LP addict has a big vinyl habit

Klute, aka Tom Withers, wonders who's got time to listen.

When you own as much music as Klute, there's not much point keeping count. The drum'n'bass producer reckons there are about 10,000 records on his shelves - but these days he just counts the shelves.

"I buy records all the time," he says on the phone from London where it's 11pm. "It's a bit of an addiction to me."

It's tempting to scream, "Go to bed, music geek!" at this point, but there will be plenty of time for that when he plays Auckland's Fu Bar tomorrow night.

On a typical day he'll hit the pillow somewhere between 2am and 4am, rising at 9 or 10, simply to give himself time to get through his purchases.

Keeping him awake at the moment is drum'n'bass by Break from West London; Amit, an Indian from Slough; and Tactile from Hungary. Oh, and a bunch of other stuff from Budapest.

"I just have so much to do, I leak into the next day as much as possible."

This week, for instance, he got on a plane and headed for New Zealand, touching down in Thailand where a guy he knew had asked him to play. His album No One's Listening Anymore isn't even released there but what's one stopover?

After this tour he'll return to England, do two weeks of gigs then head to the US for a 10-day tour.

"That's a fairly typical week," he says, completely unfazed. "I live a pretty erratic lifestyle."

Klute is best known for his exploratory drum'n'bass sets but fans will know his pedigree is far more diverse. His musical career started in real drum'n'bass, when he played guitar and drums in 80s British skate-punk band the Stupids, later dabbling in the techno and hardcore rave scene when punk took a "boring" turn.

Instead, he found himself compelled by jungle, which he sees as the punk-rock end of the dance-music scene anyway.

"They're both quite DIY," he says. "You don't have to be signed to a record company. You can be self-sufficient. They're both quite independent."

Klute's music, which mines the roots of techno and can go from dark and scientific to dreamy and hypnotic, has been lauded by DJs from Goldie and Marcus Intalex to the late John Peel.

But even success can't disguise the fact that he's a one-man band - and that can make for tough times.

"I do miss the communication between more than just one person when you're making music. Travelling is much more fun when there's a group of guys. I wouldn't say that that lonely feeling is bad but it becomes a bad habit because you tend to enjoy crawling into a private space.

"For me the most relaxing times are when I'm in the studio by myself or on an aeroplane with headphones on where I'm not being bothered. There's a certain solace about travelling on your own. It's stoic."

No One's Listening Anymore, named after a little phrase he'd like to whisper to the world's leaders, is a double disc that not only proves he's still a punk boy at heart but shows there's more to him than drum'n'bass.

The first disc is typical of his pounding basslines and lush, melodic production, but the second is a more experimental selection of non-drum'n'bass to give fans the ability to pick and choose, according to their mood.

"I bore easily," he laughs. "We're so inundated with information and stuff to do. It comes back to why I go to bed when I do.

"How else can you have the time to digest everything? We're all living very fast-paced lives. Who's got the time to really listen?"

Performance

*Who: Klute (aka Tom Withers)

*Where & When: Fu Bar tomorrow night with support from Nick D, Riddle and Omen.