**Name: Tomas Serrien
Age: 29
Zodiac sign: Aquarius
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Different Class member since this year**
Tell us, what do you do in life?
I work mainly as a musician, writer and teacher. At the moment we are preparing releases on PIAS Recordings with my bands Disorientations and Bat Eyes. Very excited about it! I had a busy period lately with a massive creative output. I made a podcast for Consouling in Ghent, worked as a dramaturg for an experimental music theatre and made a lot of music. The coming period I will work on my new book about music philosophy so I am mentally preparing to be alone a lot in my writing room. I am happy to start playing more gigs with my bands and looking forward to making some noise and decompressing from the fucked up COVID year. I need it.
What do you like best about your place?
Antwerp is a city full of underground music venues and nice art houses. There is always something exciting to discover.
I had a busy period lately with a massive creative output
What kind of music are you listening to at the moment?
Lots of stuff. At the moment I mainly listen to contemporary noise, kraut, post-punk, IDM and dark ambient but also to more 'mainstream' singer-songwriters and to the music from radio programs like Duyster. I am really a music lover who is trying to listen with an open and curious attitude. In the past two years, I became very interested in what I call 'borderline music'. For me, this is music that questions the definitions of what is often viewed as 'normal music' by investigating certain qualities of sound. Some examples you really have to check out are Qebrus, Maso Yamazaki, Stefan Prins, Ryoji Ikeda, Steve Roden and Primitive Man. I'm also listening to a lot of non-western music as research for my new book. The music cultures in Micronesia are really interesting, damn!
What’s the first record you bought?
I think the first time I bought some CDs was when I spent my first pocket money. I was 10 and I stumbled into a local Free Record Shop after biking back from school. My older brother and sisters influenced the way I searched in the cd racks, so I started in categories as 'singsong' and 'indie'. I remember I bought A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay and Black Market Music by Placebo.
What’s your favourite pastime?
Hugging cats, reading, listening to music, watching weird movies, going out and endlessly talking with friends. I try to go to concerts as much as possible. I also like to eat a lot. Life without food and art would be very boring.
Life without food and art would be very boring
Any guilty pleasures?
I think 'guilty pleasures' is really a stupid term. Lately, I was totally into the Spanish teenage series Elite. It was so awful that it became very relaxing. Oh, and there are moments when I really understand people who like Bring Me The Horizon, Taylor Swift or Post Malone. I really think the whole discussion about the existence of 'a good musical taste' is very boring. There are many more interesting things to say about music and sound.
Which future Different Class event are you looking forward to?
I am curious to see Oliver Coates in STUK.
Who do you wanna give credits to?
My close friends, my bandmates and my family were a big support during the last two crazy years. I live alone so the pandemic was not always easy. I worked a lot and I realize that 'skin hunger' is a painful existential feeling. The oxytocin effect you experience while listening to music helped me a lot.
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