by SCOTT C

Watching child stars getting farmed through puberty and into a readymade pop life is something we're all too familiar with these days, so when a self-made man like Brighton, England's Quantic (aka Will Holland) comes along, it's hard not to be impressed. The 23-year-old just released his third album on the Tru-Thoughts label with his Quantic Soul Orchestra, a dirty-funk departure from his love for broken beats and house.

"If you do anything long enough," Quantic explains, "people will take notice whether they like it or not. You might get better, you might not, but if you love music, keep making it." This sounds like a pretty simplistic way to proceed in this business, but it seems to have worked for Quantic, who has toured the world to support his recordings and collaborated with some of the other talented self-starters he's come across in his travels.

"I met these guys in Vienna just recently called Inverse Cinematics. They're making some serious next-level shit right now, but these guys are 17 and 18 years old. It's amazing. One of them was thinking about breaking up with his girlfriend because he didn't like her clothes, but the music reflects another level of maturity altogether."

Living in Brighton doesn't hurt either. The coastal town boasts an impressive community of established independent record labels, studios and musical talent that always keeps things moving. "It's a place where, after London, everybody comes to make it, be it music or theatre, which is cool. There's a lot of reference points out there when you decide to do something yourself, so it's quite encouraging. We're right up there with Bristol and Manchester as far as music scenes are concerned."

While a lot of people opt to wait until they have a good job before they start investing in production equipment, Quantic insists there's no time like the present. "Buy a secondhand PC and immediately get Fruity Loops or Acid and start creating. If you play any instruments, don't leave them out of the mix. If you can get a cheap sampler and a bunch of records, then you've got some work to do."

At Quartier Latin on Saturday, Oct. 11, 10pm, $5

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