Chances are when you were 19, you weren’t dropping an anthem on your generation. Whether he cares to admit it or not, Bomb the Bass helped fire-start the acid rave scene in the late 1980’s alongside fellow UK producers like Coldcut and Simon Harris. BTB’s 1988 incendiary missive “Beat Dis” typified his technique, persona and the times: a popping electro bass-line bombed with synthesizer squelches and allegedly 72 rapid-fire scratches, loops and samples. “Just-just-just feel it! Keep this frequency clear! Everybody in the street, Get-get-get down to the funky beat!” The 12″ wore BTB’s bravado and mystique on its sleeve in the form of the dystopian Watchmen comics’ bloody smiley. It was all Scottish-Asian Tim Simenon’s cocky stab at creating b-boy inspired house beats and buzz. It worked. After “Beat Dis” became a crossover hit, and Simenon caught the ear of everyone from Steinski to Massive Attack, he co-produced Neneh Cherry’s breakthrough “Buffalo Stance” (1988), Seal’s “Krazy” (1991) and Depeche Mode’s Ultra album (1997). He worked hard, partied harder and hit the wall hardest. Burnt out, in 2000 he left London for Amsterdam where he launched the second act of his life as that most contemporary of creatures – the mobile musician. After producing a few singles as BTB and a Thai band called Futon, he presented 2008’s enthusiastically received Future Chaos, a brooding slice of dark new wave featuring Fujiya & Miyagi, Mark Lanegan (Queens of the Stone Age) and Paul Conboy. It was his first original album since 1995’s dubby William Burroughs-inspired Clear. In March 2010, a reinvigorated Simenon released Back to Light, an uptempo companion to Chaos, featuring production by Gui Boratto, vocals by Kelley Polar, Paul Conboy and others–plus a special holdover from old trench-mate Depeche Mode’s Martin L. Gore. We rang up Simenon in his new home in Thailand to sneak a peak at the man behind the smiley.

URB: It’s Friday night there, why are you on the phone with us?
TIM SIMENON: Parties go on all night, depends on what you’re after, really. [Laughs] I’m taking it easy, working mostly. I’m programming the live shows for the tour this summer. My mom’s Malaysian and I wanted to be closer to her as well. I’m quite happy to be here. I’ll be here for as long as I can.

URB: It must be a pretty basic setup.
TS: It’s just my laptop, really. One of the things I wanted to do was pack light, not take lots of things with me. The last three or four winters in Amsterdam, I remember thinking, Why am I here? I can actually do it now, get rid of space and reduce the way I live. It’s very minimal, really. I wanted to put it into practice, so here I am.

URB: If there were a chip implant to beam tunes from your brain to your laptop would you do it?
TS: I don’t know about that, but I’m tech crazy enough to get ideas down. At the same time, it’s important to me to collaborate.

URB: Did your time in sultry Sao Paolo influence your decision to move?
TS: When I moved to Amsterdam in 2000, I started to sell off parts of the old studio. I realized then I wanted to be more mobile. I had a great studio in London. But I didn’t want to be tied down. As devices got smaller and more portable, it became easier to meet musicians wherever they were, and be inspired in different places. And I was turned on by that experience really.