Temple talking: getting to know the man behind the 'Love Machine'

I thought my first experience of hearing Temple's music came via his recent 'The Woman With The Pink Lips' EP, but just before I set to work typing here, I realised that, in fact, I'd shared room on the 'Balearic Headspace Vol 5' album. So we're already roomies in some abstract sense. Anyhow, I was particularly taken with his forthcoming 'Love Machine EP' which is due to launch from Prins Thomas' wonderful Internasjonal label any day now. I didn't know a great deal about the artist, but it turns out his real name is Ben Smith, he's based in Adelaide, Australia, and his musical journey began thanks, in part, to the eternal power of Enya’s ‘Orinoco Flow’.

The new EP features four tight tracks. There's the psyche-tinged nu-disco of 'Love Machine', then the slick vocal energy and bass-heavy lurch of 'Love Machine II', we then dive into the deep house bump of 'Preview', and closing things off supremely is the starry-eyed wobble of hyper emotive cut, 'Xanga'.

I liked the music so much that I decided to fire him over some questions to learn a little more, and he answered them in splendid style. Enough of my rambling, please read on to find out more about this burgeoning production talent that is Temple.

Please can you tell us how your production adventure began?

“My first studio experience was in a punk band called Dead Set at the age of 12. I’ll never forget the first time I stepped inside a studio and saw a mixing console for the first time. It just felt like I was home and had found the place I wanted to spend the rest of my life. Since then, I’ve played in countless bands and have been in numerous studios, got an audio engineering degree and most recently I have built and moved into a studio that I share with a few friends. At the age of around 17 or 18, I started working at nightclub and staple music institution Sugar here in Adelaide and heard HMC (now Late Night Tuff Guy) DJing for the first time. This was really when my love, education and obsession with electronic music production began and I’ve been chasing that dragon ever since.”

Can you tell us about some of your musical influences, both from your early life and today?

“Sure, my first childhood memory of music is kind of embarrassing but… I was about 2 or 3 and I was sitting in the back of my parent’s car asking my mum to play Enya 'Orinoco Flow' (which I called Dig and Delve) on repeat. I then discovered Michael Jackson’s 'History' at about 8 or 9 and would sit by my mum’s 3 CD stacker sound system, playing with eq’s and listen to it start to finish for hours on end. Also around this time, I was listening to Queen, ELO, Stevie Wonder and The Doors.

At age about 11, I heard Metallica’s 'Black Album' and it was the first time I’d really heard distortion or music like that, and I loved it. This would be the beginning of a real punk, grunge and metal faze of my life.

Fast forward to HMC at Sugar, that education, and I’ve really been headfirst into dance music and all of its encompassing genres ever since. Namely Balearic, Afro, Brazillian, techno, disco, house etc. Oh, and I also had a quick drum and bass and happy hardcore (hahaha) stint for a few months somewhere in there…”

What was the first record you remember buying?

“I think it was Michael Jackson’s 'History', but my mum bought this for me. The first CD I ever bought for myself was Frenzal Rhomb’s 'A Man’s Not A Camel' and a 'Punk ORama Vol 2' compilation. I reckon the first actual record I bought was something by Steve Bug or John Tejada.”

What artists or producers are you most influenced by?

“Quincy Jones

Andrew Weatherall

Metro Area

Cobblestone Jazz.”

We understand your studio is full of hardware gizmos, are there any particular pieces of kit or equipment that you couldn't live without that you'd like to tell us about?

“Not really… I recently did an ‘In the studio with’ feature and they asked a similar question and I’m going to copy and paste my answer, because it is not a normal answer, but it is honestly what I think. So here you go:

‘This might be strange for a ‘tell us about the gear you use’ feature, however, only in the last few years the thing I’ve learnt is more valuable than anything, is your ears and what’s between them. Honestly, I have a great studio full of toys that is a dream and I am so grateful for. However, without me being there in the room, nothing happens. The way you listen is your most valuable asset and learning how to listen is for me what’s made the difference in my creative process. I like to listen in two separate ways; one is analytically, listen for things like “is this dynamic enough, is it muddy, too bright etc.” and then make notes about how to address those things. The second way I listen is creatively, by asking myself the question “what does the song want to be” and listening from there, this is something I’ve only recently developed and I have found so much freedom in it.’”

What can you tell us about the music scene in Adelaide? And have you experienced much of the Australian music scene in some of the other key cities (Melbourne for example)?

“Adelaide has always had a rich scene with techno pioneer HMC and Juice Records paving the way for other artists to follow in their footsteps. Some notable exports from Adelaide are DJ Bold, The Carter Bros, SURAHN/Sidwho?, The Swiss, Luke Million, Donnie Sloan, Inkswel, Oisima and pop superstar Sia. There’s also great younger seen here in Adelaide that’s popping right now too with crews like Wallace and Malon, Closer, Groundfloor Radio, Ben Featherstone, Open, Silent Palace, Mel Lake and Snake Pit all doing amazing things.

More broadly Australia has some great people flying the flag for club culture and dance music. You asked re Melbourne, funnily enough, the Sleep D/Butter Sessions boys who are killing it at the moment and have just celebrated 10 years of their label, stayed at my house when they were first here in Adelaide at age 17/18. I fondly remember sitting out the back of the house with them discussing their idea for a record label they were about to start. Also, I have friends that own Bounce Audio and Natural Selection record stores in Melbourne and pre lockdown I played a few shows with them over in Victoria and they’d come down to Adelaide and play parties with us. It’s always a great sharing experience. They’re amazing people and both of them have killer record stores!!”

We've read that you've warmed up for plenty of interesting artists, including Osunlade and Trus' Me. Where exactly did those gigs take place and how did they go down?

“I’ve supported Osunlande a few times now, the first time was the funniest and was at Sugar. We ended up back at his hotel room, just the two of us, on his 50th birthday and let’s just say I didn’t read the signs and he was up for one thing and I was up for something very different… hahaha. Since then we’ve become close friends and whenever he’s back in Adelaide we catch up. He’s a beautiful human being.

It’s actually interesting you ask about Trus’ Me. He’s the reason I started finishing songs, sending my music out to labels and really the reason I’m writing these words right now. I’d booked him to play at this mini-festival I was running with some other people and he ended up staying at my house for a few days. I showed him some of my unfinished music that I’d had in a folder on my computer for 10+ years and he was like “dude, what are you doing? Release that shit” hahaha. So I did. It was really him saying that it was good enough, that I started to believe in it. So I’m forever grateful to him. I also really want borders to open up again, he’s been playing some great shows in Bali and I’m super keen to get over there and play some with him!!”

Have you had any gig or other musical experiences outside of Australia (as a player or a punter)?

“I was planning some international shows for 2020 and had shows booked in America, Asia and Germany, however, they obviously all fell through. So I haven’t played any international shows as yet, but they’re in my scope for sure!!

As a punter, the best international music experience I’ve had would have to be Primavera Sound in Barcelona. It’s a festival with about 200,000 punters, right on the beachfront at the Parc del Fòrum. The programming is always incredible and the sound is second to none!!”

What can you tell us about the inspiration behind the new EP?

“The title track ‘Love Machine’ was written with the thought in mind that someone could stumble across it in a record store and not know if it was made today or in the ’80s. This gave me a palette for my sounds and a framework for the song structures. I don’t know if I nailed the brief, but giving myself a context and limitations like that was really helpful to get started. ‘Love Machine II’ was obviously written with the same idea in mind.

‘Preview’ and ‘Xanga’ were just tracks that I’d written over the last 10 years and that I finished off to fit with the release, to give it more functionality for the DJ and hopefully a broader experience for the listener.”

We understand Prins Thomas completed the finishing touches on the tracks, that must have been nice! Is there anything you can tell us about how the project unfolded via Internasjonal?

“For sure it was nice!! I found Internasjonal’s email online and sent some music to them. To my absolute surprise, I heard back saying that they wanted to release it. I think I was lucky, as I hit them up right at the start of COVID while everyone was in lockdown. So I think I just caught Ivaylo (the label manager) and Thomas while they were both shut inside and didn’t have any gigs to play.

The release was due to come out nearly a year ago, however, due to COVID there have been a bunch of setbacks with this release, with pressing plants closing/delays, record stores not being open, uncertainty of the industry etc. and the guys have been really apologetic and beautiful about it. I even at one stage offered to pay for the manufacturing cost to not impact them, as I was so grateful for what they were contributing. Working with them has been great and having Prins Thomas add his magical fairy dust to my tracks is a dream come true, he’s really made the songs into exactly what I heard in my head. I’ve been buying his and other artists on his label’s records for years and now getting to be one of those artists is kinda unbelievable.”

What is next for the Temple project?

“Internasjonal have asked for a follow-up EP, so I’m just finishing that off at the minute. Also, I just built a live show for a new venue here in Adelaide, it was a one-off performance that I had the music I make by myself in the studio scored for a 7 piece band including a string trio, horns and keys. So I am hoping to book more shows for that and start touring again with a band as well as DJing.”

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about?

“Nope, but I’d like to just say thanks a bunch for the support. Love what you do and hopefully see you when the world starts opening up again. X”

We hope so too. Big love, thank you for your answers, and good luck with the EP!