The extraordinary vocal talent from Birmingham, UK, not only inspires us musically but also with his warm heart. ‘Flashback’ to 2018 when we first discovered the wonder of T8PES with this debut single. Feel a huge burst of positivity and motivation as you press play, and you’re taken back to the 90s rave.
T8PES is not just a man, T8PES is a movement - the impossible dream that was somehow realised, the anomaly amongst the standards, the light shining despite the dark clouds, the thing that shouldn’t exist but does.
The sound of T8PES is a melange of optimism for life together with nostalgic inspiration. His lively flows sit atop fun garage-style beats with a bright energy in the air. With the release of his debut album, we caught up with T8PES to chat about life and music…
Tell us about yourself and how you got into music?
I'm Jimmy Davis, the brains (and braun) behind T8PES. I'm an Alternative Electronic Indie Hip Hop artist hailing from the UK's 2nd city Birmingham. I'm 37 years old, been around the music industry block and back again but still learning and devoting myself to the craft every day. I had this exciting interest in music at junior school when I would be regularly invited up to the front of the class to perform as the 'human jukebox', but I got into music properly aged 12 when I started learning to play drums. I then started singing in a band at secondary school because vocalists looked like they got more attention than drummers.. HA! After leaving school, my music interests turned to raves and DJ culture. We'd come back from raves and use cassette tape decks to 'cut' and mix between two rave tapes and essentially mix tracks, although it probably sounded horrific! I then bought some decks and learnt to mix, entered my first competition and won a residency at a bar which lasted all of 2 gigs. After losing a couple of years of my life to drug addiction, homelessness and other dark things I eventually got my act together and went to college to study music production. Since then I've been making music and writing songs.
Your songs always have strong messages on life and also have an old school vibe. Can you tell us more about your musical style, aims and influences?
I've always had quite an eclectic sound because I'm influenced by so many different artists and genres, so the musical style can be somewhat difficult to describe and pin down. The whole vibe of this debut T8PES project has been centred around old skool rave, garage and jungle with added elements of modern Hip Hop and Grime. My aim is to create a slightly different sound for each project as each is almost a concept album in terms of how it relates to the title, or symbol used for the title should I say. The influences are so wide and varied, but to give you an idea, they go from The Prodigy to Fleetwood Mac to
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