Our favourite records can occupy us in inexplicable ways. They change our lives forever, fascinate us to a point where we know them better than some of our closest friends, and sometimes turn into things we want to imitate at the expense of all subtlety.

Thanks to Nu Rave and Nintendocore, you can listen to many of your favourite albums like Nevermind and Pinkerton in 8-bit form. Their pop-friendly melodies make the transformation into gameboy magic pretty easy, but what about the people who like Tom Waits? Not “Closing Time” piano ballad era Tom Waits, but Batman with a throat infection rasping over arrangements that sound like a million typewriters falling down the stairs era Tom Waits. Well, Nick Budd is here to help.

I chatted to Nick about being the guy who turned “What’s He Building In There?” into a chiptune anthem.

Noisey: What's your musical relationship with Tom Waits and his music?

Buddy Peace: I started with Tom Waits somewhat late, around the mid 00s or so but rapidly got sucked into the middle of it. I found an internet trail from one album to another, filtering one and moving onto another and absorbing as much as I could.

Which album got you though?

Mule Variations was the one that really hit me. I'd heard “What's He Building” and thought, holy shit, "THIS is Tom Waits?" it was such an amazing track. The album hit me at a perfect time, and from there I made the journey around his discography and watched his films again and read the books he talks about. It was such an enjoyable quest. I felt very ignorant for having ignored most of his output all that time, but trawling through it was a real pleasure. The Bone Machine album also kicked my ass for a long time.

What in particular held you onto Tom Waits?

A huge part of it as well is the percussion and the rough and rugged tapey sound. Just the sound of an animal thrashing it out in a garage somewhere, it's so visual as well as being so primal and heavy, but also tempered with the softness and sweeter tracks too. With a sinister undercurrent though. I remember reading in an interview as well about how his son was into Sage Francis, Aesop Rock and loads of other hip hop artists which endeared me even further to him.

How old were you when you got into him?

I was about twenty five, so more or less a full grown adult at that time. I think personally I was at that stage where I was prepared for his style and persona, kind of in a place more ready to appreciate him really.

What do you think of 8 bit albums as a concept?

I find the 8 bit scene fascinating and it comes with a built in nostalgia element as I grew up playing computer games with that sound, and spent many hours with these tones as my musical backdrop. So when I hear albums in this style or covers my ears are immediately drawn to them as it brings back memories as instantly as a sense of smell for me.