Paul Richter and Paul Beohm are Karton, an ACT based live act that will be bringing the fat beats to Hobart for Sebtract's Southern Exposure 3 party. The pair met through a mutual friend, who suggested they should work on some tunes together.

"It took us about six months to actually get together and do that but, once they did things clicked and they pretty much haven’t stopped working on stuff since then."

The live show came about when the Pauls decided that they wanted to play their tunes out. To date they have had really good support from promoters from all over the country.


Bing: How does the Karton live show work? Is there a great deal of planning involved or do you opt more for going with the flow? Is the way you guys play live similar to the way you work on music in the studio?

The Paul's: The live show is very different from the way we produce the tunes. Almost all the production is done in Logic on the PC then we cut all the sounds up and load them into our samplers for the live show, and we also a Nord Lead 2 and a Korg Triton in the show. Our sets are fairly structured in terms of what tunes we are going to play and where they fit into the set, but we have sequenced it so that we can be very flexible with each tune in terms of how long it plays and how it progresses. It’s the best of both really.

B: How would you describe the sort of music you will be playing at Southern Exposure 3?

P: We describe our stuff as generally being a mixture of house and breaks. Most of the set will be breaks ranging from tech, to nu-school to party breaks, with some tough tech house tunes thrown in for good measure.

B: Who are your musical influences and why?

P: We are influenced by all kinds of music from classical to jazz, to hip-hop to breaks, house, eighty’s, anything really. We draw inspiration from all areas of music ranging from Phil Collins and Pink Floyd to the Crystal Method, Underworld, and the Hilltop Hoods. Influence can come from anywhere really.

B: Sebtrackt described you guys on the SX3 flyer as Canberras answer to Infusion, are there any parallels between the two acts?

P: We both run a similar set up for the live show, in terms of how its put together on stage, but I'd say we play a more song based set and are a bit more melodic, and definitely more breaks oriented. We have drawn a lot of inspiration from them, no one really runs a live show like they do, they are unreal.

B: Can we expect a Karton single or album release in the future?

P: We have some 12” vinyl’s in the pipeline which will be out through Melbourne label Sound Not Scene soon. As for an album it’s something we would like to do down the track.

B: What is the one song you wish you had written and why?

P: White Christmas, can you imagine the royalties!! Either that or Busy Child by the Crystal Method, it’s a fat tune.

B: What do you love away from music?

P: We spend way too much time playing X-box.

B: What inspires you on a personal level?

P: Inspiration can come from anywhere, while a large part of it comes from music, we are also inspired by our families, friends, movies, and people in general.

B: If you where trapped in Tasmania for the next six months, what 3 things from home do you wish you had with you?

P: The studio, X-box, and a can of peaches. Either that or our girlfriends.

B: Who is going to win Ultimate Survivor/Rumble in the Jungle?

P: Whoever cheats the most.

B: Ok so that would be Jerri and ACE. SX3 is being held on Valentines Day, how did you manage to explain to the missus that you would be in another state for the ladies biggest night out of the year?

P: Well, we missed valentines last year because we were in Melbourne so I think they might be getting used to it.

B: What lies ahead for 2004?

P: More live shows around the place, more tunes, more releases, hopefully some remix work and generally more fun. Oh, and less x-box.