Ingo: Star Factor.

Ingo DJs the Gatecrasher Tour at Fever Nightclub on the Gold Coast on Sunday and The Tivoli on May 17.

One often hears of these so-called meteoric rises to fame, but generally, it is just publicity hype and dismissed as such. But in the case of young Ingo, aka Ingo Star aka The Phat Controller aka Thomas Ingamells, meteoric doesn’t come close to describing the amazing course of events that saw Thomas evolve from a bloke fiddling with his new computer and keyboard at home, to an international producer and DJ of renown, in little more then two years.

After a series of naughty, immediately captivating bootleg remixes started filtering through the English hard house scene, Ingo soon came to the attention of leading label force Tidy Tracks who swiftly signed him up and got him to work. More remix work followed with several releases on the Nukleuz and Serious imprints before Ingo started his own label Vacuum Recordings. With a list or original and remix work so long the printer had a spak attack trying to deal with it, it’s not surprising that Ingo is quickly becoming one of the hottest young guns on the hard house horizon. His recent work includes a series of tracks on the latest Hard House Anthems 3 compilation for Nukleuz plus the single Ready For Dis on Tidy Tracks, it’s lucky that Ingo opts to live far from the hustle and bustle of London.

Chatting from his home studio in Lincoln, Ingo says the country life “Gives me a lot more time to concentrate on my studio work. I’m probably focusing more on production because I have my own label now that I started about six months ago. I’m really trying to get that up off the ground. It’s going well at the moment but I’m trying to put most of my time into that at the moment. DJing comes along with that.”

What is this mad rush producers seem to be in to start their own label?

“Its an easy way to get your music out and about rather then trying to convince other labels that they should be putting stuff out for you,” explains Ingo in a logical manner. “You can just do it yourself cause it’s a lot easier. I think that’s why a lot of producers do that. And you can sort of put out what you want to put out, not just convincing labels to do it.”

How does the still wet behind the ears Ingo balance the creative of the label with its more mundane realities?

“I’m not as involved with the business side of the label, my agency Top Drawer down in London build on the business side of things and I just sort of tell them what I want on there and who I want to do re-mixes. I’m lucky that I have an agency to take care of all that for me so I can concentrate on the creative side.”

Originally a resident at clubs including Freedom at Bagley’s, Naughty But Nice and Progress, Ingo considers himself more a free agent now, unwilling to feel tied down by any one club.

“I don’t have any regular residencies at the moment, I’m all over the country most weekends. At the minute, that’s what I prefer, cause I’m young and I wanna keep my options open as far as residencies go.”

But he does admit that while it may sound unlikely, it did indeed take Thomas a mere two years to conquer the hard house bastion.

“It just took me by surprise, it just came from nowhere really. About two years ago I got my first computer and it didn’t really take me long to get my first single out, only two or three months and I got signed up by Tidy Tracks. It’s like a dream come true. I’ve definitely been very lucky.”