Das Moth is Timothy Sullivan. Ex-rocker (Damn Arms, Gimme Um), nomad (Australia/London/Norway/Japan), babysitter aka “manny”, and of course producer/DJ. His first 12″ ‘Moon/Wrong’ EP under the Das Moth moniker made its debut not so long ago – released on the Cutters Records label. I’ve heard the vinyl is practically sold out everywhere but the digital (which contains some great remixes from the likes of Jacques Renault, Kink & Neville Watson, Sidwho?, DJ Maar Dexpistols and last (but not least) Brisbane’s Rio Lobotomy) is widely available on the internets.

To purchase the digital, choose your path: JUNO / ITUNES. The production was assisted by fellow resident Cutters studio guru Nile Delta with the final sound of ‘Moon’ and ‘Wrong’ to be gorgeous – blissful sounds with an underlying esoteric feel.

I struck up a very informal interview casual chat with Tim roughly around November 2010 (apologies for the delay)…

DAS MOTH “INTERVIEW” ::

PATCH: So how’s Japan treating you??
TIM: Hehe. Japan treats me extremely well. For the biggest city in the world. It’s very relaxed for me at the moment.

PATCH: And why did you choose to move there? Also, how long ago did you leave Australia? Did you always have a hidden love for the country and its culture?
TIM: I moved to Tokyo in July 2009. I’ve always been someone that moves around a lot. I guess the main reason for moving here was i wanted some change. A few things in my Melbourne life stopped happening and after a conversation with my mum she told me “why don’t you go back to where you were last happy?”. Sounds pretty simple.. hah. I’d been to Japan 2 times before I moved here – DJing and playing with Damn Arms.
PATCH: Ah so you already had a feel for the place
TIM: Totally. It’s hard to explain without sounding lame.. haha. But I have a lot of love for this place.
PATCH: Oh come off it, just spill man.
TIM: I guess it’s a combination of everyday here something new happens. It’s exciting – putting yourself into a new culture is an experience. I was born and raised in country New South Wales!
PATCH: That’s what I can’t believe. You one day decide that you were not happy and then moving to a country with nothing, and a totally whole new culture. It’s just throwing yourself in the deep-end.
TIM: Sure. But I honestly didn’t think of any of that. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Now it has been 1 and half years.

PATCH: I’m guessing you should be near fluent in Japanese, surely not…?
TIM: Ahhh… nope. Considering I knew pretty much next to nothing when I moved here and now I can speak to people for a short amount of time. I’m happy with that. Sadly I’ve never learnt another language before and being in the middle of it every day you just have to.
PATCH: I can only imagine how hard it is to seal the deal with girls .
TIM: *laughter* Yeah, it definitely doesn’t help your chances. I was thinking the other day about that, about meeting someone that has the same interests as you, but you can’t communicate. Quite sad really. *laughter*
PATCH: You don’t have a particular story to share? Or do you just not bother with the locals?
TIM: It’s not a case of “not bothering”.. it does become slightly frustrating for me when I can’t hold down a meaningful conversation. But it does make you want to learn more. But now I can understand a lot more than I used to. You find yourself listening into a conversation of a group of young girls on the train or whatever and you realise they are talking about how cute their new hair cut or bag is.
PATCH: *laughter*
TIM: But that’s Japan for you hehe.

PATCH: And how are you supporting yourself? (apart from DJing)
TIM: I’m a babysitter during the week looking after 5 kids from 3 different families.
PATCH: Jeez, you get around. Who’s your favourite family?
TIM: *laughter* They’re all adorable. Actually, babysitting is where I learn a lot of my Japanese.
PATCH: From a 5 year old? Jeez, your Japanese must be so primitive …
TIM: Hahaa yep. They find it’s funny. “Tim, you don’t speak Japanese?! How do you order food?!”
PATCH: *laughter*
TIM: That was the first topic of the language I learnt. Food and drinks.
PATCH: Well one does need food and water to survive so I guess you picked a good topic
TIM: Essentials! You know.
PATCH: Don’t the kids get scared of your tats?
TIM: Not at all. A few of them got their parents to get some fake ones – for the kids. So they had dolphins and roses on their forearms.
PATCH: *laughter* So badass!
TIM: Right. Walking the streets with kids already attracts quite a few eyes.. the fake tattoos make it even funnier.
PATCH: So you actually have to take them outside of the house to the shops and local arcade and such?
TIM: Yep yep. Parks, arcades, table tennis, soccer…
PATCH: Amazing. How did you get roped into this job?
TIM: A few friends here have kids and they needed someone to look after them hehe. Pretty simple really. I’ve always seemed to get along with kids easily. Then they told their friends.. so new families.

PATCH: So you moved to Japan with absolutely nothing?
TIM: A suitcase. Luckily it was summer, so no jackets to take up space.
PATCH: Those things take up 70% of the suitcase, most of the time. You picked your timing perfectly.
TIM:

PATCH: In terms of music and scene, Japan is really at the top at the moment. I keep hearing many good things. Describe what’s going down in terms of the Japanese music scene, etc.
TIM: There is a bunch of labels here doing good things for sure. Crue-L are always onto it.” Bangin” dance music is still very popular here. But lately there has been a bunch of great DJs from overseas playing here and coming up too. Japan is very different to most places I’ve been “scene wise”. Over summer, a friend and I put on a weekly party in Shibuya called “Onigiri Fridays”. The kids here were fascinated by the fact the party was on every week which is something we grew up with in Australia.
PATCH: So how do they do it in Japan? Monthly?
TIM: I’m not sure. Sure there are nights that are frequent, but they kinda happen whenever.
PATCH: So your night “Onigiri Fridays” runs weekly? After what you have just said, does it still get a strong crowd week after week?
TIM: It was a summer party. It ran for 6 weeks I think. Yeah, by the end it was a solid turn out. We charged the total minimum at the door so we could create something memorable. Hopefully we’ll bring it back next summer again.
PATCH: Tell me about the acts that come to Japan in a nutshell.
TIM: I guess it’s the same as anywhere. Lately, Prins Thomas, In Flagranti, Todd Terje, Mongolian Jetset, etc. have played here. There are a bunch of promoters here that do really good nights frequently. The entry fee to clubs is pretty insane at times though.?
PATCH: How much we talking here? An arm and a leg? Possibly a gameboy too?
TIM: A few gameboys! Sometimes it gets to around 6000 yen.
PATCH: Let me get a converter out… $73? You have got to be joking?
TIM: Correct and nope.
PATCH: And this is for a normal club night?
TIM: Well they have “special guests”, but these are clubs that hold 500+ people.. $70 each. Someone is winning *laughter*.
PATCH: Yet people are still willing to come and pay that much, that’s terrific!
TIM: Yeah, I guess it’s the way it’s always been here. Friends that have come to DJ here have been amazed by the entry price. That’s why we charge the minimum to get into Onigiri Fridays. So everyone’s’ wallets can chill for one night.?
PATCH: How much would one pay to enter Onigiri?
TIM: 1000 yen.
PATCH: Huge difference
TIM: Yep. *laughter*
PATCH: So if someone like Prins Thomas was to play, would it be greater than 6000yen?
TIM: Nah.. I think it was 3500yen when I saw him.
PATCH: Oh cool. Have you been supporting some of these internationals? I saw that you were involved with a DFA night there…
TIM: Yeah with Juan and Shit Robot. That was awesome. I’ll be playing with Idjut Boys, Horse Meat Disco and Metro Area over the next 2 months.
PATCH: Oh amazing!
TIM: Yeah.. since the 12″ came out here, a few promoters have contacted me after hearing it and the Tokio Disko mixes I’ve done.
PATCH: You will slowly begin to build up your own little empire there. So you have been playing a fair bit in Japan? How did you get your foot in the door?
TIM: It’s all been pretty random really. I guess if you’re a skinny white kid playing disco classics in a city full of electro, people start to talk. I’ve been lucky to work with the lovely people at Le Baron and more recently DIESEL:U:MUSIC in Japan. I walked in Womb one night to hear the DJ playing “Destination”. Someone ended up talking to him and he worked for DIESEL:U:MUSIC here. I did a mix for them and played a few awesome parties.?
PATCH: Oh nice one. Did you already have a few contacts up there in the club scene before you moved?
TIM: I played at Le Baron in July 2008 and instantly got along with all the staff. This is way before I decided to move here. We all stayed in contact and then when I came here they let me put on a night, Tokio Disko, now and then. Everyone is very social here so if you go out to a club/bar you’re bound to meet someone that you can work with somehow.?
PATCH: Social is a good thing but isn’t there a language barrier?
TIM: Sure, but my drunken Japanese banter is ok. It can make it quite interesting… or even a friend can be in the middle translating hehe.

PATCH: How did you coin the name Das Moth?
TIM: When I was a kid. Well still even now. My older sister (who’s singing on “Moon”) called me moth. tiMOTHy… and the das bit. “The Moth” sounds lame. ?
PATCH: Ah there you go! That’s cool you got your sis to sing on the release.?
TIM: Yep yep. She sung the vocal in “Moon” which was recorded in my old bedroom and also sung on the Voltage track “all night”. The Turkish Prison remix of “All Night” uses her vocal track. ?

PATCH: When moving to Japan, did you have any dreams or goals?
TIM: I honestly didn’t expect to stay here for this long. But I had sold everything I had in Australia besides some instruments and records that sit at my sister’s house. So going back to Australia didn’t seem like an option. I aimed to get my first 12″ out and write a bunch of music for future releases. And that’s happened for sure.

PATCH: Let’s get onto the topic of your music… so you have your first solo 12″ as Das Moth which was just brought out on Cutters. How did you get involved with Dan?
TIM: I guess just living in Melbourne. I remember I just moved back from living from London and Bergen [Norway] and ran into Tim from Cut Copy in the street. We went to high school together but he was in my older sister’s year. He told me about his band – this would of been in 2003? Maybe?
PATCH: Hopefully he didn’t hit on your sis.
TIM: *laughter* That topic has never come up in conversation. And through Tim I met Dan and Mitchell. Then Damn Arms ended up touring with Cut Copy around Australia. We became bro’s.
PATCH: Ah yes, I remember the gig at Billboards… like the ‘So Haunted’ tour?
TIM: Yep yep. And Cutter’s Knightlife too. I’d written a bunch of songs at home in between working on Damn Arms stuff which was pretty different to what we were working on. I was speaking with Joel Belgium out one night, probably at 3rd Class. Hopefully the second release doesn’t take so long to finish. I think the first version of “Moon” and “Wrong” are maybe over 2 years old.
PATCH: So Joel worked with you on your first release?
TIM: Yeah I brought the demos to him and we created the 12″ together. At the end of the day, I’m more comfortable playing instruments than the production side of things and Joel was keen to work on the tracks with me and obviously I said yes. We both come from different sides of music so we would both be trying new things to create new sounds that would surprise us. Electric pianos with 3 distortion pedals on “Wrong” was a lot of fun. I’m super excited for the Nile Delta release to come out on Cutters too.
PATCH: Your EP sounds great (from what I’ve heard) but did it turn out the way you wanted it to?
TIM: Totally. Really looking forward to getting the second 12″ into the studio now.?
PATCH: is it already in the works?
TIM: Yep yep. I’ve got a bunch of songs sitting around. Sending back and forward with the Cutters guys. Soon we can decide on which ones to go forward with.?
PATCH: Is it a continuation of your current work or is it branching out into different realms?
TIM: I guess it’s always a continuation. The next releases won’t be instrumental that’s for sure. I’ve had a bunch of emails from people wondering what the songs on my Myspace page are.. hehe. “Are these songs on the 12″?!” They are just interested in them and a lot of people have asked me to send them those tracks. They are obviously different.. but to me they all have the same theme.
PATCH: And how come you chose to leave it as instrumentals?
TIM: I’d done vocals for moon. After a while the topic wasn’t something I wanted to listen to anymore. It was making the song sound kind of sad. When they were removed it, it made the song move a lot more.

PATCH: How would you describe the sound of the release?
TIM: Gah.. that’s a hard one. Had this conversation with the Cutters guys too. We’ve all been scratching our heads trying to explain it. Its influences are there but when I was writing those tracks i was trying to experiment a lot. Putting pedals together that “aren’t meant to go together”… trying new things.
PATCH: Influences.. who were your influences?
TIM: Yellow Magic Orchestra, Brian Eno, LCD Soundsystem.. I’ve found myself listening to a lot of music that influences me in a different way like Shigeru Umebayashi, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Abel Korzeniowski… Indirectly, the ideas come through those artists more than the artists it may sound like.
PATCH: So, Japanese new wave kind of stuff?
TIM: Not really.. it’s more sound track scores relying heavily on the melody of the instrument.. songs without vocals.
PATCH: Ah cool cool. Because the leap from the Damn Arms material to your solo Das Moth is quite a large one.
TIM: I guess so. My musical tastes are still the same. Damn Arms’ sound was always changing. I get bored easily.
PATCH: Please elaborate?
TIM: Testing your ability to try something new is something I find exciting. Does that make sense?
PATCH: Sure.
TIM: If my first solo 12″ sounded like Damn Arms tracks, what would of that done? You know?
PATCH: *laughter* I think the chance of that happening was very unlikely but I totally know what you mean. Even the last release you did with just Yama was totally different – disco house.
TIM: Yeah, “Destination” was a slow burner.
PATCH: Are you able to tell me about that period of time around the group and “Destination” and what unfolded?
TIM: Hehe sure. Basically we were touring a lot. Pretty burnt out. We decided to have a break from touring and stay in Melbourne and write/finish a bunch of songs we had. In that break, Simon started drumming for Lost Valentinos and Ben started playing bass with Cut Copy. So they start practicing and touring again. So that left Yama and myself. We actually recorded a bunch of songs that have never seen the light of day with Ben and Simon. In short, “Destination” was released. I left Damn Arms and decided to come to Japan hehe.
PATCH: And so when it was just you and Yama, you became more producer-oriented rather than band-oriented (obviously). Was there discussion of looking for new band members or were you both going in different directions, musically?
TIM: Totally. We went from being in the practice space rehearsing to being in front of computers, synths and Ableton Live. The thought of getting new members came up now and then but honestly starting from the beginning again wasn’t something I really wanted to do. I guess musically Yama and I are different. If you listen to both of our projects it’s easier to hear. But that’s also why we worked so well together.
PATCH: Understandable. But you haven’t told me about your band in Japan which I guess is quite similar to the damn arms sound?
TIM: Ahh.. I’m not playing in Gimme Um anymore.
PATCH: Oh really? What happened – what’s the story?
TIM: *laughs* The typical story of musical differences. It’s a boring story.

PATCH: Can you tell me what you are working on at the moment and what’s in store for the future?
TIM: A bunch of demos that will soon become the next 12″. I’m really focused on making an album and turning it into a live act. In the long term I have much more love for performing/playing an instrument than DJing. So that’s the plan.?
PATCH: So you are obviously more band oriented so making Das Moth into a live thing seems like the way to go, right?
TIM: Oh yeah. It feels natural.

While Tim was overseas, he told me about a night that was on at le Carmen that contained the Onigiri Fridays vibe:
TIM: The guy I run Onigiri Fridays (in Japan) was in Paris at the same time as me so we threw a party. It was amazing – 6hour set, just the two of us.

The Cutters crew will be throwing some parties, celebrating the two fresh releases on the label in the following weeks (“Das Moth – Moon” & “Nile Delta – Channel/All This”). Headlining these parties is Dan & Tim aka Cut Copy DJ’s with crowned heroes Das Moth and Nile Delta. In addition, there will be special guests such as New York’s ‘!!!’ (Chk Chk Chk) DJs , Foals DJs, Rohan Bell Towers (Bamboo Musik), Pelvis + more, varying state-to-state. Check the dates below:

BRISBANE – FRIDAY FEB 4th – BOWLER BAR
w/Dan & Tim, Nile Delta, Edwin (Foals DJ set), Rio Lobotomy.
**BUY TIX**

PERTH – SATURDAY FEB 12th – VILLA NIGHTCLUB
w/Dan & Tim, Nile Delta, Das Moth, !!! (Chk Chk Chk dj set) Edwin (Foals DJ set).
**BUY TIX**

MELBOURNE – SATURDAY FEB 19th – THE ORDER OF MELBOURNE
w/Dan & Tim / Nile Delta, Das Moth, DJ Banana Nutloaf (Knightlife), Rohan Bell Towers (Bamboo Musik), Michael Cue it up (Noise In My Head, RRR).
**BUY TIX**

SYDNEY – FRIDAY FEB 25th – GOOD GOD
w/Dan & Tim, Nile Delta, Das Moth, Pelvis & more.
**BUY TIX**

Due to international traveling, Tim will be only be playing the Cutter parties at Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. However, he will also be playing on the 12th March @ M, DAIKANYAMA w/ KENJI TAKIMI & more.

Now for some Das Moth goodness:

MP3: DAS MOTH – MOON
MP3: France Joli – Gonna Get Over You (Das Moth Edit)
MP3: Tullio De Piscopo – Stop Bajon (Das Moth Edit)

Make sure you check out Das Moth on his Soundcloud page (++ the Cutters Rec one too) where you can find some of his tracks and also edits.

Follow this link to visit Tim’s blog to check out the Tokio Disko Mixes series. He was kind enough to devote mix 3.5 (the point five because its shorter than the rest) in the series to the Waves at Night blog ^_^. The link below:

MP3: Das Moth – Tokio Disko Volume Three Point Five (Waves at Night *XCLUSIVE*)

DAS MOTH – MOON from kateb on Vimeo.

さようなら おやすみ またあした.