You know what birthdays are like, there's nothing to celebrate for a couple of months, and then several come along at once. Just ask a guy who's about to help mark the tenth anniversary of one of Berlin's best clubs, and preparing to recognise his own label's fifth year in business.
That's just for starters too, because alongside these two commitments (with the infamous light-walled Watergate venue and Upon You records respectively) Marco Resmann also has ongoing projects with Matthias Tanzmann's Moon Harbour imprint, and as one half of production duo Luna City Express. Needless to say then, his diary is pretty busy.
Thankfully though he still found time to pick up the phone. This afforded us the opportunity to ask a few questions about the recent compilation he mixed for Watergate (where he holds a regular residency), why he no longer calls himself the third member of Pan Pot, and whether or not there's still a place for DJ sets to be released as CDs. If such subjects are of any interest at all we suggest reading on to find out exactly how he answered.
Hi Marco, how are you today?
I'm fine, thanks.
What have you been up to recently?
At the moment I'm working on the next compilation for Upon You, which marks our fifth birthday, so that will be arriving after the summer, but the project was started quite some time ago. As far back as October we began thinking about it, deciding how it would work.
What's the plan then?
We are putting two CDs together, one with artists from the label, who are all making exclusive tracks, then on the other I have invited some of my favourite artists to make a remix of one of our old releases each. We have some really cool people involved.
It's a little early to give many details as names have just been confirmed really, and I don't like to announce things until the music is made, but it's going to be really interesting for sure. And, on top of all this I'm involved in another compilation with Luna City Express for Moon Harbour, as the label is doing one per year now, so that has just been finished for 2012 and should be out in the first half of the year.
Busy times then.
For sure. Watergate is also ten years old in 2012, so they have big plans with a compilation and tour, so I'm working on something for that too. I had the idea to start an album soon, but I'm thinking I need to get all this finished first really.
One project that's now behind you is the Watergate 10 mix album- what went into the track selection there?
It was kind of a challenge, because if you make a proper mix CD the labels have to repress, so there's a lot of business stuff involved, you have a deadline when you have to submit your ideas and stuff.
So I tried to start with 20 tracks, but in the end they repressed 60 for me, because I wanted to be sure in case some tracks weren't right or whatever. This meant I had so many options, and no idea of what I wanted the mix to sound like, just which were my favourites from the old and new stuff. That was the idea, to combine what I like now and what I liked in the past.”
So would you say there's still a place in the world for the old mix CD, given the amount of free podcasts there are out there?
Of course the market is completely saturated, and podcasts are just one thing- there are still many mix albums being released. But then I love to make podcasts or mixes for people, for me mixing outside of the club has always been a huge part of DJing and what I do.
I also love to hear mixes from other artists too- from time to time I buy the Fabric CDs or whatever. So for me there is most definitely still a market for this kind of thing. If I like an album I'll buy it, that's the way it works. You have something to hold in your hand then, not just a file on a computer. My hard drive, like so many people's, is full of music and mixes, but for me there is still a difference. I can always see myself buying CDs and DVDs.
Finally, what made you decide to call it a day with Pan Pot, but continue collaborating as Luna City Express?
Well Norman Weber, my partner in Luna City Express, is a guy I have a particularly special relationship with. The whole project means so much to me, and we're really close on many levels- he's one of my best friends, he's my soul mate, and an inspiration to me.
Of course we do a lot of business together, travelling around together- we spend more time together than we do with our wives. He moved to Berlin in 2000, so we have been doing Luna City for around 12 years now, and this was one of my first projects.
With Pan Pot we started later, and it was an interesting project to be part of, and a great experience. But the two outfits became successful around the same time, so I really found it difficult to focus on both but needed to focus on one. Then there was my solo work too, it was all becoming more demanding, so I couldn't continue. Luna City is my baby, whereas I wasn't part of the Pan Pot DJ team, just in the studio, so for me it was an obvious choice. We are still great friends though.
