INTERVIEW: Third Son chats about Stereo MCs and more…

Joseph Thomas Prince aka. Third Son has been making some waves of late. Despite his first official release ‘Dopamine’ dropping a mere four years ago, Third Son has appeared on notable record labels Sincopat, Sodai, and Kneaded Pains. His music is always executed perfectly while still honing in on his ability to transport this into an interesting and emotionally moving live context. Whether it be original or remixes, his productions are always laden with rich vintage synthesisers from his impressive studio collection. Third Son is returning to Australia this summer, hot off the tail of collaborating with Stereo MC’s on his latest single ‘Assimo‘ released on Skint Records. We caught up with the producer ahead of his Australian tour…

Hi Joseph, thank you for your time! You have quite a collection of hardware, what’s your most prized piece of gear?
At the moment it’s my modular setup. I recently bought a case and started building it up with various modules. It’s very quickly becoming an addiction.

You grew up studying piano and other more traditionally classical instruments; do you find yourself using a lot of your formal training and musical theory when producing the music you make now?

Maybe about 5% of it. It helps in developing an idea and general songwriting. Other than that, you’re better off just surrounding yourself with dance tracks and going to clubs. It took me a long time to understand how to make people dance, rather than just listen.

You released an EP earlier this year titled ‘Pieces Of Me Part 3’, when producing new music, do you often go back and listen to old work that you’ve produced for some kind of influence or consistency, or do you leave it in the past

I’m not really interested in the past when it comes to my discography anyway. I’m only really interested in making something fresh. 

You run your own label Polymath Records, what’s been the most challenging aspect of starting that business venture?

Time. Managing my time between that and making music, which is what my monkey brain always wants me doing. Using the reminders app on my phone has been revolutionary…

Is there an artist/musician who doesn’t necessarily produce techno or other dance genres, which heavily influences you?

I’m mainly influenced by non-dance music artists I think. Amon Tobin, Radiohead, Brian Eno. These guys were seminal to me.

Q6. Your most recent release ‘Assimo’ was in collaboration with Stereo MCs, do you enjoy working with others or do you find you work better independently?

I like to work in quite a particular way, but when a collaboration clicks, it’s rewarding. I had already made the bed track for Assimo (around a year ago now). Rob – one of the coolest dudes around – laid the vocals down in about an hour.

Q7. You’re about to return to Australia this summer, do you find Australian audiences receive your music differently than your usual European audiences?

I see them as very similar to European audiences. Switched on, passionate. Maybe even more so than mainland Europe as we’re spoilt over here. It’s become one of my favourite places to play for sure.

Tour dates
16th November: Revolver, Melbourne (FB event) 
17th November: Strawberry Fields Festival, Victoria 
18th November: Launceston, Tasmania 

His EP ‘Machine Love’ on 17 Steps is available for pre-order now…
https://www.beatport.com/release/machine-love-ep/2430988

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