One of our favourite producers of the moment, Tornado Wallace was kind enough to share some time with us answering some questions we've been hanging to ask. Lewie Day has been a prominent figure in the Melbourne dance scene for quite some time and is experienced more then his years.

You can check him out in Adelaide on November 20th at Cuckoo for T.E.A with Jay Shepheard. More info here.

So I guess we'll start at the beginning of Tornado Wallace. What was the pivotal point for Lewie Day to start a new alias and start making the Tornado Wallace sound?

It all started one night years ago when I was out watching someone DJ - someone whose music I had been drawing a lot of inspiration from at the time - and I just wanted to go home all night but felt obliged to stick around and hear him/her/them play his/her/their set out. It was two hours of half loops, hi-pass filters and the same tempo. I was completely bored. This inspired me to readjust the way I played my own sets, which also meant readjusting the way I made my music.

Around this time, I trawled through older music - mostly from the late 70s/early 80s - in search of samples and inspiration. A close network of friends who felt the same way I did helped open me up to new sounds and ideas.

Along the way I found more recent artists who had found a nice balance between what I used to be playing, and what I now loved listening to. People like The Revenge and Motor City Drum Ensemble for instance.

I started to play this stuff more, as well as throw in some of my own edits and original productions and eventually got to a stage where it was worth trying to get some released. The 'Tornado Wallace' stuff is fun to make, and I think that translates onto the dance floor.

Where did the name Tornado Wallace come from?

I wish I had a good answer to this, but one day I was just trying to think of a pseudonym and Tornado Wallace just popped out of nowhere.

You've received much props from big names all across the globe, such as The Revenge & Greg Wilson, were you expecting such positive feedback from such big game jocks?

I've been making electronic music for 8-9 years and I have a bit of a background with instruments, so when I started the Tornado Wallace thing I had a pretty strong foundation. I believed that my music was ready to hit the shelves, but I didn't expect the success it would have once there. It's been amazing having DJs like The Revenge and Greg Wilson - who have both been such a big influence - supporting my music.

Your sound is quite different to most Australian producers right now, do you find that the support here isn't as solid as internationally?

Well it can certainly be hard in Australia. You can't really make a decent living unless you have fruit in other baskets. Europe have it a bit easier just because there are so many cities in such a small area that really support house music.

I think it's unfair to say that the support in Australia is the problem though. Our small population and our massive land area can't compete with the density of Europe's. Taking that into consideration, I think that the health of our electronic music scene is pretty vivid - though you might disagree if you didn't live in a capital city.

Yourself and Mic Newman seem to be shaping the deep music culture in Melbourne and perhaps Australia, are there any other Australians tickling your fancy at the moment?

Most certainly: Andy Hart, A + O (Andee Frost & Daniel Ooi), Mike Callander, Christian Vance, Craig McWhinney, Andras Fox, Francis Inferno Orchestra, The Swiss as well as some great DJs like Otologic, and the labels Haul Music, Future Classic and Cutters.

Similar to many other young producers, you were introduced to electronic music commercially by Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers listening to commercial radio. When did your passion for more underground music grow and who do you find yourself being influenced/inspired by these days?

Well there are those Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk tracks that made the radio, and then there's a whole lot more that didn't. After burrowing deeper into their catalogue my favourite tracks became the ones that didn't make the commercial radio. So from there it was just about finding similar music. At the time that pretty much meant Trance/House/Breakbeat/Ambient stuff, which was all a welcome change from the generic pop music I was exposed to everywhere else. This was probably all around the time I got a demo of Fruity Loops from an electronic music magazine, and started trying to make my own stuff - I would have been 14-15 years old.

Being a part of the nu skool of deep producers, what are your thoughts on the whole vinyl purist state of mind?

Vinyl has played a big part in my musical development. I used to spend everything I earned on records, so it's been sad to see it's popularity fade. When I first started making electronic music, my dream was to have my own 12" EP. I can't imagine I would have had the same energy and motivation to get into this world if my aspiration was instead to get a track on hype machine, or itunes. Because of this I have a certain romance with vinyl. I don't buy as many as I used to, and my sets are generally 50/50 vinyl/cd, but a track just feels like just a computer file until it's been pressed onto some wax.

You've got releases on a myriad of awesome labels, and you're about to drop your third EP and second release on Delusions of Grandeur, do you have plans of sticking with the label or are you just taking each day as it comes?

Yeah Delusions have been awesome. I was over the moon when they told me they wanted to release Paddlin'. I'll do a third EP for them, which I haven't started yet due to finishing some other remixes, and then see what happens from there.

With remixes for more popular artists such as Bertie Blackman and Polygon Palace, do you see yourself remixing more of these types in the future or would you prefer to remix "dance" producers such as Loin Brothers & Eddie C?

I really like remixing non-dance music. There's a lot of freedom that comes with it, and I love being able to completely transform something. Because of this the final product might unfortunately not be everyone's cup of tea, problems can arise with some labels as opinions differ. Sometimes the compromise is too great, which is why you have to be selective about what projects you take on.

Remixing dance music can sometimes be a bit harder for me. There are a few more restrictions and the remix parts are generally not as comprehensive. But this can work too. When there's a blank canvas it's harder to get started, but when you've got a few circles and lines - you can just Mr Squiggle out a remix like it ain't a thing.

Who is/are your favourite producer/s at the moment?

On this day at this moment I'll say Space Dimension Controller - after just hearing his third EP which was violently beautiful. Every time I hear something new of his I wonder why I hadn't thought of doing it myself. Other producers who are so deserving that not recognising them would make Santa Claus himself vomit with rage, are: Motor City Drum Ensemble, Manuel Tur, Linkwood, The Revenge, Levon Vincent - these names are all too common in such lists, but deservedly so. I could write many many more, but won't bore your readers.

And finally, when you're the one on the other side of the DJ booth what would you prefer to be dancing to?

Earlier in the year I was fortunate enough to see DJ Harvey play at Panorama Bar in Berlin. I think it was the perfect set. He played for 4-5 hours and included all the best aspects of dance music for the past 35 years. There's no point breaking the music down into genres because the way he moved between them showed it didn't matter how old or new or funky or minimal anything was - as long as you're having fun.

Keep your ears out.

Tornado Wallace - Always Twirling (128 kbps preview) by Tornado Wallace