Ticktock aka Sebastian Zieler is a part-Danish and part nominal British citizen, fusing analogue and digital sounds. His new EP ‘Fault Lines’ has just come out. We sat down for a very deep chat about all things techno, time and climbing trees.
http://soundcloud.com/ticktockgoestheclock/sets/fault-lines-ep/s-zu6he
Tell us a bit about yourself, how did it all begin for you?
I saw the Beatles on TV when I was 5 years old and I just thought ‘im going to do that’ and my parents signed me up for piano lessons the year after. It’s a bit more technical now with the business elements involved but it just feels like one long thing.
If you specifically mean Norwegian that was a project that started just as I was exiting my teens. I’ve been in bands throughout my teens and when my last band disbanded I just continued making music on my own and then got a bit more technical with the recording side of things. It then took a few years before everything was finished which then became Ticktock.
You are part Danish, has this influenced your sound at all?
I’m not really sure. I lived in England for most of my teens and didn’t really have any relationship whatsoever with the Danish music scene. I live in Copenhagen now, and it’s a vibrant and inspiring place. It’s tiny, so meeting the music scene is tight-knit with lots of people helping each other out, bouncing ideas off each other etc. So lately, it being where I live, I’m sure it has an influence, but I don’t feel as if my music belongs in or comes from any particular country.
Who do you listen to today? Who are your music inspirations now?
It might sound a bit indulgent but a lot of what I listen to now is music that my friends are making, there’s a collection now in London called Square Glass , and here in Copenhagen my friends are in a band called Battle, and Palace Winter there’s too many to mention. In the last two years ive really been listening to some tech stuff and its only recently I’ve started listening to songs again
Is there anything embarrassing on your playlist at the moment. Any artist you think ‘I really like them but really can’t Publicly talk about them’?
Haha.. I don’t think there’s any I consider embarrassing anymore. When I went to University in London we had to do a presentation about something that inspired us and I picked Destiny’s Child ‘Survivor’. It was meant to be funny and ironic but I ended up saying that they have had a massive influence on me and had to stick with this. The embarrassing element has stuck with me in the process. I keep coming back to ‘Don’t funk with my Heart’ by the Black Eyed Peas ‘that tracks super catchy’.
Is there a specific venue that you aspire to perform at or are you more about the Studio? What do you prefer
I don’t really have a preference but I have definitely done more recording than playing live but would love to go on a tour and play live for a sustained amount of time. I feel like the ‘live’ feeling is my favorite ‘ those Golden moments feel like a dream’. I would love to play at Fusion Festival, it’s such a special atmosphere
Who would you most like to Open up for you, supporting you on tour? Would it be someone in the realms of the ‘Beatles’ or an ‘Adele’ type?
It would be none of those big names as I would be absolutely terrified. I think it would be a great thing to do with a friends band, an exchange of favor’s.
If you weren’t Singing or busy being an Artist what would you be doing right now?
I think I would love to do chemistry and work with flavored texture design.. I would be the new Willy Wonker.. haha
A whole new world of sweets, I have an obsession with flavored textures.
Is there any genre of music you can’t stand to listen to?
Off the top of my head I can’t think of anything probably Country or really poppy grunge but otherwise there is a silver lining in all music. I don’t really identify with one style. It feels like more of a pick N’ Mix..( not to go back to sweets).
What hidden talents do you have apart from the Music thing? do you have a hidden talent we might not be aware of?
I’m really good at climbing trees.. ha-ha I can climb like a monkey I have no idea whether that would be surprising…
Tell us about the new EP ‘Fault Lines’ Out Now 4Th December
This EP came about really quickly! My first EP ( which no one’s ever heard) took years to make from a technical standpoint it was a learning curve. This one was a project with strict self-imposed deadlines. I had 2 months to do everything, including getting my friend Tommy to help with the final mix and getting the video together and stuff like that. It feels a lot more immediate. It feels like a more optimistic collection of songs than the last one. Sound wise it’s the first batch of songs I’ve really worked on since I started listening to techno so sound wise its crisper and more popping with chopped up defected genderless vocals, which are difficult to place. Check out the 3rd and 5TH Track these have the more warped vocals.
Just before we go Where did the name ticktock come from?
That names nearly 10 years old now. It came from when I was younger. I had an obsession with time when I was in my teens I had a weird perception of time. Time going fast or time going slow. We have these tight schedules and live by the clock. Technology which was meant to have given us more time has worked to do the opposite. My mum gave me a book at the time called ‘Tyranny of the Moment’, it feels a bit outdated to read it now but its how we live now. Tick Tock stuck ,I decided to keep the name, The name rather than my name it allows me to be a bit more flued.
Sebastian’s aka ticktock’s new EP FAULT LINES’is OUT NOW!
‘optinoptoutoptnot’ opens the EP on an unexpectedly low-key fashion, with the startling order “Punch it in my thigh, carry me to sea,” and‘Stripped of Reuptake Inhibitions’ marries a joyful almost calypso-like melody
