Tommie Sunshine 'Ultra Rock Remixed' album

I make and play music not because I want to; I have to and I would go crazy of I didn't. I am the luckiest man in the world because I get paid to do exactly what I love to do. 16 years ago I toyed with the idea of DJing and here I am. I took a chance and starved for years to achieve my dream. I urge you to try it sometime. Let it be known that all of these remixes and most of my studio work are made alongside Mark Verbos, genius and friend.

DISC ONE:

Before they had an album out, I discovered the demo of the P!ATD track "It's Time To Dance" on someone's Myspace page. I thought their re-interpretation of theatrical 70's rock was spot on and for some reason I felt a dash of Jesus Christ Superstar in their also. I knew I had to remix them and after looking into it found Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, who I had already done a remix for, discovered them so I put my management to task to make this happen. Of course in the time since they have become superstars, as I knew they would be. I had originally done this mix via their UK label for a 7" b-side and it has since been used on their US single release as well as the Snakes On A Plane sound track.

"Wine Red" came about from, funny enough, Pete Wentz again when he was putting the Snakes sound track together. I had never heard them before and was hesitant at first listen. Let's just say I freaked out a bit when I realized just how great this slow paced, sweet song was going to translate to the dance floor. I heard it in the piano riffs, the tambourine and the background vocals and knew this one would come naturally. I am very happy with how this one turned out and has been a favorite at my gigs.

This band is one of the best live bands I have ever seen in my life. They are also one of the few artists that plays just that; live. Backyard Records in the UK had been doing remix 12"'s for each of the singles off their new album and asked if I would take a small fee and do a mix. I said yes as their guitar player, Nathan had asked me to remix them years ago at 4am at South By Southwest so this one was both a labor of love and long time coming. Soulwax did a huge mix of one of their other singles so I figured the best thing to do with this one was to take it completely in the other direction and make it an exercise in restraint and minimalism. This has been a favorite with DJs such as Tiga and makes rooms big and small go bananas all over the world.
Before their album came out, John Davis, The Sounds manager send me an advance and asked me to pick a track to remix. Tony The Beat was the obvious choice as it's slippery Disco bass line made me dance in my desk chair on first listen and I knew I could make this one shine.
People seem to love this mix and I have received endless Myspace messages full of praise for this one. I did a tour of the US opening for The Sounds and Shiny Toy Guns and realized just how many indie kids love to dance to a DJ. I also realized how great of a live band they are and led to the collaboration I will talk about further down the track listing.

Sharing mid-west roots with VHS or Beta made me want to work on their track in the beginning but hearing the song prompted me to make my first "proper" Disco jam. There are so many great guitar and bass parts in this track it could have been 14 minutes long but sanity kept it at half that length. In concert they jam with Grateful Dead abandon but in the studio they are deadly precise with the Funk dial railed to the right. They are also one of the first bands I remember doing DJ gigs which explains their grasp on the dance floor. I feel like "Tony The Beat", "Mama's Room" and "Night On Fire" are my Disco trilogy. This was the point of entry for my experiments channeling Studio 54 and I thank them for holding the door open for me.

Previous work I did for Island/Def Jam send them after me to remix the final cut of the Disco hat trick, Unknown to me when the remix question was posed, this slow groover seemed to me to be the most obvious dance floor track cloaked as a 70's drenched rock song so far this decade. Whoever plays the keys in this band made the most amazing string sections that after we sped them up, turned into pure Funk honey. Then add a 303 bass line to the equation and you are now steeping into the realm I am most comfortable in; genre-less chaos. This should have been a massive Pop hit but in my heart is massive just the same and sounds like stadium Disco blaring out of club speakers at 2am on a Saturday night.

This band came to my attention years ago at Amoeba Records in Los
Angeles and 2 years after buying their first ep, their label asked me to remix "Here In Your Arms". Mixes were done at first with the Cher vocal effect removed, which I felt, sounded amazing and raw. The band disagreed and this mix became a bit of a sore spot until I played it out while working on it and I realized how huge people reacted to it.
The "I miss you" chant at the end of the track was a creation for this mix and I feel makes the entire song take on anthem proportions. After all was said and done this became a staple in my sets and continues to make everyone on the dance floor get a bit more rowdy which is always a good thing.

My Italian friend Spiller, who's track "Groovejet" is one of my favorite House records of the past 15 years, asked me to collaborate with his Nano imprint artist Glitch. The track I wrote these lyrics to originally was a dark dance floor track with moody melodic changes and a feeling of desperation I used to inspire the lyrics I wrote and sang on the track. The lyrics stayed the same yet the music changed a few times bringing us to this version, which was completed two days before the mix of the CD. I am most happy with this one and feel proud of every aspect of the collaboration.

Band of lunatics, Mindless Self Indulgence were fans of the remixes I have been doing for years and came calling originally for their track "Shut Me Up" and liked what I did so much they had me also do "Straight To Video" which I like the best of the two, hence it's inclusion on the CD. Much like the Hellogoodbye remix, I took what was an outro in the original song and make it the hook of the track. I love when bands understand my vision rearranging their work and reintroducing it in a new light than they had intended. Support and artistic understanding is what makes remixes special and this is a perfect example of that.

Opening shows for them in Chicago for four years led me to do three remixes for Kill Hannah; "Kennedy", "Boys & Girls" and this one, which is the best of the three. When bands write big songs I always can hear them becoming bigger and was given the chance to make that a reality with this track. Taking a three-minute rock song and pushing it well into the 8 minute mark takes a well-written song with well-played parts. I had that here so it was natural to extend things, build them up and break them down to build them up again. This track sounds massive on a banging sound system and is the one on the CD I envision the most speeding tickets being written while driving to.

My Robot Friend is a real punk in the 70's roots breed and knows more about crazy music than anyone else I know. He asked me to do this mix on a shoestring budget as a favor and because I believe in his work, I agreed. Soma, the label that put it out is a Scottish Techno label that I have revered since my days as a raver and I knew this mix had to be brutal and sound like a rainy day in Scotland. I feel like that was achieved here.

The guys who did "Bodyjack" with Marc Romboy featured on Disc 2 are called 45 Rocks. This is a track they had sitting in their studio while I was visiting Germany and in an hour wrote and recorded these lyrics to their instrumental on the spot. Romboy says the melodic delivery is similar to Frank Zappa. I take that as a compliment.

DISC TWO

"Dance Among The Ruins" was an Acid track Mark Verbos and I wrote in 2001 that lyrically spoke volumes of the state of the world then and is unfortunately more relevant now, six years later. To re-interpret this track I called on people who's music had been given the remix treatment already so it was a treat to have them on an original track.
Nik Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeah's is the guitarist on this track and he is both a genius and from Pluto. Johan Bengtsson from The Sounds laid down the stinky grooves of the bass line and couldn't have done a better job. Singing with me is Peaches and as far as I am concerned she is one of the most fearless and influential artists of our time. This track is a dream come true and keep your eyes open for the remixes when it drops as a single.

Jeremy Dawson from Shiny Toy Guns sent me a demo when his band was still called Slyder and they began experimenting with Pop music. I tried for years to get people at labels to listen to their music because I felt it was phenomenal and finally got my manager to listen to it. He took them on and got them signed and this is the Dub I did of "Le Disko" that makes faces melt when I play it. I believed from the moment I heard their music they would be massive and of course I still believe.

"Bodyjack" was the break in a song I wrote for Marc Romboy and he liked it so much he scrapped the original track and remade the music to fit my lyrics. This is European Dance Music at its best and I am proud to have sung on this tune. I will continue to collaborate with Marc on many things and this track will be one of many we do together, I'm sure of this.

Fall Out Boy is also from Chicago and I knew that out of duty I must remix them. I never thought that by doing so I would become the Emo Remix King as I was called in Berlin, Germany a few days ago. Pete went to Greg from Kill Hannah asking them to do a remix and Greg played my stuff for him. I remixed this, did another FOB track and The Hush Sound for Snakes On A Plane, P!ATD and now it looks like another FOB remix for the new record all from this. I couldn't be happier working with one of the best bands in Pop music and being given the chance to do my thing to their music.

Good Charlotte's music seemed to me to already have the swing needed for the clubs and I wanted to take it the extra mile. Since remixing this and "Chronicles" for them they have gone on to incorporate more and more of the Dance world into their songwriting. After having Benji Madden tell me that these mixes influenced them and hearing their new album I have to believe him. Funny thing is these mixes never saw the light of day except for b-sides on foreign market singles.

John Acquaviva is one of the first real fans of the original music and remixes I make with Mark Verbos so this collaboration was imminent.
The verses were written for him and Madox's track "Feedback" and the chorus was written and rejected for Mason's big Dance hit, "Exceeder". Somehow they were stripped bare and make into this. I am very proud of this and "time in life has just begun".

Let me just say that The Faint is more Punk Rock in stance than most bands who play that music ever will be. It was a huge honor to work with them, as they are a perfect example of musicians who want to make music for the art of it, not for the commerce. Everyone can learn something from The Faint and working with them was a big breakthrough for me and how I saw the music business. I am very happy this is on this CD.

Funny story, this mix almost didn't come out. I sent it to Peaches and she didn't get it when she heard it. One night she was in LA and heard it loud in a club and asked the DJ who's remix it was. Early morning text messages discovered the next day put the wheels in motion and it ended up on the 12". Again, she owns it and the pleasure was mine.

Mark Verbos and I wrote "Tokyo Pollution" years ago and we recently revamped it for maximum sonic assault. Technology rules all of our lives and these sparse lyrics, sang repetitively into the ground are a hymn so we remember that one day it will no longer be up to us, it will up to the machines.

Remixing Gang Of Four, for me, was like what it would be like for most people to sleep with their favorite movie star. This is one of my favorite things I have done (I know, don't have favorites) and I am unashamed to say so. This band was and will always be one of the best Rock bands that ever played. Last year at SXSW they played so amazingly unreal that everything else I saw all week seemed trite and ill conceived. Done after the fact for V2 in America after the track listing had closed for the European remix album this was only previously available on a 7" for Urb Magazine and I am thrilled to have it here.

One day I get a call from DJ Hell asking if he can put out this P.O.D. remix I did on Gigolo so I put him in touch with Atlantic Records and never thought much of it. He released it with another mix he had me do of the same track and it was a big record for Gigolo. On the one sheet he called the track the best Rock remix by the best Rock remixer, which, of course, made me blush. Atlantic never put it out in America and it is here for your enjoyment. I feel they missed a chance of a sideways dance floor hit. You decide if I am silly in saying so.

I played "Bang" in DJ sets 6 years ago, which lead me to opening for YYY's in Chicago and having a kinship with Nik Zinner. I always asked if I could do a remix for them and when it happened the project was me, Genesis P.Oridge and The Faint each doing mixes. When the remix for "Y-Control" was finished I knew that things were about to take a turn in my career. I knew this was it and this was what I wanted to do, remix Rock records the way Arthur Baker did in the 80's. This remix still gets played in the Lower East Side of Manhattan like it came out last week. It is the oldest remix on here.

Let it be known that there were two tracks we could not clear for this
CD. One was my remix of "Just Let Go"' for Fischerspooner which was a landmark mix as it was the first time crazy edits came into the picture and I took a chance which worked out so well that most people reference this mix as one of my best. The band wanted it on here, their management wanted it on here but major label politics and a merger of labels got in the way of the music. What a shocker. And the majors wonder why the old model of music business has crumbled? The other track was Felix da Housecat's "Silver Screen" which I wrote with Felix. This track was the point of entry for me in the business and the first record with my name on it. Of course the label it was signed to sold their catalogue to a label that sold their catalogue to Warner who couldn't be bothered or care less about the licensing request. The absence of those two tracks are felt by me but when all is said and done, this track listing works together, I can't see it any other way and makes me very proud.

Thank you.

By Tommie Sunshine

Finally, the woman on the cover of this CD is my girlfriend and future wife who I am very much in love with. Sorry girls, I'm taken.

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Tracklisting

Tommie Sunshine - Ultra Rock Remixed