Exclusive interview as the crazy duo release their mighty ‘Synergy’ album and sign to Safehouse
Interview : Dan Prince
Igor, Dan welcome to DMCWORLD – where in the world are you today?
“Hey Dan, we are both at home preparing everything for the big release day!”
Huge excitement for you guys at the moment with the release of your brand new album ‘Synergy’. How long did it take to create and where was it recorded?
“Most of the album was created on planes believe it or not. We always have downtime on flights so we use it to our advantage and its often inspiring. We spend a lot of time travelling together and it seems to spark off that vibe between us hence the title of the album SYNERGY. We completed the album over the last three months so every things nice and fresh!!”
Please give us a few words describing each of your new little babies…
‘Where Are You’ A smooth beginning to the journey, slowly takes you in under its warm blanket of Subsonic tones
‘Sandstorm’ Reminiscent of some of the old school Sven Väth anthems. Some what hypnotic and Melodic yet with a lot of dynamics
‘If God Was A DJ’ Spooky riffs crescendo throughout. Deepness meets uplifting flanging percussions
‘4 Play’ Euphoric peak time madness
‘Power’ The ever growing build of filtered vocals
‘Unstoppable’ Old school trashiness
‘Window Pane’ A creeper with smooth acidness throughout
‘Argentina’ Taking the acid to another level but with a big smile on its face
‘Shapes On The Horizon’ Less is more
‘Sofia’ Dirty and trashy yet not disturbing
‘There’s No Turning Back’ A real trip down Pig&Dan alley. Pushing the techno envelope with buckets of lushness to end the ride
Be brave, what is each of yours favourite tracks on the album?
Dan ‘4 Play’
Igor ‘Sandstorm’
Other great news in recent weeks is signing to Safehouse management for South America nestled alongside the likes of Carl Cox, John Digweed and Guy J. A great stable for you…?
“Absolutely, how can we not think this is an amazing move for us? Safehouse are without doubt the top of their game in South America and everything that happens there that’s of any scale is usually including one of the DJs on their roster. We are truly honoured to be in board.”
“…I quote my father…
if you don’t shit yourself before
a gig, then give up’.”
A quote from a superstar DJ…“a DJ has to have a piss every time before he goes on the decks, and if somebody tells me that’s not nerves they are full of shit.” – do you still get nervous before DJing?
“We are nervous every single time we play, of course it’s not as intense as it used to be purely because of experience. I quote my father “if you don’t shit yourself before a gig, then give up.” We are all about doing the best we can at any performance. We care about the outcome, and if you’re not nervous then it shows that you’ve lost that worry about doing it right. We don’t use computers or anything to aid us behind the decks, we are old skool and will always remain so. We love what we do and we are damn luckily to live from it, it’s that simple.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning…
“Without sounding like ego maniacs here, we actually pretty much play only Pig&Dan at our gigs, these days it’s hard for DJs to stick out and remain unique because anyone can gain access to the same music.”
Where have some of the stand out gigs been for you recently, you have been to some really far out places…Bali, Lebanon…
“Ultra in Buenos Aires was really one of the most dynamic and outrageous gigs of all time. The crowd in Argentina are just insane when it comes to passion for music.”
“Experience can sometimes hinder artists because if you’re succeeding then you don’t want to lose that.” Discuss…
“Keeping your feet on the ground and your roots firmly in place is an absolute must in this industry. If you lose sight of your goals and start to believe your good enough its the end of your road. Experience helps you gain wise-ness to situations and how you deal with them, however we are always looking to better ourselves and I don’t see that ever changing.”
You spend a lot of time with each other working, travelling and playing. If you could change 1 thing about each other what would it be?
“Really we are both pretty damn cool with each other, it’s like a relationship. You need to adapt and learn how to deal with each other and compromise.”
Everyone has one, what is your guilty pleasure record, a tune you love but really shouldn’t…?
“Ufff, really hard to say as we spend most of our lives rapped in our work. I’m sure we could pull some out of the bag like Duran Duran or some old skool crap that we loved in the younger years…’m also sure most of the people reading this wouldn’t even know who we were referring to LOL…”
What is the best and worst thing about living in Mallorca?
“Well you work just as much wherever you live and people often think we are always on holiday because we live here, but it’s for sure not like that. The standard of living is just unreal here. If you have that free moment you can truly savour it here. Rush out for a little sun or just the surroundings can often give your day a whole different angle. Igor is native here but I moved here because I need sun in my life. It’s essential to both of us even though we don’t see it so often.”
…”we’ve had some experiences recently when
we’ve mentioned to the venue that the monitors are too far away and the normal comment is ‘you’re the first to mention it’.”
Another quote from a superstar DJ…”I believe true DJing is actually an art, but it’s a dying art, as everyone is pushing the sync button…it’s a real shame when you see a ‘DJ’ plug his laptop in and call this DJing. Music will always evolve but sometimes not in the best way.” Thoughts on that?
“Totally agree however there are certain DJs that take the whole computer style of DJing to another level. For example Chris Liebing, Dubfire or Richie Hawtin all use their tools to sort of re produce records. I respect that however we believe that the productions we play out all speak for themselves. They don’t need to be looped or have effects added to them. We also are strong believers in the beauty of human error. We are not saying that train wreck mixes are cool whatsoever, but sometimes that little movement when a DJ slots that beat back into time is real sexy. It adds that funk and I’ve listened to many DJs sound linear because of using that sync button. Also DJs don’t know what to do with themselves when everything is already in time and prepared. The classic bored DJ started twirling knobs and adding effects when not needed because they’ve got nothing else to do. We are entertainers, but part of the attraction is seeing us perform as a DJ. Another sad thing is that clubs are starting to forget about good monitoring because 99% of the DJs don’t even need them. We’ve had some experiences recently when we’ve mentioned to the venue that the monitors are too far away and the normal comment is “you’re the first to mention it.”
Where are some of the big DJ dates you are looking forward to this summer?
“Edit Festival in Holland (ALWAYS CRAZY), and of course SONAR where we have four bookings!! Cant wait.”
Who are some of the producers you are giving high fives to right now?
“There’s too many to mention but here’s a few…Truncate, Kane Roth, ROD, Area Forty One, Tiger Stripes, Jay Tripwire, Dantiez Saunderson, Kevin Castro…”
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise…?
“My we have a lot on the horizon for the future. We can’t tell you everything but here’s a little hint. After the release of “Synergy” we will be releasing another album “Destination Unlown” which has nothing to do with Techno or Tech House whatsoever. Watch this space DMCWORLD…”
