Start Listening To: Laundromat

In anticipation of his latest EP we caught up with Laundromat and got to hear all about his songwriting process, how films influenced Red and his love for El Michels Affair.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and a little bit about the music that you make? 

Hey, I’m Toby, I live on Brighton sea-front. I started Laundromat a few years ago while travelling around Asia, chopping up drum stems from Beatles songs on my laptop and seeing what I could make out of them. A year or so later I was living in London and found myself looping short grooves and singing vocals over the top. Eventually I moved back to Brighton and with the help of some friends I compiled the best songs and recorded them in Southend-on-Sea.  

I released two EP’s in 2020 on ltd 7” through Brace Yourself Records, and a third EP is out in April.

We have only played one gig, at The Bees Mouth in Brighton in November 2019. 

What is your songwriting process like?

Long and painful hahah I tend to start with beats and basslines, messing about with grooves until I find something I want to listen to over and over. This sounds made-up, but the repetition sends me to some kinda mad zone where my imagination takes over and I start picturing the parts as people in my mind. So the bassline could be a large, bald, well-dressed gentleman who is in a really bad mood, and the drums might be a young woman who is into stock car racing. It’s proper nuts, but I end up with all these people hanging out in my head.  I tend to not notice they’re there until I press stop and they all disappear, it’s really strange but I like it.

How do you produce your music?

I have a home set up that’s pretty decent, well, for my needs anyway. For the most part I’m trying to record the parts all here in my room, but there’s usually a lot that I need to go to a studio for. The songs on these EP’s were all recorded at SS2 studio in Southend-on-Sea by Tom Andrews, who also mixed the songs too. We used my demos as vibe guides, and tried to recapture what I had recorded but at a higher quality. Where that wasn’t possible, we just kept the demo parts.

This is the third and final installment of your trilogy of EPs. How does it feel now that all three are almost out in the world?

Feels bloody good..! Although I’ve very much moved on in my head, some of these tunes are years old now… Feel very lucky to have worked with Brace Yourself on these releases. They’re a rad bunch, and I’m so glad that we were able to release physical copies of these songs. 

This EP was influenced by a variety of films Repo Man (1984), Deep End (1970) and Punch-drunk Love (2002) to name a few. What’s your relationship with film? Is it an important part of your creative process?

This is a tough one to answer because film does play a big part in my creative output, but my relationship with it feels quite abstract and weird to put into words. Sometimes a film, or a scene, or a character or even the colours will resonate with me, and they’ll perfectly encapsulate something I’d forgotten, or something that I’d always felt but never noticed. For example, when I watch Repo Man, I feel submersed in time that’s lost, or someone else’s misspent youth, it’s quite a romantic feeling and sorta bitter-sweet too. It feels like a free pass, a little visit to more mischievous times. The dusty streets and the way conversations stutter, it sparks something in my imagination, and these feelings are what I hold onto, or maybe what I am aiming to re-create when I make music. God that sounds like utter nonsense.

Have you ever thought about doing soundtrack work?

I’d love to. I have thought about it, if the opportunity ever came up, and the project was right, I’d jump at the chance.

What do you hate right now?

There’s a lot that feels wrong with the world at the moment, I’m struggling with it all to be honest. 

What do you love right now?

El Michels Affair

Did you watch any of the Grammy’s? Any artists you feel didn’t get the attention they deserved?

Honestly, I didn’t know it was happening until yesterday

Who are some of your biggest influences?

Kim Deal, Can, Madvillain, Broadcast, Helvetia, The B-52s. Also, more recently Drummetrics, and Reginald Omas Mamode IV

Do you have any plans to perform live in 2021?  

Nothing booked yet, but it’d be nice to do a second gig at some point. Maybe towards the end of the year when things are a little more ‘settled’…

Is there any new music from 2021 that you’re enjoying?

Been absolutely loving the new stuff from El Michels Affair, rinsed that new Madlib record too. That Sundrop record by Teardrop Estates and Frank Leone. That new Wu-Lu song. Also it’s not new, but there’s an EP by Liv.e called Hoopdreams, been loving that. 

Do you have any good film recommendations?

Rust & Bone is one I always recommend. A friend introduced me to Sans Soleil, that’s really something. Really dug Uncut Gems from last year, was it last year? Who can even tell. Very excited about Dune. There’s also a really great TV show from a couple years back called Undone. 

What else can we expect from you in 2021? Any more releases planned?

Other than releasing Red EP, I’m just recording really. Want to get a few more songs down so we can get them into the live set. Got some sketches for the next record and I’m really excited about it. I learned a lot making the first batch of songs. Also there’s a few other recording projects I’m hoping to tie off. Spent way too much time sitting around these last 12 months.                                           

Do you have any final life lessons or tips for our readers?

Turn off Netflix, get out of bed and do something. If you work out how to achieve this, let me know.