TIMO MAAS: MY FIRST GIG

“Well, turning back the clock to 1982, I was 13 and already deeply into music, but I'd never really considered doing anything with it other than appreciating it. One of my first friends was inviting people over for a birthday party near my hometown in Germany, and I was in charge of making sure that there was music playing.

“I already had a box full of records — mainly seven-inch singles — and the latest stuff recorded on tape from radio and friends. So, everyone else was having a party and I was fighting with my one turntable and especially the two tape-decks — without a DJ mixer — to somehow play music that evening.

It was very unprofessional, but somehow I made it through this party and my friends were happy. I wasn't certain they were going to be, as I still had the voice of the radio DJ on some of my tape recordings, but it didn't seem to matter. That was over 30 years ago now...”

Timo Maas' 'Tantra' is out now on Rockets & Ponies.