Friday, Feb 11, 2022 • 54min
DJ Tiga
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Tiga didn't have your average childhood. He was born in Canada but spent many of his first ten years in Goa, where his parents were part of a community of travellers with a love of all-night beach parties and spirituality. There, he discovered the joys of playing music to a crowd, and went on to become a world-famous, award-winning DJ. He's remixed songs from The xx, LCD Soundsystem, Scissor Sisters, Peaches, Moby, Depeche Mode and more.
In this episode we find out what happened when Ollie went to a rave and the police turned up, ask what it's like to change from a rule-free hippy child into a boarding school boy and discuss why your teenage years are the best times to make a few mistakes.
Tiga's ‘3am Questions’:
Favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell or Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
Favourite film - Bladerunner
Favourite song - Kiss by Prince
Follow us:
@OliverPhelps
@James_Phelps
@tiga
Keep sending your storytimes, questions and Did-You-Knows to normalnotnormalpodcast@gmail.com
New episodes every Friday! Find Normal Not Normal on YouTube too.
Normal Not Normal is a Stabl production.
Produced by Alice Homewood and Kate White
Music: 'Not Normal' by Sebastian Forslund
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Talking about
Speakers
(3)
Tiga
James Phelps
Oliver Phelps
Transcript
Verified
Break
James Phelps
00:29
Hola, bonjour, ni hao, guten tag.
Share
00:41
Hello everybody. I'm James Phelps and that's my brother Oliver and welcome to the "Normal Not Normal" podcast.
Share
Oliver Phelps
00:46
That's correct. And in this series, we're talking some of our favorite people to find out what normal means to them. And we're asking the question, "Does normal even exist? "And today's guest is an award winning DJ and producer who didn't exactly have a normal childhood, but we'll get to that a bit later.
Share
James Phelps
01:02
That's right,
Tiga
has been making music since the'90s. He's remixed huge tracts for The XX,
LCD Sound System
, Scissor Sisters,
Moby
and Justice
. And more recently he hosted his own podcast, the "First/Last Party On Earth", which asked maitre DJs like Mark Ronson
, Diplo
, Annie Mac
and Pete Tong
to choose their favorite tracks.Share
Oliver Phelps
01:24
Now, we haven't had many musicians on this podcast apart from
Ed Sheeran
and Nat Tena
, so we're looking forward to ask him about his creative process and how it feels to put the perfect track together and make a crowd go absolutely wild. I've always wanted to do that.Share
James Phelps
01:41
Very much so. Little did you know, actually,
Olive
and I are actually both big Dance Music
Fans. So we're looking forward to speaking to Tiga
and seeing how this kind of music is made as well. So with all that being said, here is Tiga
.Share
Oliver Phelps
01:58
Tiga
, thank you so much for joining us today! How are you? How are you getting on?Share
Tiga
02:02
I'm pretty good. Yeah, I'm really happy to be here. I'm happy to have a conversation.
Share
Oliver Phelps
02:06
It's definitely, I'm getting go to be honest. I'm getting background envy at the moment I noticed that yourself and James has got a lot of pictures in the background and I've just got like a blank wall. So yeah, I might have to try and work something out.
Share
Tiga
02:17
Yeah, he has a guitar and a telescope, which is like central casting. It's like "Quick, quick make it look interesting! A telescope and guitar! "
Share
James Phelps
02:29
And a Lego. Just proving my real game today.
Share
Oliver Phelps
02:30
Oh, you have a Lego too.
Share
James Phelps
02:33
But,
Tiga
thank you so much for joining us today. Now we know that you've been deejaying since you were really young, but you're also a producer, you do great podcast. Can you give us a sense of what your average week or your normal week would look like?Share
Tiga
02:47
Well, pre
Covid
, I mean, I was, yeah, I was deejaying since I'm about 17 years old. And so I spent probably 2 or 3 nights of every week at parties, when I was starting out, that was in Montreal
. And then as I got older, once I hit my, I guess mid 20s, it was international.Share
03:04
So my average week was spent on airplanes, airports, parties and then, which all seems very, very exciting and romantic right now, from where I'm sitting, I can't really believe it happened. But yeah, so that was every week and then midweek would be either studio work. So making records, producing records, running a record label and all that kind of business and admin stuff that comes with that.
Share
03:29
Now in the modern era, I guess it's mostly the same without the traveling and the parties. So it's the same without the fun, just take the fun out of it. No, I mean, I've had a lot of time to do a lot of other things that were always on my list. And so yeah, there's a lot of reading and going through records and working on music and stuff like that.
Share
James Phelps
03:56
When you're playing to that crowd. How do you know, I've always wondered this with DJs, how do you know when a track is going to work? Like before you even play it for the first time, for example. Like, do you demo it to friends or do you just know that's certain if you put a certain track in your set, you know that will work.
Share
Tiga
04:14
Yeah, that's a good question. If the one thing you have after a lifetime of doing what I have, that all 10,000 hours thing, right? Like what do you actually have that no one else has? I suppose is just that instinct for you. You just know it's instinct, I guess it's a bit like being a stand up comedian, right? Like you kinda know it's funny or you know they'll dance. You know, that's what you have.
Share
04:37
And also as is often the case of a lot of things, the conviction and the confidence almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, a lot of the time. I mean, it does count for something. And yes, you do battle-test things with your friends. I always think of like the
Jerry Seinfeld
thing, you know, where the comedians sit around a table and like test their bits out. It's a little bit like that.Share
04:59
And yeah, every once in a while there are tracks, but sometimes there are tracks which no one likes. Like you, yourself still believe in it and it takes time to convince people that it's good. Sometimes it falls flat as well. You know, sometimes you play one and they don't like it like you like it.
Share
Oliver Phelps
05:15
I mean, I suppose you were given, like, say when you get it, but it all goes perfect, especially in a gig and everyone just clicks at the right moment. I can only assume it's the same as telling a joke on stage at the exact, you know I mean like, it doesn't matter what, it is necessarily what's being done. But to get that reaction from the audience is probably the same and quite addictive to a point.
Share
Tiga
05:37
Yeah, it's a really, really good feeling, definitely. I took it for granted because I played, you know, whatever, 9000 parties or something like that. Like, it was my whole life, you know. The power, the feeling of, like, you know, 1000 people, whatever, all kind of, going up a gear, physically dancing at the same moment in the same way to, you know, to a particular track, it is pretty amazing. I mean, really, it's pretty hard to beat, It's a good one. Not all those highs are created equal, you know, that's a really, really, really good one.
Share
06:11
And the strange thing about deejaying is, I don't think it's not really the same as being a performer, you know. Like, I think it's a little bit more communal than that. When you have those moments as a DJ, you're kind of more part of it in a way, you're just kind of guiding them a little bit. I don't think it's the same, it's not like
Bowie
standing up there and, you know. Obviously it's different, but so in that sense, you're sharing something, it's really exciting.Share
Oliver Phelps
06:39
Going back to your childhood, which you spent in
Goa
over in India
. Can you tell us about that and how that influenced obviously your career path.Share
Tiga
06:50
My parents started taking me, we traveled all over the world when I was really, really young. I mean that's like the'70s, now, early'80s, it's a long time ago. So we traveled everywhere. My parents were, I mean I guess they would be loosely categorized as
Hippies
, but they really were not Hippies
. So, they're just like traveler types, you know, off the beaten path.Share
07:09
And so yeah, they took me everywhere and so I've been all over
Asia
and Afghanistan
. Like all kinds of crazy places when I was really, really young. And then I don't know exactly how it happened, but they settled on India
, we would go to India
every year.Share
07:23
So up until I was about 12 years old, I spent about 5 months, 4 or 5 months of the year in
Goa. Goa
is part of India
, for those who don't know go as like a little bit like India's
Miami
. I don't know how you would describe it, but it's like, it was a place for travelers who was very liberal, kind of became a bit of a hippie
drug-party place, way back.Share
07:45
So yeah, I spent a lot of time there and I mean, how it informed my career, I don't, indirectly, well basically it ties in with the theme of your show, right? So that's how you grow up becomes, I don't like I don't use the word normal really, but like it becomes your standard, your standard experience. And if it is extreme by other people's metrics, well, you don't know, you're a kid, you know.
Share
08:10
So, how it inform my life and my career, well you know, seeing grown-ups dancing on acid on a beach was pretty standard issue for me. So I guess that tied in nicely with the rest of my life. So yeah, so things like
Hedonism
, drugs, radical individualism
, adults behaving like idiots, these things were all just standard fare for me. So, I guess it created probably a different type of rebellion, but it also created a comfort with that environment that served me well I guess. And I don't know, just a very, very cool childhood. It was really exciting and very pretty wild. Quite stressful, but definitely made, you know, makes you who you are. But my parents were always cool with me.Share
Oliver Phelps
09:05
Yeah, I mean what was it, what would you think they were looking for in that lifestyle?
Share
Tiga
09:14
Well my dad, I think, just wanted to have fun. I mean my dad just wanted to party I think, you know. Anyway, so like I think my mom, she was into it. She was going along for the ride. I don't know if that was like her first choice, but she was a very creative person and really into Indian culture and you know all those things and I don't know exactly.
Share
09:37
But if I had to make it simple, I guess, you know, they came from that generation where their parents were probably pretty straight and you want to take off and explore the world and, you know, it was a much more radical thing back then than it is now. Now nobody thinks anything of, you know, the idea of traveling now somewhere to party. Whether it's
Ibiza
or whatever is beyond standard issue. But I think, you know in 1974 or whatever, it was probably a little bit stranger.Share
James Phelps
10:03
Sure. So then did you go back to
Montreal
or will you -Share
Tiga
10:06
Yes, back and forth.
Share
James Phelps
10:07
And then you settle back there, you were around 10 or 11.
Share
Tiga
10:10
Yeah. Well don't forget we have a really brutal winter in
Canada
.Share
James Phelps
10:13
So that Exactly, that's what I was going to say. What was it, it's not just the culture but obviously the winters and everything like that.
Share
Tiga
10:19
Yeah.
Share
James Phelps
10:19
That must have been a big culture shock when you headed back there for the foreseeable future.
Share
Tiga
10:25
Yes, Yeah. As a kid, it was difficult because I missed a lot of school.
Share
10:30
And I mean just to touch on, you know, the theme of your show, this thing of what's normal to you and stuff. I was thinking a little bit in preparation, and you know, one thing when you're a child, one of the most basic things before you have anything. Right, as a kid, you have no credentials, you have no money, you have no career, you have your name, right? It's kind of the first thing you have is your name and my name is
Tiga
.Share
10:55
So right from the get go, that was bizarre, right? Like the first thing in any class they read your names out, "why the hell? What what kind of a name is that? "You're a weirdo right away, you know?
Share
11:07
So that kind of title, that and the
India
thing, and I had super long hair, and I was always the smallest kid in my class, and so like what you're saying, you know, I would return from these trips and I looked like Mowgli
from The Jungle Book
, you know, and I was all tan, and I would come back, and it was like an alien coming back to school, and I was always really behind in school, and yet this total weird culture clash.Share
11:35
I had no chance. I wasn't even close to normal. And the name is kind of a good metaphor because the thing is, you know you're different, but at the same time your parents named you so, like, they support you in a way, you know. So it's very difficult because I think a lot of kids struggle with, they feel different. But maybe they're getting pressure from their parents to be the same or they're getting pressure to fit in somehow.
Share
11:60
I was just weird without the pressure or any complex, so I was just like, "okay, I'm weird, but this is amazing". Like, "When is everyone else going to get on board with what I got going on? ", you know. But yeah, it was a big shock, coming back to
Montreal
was always really intense. It was pretty crazy.Share
Oliver Phelps
12:18
And do you think that with that mindset, as you say, like waiting for other people to catch on to, I think that that gave you more of a liberating outlook in terms of, like -
Share
Tiga
12:28
Yeah, definitively.
Share
Oliver Phelps
12:28
But obviously, when you start to putting on nights in
Montreal
lights, that really being first innovator of the night scene there, do you think that's because you didn't have those blinkers on, of this is what it should be?Share
Tiga
12:41
100% Yeah, I was ridiculously confident as a kid without much grounds to be. I mean, I don't know, it wasn't like I was a virtuoso or a star soccer player or anything like that. I was just very confident. I think that came from what you're saying. I guess the thing, the common thread, "It's always been like this" I never wanted to be like someone else. I didn't want to really fit in. Yeah it served me really well.
Share
13:09
Especially, I have kids now and I can see, you know, confidence is probably the most important thing when you're young. You know, just to to feel good in your own skin and yeah, you have the confidence where a lot of people don't, you know, at a time when a lot of other people don't is a big skill.
Share
James Phelps
13:27
So what did you do differently when you're throwing on these nights which ended up changing, I don't think I'm out of line sense, you changed pretty much of the music scene in
Montreal
for nightlife. Like what were you doing differently that other people weren't?Share
Tiga
13:44
I didn't invent anything different. It was more just about transporting ideas I had seen in other countries. So in
Goa
there were parties. Outdoors, Trance Music
, people dancing, face painting, cows, the whole deal, right? And so I had always seen that as a kid and I didn't quite understand why none of that existed back home.Share
14:06
Then when I was, I don't know, when I was about 17, I discovered
Techno
and Rave
music. I just saw some stuff on TV, and I heard some CDs, and I started to see what was happening in England
by the 91 or so. I started to notice what was happening in the magazines and I heard the word Rave
and all that. So then really all I did was, I just started to build that at home. So yeah, it blew people's minds because here they had no exposure to that. The graphics on the flyers, the clothing, the music, It was all new and it was massive.Share
Oliver Phelps
14:40
Yeah, we're talking about the flyers. How did you get the word out to people? Because it's obviously a thing in the
Underground
. Over here in the UK
at the time it was pretty much by secret word of mouth, that you could go to illegal, illegal Raves
line.Share
Tiga
14:52
Yeah, Yes
Share
Oliver Phelps
14:52
I don't know, a farm, that's a car park or something like that. Is that how you went around it? Or did you do a bit more commercialized?
Share
Tiga
14:59
No, no, it was exactly like that. So I had a
Pager
, you know, do you remember, do you know what a pager is?Share
Oliver Phelps
15:04
Yeah.
Share
Tiga
15:04
I don't know, I had a
Pager
, no cellphones yet at the beginning. So I had a Pager
and I would leave a message. The Pager
had a voice mail box and I'd leave a message with the directions to the party, last minute. And there'd be a corner where people would meet, sometimes we'd hire busses to take people, so it's like a meeting point and the busses will take people out. And yeah, constant problems with the police, sometimes they'd shut it down.Share
15:29
When I think back on it now, it's pretty insane. I was like 18 years old at meetings with police, meetings with lawyers, meeting with fire department, hiring bouncers, dealing with
Hells Angels.
Backpacks full of money because I'd collect all the money on the door and then I'd dance with the backpack on. I don't know, it was, no, but listen, it was, you know, people throw around the word Underground
a lot now, right still there?Share
James Phelps
15:56
Yep.
Share
Tiga
15:56
Oh, this is
Underground
, this is a commercial, Everything now almost is commercial because for perspective, I mean, then you're talking about, like, no credit cards to begin with, like nothing, there's nothing that touched the real world.Share
16:12
We would just literally kids printing flyers at printing shops, handing flyers out, you know, and then you find a warehouse, you'd find a venue and gradually got a little bit more legitimate as it got bigger in size. But yeah, in its origin, it was really very
Underground
. There were no rules, it was all being made.Share
Oliver Phelps
16:32
Yeah, with the lack of rules as well, how did you deal with, not just the police, but also, obviously, as you say, like the
Hells Angels
elements and stuff like that? That must have been quite nerving at the time.Share
Tiga
16:42
It was. I mean thinking back on it now, I don't know what, I just didn't stop to think. You know what's interesting is, whell you guys started young, right? I read a little bit of your -
Share
Oliver Phelps
16:57
Yeah
Share
Tiga
16:57
I think I've talked about this before, but you know, youth. If you can hit this sweet spot of kind of ignorance and confidence when you're a kid, if you can get in there there's really a lot of power there because you're kind of like cocky, you just don't know all the stuff that can go wrong. That's the truth. Like you just don't know, and you think you're all powerful, you have a lot of energy. I had so much energy. I mean I just could go for days, I just didn't, and yeah, confidence, energy, a little bit of stupidity, some ignorance, mix it all together.
Share
17:40
And if you get some reinforcement when you're young, that's the key. If things work out early, you're like, "yeah, I can do this" but I just wasn't thinking about it, I never thought about what could go wrong or if I did, I didn't care. And I wasn't particularly sensitive to people's feelings or I was not "woke" in the least to, you know. For example I would never think, "Oh what if someone could get injured at a party? "Like I just wasn't thinking that way, you know?
Share
Oliver Phelps
18:09
Yeah, I mean I always remember going to a
Rave
once and it was in a car park, in a multi story car park on like the 6th level. And it got shut down. And you will never know how exhausting it is, running, how long those spiral exits to car parks, I guarantee you've got to run one. And as you say that's that type of thing.Share
18:31
Yeah, but that's, like a useful thing. I think I was like 18 or something at the time. And just being, like now in hindsight I think back and think, "what the hell was I thinking? "Let alone the guys be like yourself putting it on and dealing with everything else afterwards.
Share
Tiga
18:44
In hindsight you think, "Oh, that's so exhausting". But like when you're a kid, you don't think of that, you've different priorities, yeah. Well, I mean it changed radically through the years. Once, for me, I don't know exactly, but once it became a real job, so like once I started traveling the world playing festivals and doing it every weekend and you don't know exactly when it changes.
Share
19:09
But then I remember oftentimes I'd be at giant festivals deejaying and I would think, "What a complete nightmare if I was a punter, you know, like what, how do you get out? How do you, I think they don't have hotel rooms? "Like, I would see the tents, you know, there's like tent villages at
Glastonbury
, whatever. I'd be like, "How do you do it? "Share
19:30
But that's part of being a kid, and actually I think it's vital to do it when you're really young. It's something that it's so much fun and it's so important to just jump into that chaos and just enjoy it, it's really good. It's something much easier to do when you're young than when you're older, you know.
Share
James Phelps
19:48
Definitely. I used to go to the music festivals a lot when I was younger. And then for my stag, do my bachelor party, we all went back to my old favorite festival.
Share
19:59
Amazing, how many backs hurt the first morning and the neck ache and a lot of moaning going on by certain members of my family.
Share
Oliver Phelps
20:07
Yeah, There's something about trying to go to sleep and then some geezer at about 4 a. m. taking a pee about 6ft from your head the other side of the tent. And you're like, "Oh, come on... "
Share
Tiga
20:16
No, yeah, you reach a point where it's actually a nightmare, it's like a catalog of nightmares. But yeah, I was always really impressed. I mean, I think
England
kind of wrote the book on festivals in a way, you know, really. You've always, the english have always really done it well. I've always been really impressed and it's just a really nice tradition. I think it's just great, that idea of kind of losing yourself for the weekend and just checking all the bands and things getting like properly messy in a nice way. I think it's a great tradition.Share
Break
James Phelps
23:00
A couple of weeks ago, I went to see
Pete Tong
and the Heritage Orchestra
doing all the old anthems. But, it was such a good -, I think I'm at that age now where everybody's "Waw! ". Like they haven't heard the song in a couple of years and then, but it was just such a great atmosphere and it really did re-ignite my love for that era of Dance Music
as well.Share
23:27
And also seeing an orchestra play, it just brought a whole new way of how it's put together. Like it really blew my mind, but and then anyway, I was going to go into it. That I got there because a good friend of mine, she was the opening act, she was deejaying to start the night.
Share
23:43
But I know there aren't that many huge female DJs and I know that quite a lot of our listeners are women. Is there anything, how can I put this, that I can put this?
Share
Tiga
23:53
To get into it for them?
Share
James Phelps
23:55
Sure, yeah.
Share
Tiga
23:56
There's a lot of talk, women DJs now, and I think most of my favorite DJs just happened to be women, right now. So yeah, I mean, it was traditionally a real boys club. I mean, all through the night, you know, I think it wasn't just on every level, it was just pretty messed up in that department. I think that started, you know, the record stores, which were kind of the headquarters, really lad-ish. You know, it was a very kind of like, that's just kinda how it was, not everywhere.
Share
24:29
It was a big irony with
Dance music
as, you know, Dance music
started as a very gay, very for people that didn't quite find a home in other places and that was incredible. When I got into it, it was kind of like that, gradually it got quite white male kind of vibe, you know, as that, I guess it gets co-opted a little bit.Share
24:50
Anyway, the past years have been really good. I mean, there's a lot of way more diversity and way more women, and it's just been incredibly positive for the scene in general, you know. I think specific, some girls, I don't like to say it like that, but some some women DJs that are worth checking out
Nina Kraviz
, she's Russian, she's fantastic, she's one of the best in Techno
. Specifically, Nina Kravitz
, Helena Hauff
, the blessed Madonna
.Share
25:18
There's a lot of, don't want to say they're running the show, but creatively, they're definitely a lot of the best right now. And I don't know if the second part of your question was about, like, you know how to get into it for someone at home or Whatever.
Share
James Phelps
25:34
Yeah.
Share
Tiga
25:34
I guess that's like with any creative career, you have to, like, work really hard. You have to, I think, celebrate whatever it is that might make you different. Because it's so there's such competitive fields, you know, you know, don't try to to copy or be like someone else, I guess. That's romantic view of it, but I still think that's true. Unfortunately there's a lot of luck involved in any creative field, you know, who hears you at the right time? you know, who do you do a track that -
Share
26:06
Like for me, my whole career was going one way and then I made this one song, that's
Sunglasses At Night
in 2001 and the track just blew up and every door was open to me. But there's a lot of good fortune, you know, so.Share
Oliver Phelps
26:19
It says a learning your craft in terms of like as a especially now where it's more like, obviously it's more technical and and everything like that in terms of like, laying tracks and stuff as opposed to, say a more technical, more computer based, should we say. Is there somewhere, how would you learn that now in terms of - Would you go to university to do it or anything like that or is that quite a conformist way of doing things? Like going to school to learn a craft?
Share
Tiga
26:43
Yeah, no, I don't, it's hard for me to say. Things have changed so much. I mean it was not a career when I started. At no point, was it something. You could never imagine.
Share
James Phelps
26:56
That's not what you could say to a teacher at school?
Share
Tiga
26:57
No!
Share
James Phelps
26:58
I'm going to be an international DJ.
Share
Tiga
27:00
No, you wouldn't even put the word international with DJ. I mean, at the very beginning, it really was about just getting closer to the music, right? So I was a kid who loved music. I just, we all know kids like that at school, you know. "God, you gotta listen to this! "or have you want to share, you want to brag and "I discovered this! "but that's who I was right. So I was just constantly and I just wanted anything that could get me closer to, more access to the music, find better records.
Share
27:29
I probably would have been happy just working at a record store if somebody would have given me a job, and nobody would, you know. I tried to get a job at my college radio station and they said no, but that was a very different era now, it is completely a respectable craft with schools and managers and agents.
Share
27:51
So I think learning is always good. I kind of wish I had learned more. I don't think it's conformist. I think if you have an opportunity, let's say go to engineering school, if you can learn. There are dangers with learning, you know, it can mess you up. You still have to stay wild and stay kind of creative and stay a bit weird, but definitely learning things is good.
Share
28:17
I wish I would have learned something. I had no structure, I dropped out of university and I'm an extreme case of just winning it all the way, you know, complete hustle all the way, but that can work. It definitely can work, but it's kind of funny because I got it. I went to quite a posh high school.
Share
Oliver Phelps
28:40
Yeah, exactly. I was gonna say you went to a genuine boarding school.
Share
Tiga
28:43
I went to a genuine, I went to one of those schools with a shirt and tie, like english style, all boys. This is after, this is like teenage years, and I got invited back to the school by the headmaster to give a speech to give like, a speech to the graduating class.
Share
29:00
I was basically the only kid that ever came out of the school that wasn't like a politician or a lawyer. So I was like, their poster child for creativity right? Like, so I got invited back to the school and I gave a speech and it's funny because the speech I gave was very much like what I'm telling you now about stay weird, being individual, but like, after the fact I was like, "what are you talking about? Like, you're ruining these kids lives" because it's like a one in a million thing, you know. So I know a lot of them that that gave up on their million dollar educations and just now they're like interns at a record label, right?
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Oliver Phelps
29:45
Yeah, but I suppose as well, it must be nice for them to hear that if they've been in a very, certainly the north American standard structured environment in terms of the uniform, whereas that's that's pretty standard even in state schools over here.
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29:58
But yeah like, being told you dress this way, you do this, do that and then as you say, and then if you're the first guy there for creativity I think.
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30:06
Yeah well the kids loved it because obviously you know very few kids, very few kids, the kids don't dream of being you know accountants or or you know they you know, so I think they did, I think they probably saw a glimmer of hope like well maybe maybe I could still have fun when I'm a grown up if headmaster said pulling his hair out on the corner like what you mentioned earlier about obviously doing being a podcaster as well and your your podcast called First Last Party on Earth and we've been listening to quite a lot of it recently James and I where you basically are sitting down with some of the best musicians in the world, especially in your in your scope of field as well and you're built all around the question what would you play at the last party that you D.
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30:50
J. On Earth? So the question is what have you learned while making this podcast?
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Tiga
30:57
Okay thank God I thought you were gonna ask me what I would play.
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Oliver Phelps
31:00
Which I can't that's really that's a really good follow up question actually. Yeah.
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Tiga
31:03
No no no I can't know your question. Your question is way better.
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31:07
I've actually I've actually learned quite a lot.
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31:10
I mean I've learned to listen to people which sounds obvious but I spent most of my life just blah blah either talking too much or thinking I was the center of attention or being interviewed and it was yeah it's just a good I mean it sounds so obvious, I sound like a psycho that I even have to say it but but just listening to other people and yeah you get so much wisdom from that.
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31:35
And so that that's been the number one thing and it was almost deliberate. I wanted to do it to uh learn to be a better listener. So uh I found a lot of comfort from it. Also like I get a lot of comfort from from hearing other people's struggles.
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31:49
You know like you're not the only one who's crazy, you're not the only one who deals with all these things. The confusion, the difficulty in making music trying to come up with ideas. Feeling your ideas are boring.
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32:03
Like all these things the standard things that artists deal with, it's quite comforting to hear it from other people and also to in the pandemic, especially just conversation is great because things get a little dry and you miss people and you miss sitting down with friends.
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32:20
So it was like, I had to like, it's like I bought my friends, I'm like, wait a second, I'm gonna make a list of 15 people to become friends with them.
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Oliver Phelps
32:30
It was it was there any reason why that was the, the topic topic? What came into your yeah, you had to base to base it around?
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Tiga
32:36
Well, I, I copied a lot of it. I was really in love with the Desert Island discs which, which I just, so all the years of touring, I got heavy into podcasts because touring is really, really hard planes and every day no sleep and I spent hundreds of hours just kind of spaced out with podcasts running, you know, just like quite comforting, you kind of doze off and you and I got really into Desert Island discs for awhile.
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33:04
Specifically Kirsty young era. She's so, she made a big impression on me just, she's so, so area tight and so empathetic and so clever and just so the voice is so peaceful isn't it?
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33:19
Is It just 10 out of 10 just incredible. And also just, and just the artistry of guiding the conversations, you know, when to accelerate, when to slow down when to just handled with such grace and intelligence and just whoa, So that actually kind of gave me the idea and then specifically I wanted to stick to music.
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33:39
I think talking about music is a beautiful thing to talk about because because I found that a lot of the time you want to talk about politics or climate disasters or you know, there's all these heavy things going on, but if you go at them direct ends up kind of on rails, nobody even means to.
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33:59
But but when you start with music, I find things often stay very positive and you still get to some of those other issues. It just happens in kind of a nice way.
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34:07
I basically, I know for myself music has probably been the best thing in my life, it makes me a better person when I, you know, if you share your favorite songs with someone, they're probably going to get the best part of you that the best side of you, you know, it's just like you're like kids playing together really and and so it's a nice, it brings out a really, really nice side and everybody and yeah, it's a nice thing.
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34:30
Plus we're all mostly musicians. So we have something to talk. It's quite, it's quite common to talk about.
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Oliver Phelps
34:36
Yeah, did you did you find that talking to people who you've spoken to beforehand, but in doing it and doing a podcast interview that you speak about stuff that you'd never really talked about in general chit chat in terms of where you get, because we found that when we were interviewing different people who were in like so the potter films with us, we've never asked him when we're filming.
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34:58
So what was the audition process? Like you'd never get to anything like that or what was it like when you went home from that situation?
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Tiga
35:04
So it's just so how has that been as Yeah, probably very similar to your situation where so there's a bit of a conspiratorial feeling, right? Because, you know, you share these things, right?
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35:16
So they're speaking to you, if an actor or someone from the series talks to you, they're going to give you different stuff because they assume a baseline understanding, so you're you get much more of a confidante vibe, You know, it's not the same as when they're talking to a journalist.
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35:32
So it's the same for me. It's nice because so partly the idea is the types of conversations we would have after a show or when you bump into someone at an airport.
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35:42
It's part partly that and also too, I like to exploit the fact that they can trust me, trust me that I understand what they're saying, that I've been through a lot of the same things then, you know, it's nice and there's not much ego, you know, I like to set it up.
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35:57
So, you know, no one's trying to like you're trying to disarm this and no one no one's trying to prove themselves. You know, nobody, nobody has to come on the show and say, yo these are all my hit records or anything like that. So it's it's a good starting point.
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Oliver Phelps
36:11
Well, anyway, we're gonna go back to, I know you mentioned that you don't like the word, but what does normal mean to you?
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Tiga
36:17
Well, okay, what the word means to me I guess is just it's whatever is statistically common, but for me, you know, the one of the, I think one of the original meanings of the word common or synonym, it's it's vulgar. You know, like when you think of there's some there's something about it that's not, not really to aspire to, it's more something that is Yeah, I don't know.
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36:39
I never never saw that as something I wanted. You know, the people that I always loved and looked up to, like Prince or David
Bowie
or Leonard cohen or Bob Dylan or you know, that there was there was nothing typical about it, you know? But but at the same time as you get older, I was thinking about this normal, not normal thing you realize like, let's say it's a great song.Share
37:05
One of the things that makes a great song is it touches on something that is relatable and those things in a sense are very common, you know, there's experiences that that are quite typical, but also very profound. So in that sense that that part of normal, I'm fine with one thing you hear a lot.
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37:25
I'm sure you guys get it a lot would I really, I really feel bad for kids who and it's so common and I think it's probably the saddest thing in the world, the the idea of shame, you know, if shame is introduced as a concept, so and it's it's beyond common and it's beyond sad, it's so damaging, which is like, you know, you feel different, that's one thing, but then you feel a negative feeling about it.
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37:54
You feel, oh I'm supposed to be something else or I'm supposed to change or there's something wrong and I was just lucky. I don't know exactly what was at work, but I never felt any of that.
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James Phelps
38:05
So I was able to to just be myself I guess, you know, which is which is good, like you say, it's it's it's imagine what could what everyone could do if they were worrying about what people may view.
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Tiga
38:15
Oh my God. Well it's probably that that's like the original sin, right? I mean that's what, because I'm sure every kid, you know, if there was a way of tracing it to that first time you're you're made to feel ashamed of something that before, that you never thought anything whether it's being naked or how you look or someone says you're fat or someone points out something you didn't even think about it.
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38:38
I didn't, I mean, I remember, I remember one time my best friend said like, I think he said, well your arms are long or something like that.
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38:46
I was like, what? Really? I love your big or your big ears, you're like, and then depending and I mean anyway, that's nothing. Obviously the, the classic is, you know, if your dad says something, you know, your mother says something and that those things you spend your whole life adapting to and, and navigating and uh, so yeah, so that's why the, the whole normal thing obviously is such a minefield.
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39:10
It's good you guys are doing this show because I'm sure it's something that, that's what you guys explore and it's so important.
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James Phelps
39:17
It's yeah, we, we've, we've been quite lucky in that we've normally asked the guys listening as well to, you know, we asked these questions to them and they what a normal person who is listening in, I don't know, Sri Lanka compared to someone listening in Nebraska in America, like it's completely their normals of how they go about their lives are very different.
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39:37
But to them, it's very, it's really good fun exploring it. But going on to another question and so what would be the most normal thing about you, would you say?
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Tiga
39:48
Yeah, I thought about this, I think the most normal like whatever that board as well.
Share
39:56
I really love sweets.
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39:58
Like, I'm like a real, just like classic, I never outgrew like just obviously chocolate bars and, and I really love football, which is quite in, in a quite just regular outside the pub, talking about just garbage transfer rumors or fantasy football. So I think that's quite, that's quite noncontroversial.
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40:21
No, but also, I mean the thing is my life became very well probably in ways that you understand like you guys as actors, you know, when you have a life that is extreme in some ways, like, you know, not a 9 to 5 or so my life was pretty extreme.
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40:39
I mean if I, I would, you know, if I drop my kid off, let's say at school on a Thursday and I'm going to do by that night and I'm up all night and then the next day I'm in Madrid and then I'm back home on Sunday, you know these, so people don't quite get their heads around, it's definitely abnormal in that way. It's rare.
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40:58
So I think what did become normal for me is because there's that extreme going on in my time off, I became quite into like sleeping for example, like things that people would think are really, really boring for me are really are really exotic, like I still love sleeping, I sleep so much, you wouldn't believe it, like, and in
Covid
, it's crazy.Share
41:24
I'm like, I see like 10 hours a night, like routine, just like, I'm like a like a and just because it became exotic, you know, it became something I was denied for so long and people would see it as boring. Yeah.
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Oliver Phelps
41:38
So I don't know those are some normal things, but I think I don't know what you're saying that I think I was going to say that the follow up question was going to say is what is the least normal thing about you? But I suppose pre pre pandemic, The least normal thing conventional would be your normal in terms of as you say, dropping your little one off at school, then going to yeah, 2-3 different time zones and coming home.
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Tiga
41:58
Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think if I had to sum up and the least normal thing probably is just the amount of time I've spent between the hours of four a. m. And six a. m. At a party somewhere in the world.
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42:14
It's just, it's just simple. It's like 4:30 AM. I mean just in Spain alone, I've probably been Somewhere with thousands of people going crazy at 4:30 AM, you know, 300 times and and thousands of times. So I think that's probably if when it's all over one day that will be what one thing that was definitely uh you know, just just uncommon and so and I think also to to get a little bit more personal.
Share
42:45
It's strange because I noticed this when I when I when I stopped DJ for a while, I realized that I have a comfort level in that environment. That's pretty crazy.
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42:55
Like I actually like when I walk into that room and it's so loud and so intense and sweat and even if I am totally like straight like this, like I walk in, I just, you know, I just left the hotel and I had a shower and I'm all proper, but I feel quite at home with that and, and that's something I think is is also pretty rare. I also love that music.
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43:20
I'm really, really, I realized as I got older, like because I listen to music in the car and I have, I have two sons and they're like, what the hell the hell are you listening to their like, They're like, what is this crap? They're like, why is it 16 minutes long and why is nothing happening? You know?
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43:35
And and I realized that I have a genuine love for just very repetitive electronic kind of strange music. Also, those things are not so normal anyway. You know, it's super normal. A lot of normal.
Share
43:49
A lot of really crazy normal stuff happens when when you become apparent, I think in a nice way because you, you what you want is just, it's such a universal, I just want your kids to be happy. You know, you just, I just, and that's such a universal feeling.
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44:06
I imagine to use your example of Nebraska or Sri Lanka, that's probably one of the most universal things in the world is just you simply just want your kids to to be happy and to be free of suffering and just to feel good and so that you start to feel pretty, pretty normal in that respect. You know, it's, it's quite a, it's something you can definitely talk about with anybody.
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James Phelps
44:34
So I've got these, final questions, which I call the three am questions, but I'm not sure if that's the right term for you because you're normally just starting work at three a. m. It's they call three Am because normally the answer that you should have said comes into your head at three a. m. Okay, So it's what, what is your favorite book?
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Tiga
44:54
It's a really hard one. I love reading, obviously, I don't know, I'm gonna go with a book that I've really like, 1984 by George Orwell. That is a great one, which I've I'm going with the books I've reread. I think like you guys binge listening, If you reread a book, it's a good sign.
Share
45:08
I think my favorite book is probably Waiting for the Barbarians by South African writer, coat. C J M. Coetzee, etc. I think fantastic book, a good one if anyone is scared by bigger books because quite quite a short one. Uh it's an awesome, awesome read.
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James Phelps
45:27
What is your favorite food?
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Tiga
45:29
My favorite food is so in
India
, in Goa
there is a little restaurant called joe bananas. Okay, nobody will know it, but it's like, it was like the center of my universe when I was a kid and I still went back there even like a few years ago, it was like a little hippie place where everyone would get their mail, you would actually get your mail there because nobody had, there was no mailboxes.Share
45:51
Anyway, there you can get like a fish tally. It's like a fish plate with some little uh pickles and badges and rice and all that. And that is definitely my favorite meal in the world and I would probably eat it every day. I'm fine to eat the same food all the time. I like to, but that's my favorite.
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James Phelps
46:07
What is your favorite film?
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Tiga
46:09
My favorite film was Blade Runner.
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46:12
I like, I'm a big, big Blade Runner fan.
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James Phelps
46:14
Whether you can answer this question, I'm not sure. But what is your favorite song?
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Tiga
46:18
Yeah, this one I I struggle with always. It's a Kiss by Prince. Yeah, the reason I go with that one, I mean there's a million, there's so many and it's I'm a big Leonard cohen fan, I'm a big anyway, the reason I go with Kiss by Princess because it's fun and it's just such an incredible dance record.
Share
46:39
It's everything. It's like a perfect pop record, a perfect dance record in the end. Like music that makes you just feel good and want to dance and want to party and be with your friends and stuff. Is that currency I think for me is taught right now. So Kiss by Prince.
Share
46:53
Prince might be the ultimate example of letting your inner freak, your inner weirdo just just go to the maximum and just how and ultimately the irony of how people really respond to it. People people love it if it's done in that genuine way and if you're talented but don't get me started.
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James Phelps
47:15
And finally, what is your favorite quote?
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Tiga
47:18
There's one I just happened upon recently. It's the writer Anais Nin. Uh and she wrote and the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. I noticed personally you you get set in your ways as a creative person and you have your own version of being conservative.
Share
47:39
You know where you you find a safety zone, you know, we all do. You find a little and you have to just always be careful of the risk of finding comfort. You know, the risk of being finding that little zone as opposed to attempting to blossom and to change into whatever. So I really like that one.
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James Phelps
47:60
Yeah, well, thank you, thank you so much for joining us.
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Oliver Phelps
48:02
That was absolutely fantastic that it's been, it's been great speaking to you and thank you once again, thanks a lot guys.
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Tiga
48:07
I appreciate it.
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James Phelps
48:15
He was such a nice bloke, both on camera as is recorded and off, like very personal, so it was really great to speak to him and I loved hearing about the first part is that he's organized before anyone was doing that thing here. We got how he carried all the money from the ticket sales around in his rucksack on his back. I mean that's insane, brilliant.
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48:33
So you can actually find tigers podcast first, last party on Earth, which is on Spotify Apple or wherever you get your podcasts look like this one. Really so we really, really really, really recommend checking it out is a great listen.
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48:46
But I thought I could come in at the very end with my very own did you knows this time about music Oliver? Yes, so did you know music helps plants grow faster?
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48:58
Really, yep. There's actually a study conducted in south Korea where they studied for different classical pieces, including things from Beethoven and they found that the music actually helps the pace of the plant, wow. Another one, did you know, listening to music is proven to help you exercise better.
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Oliver Phelps
49:18
Is that where you get like the power song as it were because you get into a different trance as it were.
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James Phelps
49:22
Pretty much I think it just keeps you motivated and everything.
Share
49:25
Did you know as well? I'm sure people know this listening to music causes you to drink more in less time.
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Oliver Phelps
49:32
Yes, yes, I can believe that, I can believe that actually.
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James Phelps
49:35
Heavy metal and classical music fans have similar personality traits.
Share
49:40
Yeah.
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Oliver Phelps
49:40
To jump in on that. Right?
Share
49:42
I remember hearing somewhere once.
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49:43
I remember sitting on an airplane and chatting to a lady who was a pediatrician and we were talking about there was you know, when you can choose like music on the plane and I saw that she was looking at it and I don't know how we got talking about it, but she said, yes, if you actually play either classical music or heavy metal music, obviously not really loud, but two young children like babies and toddlers, they react with it really well and it actually calms them down a Bit well apparently.
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James Phelps
50:09
So this was done at a university in Scotland. They interviewed over 36,000 music fans and they figured and they discovered that apart from probably the age difference with the to both the lovers of both metal and classical have pretty much identical traits that they tend to be very creative, very at ease with themselves and introverted.
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Oliver Phelps
50:31
Yeah, that's probably right actually.
Share
50:33
That probably is right.
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James Phelps
50:34
Is that because it's always seen as a bit of an outsider thing, I guess so, and they actually, people actually use music to help with brain injuries because it helps recall personal memories.
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50:45
Yeah. So, you know, when you hear a song and it takes you back to that time.
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Oliver Phelps
50:49
Yeah, I've been listening to a podcast actually recently wrote and it basically plays the, there's no narrative to it.
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50:56
It just shows like news clips and music from a set year and so it starts from like 2000 and then it goes on and I've just been listening to different ones of those and they're just like, I was like, wow, I remember that, I remember where I was the exact moment when that song came out when I was a boy and finally, because I'm a space gig, did you know that Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield released an entire album of songs he recorded in space whilst on the iss.
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James Phelps
51:21
Now, he's spent over 100 and 44 days up there and he recorded 11 original songs and the album is very, very happily named Space Sessions, Songs from a tin can always remember being lucky enough to meet him.
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Oliver Phelps
51:34
Anyway guys, before we go down memory Lane too much longer, thank you so much for joining us this week and just remember to keep sending your story times your questions, your did you nose to the normal email address, which is normal?
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51:47
Not normal podcast at gmail dot com. That is normal, not normal podcast at gmail dot com. And guys, whatever you are doing this week, stay safe and we'll see you next week very much guys, thank you so much for joining us.
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James Phelps
51:59
Thank you very much for it to grow again. Is lovely to speak to you have an amazing time and we'll speak soon.
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52:09
No Normal. Not normal is a stable production.
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James Phelps
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Tiga