CM Producer Masterclass Klute

Eclectic drum ’n’ bass legend Tom Withers deconstructs his production style

Watching the detective

Tom Withers has been releasing top notch drum ’n’ bass under his Klute moniker for over 20 years, racking up a discography that comprises nine albums and over 50 singles on labels including Certificate 18, Metalheadz, Hospital, Shogun and – since 2001 – his own Commercial Suicide imprint. Despite the electronic focus of his career since the early 90s, however, Tom’s musical life began in the 80s as drummer and songwriter Tommy Stupid in successful UK hardcore band The Stupids.

“The drums were my gateway into making music,” says Tom, talking to us from his Suffolk studio. “Probably Ringo Starr, although I don’t really care about Ringo Starr any more. At the time, I was massively into The Beatles and wanted to play drums. I couldn’t be bothered to learn, though, so I just got into punk and got really excited by the whole point being that you didn’t really have to learn. Punk was my gateway music, and pretty quickly I got quite interested in home recording.”