Generik Talks New Music, Playing Vegas, and Potential Merch Ideas [Interview]

July 12, 2016 -

Garrett Hoppin

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Generik (né Tyson O'Brien) at Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware a few weeks ago. Tyson walked up to our interview donned in a classic Tame Impala shirt — excited for the band's set later that night – having only just wrapped his own set an hour earlier. We spent a few minutes talking about what it's like playing for a different crowd almost every night, how he describes his own sound, and what fans can expect to hear from him in the second half of 2016:

Note: Responses have been trimmed down for brevity. Shoot me a DM via Twitter if you'd like the raw transcript where we collectively use the words "awesome", "cool", and "sick" a lot more. We were hyped to say least.

So, how was the set? And the crowd?

The set today was incredible; I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea if anyone actually knew who the hell I was and to have a half-full tent at the start before I even went on was amazing, and then by the end I was dripping in sweat. Shit was going wild in there tonight. The crowd was amazing: They were chanting during the sets and doing these circle pits where the kids would run in and jump up and down but not aggressively. They were doing it in a nice manner; it's always good to look after one another during the rave. The crowd was insane. Clapping without me having to clap; they were doing all the things that a crowd should do!

They just did all the work for you.

Yeah, they did all the work for me! I did nothing, just stood there and played other people’s songs!

Hardly! So, you’ve been doing a lot of shows lately. You’ve got Vegas, and you’ve been touring, so do you have any favorites types of crowds of venues that stick out that you enjoy the most?

Vegas is such a strange place. I play at OMNIA, Hakkasan, and Wet Republic. Each night in Vegas is a different night altogether. You’ll play a song and it goes off, and the next time you’ll play it you’ll get a different reaction because there’s so many people coming to Vegas to party from so many different parts of America and around the world. It’s crazy but that’s also a good thing: Every night is a new night to showcase stuff and try new things so it doesn’t get boring. I’m playing in Vegas every week for the next 20 months so it’s amazing and it keeps it so fresh. The crowds are fucking great. Also, it really changes a lot because in Vegas — although they’re big clubs — you can still see everyone’s face. Whereas at a festival, you can’t see the faces, you can only see those hands in the air and the crowd jumping up and the waves of the crowd, which is also an awesome feeling. I’m just lucky that I get to play at amazing clubs, amazing festivals, and all the shows are amazing.

That’s awesome. So you you’re playing some nights with Calvin Harris in Vegas, and you played that great “This Is What You Came For” remix. Is that your stuff or is that somebody else’s? [Note: The interview was the day the "This Is What You Came For" remix EP dropped so I was a bit behind on music — that being said, check out the EP if you haven't already done that.]

That’s the brand new Dillon Francis remix that came out today [Friday, June 17]. Dillon sent it to me last week and I’ve been dying to play it and this is the first show. It’s been sitting on the laptop waiting to hit play and I finally got to play it today at Firefly which was amazing.

That was massive; the crowd was really digging it. That track, and "How Deep Is Your Love", seem like the beginning of very interesting and fresh musical routes for him. Which brings me this question: How would you brand your music? I know that’s cheating on my behalf but electronic is so big that I have to ask, how would you identify your sound, using whatever words you want?

I would like to say that my music is happy house music for the summertime. I like to make house music, I like to play a lot of house music, and if it doesn’t make you smile then I don’t want to play it. I think that I’m a happy person and I want to see everyone out in the crowd having a good time and enjoying themselves. I think house music does that for everyone; it’s what makes the world go around. So yeah, happy house.

That’s awesome. I’ll put that in bold with rainbow italics.

That would be incredible. Got to have the clouds and the air and make it curved. That would be sick. In fact, I’m going to do a t-shirt of that design. So, once you do the design I’ll make a t-shirt out of it.

Great, today we created Happy House.

It’s no longer Happy Hardcore, it’s Happy House. And it’s happier.

So you just put out your new single via One Love, let’s talk about that.

Yep. “Late At Night” came out about a month ago now. It’s my second single ever; the first one was called “The Weekend” out on One Love as well; that was about two years ago. I stupidly spent a lot of time making music that I didn’t really like because I felt victim to that followup single thing and then finally it all came together and I’m super happy with the record. There’s another bunch of new music coming out. I wasn’t just sitting at home playing Playstation not making tunes. I’ve been making a lot of music. I’ve got a new record coming very soon with The Aston Shuffle — an Australian group — and then also this girl A*M*E who sang on Duke Dumont’s "Need U (100%)". There’s a song called “Be There” that's coming out soon and then there’s a couple of other records. Still eying a few others that are going to come out soon as well. I’ve still got to work out all of that scheduling. I just don’t want to leave that two-year gap between songs; I want to pump out music and I’ve been really busy since I moved over from Melbourne to LA working in the studio and yeah, it’s time to get the GO button and churn out some hits.

Great! I was about to ask if we’d have to wait two more years… didn’t want you to just lock yourself up in Vegas.

Haha yeah, no. It’s not like, “Yeah, I’m just going to play the two songs I’ve done.” Nah, there’s going to be new music soon, I can assure you of that.

That’s good because your stuff I would say is really different than what you played during your set today. I loved your set but your original tracks are much happier and upbeat rather than electro-heavy and festival stuff.

Yeah, today was one of those days where… I never prepare a set at all for what I’m going to get and I could sense the vibe of the crowd and the vibe today was fucking big and hands in the air and going mental and that’s what I did. I don’t like to plan a set because things can go wrong; I like to read a crowd. I think that’s what I’ve always done as a DJ; I think I’m a DJ first then a producer so I like to think that I know what the kids want. You saw the set, I thought it went pretty well; I was happy with it and super stoked.

Definitely agree that the set went off and the crowd loved it. So, can I tease out any dates for when things are going to come out?

What month are we in? June? Yeah? Alright… second half of the year! How does that sound? There will 100% be a new song in the second half of the year. Maybe even two!

Thanks again to Generik/Tyson for sitting down to speak with me. He tweeted last week that we can expect a free tune AND a remix sometime soon, so follow him on Twitter and Soundcloud to stay updated on his new stuff. I'll be following along closely and will post anything new as it comes out!

As for that Happy House t-shirt design... I'll post the image to my Twitter later this week. Who knows, maybe it'll show up on the merch table at Generik's shows this fall. Check out his Facebook page for upcoming tour dates; definitely a show you don't want to miss.

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