Name: Tomas Järmyr
Occupation: Drummer, composer, improviser
Nationality: Norwegian
Current release: Tomas Järmyr and Vinny Villbass team up as LAFT for the debut LP of their duo, New Objectivity. The album is out March 3rd 2023 via badabing diskos.

If you enjoyed this interview with Tomas Järmyr and would like to keep up to date with his work and various projects, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.

Over the course of his career, Tomas has worked with a wide range of artists, including Dirk Serries, Aidan Baker, and Massimo Pupillo.

[Read our Dirk Serries interview]
[Read our Aidan Baker of Nadja interview]
[Read our Brötzmann / Pupillo / Babel interview]



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you?

When and if I create something, it comes as a reaction to something. Or simply because I need to let shit out. Usually the latter.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I rarely have a plan or an idea. I am more of a reactionary artist in that sense.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

For preparation, you need to have your toolbox in order. Know your instrument of communication, and your limitations. Then just forget all about it.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating?

Seting up my drum kit / percussion setup is kind of a ritual to me. That's when I get to know what I have to work with.

I like to kind of merge with the instrument a little bit.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

If we're talking about written music I never write music alone.

When I work with other people I am never the guy who brings sketches or comes up with the first idea.

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

My strength is kicking the ball and make it roll once it's on the pitch. This LAFT album is a good example.



Håkon had the blueprint, the sketches and the ideas. I reacted to what he brought to the table, which caused a chain reaction between the two of us that resulted in a ”New Objectivity”.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

I prefer reacting to things, not making them up. Therefore, control is the last thing I need.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

New ideas and perspectives are essential for a creative process.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

No, there's nothing spiritual about what I do, I think. It is all personal necessity, curiosity, and sometimes pure fun. Pretty simple, actually.

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process of a work?

A work is done when I feel it has more relevance than the last related work I did, when I have discovered or realised something new, and when I feel it has something to contribute to anyone else than me.