1. You have been pushing your sounds and house music for a fair while now, how old is the Robosonic project and how did it come about?
S: Hey guys! Thanks for the interview. I won’t be in Bali this time again unfortunately – Cord will represent again for Robosonic. To answer your question, we first got together in around 2004, and pretty much started making music soon after. The first time that the project name “Robosonic” was mentioned, should have been around 2005.. so our Robosonic baby is about ten years old now.
C: Yeah, our godfather was a mutual friend who forced us to meet and eat.
2. How do you see the current state of house music from a producers view? We see a massive growth right now as a publicist and information portal and its gaining alot more fans by the day.
Do you think people are just becoming more educated with their tastes in music? More people are just enjoying electronic music in general?
S: I’m not sure I can, but I’ll try to answer that in a short form! In the last 5-10 years or so, many things have popularised not only house music, but any music that’s being made and recorded on computers. Literally anyone with a laptop, some software, and a bit of gear can start produceing or DJing music. So the internet hasn’t only changed the way we consume our music (Youtube, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Spotify, Beatport, iTunes, all social media, iPods, smartphones etc.), but also the way literally anyone can self-release their own tracks or remix anything they can find online. The whole structure of the music industry is moving and it will change a lot more during the next years, hopefully to the better. So for me I guess, technology is one of the main reasons that you guys might feel people are getting more educated with their tastes of music. In terms of house and techno music.. yes I think it’s a ‘universal’ sound that spreads a positive message: of love, peace, respect.. dancing to this music and spending time together with other people in an environment like a party, a club, a festival, a parade etc. unites many people around the world.
3. How are the shows at home in Germany recently? What sort of shows are you playing at home? Clubs, festivals? Any that have really stuck out this year?
S: We played at all kind of events here in Germany in the last ten years; had many many gigs in Berlin, every weekend, year in year out. But as of recently, we only play in Berlin about once a month or so! A few days ago we played again at Fusion Festival..
C: Yes, Fusion was a blast again. A unique festival on a former Sovjet airport, where we played 7 times already. This time we’ve had the most playful, colourful, beautiful crowd of the year so far. Eight to ten thousand ravers ready to roll!
4. How about on tour? What have been your favourite club shows and festivals on tour over the past 12 months and why? The crowd reactions? The girls? The sound systems?
C: Oh dear, where have we been? Dubai, Moscow, London, Paris…?! We’ve had good shows in Australia, the last stop Tasmania was brilliant. Sometimes it feels like the further you go, the more love you get. We totally dig Romania too! Also had the first gigs in Riga, Latvia, Bangkok and Shanghai. Adventure time, in the end the whole experience counts, so it’s not always the craziest show, the biggest sound, the girls of the night, that you will remember…
S: True, it’s the whole thing. For me, Latinamerica is always a highlight! I love the Caribbean particularly. This year for me, the Baum Festival in Bogotà was truly amazing, also I had fun playing at the Yoshitoshi Party for the BPM Closing in Playa, Mexico.
5. What do you guys get up to before and after your performances? Any rituals you like to do before a big show? A nice dinner with friends in the area? To the afterparty for a exclusive set or
straight back the hotel for some rest before a early flight to the next show?
C: That all depends. If good people are around anything can happen. Also depends a lot on the travel schedule. Real rituals, I don’t think we have them. After a big show we probably bump a bro fist, give high5 or even a hug to each other.
S: I like to drink a Whisky or two before hitting the decks!
6. We noticed you have a tune coming up very soon with KRS-One on vocals? How did that come about? A project with somebody who we are massive fans of and respect so much in legend status in our books. Did you guys get in the studio together or bounce the ideas back and forward over the internet?
C: Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the studio last time when he played a show in Berlin. Since we’ve been working with Masta Ace and Jeru the Damaja, KRS has been on the wishlist for another ‘Golden Era House’ joint. I think Jeru in particular was a good reference here, they’ve been down with each other for ages, he also introduced me to the Beatnuts. Big ups to Jeru, he is full of respect for our music, and he is always hungry to create.
7. When your working on other collaborations does it work the same way usually? Are you working via a shared project and dropbox? Skype sessions? Does one start on the drums and the other on the melody / leads and then meet up on the road to work on the mixdown?
C: We don’t really share projects in our dropbox, but between the two of us there’s a good connection with a server, as our studios are just a few meters away from each other. Vertically that is, as we’re living in the same house. You can’t tell how a track is created. Sometimes an idea is sketched on the road, and finished in the studio. Or we swap projects or single tracks with others. We like to visit colleagues in their studios to catch a vibe, but sometimes we just transfer a self- contained Ableton project.
S: We have a ghostproducer! Hehe kidding. I’ve written music for other DJs myself, but I don’t think my conscience would let me stand in front of a crowd and pretend that I made a song, when in fact I hired someone else to do it. This practice isn’t that uncommon though.. we live in a culture where it’s all about getting famous, and fast.
8. As producers what have the 5 most important records you guys have released? What do they mean to you and do any of them have a story behind them that made them so special?
S: For me, our first album “Sturm und Drang”, “Yasmin”, Worst Love”, “La Fique”, and our remix of Eddie Amador’s “House Music”..
C: I agree. For me it’s also “Good Old Feel” because it was the blueprint for this type of rap and house fusion. The inspiration from all the hiphop digging got manifested in a tune, that brings people from different genres so close together and make them dance and show some love. That’s a beautiful thing.
9. Is this your first time in Asia performing? How do you think the shows compare in Asia compared to Europe and the biggest regions like the states? The clubs? The production?
C: I’ve been to Bangkok and Shanghai this Febuary. Only two shows, so I won’t compare yet. Also in Europe, there are more than fifty shades of grey when it comes to good or bad production, clubs and hospitality. When the Asia shows got requested, I was thinking “damn, another long distance flight again..” then I actually said “up for it, will definitely do it”, as Sacha had other plans. Next time hopefully we can both be there.
S: Would be nice! I’ve never been in Thailand or Bali before.. I love the sun and great food – I heard there’s plenty of both there. But to be honest I’m ok with not flying for so many hours that soon again… not a huge fan of spending time on planes, even though it’s a big part of what we do.
10. Any plans in Bali or things you most definitely want to do or see? Some food you want to try?
C: Not much time, unfortunately. Literally everbody told me to stay as long as I can. But with a gig in India before and Bangkok after there’s not much I can do. So I hope you guys can show me some sweet spots and feed me some local goodies.
11. Whats next for Robosonic? Some more killer collabs we should know about? Any new releases or labels we should be stalking your social media for?
C: Yes, please. Our collabo with Purple Disco Machine “RPMD” just hit the stores: “Viel Fein” and “Geht Ab”. A single featuring Jeru the Damaja got scheduled a month after the KRS-One “Free Flow”. And we have another Remix of an Eddie Amador classic in the pipeline: “Rise”…
S: …which I’m looking forward to with a lot of excitement! The original “Rise” was Eddie Amador’s biggest track and even hit the official UK charts in the year 2000. The vocals of “Rise” are so classic and catchy it’s ridiculous.