. The lyrics are just suggestions of a direction you can take, not strict instructions. I hope they’re open to many interpretations. Consider “Revolution,” I never meant it to be about a historical event or a specific action, but about the feeling when you’re on the verge of change. That’s a really exciting moment, when you’re just about to jump off.

TW: Is that what Wowiezowie is to you…a jumping-off point?

TOM: Yes, absolutely. Without complaining about the state of the industry which we all know is in a tough time, we are still here. And I still love making a record, playing it out, seeing and feeling the reaction big booming House music has on people, and Wowiezowie is my greatest effort to-date in that process. Recently, a young, new producer with TWISTED named Alex Santer heaped praise on me for my work. He said he grew up with my music and was inspired by my sound. I was totally flattered, because I’m actually quite a big fan of his. And after so many years of explaining my influences, it was a rewarding experience for me to be on the other side.

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