EDM Maniac spoke with DJ Topher Jones who’s opening for Morgan Page on his upcoming tour. Topher is working on tons of new music and gave us some great advice about working hard and the current state of Dance music in the United States. Hit set was hard hitting and full of energy!
EDM Maniac: The biggest question that we’ve gotten is what have you been up to? Obviously you’ve been touring with Tritonal; what has that been like?’
Topher Jones: It’s been awesome; they’re two great friends of mine so it makes it a lot of fun. Besides the fact that the shows are great, we have so much fun in our free time when we’re on our flights andhanging out at the hotel; It’s been great. This week is going to be amazing we’re in Newport Beach tonight, San Francisco tomorrow, Exchange LA on Friday, Vegas on Saturday and Scottsdale on Sunday. It’s been absolutely incredible. Besides that I’m working on tons of new music of which you will get to hear 4 tracks tonight. Then after this tour is over I will be on the Morgan Page tour.
EDM Maniac: That’s huge!
Topher Jones: Yeah, Yeah it is. It’s been a very exciting second half of the year.
EDM Maniac: So what’s it like to work with your friends?
Topher Jones: It’s amazing, writing music is great as it is and when you get to do it with people that you really care about that’s what makes it really special, a lot of fun and gives us fond memories that we will have forever.
EDM Maniac: How did you and the guys from Tritonal all meet each other?
Topher Jones: (Thinking and laughing) – We get asked this all the time but I think it came down to some online forum like 6 or 7 years ago. We would send each other tracks back and forth and then we ended up meeting in person and became really good friends.
EDM Maniac: That’s really crazy because I hear that from a lot of people. That kind of leads us into our next question. How do you feel about technology bringing people together in the way that you talked about meeting these guys?
Topher Jones: I think out of any style of music; Dance music has benefited most from the internet. The internet makes the world a very small place.
EDM Maniac: Yeah it’s very social.
Topher Jones: Yeah, I mean you can send a track, YouTube links, SoundCloud and whatever but I think dance music more than any other style of music has benefited from the presence of the internet and how our tech savvy fans have used the power of the internet to make this genre even better.
EDM Maniac: And that’s a good thing right?
Topher Jones: Definitely.
EDM Maniac: How would you describe the EDM scene right now?
Topher Jones: It’s big. It’s big and it’s healthy. It’s exciting to think where house music or dance music (whatever you want to call it) is right now in North America. It’s fun to travel around and play so many shows. Everyone’s into it so it just makes it a very exciting time.
EDM Maniac: Do you feel like it’s here to stay?
Topher Jones: Absolutely.
EDM Maniac: If you could throw a rave anywhere where would it be?
Topher Jones: Oh man… I don’t know. (laughs) I don’t want to throw parties; I just want to play them.
EDM Maniac: Is there any particular event coming up besides the LA show and the San Francisco show, is there anything big and exciting that we should know about?
Topher Jones: (Thinks for a moment) I mean the Morgan Paige tour is coming up and that’s huge. I mean 30 days on a bus, that’s going to be so much fun.
EDM Maniac: Your inspiration, where do you get it from.
Topher Jones: All over the place. People always ask me “how do you start a track? What spawns an idea?” Anything at any time can spark some sort of reaction. You hear a sound and you’re like “Ah Hah!”
EDM Maniac: Has there ever been a moment where you’re hanging out and thought
“this would be a great idea for a song.”
Topher Jones: (laughs) Yeah, Brohammer. It started as a joke over a dinner conversation with my brother and I were having and it turned into a big track. So yeah, inspiration can come from anywhere, even a dinner with your younger brothers making fun of you.
EDM Maniac: Do you have any inspiration for people out there looking to pursue a career in dance music?
Topher Jones: Yeah, Hard work. Theres no easy route, theres no answer, theres no formula. Hard work trumps everything. If you have passion and work hard you will go a very long way and with a little bit of talent, big things can happen when you put those 3 things together. If you don’t work hard though nothing is going to happen.
