10 Questions To… Phos Toni

Interview With Phos Toni (10 Questions to…)

When Phos Toni surprised all his fans this year and made a really great comeback with the release of his first album ‘Electro Swing Escape’, I thought about how many things I would like to ask this artist. I wondered why he took a break from producing music, I was curious to know how Electro Swing Elite developed into the Electro Swing Thing music label, and I also wanted to know why Phos Toni is so keen on using Balkan influences in his songs. Today, with great pleasure, I present to you 10 questions to… Phos Toni! This interview will be an incredibly interesting story about how Phos Toni’s family and teenage years influenced a musical fascination that turned into a job and a way to unleash creativity. Read carefully, because Phos Toni has prepared another surprise for you – you will have the opportunity to listen to his first song from… 1998!

01. LadyDot: Hi Philippos, I am very happy to finally be able to interview you. It’s a great pleasure for me as I’ve had some questions in my head for a while now that I’ve always wanted to ask you and it’s great that now I have this opportunity, thank you! 😊 I would like to start, of course, with how and when did your adventure in music start? Did you know right away that music was what you wanted to associate your professional future with? Or did you have a completely different plan for your life, which changed when you started working on your own songs?

Phos Toni: Hi Ania, thank you for inviting me to this interview. Where should I start? Music has been with me for as long as I can remember. I come from a very musical family – music was always a part of our culture and daily life, even though it was never a professional path for my parents. My father taught himself to play many instruments without formal lessons or sheet music. At family gatherings, he would play guitar and accordion, while my mother sang with her powerful soprano voice. Easter and Christmas were always loud, spirited, and musical – typically Greek. My older siblings learned piano, and there was always an instrument at home: piano, saxophone, guitar, or accordion.

Even as a toddler, I was drawn to the piano. My parents love to tell stories of how I could barely stand but would enthusiastically pound on the keys. I took piano lessons and developed a passion for classical music by the time I was 17 – Beethoven, Chopin, and Bach were my favorites, and I even performed them at small concerts. Later, I also picked up violin and cello.

However, at 17, I never would have dreamed of becoming a music producer. Besides playing piano, I enjoyed listening to techno and had a big passion for computers. Originally, I just wanted to play Command and Conquer, but to do so, I had to learn how operating systems and PCs worked. In the late ’90s, a friend gave me a floppy disk with a program called “Fastracker” – an 8-bit music software. I started producing tracks for fun. The first tracks sounded really sh*t, haha! At the time, I wasn’t thinking about serious releases.

(I found some of my very first tracks, made in the late ’90s with FastTracker, you can now listen to it below! I’ve also uploaded few years ago the track „Romantic Harp” from 2005 to SoundCloud – it might be fun to hear what unreleased music from back then sounds like!)

First Phos Toni’s Track - Listen Here

Romantic Harp - Listen Here

02. LadyDot: You are the founder of Electro Swing Elite (ESE) and have initiated a series of DJ mixes. Where did your interest in Electro Swing as a musical genre start? And how did it happen that Electro Swing Elite eventually evolved into Electro Swing Thing?

Phos Toni: Oh, that’s a long story. My interest in Electro Swing goes way back. In the 1990s, I listened to mixtapes from club recordings and German radio shows like HR-Clubnight, where legends like Thorsten Fenslau, Sven Väth, Marc Spoon or DJ Dag played. Many tracks from the ’90s incorporated samples from jazz, swing, or folk – tracks like “Magic Carpet Ride” by Mighty Dub Katz or”Doop” by Doop. I was fascinated by this and became intrigued by retro elements in electronic music. When the term Electro Swing emerged, I immediately felt at home.

Electro Swing Elite (ESE) started in 2013 as an idea to create a collaborative B2B mix with colleagues from the Electro Swing scene to strengthen the community. What began as a small circle quickly grew through bookings and online connections. For the second B2B mix, I invited Wolfgang Lohr, who was very enthusiastic about the project and contributed a lot of positive input beyond the mixtape idea. Together, Wolfgang and I planned the third mix, but this time we wanted to produce exclusive music for the ESE mix. We reached out to Electro Swing musicians worldwide, and the compilation was to be released on the label “Ton Liebt Klang.” This transformed ESE into a community with more and more producers and DJs joining. Between 2014 and 2017, three ESE compilations with exclusive tracks were released – a mammoth project that required a lot of energy but brought so many positive encounters.

By 2018, however, my professional and family priorities shifted, and I handed the project over to Wolfgang. It was hard to leave that era behind, but I knew ESE was in the best hands with him. Wolfgang successfully developed Electro Swing Elite into the music label Electro Swing Thing, and it’s wonderful to see the vision thriving and growing.

03. LadyDot: I know that you and Wolfgang Lohr collaborate a lot in a musical context, but I also know that you are friends in the private sphere. Quite recently you released a joint track ‘Starship’, and in 2020 you produced together probably one of the most iconic Electro Swing tracks – ‘My 20s Woman’. I’d like to ask you, what is your collaboration like? When did it start? Does your friendship in private life make you have an even better flow in producing tracks?

Phos Toni: Absolutely. Our friendship makes it easier to collaborate creatively. Over the years, we’ve learned how to leverage our different strengths and work constructively together. That’s what good friendships are made of.

“My 20s Woman” took about two months to finish back then, whereas we had “Starship” ready for release in about two weeks. Our experience has made us more efficient, but each production has its own challenges. What always helps is our openness and shared enjoyment of the process.

04. LadyDot: I read in your biography that in addition to being a music producer, you are also a DJ who specialises in playing vinyl records. Why exactly do you enjoy playing vinyl the most? Where do you look for records for your collection? Which records do you play most often in your DJ sets?

Phos Toni: I started with vinyl in 1994 – initially using my parents’ stereo system, which of course sounded terrible. Later, I bought DJ turntables and started playing at parties. For me, vinyl still offers a special challenge – no sync function, everything analog.

Nowadays, sadly it’s hard to find current releases on vinyl, so I mostly play classics and house tracks from the 2000s. Occasionally, I play at vinyl-only events – a real highlight for Vinyl enthusiasts.

05. LadyDot: It’s fair to say that you had quite a break from making music from 2020 to 2024, as you only released ‘Kick It’ and the Radio Edit remix of ‘Too Damn Hot’ during that time. What caused you to disappear for a few years? Were you trying to find another musical path and creating new projects during this time? Or was it a time of gathering ideas and inspiration to come back in a big way?

Phos Toni: The break was not planned but resulted from various circumstances. Professional and family changes took center stage, and then the pandemic came along, which slowed many things down but also made them more complicated. I had to reorient myself and consciously took a break to rediscover inspiration.

It was only in 2022 that I gradually found my way back to music. It was a slow process that helped me reflect on and solidify my style. In the end, that time was important for me to realign my priorities. Today, I feel more creative than ever and ready to continue my musical journey.

06. LadyDot: In the summer of 2024 you surprised all your fans and released the excellent dance single ‘Don’t Dance to Electro Swing’, which incidentally, as it later turned out, was a preview of your debut album ‘Electro Swing Escape’. I have the impression that these 12 tracks were not only a kind of summary of your work as a producer, but also the opening of a new chapter in your musical career. How long did it take you to work on the album and what was the biggest challenge for you in creating it? When did you feel it was the best time to share ‘Electro Swing Escape’ with Electro Swing fans?

Phos Toni: I’m so glad the surprise worked! The album is actually more than just a collection of tracks – it’s a narrative that unfolds uniquely for each listener. The tracks are deeply personal, reflecting themes of freedom, adventure, and escapism, while drawing parallels to the 1920s – a time of cultural revolution, technological progress, and a collective search for joy during turbulent times. Songs like “Highway Nights” embody this spirit of freedom, evoking the feeling of driving through the night with open windows, escaping the overwhelming flood of modern information.

The rocket on the cover, especially highlighted in “Starship”, symbolizes the pioneering spirit and the drive to explore new horizons. Just as the 1920s were marked by breakthroughs in cars, radios, and aviation, today’s innovations like space travel, digital technology, and creative exploration reflect similar aspirations. This connection between past and present is woven throughout the album, blending vintage aesthetics with modern beats.
The 1920s were also a decade of musical experimentation and diversity, driven by the revolutionary energy of jazz. The album reflects this richness with tracks like “Got Me Dizzy” (the remake of “Make me Dizzy”) and “Baby Swing”, full of high-energy swing vibes, and “Balkan Girl”, which draws from the vibrant, festive spirit of Balkan music, showcasing the artist’s cultural roots.

The rebellious style of the 1920s also finds its echo: just as women then broke societal norms, songs like “My 20s Woman” and “Too Damn Hot” celebrate the strength and independence of modern femininity. Beyond its playfulness, the album also delves into the emotional depths of the era, balancing joy and introspection with tracks like “Not Happy” and “Love Is A Star”.

Electro Swing Escape was created over several years, with significant progress during the pandemic and in 2024. One of the biggest challenges was letting go of perfectionism and choosing the right moment to finalize the work. The album invites listeners to embark on their own journey, to dream, and to embrace the rhythm of life – much like the people of the Roaring Twenties did.

07. LadyDot: I recently found out that you have Greek roots and that you are very inspired by Balkan music, by the way we can hear these strong influences in one of your tracks – ‘Balkan Girl’. What do you love most about this culture and what makes you keen to experiment with these types of musical influences?

Phos Toni: Balkan influences have been with me for a long time, even before I started with Electro Swing. Tracks like “Bucovina” by Shantel were a huge inspiration for me back then. Northern Greece, where my family comes from, has deep cultural ties to the Balkans, and this music is essentially part of my identity.

There’s a unique joy for life, a lightness that’s reflected in the music. You can hear it – the clarinets, the trumpets, this unmatched energy. I try to capture that atmosphere in some of my tracks without losing my electronic signature. It’s not always easy, but it feels right because it’s a part of who I am.

By the way, I’m planning a ski trip with my family to Northern Greece (Yes, Greece – real Ski not Water Ski😊) soon – who knows, maybe I’ll find inspiration for a new Balkan track there?

08. LadyDot: When we at Electro Swing Thing were preparing your new track for release, ‘Disco Lindy Hop’, which you produced in collaboration with Betty Booom and DINKS, I knew from the first listen that it would be an absolute hit. It’s an incredibly energetic and, most importantly, chart-breaking disco style banger that is very addictive. I’m very curious to know what it was like working on this track, please tell us about it. Also, I would like to ask you what inspired you to combine the Electro Swing vibe with just the old disco?

Phos Toni: Disco House is a style I’ve loved for a long time and often use in my DJ sets, especially live. It’s incredibly uplifting, full of energy, and just puts everyone in a good mood.

Working with Betty Booom and Wolfgang from DINKS was super relaxed. We met in late summer in Berlin, had some red wine, listened to old disco tracks, and someone suggested: “What about combining Electro Swing with Disco House?” The idea sounded crazy enough to work, and that’s how it all started.

The process was a lot of fun and very creative. We’ve definitely got a taste for it, and I think it’s safe to say we’ll experiment more in this style together in the future.

09. LadyDot: There is a very clear house music influence in your songs. Is this the type of music you listen to most on a daily basis? Or does your playlist consist of a real mix of different music genres? Which songs have you been listening to most recently?

Phos Toni: House and all its subcategories (Electro Swing / Swing House is also a subcategory of House for me) – they’re definitely central to my music and my life. But in my private life, I listen to all kinds of music.

’80s and ’90s hits, sometimes even classical music, folklore, or even children’s songs. The latter is pretty much unavoidable when you have kids. Recently, my son went through a phase where we had to listen to Toto every time I picked him up from school – so that’s been on repeat a lot lately. Oh, and there’s German party schlager. Admittedly, my wife listens to it, and of course, I’d never admit to finding some of those songs quite entertaining. 😉

10. LadyDot: Both I and all your fans are very curious, what are your plans for the future? My guess is that you have no intention of stopping now! Are you planning to release more disco style tracks? Or do you intend to experiment with even more musical genres? Will there be an opportunity to listen to your live DJ set soon?

Phos Toni: Stop? Definitely not! On the contrary, I want to release even more and increase the pace of my releases. There are so many exciting projects running in parallel – from experiments with folklore to ’90s sounds and disco house. That will certainly remain a focus because it’s just so much fun.
Wolfgang is currently urging me to upload more mixtapes online, and I’m planning to get on that too. But time is limited, especially with family, work, and music. My family always comes first, and often I only find the peace to work on music late at night. As a self-proclaimed hobby Batman, I’m currently working on new music projects at night. So don’t worry – new tracks and mixtapes are on their way. Promise!

Thanks, Ania, for this fantastic interview. It’s been a lot of fun, and I could talk about so much more … but now the “Batman mode” calls, and I have to go! 🦇

Interview by LadyDot; Date: 2024-12-30