Speaker Junkies, the team of Tekno Tom and Rezn, bring the edge of a live rock show to the world of techno. Starting off as a synth pop duo, they progressed to the world of techno and haven't looked back. Harder and aggressive than most dance artists, their shows are all live, bringing out the rock star and showing that performing dance music isn't just about watching DJs play records.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: Let's just start at the beginning, how did the two of you meet up?
Tekno Tom: The two of us actually met in 1998. My aunt married his brother and she invited me to the
wedding. We realized that we both had something in common, we both had studios and loved electronic music. So we
started working on doing a project of mine back in the day called Liquid Friction, which was synth-pop music, kind of
like Depeche Mode and New Order. We did that for a couple of years and realized that synth-pop was dead. Rezn
introduced me to trance music and said 'let's try to do trance music live.' Not too many people actually do it live.
There's Crystal Method and the Prodigy, but they're all breakbeats and everything, so we started doing live shows and
booking ourselves out.
RS: Where did the name Speaker Junkies come from?
Rezn: Back in the days, I'd noticed people banging their heads, sitting at the side of the speaker bins,
and found out they were called speaker junkies, and that kind of stuck in my head. I called Tom in the morning one day
and it was like, 'hey, I think I've found our band name - Speaker Junkies.' Tom laughed and then he was like
'you know what, that does work.'
RS: Rezn, where does that name come from?
Rezn: Back in the days just smoking the dope, though I don't do that anymore.
RS: On your website it lists all the instruments you use and it says 'no turntables." Is that because you
have to differentiate yourself as an artist from being a DJ?
Tekno Tom: Well, not only that but we don't know how to DJ. So coming from being producers, we didn't
want to go to spinning records, we wanted to actually make the music so that the DJs can spin the music. We like
producing more than going out to the clubs with records and doing that. Maybe one day we'll pick up DJing because it
is tough sometimes when we're going to a show bring all our equipment, and it'll be great to just book some shows and
DJ the music we like too. We wanted to be a band without turntables, something different - real drums, without
keyboards, we've got guitar and synthesizers. So we wanted to be like alternative and edgy, the new generation of
electronic music.
RS: So when you're on stage you're playing keyboards, Rezn is
on guitar, and what also is on stage with you?
Tekno Tom: I'm in the guitar and synthesizer and Rezn's actually on the drum machine, samples, and other
synthesizers. We both do vocals.
RS: Speaking about vocals, how did you meet up with Miss Mo?
Tekno Tom: We were looking for a singer and she just happened to be a Broadway singer. It's actually one
of my parent's friend's daughters. She came to the studio and we both loved her voice. After a couple of songs we
decided to do "The Metro."
RS: I was going to ask like why choose that record, of all the 80s songs out there, why that one?
Tekno Tom: I hadn't heard a good remix of the Metro and I thought it would be a good fit after
auditioning her voice, I thought it sounded almost similar. I like the lead and the feel of the Metro, it was one of
my favorite songs back in the 80s. Since it hasn't been done as a cover I thought that would be a great way to break
into commercial dance music.
RS: Does she perform with you in your shows?
Tekno Tom: We've performed a few times together. The show at the Winter Music Conference was a blast and
we have a couple of other shows ready to perform with her later on this year.
RS: I've got to ask, it says you performed with Snoop Doggy Dogg, do you have any fun stories from that
night?
Tekno Tom: We didn't perform with him, we opened for him. It was two years ago in December at the House
of Blues and our agent just hooked it up. It was a weird show because we were performing techno for a captive
audience of all hip-hop people, it was kind of scary. There were some haters but once we got more into it, we started
noticing some people grooving to it, so we got a decent response. We met with Nate Dogg and Warren G and they gave us
props. We did see Snoop Dogg temporarily, but his gang of security made it kind of impossible to get too close.
