Making it in the music industry: A Creation interviews Toochi

Making music and breaking through

Selina Ditta interviews dance act  duo Chidi and Chinwe of TOOCHI who have been riding the waves of the British music scene.

WITH THEIR HOT TRACK SOS (STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE) SPINNING IN THE CLUBS AND THE SIZZLING SUMMER SINGLE FIGHT FOR YOUR DREAM ON THE WAY, TOOCHI, (WHO YOU MAY HAVE SEEN ON SKY TV AT THE PINEAPPLE DANCE STUDIO) HAVE JUMPED IN TO THE DEEP END OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND SURVIVED IN THE FIGHT FOR THEIR PLACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT.

I was so impressed with the spirit of the girls I had to get them to open up for A Creation’s readers.

Selina Ditta: So the new single is Fight For your Dream (FFYD) - what has been your fight? Tell us the journey!

Toochi: We have been fighting for our dream a while and it’s working! Just staying optimistic is a fight in itself…but we have each other to support when the chips are down. There are a zillion jobs to do in our record label and a lot of people to talk to so it can be hard work to keep on top of it all. But our biggest drive is to hear the songs come to life and perform them with our crew. It makes it all worthwhile when we see the end results.

We are promoting the album Play. It’s our way of telling ourselves: "We work hard and now we want to have fun, it’s time to play!" Our album Back to Front will be about the journey of how we began our career  – we came out with big ideas and got our fingers burnt and we had to humble ourselves and now we have a better understanding of the whole spectrum of the official process and do things differently. We got ourselves in sticky situations in the past and that’s why we’re much more at ease now.

SD: What were the sticky situations? And what sort of sharks/charlatans/pitfalls have you come across? What should upcoming acts look out for and what lessons have you learned on your journey?

Toochi: We learnt the hard way that the industry can be harsh but you have to remember what your passion is and stay strong in yourself to live your passion even if everyone else tells you not to.

Sticky situation: dealing with sharks and being taken advantage of financially. We actually feel there needs to be more regulation in the industry – it’s taken us 15 years to learn to survive. There could be more to nurture young raw talent and look after those who are at such an innocent stage and eager to present what they’ve got only to realise people want to catch you out in a negative way. If you’re not resilient it’s a lonely place and we have each other for support through the dark times and when we hit dead ends.

SD: Who do you surround yourself with? Is it hard to trust people?

Toochi: We have wonderful family and good friends as resilient as us. They’re positive and supportive and keep us in check too. Our Toochi team are amazing and talented people who we’ve worked with over the years.

SD: How has Pineapple Dance Studio helped your career?

Toochi: Pineapple has been instrumental for our career as we trained there when we first started out years ago, allowing us to develop our dance/music skills. We originally came from the dance world so we were also able to meet and work with our teams that help give you TOOCHI today. We love the energy of dancing together and the discipline it instils - plus it’s also good for expressing what our lyrics say.

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We have to be disciplined in learning all aspects (i.e. the business) of our craft to achieve the satisfaction of getting our expression (the music) out of it. The drive is getting people to hear the songs.

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SD: From my understanding you have your own record label.

Toochi: Yes we operate our own label called T Records which allows TOOCHI music to travel from creative beginnings and end up in your iPod.

SD: So what goes into the record label?

Toochi: There’s so many jobs we have to forecast and lots of scheduling and juggling and map planning. It’s about being organised as well as creative. We have learnt so much – from making sure our video specs are right for broadcast – to getting our music to the right promoters and gig spaces and then working with production teams.

Some people we work with are not business savvy they just want to dance and sing and if you can find people you trust to do the business part for you that’s great. We do it interchangeably together – the business side allows the creative side to survive, it took a while for us to understand that. We have to only take on what we can manage as we are a small team. We have the single and the video and the album and we do want to expand to international markets so we have a plan that we’ll execute in phases so as not to crumble.

SD: How do you stay motivated?

Toochi: Always be convicted in your own vision. If we have a good song we get it out there, rather than deal with the politics of releasing it via a label. Our choreographer Mark Battershall really understands us; through the years we sustained dance injuries and industry setbacks. We’ve taken big risks but when you’re convicted in what you’ve got and you think it’ll benefit others – for example, to listen to your song and see others dancing to it and enjoying it is instant gratification. Music has been such a positive influence in our lives, a big tool to channel emotions and we just want to put back in what we’ve got out of it.
We get energy from seeing the end results, both of us dream up a concept or idea or melody then hear it, harmonise and record it on Dictaphones. We were having a jam session in the studio with our guitar player the other day and we are so happy when we are in our element and it makes everything worth it!

SD: How is the buzz around you created?

Toochi: You have to knock on a lot of doors to get your video shown and at the moment the buildings are all online so you have to push yourself forward. There is more scope and more reception for independent labels now – in the past, if you couldn’t get signed by a big record label like BMG, you weren’t considered an artist. But now you can make it happen without waiting for someone to tell you that you are an artist and the drive is to get our songs heard.

We’re known in the club circuit as an underground act – we’re so grateful for the DJs supporting I Represent and SOS – and SKY and Pineapple Dance Studio's support. If there is a buzz going on about TOOCHI then that’s very cool and we are very grateful for everyone who buys and enjoys our music.

SD: How do aspiring singers get to make professional videos and make names for themselves?

Toochi: By finding the video directors you want to work with and making that call. Be bold and believe in yourself. You can go for gold if you really want to.

The FFYD video was a labour of love. When you're trying to get your message across and everyone's passion, talent and energy were given 100% it came together with great results.

Financially it wasn’t easy. It’s a long process as we do live our lives and everyone in TOOCHI world has other jobs and work on their creativity on the side. While we’d love to have the funding we have made it work regardless and become business minded.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD_K_2d4Egc&w=560&h=315]

SD: What sort of messages are on the album? I've seen you tweet some inspiring lyrics?

Toochi: We like to offer empowering messages that can be applied to help our everyday lives. TOOCHI provides positive lyrics to inspire, encourage and acknowledge important things in life like family and having good friends. SOS is curently being promoted in the clubs up and down the country and we did have support from Capital Radio FM and KISS FM when it was first released. The 2013 release has been a great hit with DJ's who haven't forgotten TOOCHI! We're really excited about FFYD hitting the clubs for summer and the IBIZA scene!

SD: How do you decide to become a commercial act and how have you made it happen?

Toochi: A lot of hard work and dedication. We have always loved creating new songs and melodies so we played to our strengths and kept our music genre in that market place. There is a lot of talented people in team TOOCHI that we have been extremely fortunate to work alongside with so the level of talent we work with in TOOCHI is naturally reflected in our music and videos.

SD: You appeared in Coldplay and Robbie williams videos - how did it come about and is appearing in others' music videos a good way of networking in the music industry?

Toochi: Definitely! We threw ourselves out there to try as many jobs as possible as you get to meet the people in the industry and make your contacts. We went to Robbie’s for a laugh- as they were looking for Robbie William lookalikes but we still made the final cut! In the Coldplay video we were extras helping to create a spotlight effect. Chris Martin instantly recognised that we were identical twins when he spotted us! That was nice.

SD: You tweet inspiring messages a lot, also it seems your lyrics follow this. What is your working motto?

Toochi: Be who you are, believe in yourself and don't give up! You can do anything you put your mind to. Its messages we have had to live by that has helped us too in our music career.

SD: Anything else you'd like to add?

Toochi: TOOCHI would like to thank all our supporters, friends and family for sticking by us over the years. We are really excited about our musical path ahead and will continue to provide more TOOCHI tracks for our amazing fanbase. Grab yourself a FFYD T-Shirt and download the track Fight For Your Dream out on ITunes on June 14th!

Keep fighting for your dreams! Love TOOCHI XX

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Spotlight: Charles Arthur - How I Got My Media Break

Charles Arthur is the Guardian's Technology Editor.

Charles Arthur, the Guardian's Technology Editor

My journey into the media began when Dunlop had a competition where you could win a week in New York watching the US Open tennis. I entered it and won. I offered to write an article for a tennis magazine that was then going, they accepted it and said "if you'd like to do more..." So I got to go to the professional tennis events all over the UK.

I did that while having a job in the civil service - the amount I got paid by the magazine wouldn't have covered a good meal.

After two years I realised I definitely didn't want to be in the civil service, and definitely did want to be in journalism, but there wasn't any chance of getting a job in tennis journalism - the national papers were all sewn up, and the magazines were tiny with no budget and barely any staff. I noticed that it was actually me who was asking the questions that got the best answers in the press conferences. My degree is in electronic engineering - and so I expanded that.

I looked for jobs in the computing trade press. I got offered two in one week - but the one that I really wanted I was offered on the spot, in the interview room, by David Craver who subsequently set up ZDNet in the UK. David was a great man - I don't say that only because he hired me - who died a year ago.

After five years at Computer Weekly, I became news editor, which meant trying to herd all the cats in the newsroom. It was fun, but I wasn't great at it, because I wasn't good enough at the personal side. Too young, perhaps.

I went from Computer Weekly to Business magazine, that went bust so I freelanced for a year and then joined New Scientist. Then one day the cartoonist came in and said "so I suppose you're going to apply for that job on the Independent?" I knew the person who was leaving it, had a chat with them for some useful interview info and got the job - which was mostly reporting. Though at the end of my time at The Independent I was editing its technology pages, on pretty much zero budget.

We had a third child coming and freelancing seemed like a better way to balance family time. So I spent a year freelancing. Then the Technology editor job came up at the Guardian, which I regard as the pinnacle of technology journalism in Fleet Street, and which only comes up about once a generation. So I went for it..

I've liked all my editors which tends to help. If you're not enjoying your job, you're either in the wrong trade (I think of journalism as a trade, not a profession) or the wrong place. If you're in the wrong place, find somewhere else, or make it. I've never done a job I actively hated. Life's too short.

Links to connect with Charles Arthur:-

Follow him on twitter

Charles Arthur's blog

Soulcial Consciousness - Get to know: Imani Hekima

Imani Hekima's singles Shame and Robots Rebellion are available to buy on his itunes page.
Lyrically and melodically haunting, I decided I wanted to get to know more about this Soulcial Conscious one.

Imani Hekima. Check his Myspace for tour dates http://www.myspace.com/imanihekima

Tell me all about the current single

I wrote ‘The Robots’ Rebellion’ in 2004 and it appeared as a ‘promo’ on a compilation album in 2007. It was released as a single in December 2010, available on iTunes and Amazon.  The song takes its title from a book by David Icke, published in 1994. The promo video (which you can find on Youtube) pays homage to John Carpenter’s film ‘They Live’.    

What did changing your name mean for you?

Coming from a British/Jamaican background, changing my name was a way of identifying with my African cultural heritage and history.  Six years previously, I’d begun reading up on it.   I was originally Andrew Mitchell and I changed it by deed poll to Imani Hekima in 1994.  Imani means ‘faith’, Hekima means ‘wisdom’ in Swahili.

What is your earliest musical memory?

My earliest musical memory, which is also my earliest memory, was hearing Tamla Motown. I can’t have been much older than one year old because I was in a cot.  That’s probably why I love Motown.

What was the first song you bought?

For my “sins”, the first record I bought was Rat Trap by The Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof’s band.

Whose concerts have you attended, and which was your first gig you attended?

I’ve seen a variety of people.  The Specials was my first gig, back in 1980.  I saw all the 2 tone bands and British reggae artists such as UB40, Aswad and Steel Pulse.  I’ve seen Public Enemy (back in 1990), The Pharcyde and the great jazz drummer Max Roach.

What instruments do you play?

Piano/keyboards, singing, bass guitar, 6 string guitar and drums (drum kit).

How do you write your songs?

Usually either the music comes first or I’ll get the lyrics.  Occasionally, they’ll both arrive at the same time. The ideas drift in at any time.  I don’t sit down and try to force myself but I do lots of practise and research to get ideas.

Have you ever wanted to give up and how do you overcome that?

Yes, on some occasions.  It happens to most people.  You have to keep going and if you love what you do enough, you will persevere. 

What drives you, and what inspires you?

I’m inspired by my own passion and by the examples of others who also keep going regardless.  I’m inspired by the whole journey, the trials, errors and successes. 

What’s your favourite city/country to play in and why?

I’ve only really played in the UK with my own music, though I’ve gigged in Holland and Spain with covers bands.  Favourite city?  None really – if people are feeling your work, it doesn’t matter where. 

What do you like about being in the studio and what do you enjoy about being on stage?

On stage it’s obviously more immediate and direct communication with the audience.  I also enjoy recording and seeing the music take shape and the general banter when it’s going well.

Do you think politics and music work together well?

Politics and music does go together but there’s an art in getting the balance right.  The music has to be good enough on its own to make someone listen or dance.  It has to be remembered that many people who happen to love political songs may not be attuned to the lyrics.  Saying that, the message alone, no matter how worthy, will not be heard if it isn’t given an effective musical setting.

How important is the visual aspect of your music?

It’s important in some ways.  I’d like to develop that side of things for live performances.  The video for Robots Rebellion obviously had a lot of thought put into its visuals.  It was done by a guy called Ian Geddes, who had the idea of blending footage from the film ‘They Live’ with my song.

You perform interpretations of Bollywood music, how did that come about?

In 2008, I saw a job advert for a pianist to perform Bollywood at an Asian wedding.  A little light went off in my head and I instantly knew I wanted to apply.  This is despite me knowing no Bollywood songs at all at the time.  I’ve since played at Asian weddings all over England, all faith groups.  I played a support slot to Raghav in 2009.  That’s the short of it.  People can visit http://www.myspace.com/bollywoodpiano to find out the full story.

What music do you listen to and when, to relax, in the car etc?

It varies.  At home I listen to all kinds of stuff.  I listen to lots of dub, Miles Davis and just about anything else in between and related.

Do you have an ipod or ipad?

I don’t own one.  My brain is my iPod.  I always have songs going on up there.

Any thoughts on technology and music?

With the exception of a few ‘neo soul/progressive soul’ artists, I think black music over the past 20 years specifically has suffered through not enough instrumentalists.  

However, you can still make great music via computer technology.  In that respect, hip hop (REAL hip hop, not ‘bling pop’) has led the way.   

Have social networking sites helped you?

Myspace and Facebook are good means of showcasing what I do.  There are a lot of people who are against them but I say it’s what you make of them.

What are you working on?

I’m working towards the release of an album in 2011.  Rather than put it out in 2010, I decided to put out two singles this year to test the waters and raise a bit of awareness.  I’m also working on new material intended for the second album.  I’m supported live by Philippe Clegg on bass and my sibling Stuart Mitchell on drums.  All being well, I’ll be recording new stuff with them.

What does the future hold for you?

Hopefully I’ll continue to grow as a musician and reach more people with my work.  

Links to check out Imani Hekima:-

Imani Hekima Facebook Group 

Imani Hekima's Myspace
imanihekima.co.uk/ 

Spotlight: Tom Cain's break into the media





Tom Cain Assassin



Tom Cain is the pseudonym for the author of thrillers Assassin, Accident-Man and Dictator. The award winning journalist tells me how he got his break in the media.

By pure chance...



In the summer of 1979, when I was still at university, my parents were living in the States. So I spent a lot of my vacations living with my girlfriend and her parents. But then we broke up and I had nowhere to live. I was literally out on my arse in the street. The only person I knew in London was a guy whose brother was married to my half-aunt (tenuous, huh?) I called him up and asked if I could have a bed for the night. He said, sure, but he warned me that his flat was about to be used as the office for a bunch of Times and Sunday Times journalists, temporarily without work owing to a printers’ strike at the paper, who were about to do a spoof newspaper called Not The Times. To cut a long story short, I ended up being the Not The Times tea-boy and dogsbody, got to know a bunch of journos and 18 months later, when I was an unemployed graduate, one of them gave me a day’s shift as a researcher on the Sunday Times. And I was off …



The hardest struggle was simply getting my foot in the door. It took about 18 months and I got very, very low at times along the way – also very, very broke – but once I got my foot in the door I was very lucky and things happened fast. I was Young Journalist of the Year and a professional magazine editor within three years of my first paid day’s work. But it’s still a struggle, perhaps of a different kind. It’s a very, very tough world right now for journalists and authors. I’m having to work much harder and hustle much more fiercely to get less well paid. And 99% of writers would say the same.



I was writing non-fiction and humour books right from the start of my career. Back in the 80s it was much easier to get a publisher to take a punt on a silly idea. The money wasn’t big, but it gave you experience and a track record. I was also very lucky in that I had a mate who came from a very powerful family who ran a big TV/radio/literary agency, so I also got a couple of TV gigs. The agent fired me when I turned down the chance to be on ‘That’s Life’ which was a very popular, but very cheesy BBC show starring Esther Rantzen … But by then I had enough of a CV and enough contacts that I could get another agent. I kept publishing stuff over the years. And so when I had the idea for The Accident Man, my first Sam Carver novel, I had no trouble getting an agent interested in the idea. Turning the idea into an actual book, though ... well, that was a whole other matter …





Tom Cain Accident Man