British producer Robin 12Tree runs the Hot Piroski record label from 12Tree studios over in Barcelona.

As a producer he has mixed and worked with the likes Stanton Warriors, Phil Mison, Jose Padilla, Pete Herbert, Richard Fearless, Visage, Keith Flint, Payfone Disco and many more. He has also worked under other guises including Backstage Sluts, one half of FingerLickin’ Electro act ‘SLYDE’ and one half of Balearic hipsters ‘Bubble Club’.

As he reveals his cool new In The Sun EP on Hot Piroski, 6AM digs deeper to find out more about the man and his sound.

Hi Robin! Where does the name 12Tree come from?

My real name is Robin Twelftree… so it was a massive leap of imagination

Who did you listen to growing up and do they influence your productions at all today?

Growing up, my parents only had about 4 records, fortunately one of them was Sergeant Pepper, from the age of 8 I assumed that all records could sound as panoramic and mind blowing as that, me and my brother listened to that record til the grooves wore out – I think it’s burned permanently into my brain..

You’ve just released your new In The Sun EP, please tell us a little about the release and how it sounds?

The EP is a mix of different flavours, on ‘In the sun’ I was lucky to work with Katty Heath, an amazing vocalist, I wanted to create a track that went on a bit of a journey and combined a dusty soul vocal with brittle ’80s production, and there’s a couple of poolside balearic groovers on the B to calm down with after…

What inspired the EP?

I’ve been really getting into re-edits lately, some of those cut-ups that labels like bear funk and razor and tape used to do and more recently the Mesablanca track from O’Flynn, and I wanted to try and do a vocally driven disco track that wasn’t cheesy.

Your productions feature a lot of live instruments, do you play everything yourself or do you work with other musicians? Tell us a bit about the production process?

Its a mixture, I play keys and guitar and bass passably so most of thats me, but getting someone else to add sax and vocals always brings fresh attitude. I also record a lot of live passes on old synths and try and keep moving about the studio – sitting at a computer is not the most inspiring shape to take when creating.

You also run the Hot Piroski label, how is that going and what else have you got in the pipeline that you can tell us about?

We have a really mad release coming up, a collaboration called the Gambian Disco Express – a group formed when myself and some mates drove an old Mercedes from London to Gunjur in The Gambia to raise money for charity last year. We recorded a lot of different musicians and blagged our way into recording studios en route through France, Spain, Morocco and Senegal. The collaborations became a real mix of what I’m into now and whoever we bumped into, on boats and gigs and car parks.. So it’s going to be a real mix up of styles and some soundscapes and wierd stuff too.., Also I’m working on Modern Disco Warfare – the next 12Tree EP, and a remix for Crazy P.

What are the pro’s and cons of releasing on your own label, rather than releasing your productions on others?

Mainly cons! No, it’s fun, its great artistically, but it’s a sweat and you do spend a bit too much time filling in forms… But you’ve got to fill your life with things you care about, otherwise whats the point
 So I’m very lucky to to have this opportunity to make music with people that I enjoy, if it makes money, then great, but it’s mainly for fun.

You’ve collaborated a lot over the years with Phil Mison, tell us about your musical relationship with him?

I first met Phil when I was in-house producer for the Bolshi label, he is great fun to work with and when you’ve been working with someone for over 10 years its second nature getting stuff done. He always brings interesting influences and soloists into sessions – and he makes a great cup of tea.

You’ve been on the scene a long time with various releases under different guises such as FingerLickin’s electro act Slyde and balearic act Bubble Club with partner Dan Keeling, how has the scene changed since you started out and what needs to change for the better now?

It’s soo different – back when people were actually making money out of selling records there was an ability to take on the mainstream – that’s what dance music culture was pretty much built on and there’s always been a great UK culture of independent ideas being powerful and upsetting the status quo. I’m not sure that’s so possible now – the resurgence of vinyl is a great sign that the nature of music is unpreedictable, hopefully we’ll find new ways to keep things moving.

What’s your studio set up like and what’s your favourite piece of kit?

Favourite bit of kit?? I guess the Juno 60 – I still don’t know how it works really… always a few surprises out of that one… I love the vocoder on the MicroKorg xl too – it’s so cheap and nasty…

You’re based in Barcelona, how is the scene over there and where do you most like to hang out?

It’s taken a while getting to know the club scene here – it’s quite tourism driven, so you have your Pachas, etc. down by the beach, but there’s a bunch of smaller spots like Red 58 and the Switch Bar that have good lineups and decent systems.

Which dance track holds the most precious memories for you?

I think hearing Rob Mello drop “Intro’ by Alan Braxe & Fred Faulk for the first time is probably up there’.. also Kaine’s “Love Saves The Day,” the piano mix, what a tune.

What’s been your most memorable gig so far and where would you most like to play in future?

Some of the Slyde gigs were quite mad – playing on The Prodigy tour was probably a highlight. In future?.. Anywhere on a beach!

Who are your top 5 current producers?

Bas Roos, Ron Basejam, O’Flynn, Todd Terje and of course Greg Wilson.

What’s next for 12Tree?

Microdosing!

12Tree In The Sun EP is out now on Hot Piroski and available HERE