The Plug
How much was this year's album influenced by your experiences touring in 2009?
“Well, that was after my second album and I did the so-called world tour, and a DJ Diary for Beatport reporting on my experience for around six months, it was pretty challenging. Altogether I was away for over seven months, which is longer than I have ever been away from Germany and Berlin in my life.
“So I was in a different place every three days, which was a totally new experience, and I was meeting new people in new cities and seeing new countries. That made me feel less rooted in Germany, and inspired me to be more of a global person. It was quite liberating. So speaking musically it was also bringing me away from the European club culture.
“Particularly in North America I saw that most areas are not so closed minded, with just one or two formulas ruling things. In Europe, since at least the time of electroclash but probably before too, there has always been one or two styles that control younger crowds- minimal, minimal house, the soulful house renaissance…
“In North America I got the feeling things could exist more easily alongside each other. That was a positive surprise- on the one hand a lot of the scenes are tiny compared with the size of the city, but at the same time it seems like a lot of places had pressed the reset button, and were really hungry for new music again.
“It was a little like in the first half of the 90s when German crowds were just happy to go along with a DJ from America or the UK, and accept he was bringing his own style. At the moment in Europe you have the feeling younger crowds are just focused on one style and when you move away from that, one step left or right, you directly feel the dancefloor loses interest.
“And of course there's a big influence of soul and disco in America, so when I came back I was infected with my roots, and listening to a lot of black music. I was loving vocals more than I had too, and thinking about all these great vocal tracks I could play again. Then after I got back Fabric asked me to do the mix, so I put all that happy, positive music into that, and felt I had enough to say to make a full album again.”
Lopazz worked with you on the LP, what led to that decision?
“Well, he's been an artist on Get Physical for a while now, and we kind of new each other, not too much but a little, before that. I chose him really because we had kept saying we should work together, and I thought this was the perfect time as he's really analogue based and I'm a bit of a hardware freak. I also appreciate his musical background, as he's coming from a disco angle, so it was a clear choice.”
There are some impressive collaborations on the release- James Teej, dOP… all very now. How did they arise?
“A lot of hard work. First I went through all my music and made a long list of singers I like. So then I had a list of about 50 vocalists, and began contacting them all, starting up conversations, swapping tracks and samples. Then we'd take the files into the studio and see if we could make things fit with the instrumentals.
“That meant sometimes we'd spend a day editing, working on getting something that sounded great. Then we'd have to admit to ourselves that though it was great it just wasn't quite right, and so we had to extend the timescale by double to allow time to choose the right people to record the final versions.”
The Issues
You recently left Get Physical, what was that down to?
“There were various reasons, going back a while. When I was on tour I woke up in Italy one morning and knew I had to leave. You know those moments when you suddenly just realise.
“It was too hard to balance a private life, being a full-time A&R, DJing, producing, and managing. Also the six partners that were involved had all begun thinking about things in different ways. Musically things weren't so close anymore.”
It's certainly up there with some of the biggest labels in the scene. Can you run a successful imprint without establishing a brand too?
“Well, I don't know if we did. We were very good at being in the right place with the right sound, and establishing a niche, in the first three years or so I mean. After that the range of music wasn't so much something you could say was a particular Get Physical sound.
“And we were good at doing the basics- finding artists, thinking of ideas for compilations, and spreading the word of what we had. But we weren't good at lifting the brand to the next level. I was keen to use that potential to take in events, merchandise, and probably other stuff too. The way we were that wasn't possible.
“Of course, because there was quality music coming from the label there was money coming in, and we could build a big structure. But in the end we had made the classic mistake of building things too big too quickly, and we had too many costs. So we couldn't react to the crisis flexibly because we couldn't shrink down the operation. Starting a label now you need to immediately diversify and put money into different avenues in order to build something that big.”
Do you derive as much pleasure scrolling through WAVs on your laptop as you used to leafing records in a cramped shop?
“I might be an exception, I know some of my colleagues wouldn't agree, but as I have the privilege to have all this music, and the skill to sift, as a music collector it's so much fun for me now. I'm in a paradise, with so many different channels to dig through.”
Finally then, what else is coming up in the next few months?
“Well, one thing is this Beatport compilation I have been putting together. I got thinking that all there was were albums of exclusive label tracks and commercial genre stuff, and wondered why nobody had put together a compilation of quality music that wasn't just selling a label.
“I figured it would work, and spoke to the Get Physical guys, saying we should start up a series. So that's been a lot of fun- there's so much stuff on Beatport nobody even knows is there, even from major labels. So I have got together maybe 80 disco tracks and stuff, which we will release from July. At the same time I'm going through my own vinyl collection, trying to get more space, so there's about 12,000 pieces to get through and decide what to keep.
“Also I am really keen to work on more edits, you know, so I can use a track that's maybe got a breakdown I don't like, or play a three-minute tune for six. I'm hoping that should really elevate my DJing to the next level. And there's also more work to be done on the album, with some remixes coming up.
