With a stellar career as a record producer and dj spanning over thirty years, The twilite tone has worked with the likes of common, kanye west and the gorillaz. With the release of his solo album ‘The Clearing’ this week he welcomes in a new era. neil housego met with Tone to reflect on the journey so far, how to contend with social media and the reason for stepping out of the shadows now.

On an autumn evening in 1958, Thelonius Monk was en-route to a gig in Baltimore when his car was pulled over. The police stop and search was an all too familiar routine, but this time was going to be different. However, his stand not only led to an unforgivable, unlawful beating but also to the loss of his lifeline. It was the third time that he'd lost his Cabaret Card in a decade and even after stints with Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Sonny Rollins he was still the scene's best-kept secret. Financial hardship and obscurity summoned him once again. Thankfully in 1962 with Cabaret Card re-instated, Monk signed to the behemoth known as Colombia records and became the solo artist we now know. Cementing his legacy as a leader of his generation and the many that followed. At this point, he'd been in the business for nearly 30 yrs, but this was a rebirth...a clearing. It was time for him to step out of the shadows and define himself as a solo artist. 

It's a late September evening in the UK when I meet Anthony Khan AKA The Twilite Tone over Zoom. The threat of a second wave of Coronavirus beckons as the leaves start to fall and the nights draw in. Tone is in Chicago with the early morning light streaming in from his window. Relaxed, affable and widely knowledgeable, he sits back into his sofa and eases into the conversation with an assured poise. Tone wears a T-shirt with a print of some piece of esoteric studio gear on it and is friendly, enthusiastic and animated. The questions are listened to with keen consideration and the returning answers thoughtfully constructed, engaging and almost rhythmic in delivery. His well-documented work with Common, NO ID, Kanye West and Gorillaz only scratches the surface of his 30-year career as a record producer, DJ and promoter. Like Monk before him, after a long time in the industry, he's now ready to define himself as a solo artist, 'This is how it is; literally...I'm a rookie veteran'. 

It's been a long time coming. Why now for a solo album? 

The reason why I'm stepping out now as a quote-unquote solo artist is because this is something that I've always wanted to do. And possibly I wasn't brave enough before. What I mean by brave is not just, 'Am I good enough?' But will I be able to support myself and those who I'm responsible for? Will it allow me to leave the DJ mode and fully engage in the artist mode. Because as a DJ you're able to broker celebrity and finance at the same time. At least pre these times.

Was there anything in particular that prompted this change of focus? 

It's the proper time, the divine time. I have a lot to say. I've always had a lot to say, and in the past, I waited for others to say it. But no one was saying what I wanted to say and they definitely weren't saying it how I wanted to say it. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the statements that they were making; it just wasn't my voice. I realised my only saviour is myself. In the past, I have worked passionately to create platforms and light for others to express themselves. The ultimate part of this process was when I completed the Gorillaz album, and I said, 'Okay, what am I gonna do now? Go and produce Radiohead?', you know, like, where do you go from there? It was time for me to be seen. 

Did you draw confidence from all the artists you've worked with and their response to your work? What were the challenges of stepping out of the producer role?

I'm going, to be honest with you. When everybody is saying all these great things about your work, it's really coming from you in the first place. You're attracting that. I believe that anything that comes to your circumference and your atmosphere; you are ultimately the author of it. The devil didn't make you do it. It's all you. And it's because deep down inside, I knew who I was, and I know who I am. You know that is the challenge for artists. That is the challenge for human beings. Listening to that little voice or whatever size voice inside you that says 'You got this'. But unfortunately, we create obstacles too. I don't know why we like creating obstacles that make this journey more complicated than it needs to be - a lá Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. 

That's so true. As an educator, I find that half the battle is helping people to see things in a simple, exact way and how to acknowledge that change of perception.  

Yeah, I think we just can't believe that a miracle is that simplistic. It is simple, but not necessarily easy. 

In the early days working as a Producer with Common and NO ID did you expect to be expressing yourself sooner as a solo artist?

You know, when we were all working together, Common, NO ID and myself, I was very confident. I was an artist, producer, dancer, and DJ. I did all of those things. I think sometimes that would be threatening to my colleagues. And at other times, my lack of knowing how to properly communicate or confront would lead to me being boxed out of things. We were supposed to follow each other with our own solo projects. For some reason, I felt like the baton wasn't being passed. And instead of confronting them, I just thought, 'They should know better'. I didn't confront them, and my way of dealing with it was to go quiet and not engage. That allowed me to go into a rabbit hole and fall into the role of the DJ because it was actually an easy thing to do. It was low hanging fruit, and I don't blame anybody. I don't even blame myself. I take full responsibility for the road that I took. 

Do you know why it's taken the time to come back to the idea of being an artist in your own right?

I just say that the reason it took this long is that I got too busy harvesting. Which is interesting now the new crops are coming in. Farming requires divine timing. I am now coming into fruition as the artist known as 'The Twilite Tone'. So this is not a tragic story. No one did anything to me, and nobody blocked me or tried to. You know, there's a lot of these things that you experience in your youth that prevent you from handling them in the best way. And eventually, as you mature, you see a better way to carry yourself. And that is why I now I have a record coming out. 

Is music still the most elegant way for you to express your ideas and make a living?

The reason why I choose to create in this way is that it's authentic to who I am. I would do this even if I wasn't getting money for it. This is part of my lifestyle. People are critical of Floyd Mayweather, but the great thing about Floyd Mayweather is that boxing is his lifestyle. He doesn't just train for a fight, and he's actually not there to just try and knock his opponent out. His defensive acumen is equally important. He doesn't just train for the fight and live a different life; his whole lifestyle is boxing. 

Yeah, he walks around at near fight weight. Even when he had a big fight scheduled; his training was more of a tune-up rather than some battle to make the weight. Like you say it's his life, inside and out.

That's why I continue to make music. Because as I've said before, I don't believe life imitates art or art imitates life. I believe life inspires art and art inspires life. So what? Well, it's motivating. Life inspires me to make art and vice versa. Sometimes I actually take a break from making music to live life. It means I have something to make music about even if it's an instrumental project. Experiencing life gives me a purpose behind the buttons I'm choosing. There's an intention, and I allow myself to be in creative alignment with how I live my life. It took a while to get there. But, now I know what I want to say and how I want to say it. It's been clicking for the last seven to ten years. It's like a sculpture, and it's getting more and more coherent, more clear...clearer. 

How do you balance this work with being able to live a life and not being in the studio 24/7? 

I allow myself to 'be' man because I used to be a person that literally made music from sunup to sunup. There's nothing wrong with that. But then I got into a place where it became all about the hustle, and I think that was my Dark Ages. Once I got out of that, I realised that I want to create music on my own terms and, you know, if I'm not feeling it, I'm going to step away. 

Do you find that the modern world we live in, and especially the role of social media makes this more difficult? 

How do I cope with the modern world and social media and such? Well, I fasted from social media, which was one of the best things I've ever done. I mean, I deleted all my pictures. I stopped following a whole bunch of people. Honestly, I'm trying to figure out how to stop following pretty much everybody on Instagram. If you look at my Twitter, the only reason I'm following people is that my manager followed a few press people or whatever. I used to be at zero, and that felt great because I actually don't want other people's stimuli. I don't need your stimuli. People want to compete with your best life photo from this small percentage of their life. It just shows that highlight moment that may be manufactured exclusively for that platform. 

It's pretty tiring really and not representative of our reality. 

Initially, I found myself on Instagram, scrolling through pictures from other producers. I don't need to see that because it'll encourage me to get into competition mode or it could even change my creative direction. Be careful and be deliberate about your stimulus and understand that the news is what you say it is. The news is your news and is not what a news channel or a social media feed says. It's a really funny thing to think that we are presented with everyone's news. It's somebody else saying that this is the most important thing, but maybe it was your daughter's birthday. Or perhaps you just landed a deal where you were able to pay the mortgage or rent, you know, That's news! During this time, I learned how to play guitar...that's news.

It's easy to be drawn into it, and we have to be aware of what's driving it. 

No, no, you're right. And I don't know if you saw or you heard about the documentary, 'Social Dilemma' that's on Netflix? Yeah, I mean, it is designed to pull you in totally. And the thing is, as human beings, we have to be careful not to be so dogmatic in our movements, our thoughts and our ways of being. We have to learn to be our own saviour and have our own 'Clearing'. It's not just the name of the album. It is not just a marketing ploy. I didn't come up with the album like, 'Oh, it's 2020, and there's a pandemic, so I'm going to call my album 'The Clearing'. You know, I had this title two years ago, and 'The Clearing' is actually a process in which you let go and forgive. Forgiving means letting go of the energy and the emotional attachment to a thing. It's not necessarily forgetting or being best buddies with the culprit that's committed a crime against you. No, it's like I've let go of that energy that you know, I'm not a victim. You hurt me, but I'm not hurting.

 You mentioned the MPC Rennaisance. What's your relationship with music-making on hardware and software?

Well, I recently got an MPC Live 2, and I like it, I like it a lot. I got it so that I could work on my deck outside overlooking my garden. I got a chance to dabble with the Live in the studio while I was working on this project and I was like, man, this is really cool. You know it felt strong and durable. Like, the Renaissance I'm able to chop up samples fast. I love how powerful even the stock sounds were, and it doesn't sound digital or brittle, it sounds warm and full. A lot of people are like, 'Oh I'm analogue, you know, two-inch tape and Roland Space Echoes and all this shit, and then other people are like, yeah, we're into digital, fast and sleek. We can do all that shit quickly, fuck those analogue cavemen!' I'm kind of like H.G. Wells. I like the marriage of them both. I don't think there's anything wrong with either one? I have a polyamorous relationship (laughs).

I like a hybrid setup. I've been playing with loop VST's like Arcade recently along with my hardware when dub mixing. It's kind of a guilty pleasure!

I just think, man, whatever floats your boat. That's your thing, man and that's cool. 

What other stuff have you bought recently?

I recently got the Roland Vocoder boutique version. I didn't get the OG one. But I spent like $300. I don't really need anything else at the moment. 

Did you have access to lots of gear when working on the Gorillaz album?

We had an assortment of stuff. I got a lot of from sounds that I created either with my MPC 2000XL, and I had a specific collection of soft synthesisers and sounds that I had made. I also brought my little secretive, special Moog like module. I don't tell anybody about that one! (laughs) Well, I was wowing them, and we were wowing each other, and I kept up with the Joneses with what I had, and if we needed something, we'd experiment. It was a pleasure working with Damon. You know, it was great having a budget like that and having that visibility. So here's the thing. You could do all this experimental stuff and do all this cool, crazy stuff. But who's going to hear it? 

Yeah, the underground can be limited in that sense for sure.

With the mainstream versus the underground, people try to demonise them for repeating songs and charting. But what they do not understand is what's that's like for the artist. That's a beautiful thing, because you have this platform that is playing your music over and over, marketing and promoting your music simultaneously, and ultimately making you money.

 Underground artists are still battling to be heard at the end of the day, just like everyone else?

The issue I sometimes have with the underground is that you become the flavour of the minute. Fuck that. Because they'll play your song one time, and then that's it.

 That's so true it feels like there's no longevity to the work. 

Yeah, you're cool, but you're really only cool. So it becomes, 'Okay, give us more songs, give us more when they've just played that one song once or twice. That's what we're talking about with the Coltrane. You know, there's a body of music that is constantly revisited. Without those repeat plays, you're not going to catch all the nuances of a song. And the thing about radio back in the day, like in the seventies and in the eighties was that people had taste and it was like this is THE SONG—three weeks at number one. You know like 'Southern Freeze' by Freeez. It was the tune of the moment. And then that causes you to be like, man, let me go check out the other stuff, and then you're in the record store trying to check out the other stuff. 

Do you think music will transcend it's current condition of being regarded as 'content'?

That's what it's come down to now. Music's become content where it used to be the commodity or the product. Now it's like you said, either it's the content, you know, or it's a commercial for something else. Music has become the merch, too when it's physical. Music is merch now, a piece of vinyl at a concert is merch?!? It's not like you got to get this record and go home and listen to it and show it your friends. Now it's like an accessory to the brand, and everybody is a brand. Are you going to spend your time battling this? Or are you gonna pivot and navigate through it and figure out how to state your core values or stand with your core values through this new terrain? Or are you going to pioneer and create another terrain? 

Even though vinyl has sadly become a form of merchandise, it was the only way to get our fix of music back in the day. Do you still go digging?

Maybe a month or so ago I had a private record shopping opportunity. This guy was selling out a storage unit full of vinyl. I went there for three days straight. Yeah, I love buying cheap records. With cheap records, I find stuff that people aren't looking for, and I find stuff that quite honestly wows the fuck out of me. I still play vinyl. I could kill it with Serrato or CDJ's or whatever and I'm not against that. But I love playing vinyl. As I said, DJing was the majority of my presentation, but I think it will become the minority. It used to be 85% and may now become around 5-10%. 

Stones Throw seems to be a good home for your new direction.

Yeah, Stone's Throw is a great first step for me as I embark on this journey, especially in regards to this instrumental project. They're like Blue Note, and they're really good at taking left of centre music that can have a commercial sensibility. They know where to place it, how to place it and when to place it. I think Stone's throw are tremendous and I'm very excited and honoured to be involved with their label. 

How did that relationship come about?

I was in town, and my friend was visiting Chris (Manak), you know Peanut Butter Wolf. And they asked me to come and hang out. Maybe 10 years prior, Chris had wanted to sign me when I was still in Chicago. But I just wasn't ready. I had some personal stuff with my ex-wife, and I was just not ready. So I went to visit my friend and Kristen at Stone's Throw studio. Chris was like, 'Man, what are you up to at the moment?' And it just so happened I had completed an album. So I let him check it out, and I didn't even think he was really paying attention. But he was like, 'Yo, man, this would be great on the label', and the next thing I know I got an email from his right-hand man Jason McGuire and the rest is history.

Just like Thelonius Monk in the early sixties, you've done some amazing work behind the scenes, this solo journey is going to be exciting to witness. It's never too late to reinvent and play, right?

Dude, I'm a child. I'm a kid. And if that's how you feel, then act like that. No one can tell you how to live your life and that you should be at home with your 2.5 Children and holding down that corporate job. Live your life the way you want to live your life. Allow me to do mine. And you're right. You should play. Playing and creation is being a human, you're never too old. 

‘The Clearing’ by The Twilite Tone is Out Now on Stones Throw Records.