Stu Tyson, better known by his DJ alias Bass Kleph, is no stranger to the music business. By age 15, the Australian native had joined a band with a major record deal and began touring all over down under and New Zealand. “Little teenage me was doing what would be the equivalent of Saturday Night Live shit and MTV – the whole nine yards,” Tyson says. As the drummer of the three-piece rock band Loki, Bass Kleph got a good introduction to the music industry. “That lasted about five years until I realized the drums were not my instrument. They sounded amazing at first, but once they laid down the bass and guitar [the drums] got slowly pushed to the back,” says Stu in his sexy Aussie accent. “I would hear stuff like The Prodigy and Squarepusher and felt like that was more my music.”
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Bass Kleph's interest in deejaying had him focusing on getting as many gigs as he could at parties, clubs and anywhere that would let him control the sound for a couple of hours. Given his ability to write music, he was fascinated with learning to write electronic compositions and 12 years later it's taken him all over the world as a DJ. “I knew how to write drum beats, so it was about taking those drums and doing them with samples to create new sounds,” says Tyson.
Playing hundreds of gigs from the biggest clubs to festival stages, Bass Kleph has truly mastered his craft as a DJ and producer by developing his own styles and staying relevant after so many years. His sound touches on everything from his bass heavy roots to electro house, tech house and his now focus progressive house. And by “touching on” we also mean he's become known for crafting intricate drum parts live on electronic drum pads and other devices.
Having played everywhere including the infamous Ministry of Sound in London, Asia, Kazakhstan, Europe, South Africa, Canada and the states he's chosen LA as his permanent residency because it's his favorite place to play. “I've been touring here for about three years now and its been my favorite country to tour,” the DJ says. “I always have the most fun playing in America because the shows are so big, the crowd goes crazy, you get looked after well and the people are very nice.” He's now joined the roster of LA DJ transplants which includes artist like Rusko, Eric Prydz and TyDi. They too have seen how moving to LA means more opportunities to visit new cities, markets and even work with American labels and other artist including those in the pop world. “I'm focused on doing my own productions right now, but if Jay-Z or Pharell gave me a ring I would definitely clear my schedule,” says Tyson.
Bass Kleph is focusing on his live/DJ crossover tour which has seen every major club and festival all over the world. He originally tested it out at the Yost Theater last year by playing Quintino & Sandro Silva's “Epic” on an all finger-drum pad live. “I started experimenting with it for a couple of years, but that was one of the first times where it really blew up with a crazy crowd reaction,” Tyson says. “It was something I really wanted to do focus on.” He's since played countless of EDM staples live such as “Atom,” “One,” “Epic” and “Incredible” and it will be interesting to see him come back to the Yost this Friday night where it all began. Today he's focusing more on his original productions like “Make Me Forget” (which features his own vocals) and “Less is More” both on his own Vacation Records.
“I think it's that people can understand it more instead of deejaying where they can't really tell what someone is doing or how they are producing the sound,” says Tyson. “This is raw as you can see me hitting the pad. It's like hitting the drums and or playing the guitar, you don't have to know much about music to be like 'Wow this is really happening.'” Expect him to jam out on his Native Instruments Machine Sampler, while deejaying a set of everything from electro to progressive house. He has a slew of new music to share which includes a recent collaboration with his good friend Tommy Trash. With a year under his belt performing with the drum machines again, who knows he may even take things to the next level and perform his own vocals live this time.
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