In recent years Tom Leas, better known as PLS&TY, has distinguished himself as one of the most influential future bass artists on the planet with his “wavey” mellow feel that is oh so catchy. This groundbreaking groove creator has already amassed tens of millions of plays on SoundCloud alone, with his his remix of Baby Bash’s ‘Suga Suga’ reaching a jawdropping 14.2 million plays by itself. His remix of Genevieve’s ‘Colors‘ was used in a multi-million dollar Hershey’s chocolate commercial that has reportedly been viewed over a billion times. ‘Good Vibes‘ was his real breakout song as it topped the iTunes charts in multiple categories, including #1 electronic in the US, and debuted on Spotify’s viral chart in several countries throughout Europe.
Now, we’ve had the distinct pleasure of catching up with him and discussing life, music, and what lies ahead. Check out the full interview for yourself below!
Tell me a little about yourself.
I’m originally from Palm Beach, Florida where I was born and raised. I had to start living in LA for about a year and just recently moved back home.
How did living and growing up in Palm Beach influence your musical style?
I don’t think it directly had too big of an impact on my musical style, maybe subconsciously and I don’t even realize it myself. Palm Beach is a very tropical area, and I’ve always thought it’s been strange that I’m not making tropical house or some other style of music. I do think however that maybe living by the beach has somewhat subconsciously affected me with a wavey style of future bass since. Even in recent tracks I’ve been recording and sampling ocean sounds directly from the ocean in the intros at very low volumes to the point where people can’t even tell. So I guess in that sense the beach and the ocean have impacted me because I wanted to incorporate my love for those things into my tracks.
Can you tell me a little about your musical background and how you got into all this?
I grew up playing piano and taking piano lessons. I was classically trained in the piano and it’s paid off tremendously with writing music. Being able to write chords and melodies is just that much easier now. Piano was really the groundwork for the rest of my work to build on.
I really don’t think there was one singular defining moment, it was more of an accumulation of events over the course of my life.
Was there a defining moment where you knew that music was the path for you?
That’s a tough question. I really don’t think there was one singular defining moment, it was more of an accumulation of events over the course of my life. I used to attend a lot of events growing up and obviously that’s how I got into the music scene. Throughout high school I was attending a lot of local events and I was actually a photographer and videographer originally. So I’d shoot artists that were passing through on tour at the local nightclubs in my area. I think really just being around the artists and all the events and experiences I had were what helped me figure out that this is what I truly wanted to be doing, not necessarily one distinct moment.
Where did the name PLS&TY come from?
It’s actually a clever by-product of my first and last name. My last name is Leas, which rhymes with “Please”, and I took the T and the Y from my first name Tommy. So it’s really just my first and last name combined together.
Tell me about the dichotomy of being both Tommy and PLS&TY.
It’s kind of funny because PLS&TY as a project is really mind your manners, polite and proper. I also think that attests to my upbringing in Palm Beach as well. The area has a much older population which reflected on me. And even at a young age my mom put me in cotillion classes to literally learn manners. That’s also partially where my name derives from. But with Tommy many people don’t know that I’m not necessarily polar opposites, but definitely different than PLS&TY. He might not be as proper, definitely more silly, laidback, carefree, myself.
My music making process in one word would be “random” because inspiration will hit me literally at the most random of times…
If you had to describe your music-making process in one word, what would it be?
My music making process in one word would be “random” because inspiration will hit me literally at the most random of times and then it’ll be like “whelp time to get out the computer and here we go.” Sometimes I’ll pre-plan setting aside 2 hours or whatever to go on the computer and produce, but most of the time inspiration will just hit me out of nowhere and that’s when I jump on. Literally from life itself.
Tell me about one of your most memorable nights on tour.
One that I’ve mentioned before that I like retelling is a tour stop with Illenium at the Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis. I thought that the show was in a much smaller room for some reason, basically a 500 person max capacity room. But come to find out once I landed that the show was actually in a 2,000-3,000 person capacity room and it was totally sold out. So I’m finding this out like an hour before the show starts and everyone’s like “oh it’s not a big deal,” “it’s fine”. I show up to sound check and walk into the room and it’s this massive few thousand capacity room and I’m just like “well, this is it.”
What artists of late have been inspiring you?/What artists do you listen to in your free time?
I listen to SG Lewis a lot right now. He’s been cranking out a lot of my favorites. I’m also a huge fan of drum and bass and that’s what got me into EDM. I’ve been going back and listening to Netsky and Rusko, and that’s actually why I recently remixed ‘Rebel Love’ by Rusko as well. I like Camo & Krooked, really into the old drum & bass acts. I like that the music I listen to is different from the music I make. I like separating myself from future bass and pop 24/7 and giving myself other avenues.
I show up to sound check and walk into the room and it’s this massive few thousand capacity room and I’m just like “well, this is it.”
Do you have any dream festivals you’d like to perform at that you haven’t already had a chance to?
Yes! Ultra Miami is the one for sure. Just because I grew up in Florida and I’d been going to that as a kid. I think many artists share similar stories about EDC or Coachella or whatever, where they grew up in close relation to a massive fest and attended it and always dreamed of being the one on stage.
Last summer you went on a 9 festival summer tour. Can you tell us a little bit about what goes into your set preparation for something of that magnitude?
With sets like that there’s almost not as much pressure compared to if I was direct support for someone else’s tour like when I was for Illenium. I feel like at festival sets people in attendance are there solely to see me and it gives me so much freedom to play what I want and what I’m feeling. You don’t really have to cater to anyone else and people will enjoy whatever you do as long as you’re being yourself.
In July you’ll be performing at Northern Nights Music Festival in Northern California, do you have anything special in store for that?
We’ll just have to wait and see! I am excited to perform there for my first time and I’m especially interested to see how the redwood forest there compares to other forested/wooded festivals like Electric Forest and Backwoods Music Festival.
In your time in the music community, how have you seen it evolve? And, where do you see it going?
That’s a tough call. I’m not exactly sure where it’s going, but there’s definitely been an evolution over time. Now, I feel like techno and house are huge looking at artists like Fisher. I can see genres coming in and out, with an ebb and flow of popularity. Like dubstep got really big recently, but future bass kind of faded. But in regards to where it’s heading I think that’s a tough call for anyone really. I think we’ll still see innovation in terms of genres and a rise and fall of momentum most definitely.
stay true to yourself, and find what makes you unique and hone in on that. Never stray away from that ever.
What advice would you give someone fresh on the start of their music career?
I’d say stay true to yourself, and find what makes you unique and hone in on that. Never stray away from that ever. Really just focus on being the most YOU you can, because there’s only one of you and that’s what makes you special.
Do you have anything big in the works that you’d like to talk about?
Yeah, my track ‘Run Wild’ is out on the 17th via Seeking Blue, which is part of an upcoming 2 track EP titled Run Wild Feeling Forever. The other track ‘Feeling Forever’ will be out May 31st. To follow that, I’m actually working on my debut EP with artists like Sean Kingston and other features.
What are you most excited for for the remainder of 2019?
Releasing all of this new music, my debut EP, all of these upcoming festival sets, and just seeing where things go from there!
Want to experience the majesty of the red wood forests along with some top tier quality music? Northern Nights Music Festival takes place July 19-21 in Piercy, California. You can find tickets here!
