The Copenhagen duo ripping up Ibiza as London awaits
Interview : Dan Prince
Karina, Denise welcome to DMCWORLD. Where in the world are you right now?
“Hey DMCWORLD! Thank you for having us! Right now we have sitting on our favourite island of Ibiza! We will be playing at the VIVa Warriors party tonight at Sankeys.”
You hail from Copenhagen, a city that all of a sudden is producing some incredible underground artists. Why now? Why has it taken so long for this incredible city to wake up?
“That’s quite a relative question as we have in all our time being in the music scene known these really talented producers, we guess it has just taken a while for the rest of the world to know them. The scene has changed a fair bit since we started 12 years back. We didn’t have the help from social media; facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. So it was more difficult to get your name out there in the world.”
When you developed a taste of dance music you were too young to get into normal clubs so hit the drum n’bass, techno and jungle underground parties. Was it these parties that got you into house?
“It was definitely a big part of it. Even though the music isn’t the same, the whole clubbing experience is. Even from an early age we were just really into going out, dancing and listening to electronic music. We were introduced to the more housey sound via other parties and listening to albums and compilations. For example we remember clearly Denise got Etienne de Crecy’s Superdiscount from her dad and then a bit later on we went to these amazing parties called Respect Is Burning with fx old school US DJs and Bob Sinclar and the Yellow Production team, who clearly had a very different sound from what he has now. We always liked the “housey” house and its funny to think that is was really underground, as house/electronic music wasn’t so “commercialised” back then.”
Who were your early DJ heroes back then?
“To be honest we never really had any DJ heroes. When we think back we were not exposed to very many DJs. As mentioned before the internet was not so used, so we only heard whoever was brought to Copenhagen to play. The sound at that time was very much all the French and US DJs but of course also others.”
So Ibiza, an island very close to your hearts. It was here that the idea of a DJ career began. Tell us about that trip in 2001 and those 10 records you bought and what happened when you got home…
“Yes so we had just finished college and wanted to take a trip somewhere. We knew about Ibiza and found a ridiculously cheap package holiday, so off we went with absolutely no idea of that it would shape our future. Landing on the island, we immediately felt the connection and fell in love with the place. We were mesmerised by all the clubs, which were nothing like any club we had ever been to before. Every time we went out we heard some amazing tracks and couldn’t help but going to the DJs and ask for the names of the tracks. So at the end of the holiday we had this list of songs we wanted to get hold on. We went to a record shop and the guy there explained us that we could only get those titles on vinyl. So there and then we decided to buy around 10 records to bring home, just to listen to. When we got home we quickly got hold of some turntables and realised we could do what we had seen all the DJs had being doing. Denise’s dad has a club/live venue in another part of Denmark and we went there one night bringing the records. That night there was a Mike Tyson boxing match and the DJ wanted to watch it so he asked of we could play our records just in the beginning of the night. The promoter heard our records and was kind of impressed by the sound coming directly from Ibiza so he invited us to play in a bar back in Copenhagen. We quickly went to buy more records and practised day and night to be able to mix them. After that we got a gig in a new club in Copenhagen, on a night with only new DJs and it went so well we got a residency there. What really kind of did it for us was a gig at Zoo bar every Friday which was the place to be back then. We started with the early slot at 5pm and then worked our way up to the primetime which was only at 11pm as this was just a pre-party place, but everyone in the nightlife came here and within 6 months we were playing every weekend in all the clubs and events taking place. From then and there this was our life, dream, our everything and has been ever since.”
Why had you chosen Ibiza back then, what had you heard about the white isle?
“Well, we had both actually been once before. But Karina as a baby and Denise had been on a very short trip. We both knew that it was THE place for electronic music and clubbing. Also the Danish National radio did a show there a few times back then, and we remember sitting at home listening to all the great new music they played and they were telling about all the DJs playing there. So we were instantly drawn to go there.”
What were the clubs you ventured to on that first trip?
“We kind of did the whole shebang on those two weeks. We were eager to see and experience everything. But we are always laughing about that because we had bought this unspecified holiday then we were put up in a hotel in San An. And when we arrived the first night very late, we just wanted to go out straight away. So the first club we saw on our way was Es Paradis and we managed to blag us in for free. We actually had such a fun night there and only got pleasantly surprised the next few days that there were even bigger and better clubs around the island.”
2013 has been another massive year for VIVa Warriors – how has this year been compared to 2012?
“2012 was very successful but it feels like this summer everything has come together. It’s been busier than ever and it has a very strong following coming every time and still building. Now it really has that feeling of people know what its about and feeling like a part of a little community. People love wearing the headbands and experiencing the sit-downs on the dance floor.”
Sankeys has a great night on every night of the week, what makes VIVa stand out from the rest?
“Yes, Sankeys has really been hitting off this summer and VIVa Warriors is standing out with the busiest night every week. You know if you have been to a VIVa Warriors night that special vibe going on. Its that kind of old school feeling of everyone there getting together and truly enjoying themselves being into the music.”
What has been your favourite night of the summer in Ibiza so far?
We have been doing many of the opening slots at the VIVa Warriors nights. At other parties that would usually be a fairly quiet gig, but for these nights, as soon as the doors open people come dancing in directly on the dance floor. There have been massive queues at every party and the dance floor is packed and buzzing within an hour. Our favourite night though, was when we did the closing set taking over from Steve and before him Guti had been playing, so after these hours of amazing music people were ready for more and we got to “finish them off”. Apart from playing yourself, its also such an amazing feeling to experience Steve Lawler playing all 3 mixes of your track and getting a massive sit-down to one of them!
Who is the craziest person in the VIVa camp, who is always the last person standing?
“Haha everyone’s a character in the VIVa family! But what we like about this night is that everyone stays till the end! We all support each other when we are playing, it’s a part of the VIVa night that the party is just as buzzing in the DJ booth as in the floor. But you can sometimes find even DJs on the floor, one night we saw Livio & Roby dancing in the crowd with everyone after there guest set.“
How much guidance and help has Steve Lawler given you over the last year?
“Steve has given us a great deal of help and support. It has been such a fantastic thing for us as even though we have been doing this for many years, we have kind of always been just the two of us, and it feels nice to be a part of something now. We feel lucky that its VIVa MUSiC we have become a part of, because we think that it’s a great match with our music and style. It is really important to be able to be yourself and to play and produce and release music from your heart and that has Steve helped us with. We have a lot of respect for Steve, not only because he is kind of a pioneer in house music but also because he has helped a lot of artist to bloom in this business. He has a good eye and ear for music and talent, so people trust him when he says something is good. He has given us a platform to get us heard and has been supporting our releases. Steve is very much the type of DJ that would never play anything that he doesn’t completely love, so you know you have done it right when he plays your tracks.”
What has been the record of the summer for you?
“Well maybe it’s a bit pretentious to name your own record, but it’s the case for us. Especially the Santé remix of our track “Come Out To Play”, so not entirely just ourselves. This release is kind of the “theme tune” of the VIVa Warriors night now, with the sample from the movie Warriors that the concept has been taken from. Steve has been playing all the 3 versions; the original plus the 2 remixes from Santé and Philip Bader in every set of his, which is quite rare for any DJ to do. Also it has been played by such a broad spectrum of DJs. Everyone from Matthias Tanzmann, Laurent Garnier, Adam Beyer to Jamie Jones and Nice7 have been supporting it. Its out now on VIVa MUSiC!”
Have you had the opportunity to venture out of Sankeys and enjoy any other nights in Ibiza this summer?
“This season it has been quite in and out, so have not been staying so much for going out. We have been a few places but a night we usually always go to is the Circo Loco on Mondays at DC10. It’s the day after the VIVa Warriors party so we just drop by before leaving the island again. For us it’s kind of just to hang out, see friends and talk to other DJs and listen to some music.”
What is coming out next from you guys release wise…?
“Apart from “Come Out To Play” on VIVa MUSiC the 16th September then we actually have another release on the same day! It’s an EP including two tracks “HMS” and “Deflection” plus remixes which will come out on Expmental Records. “HMS” has been played by Richie Hawtin several times and also been supported by DJs we like such as Chicks Luv Us, CrossNineTroll, Sabb & Macromism. In September we also have a track called “Got A Feeling About You” out on Ibiza label Chronovision.”
You have been flying in and out of Ibiza all summer to some wonderful parties, where have some of the stand out gigs been for you…the Zurich Street Parade looked awesome!
“Yes for sure the Zurich Street Parade was really great and such a different gig. We were told that around 1 million people come to the city for this event, so the streets are completely full of happy party people all dressed up. Then there are 30 huge trucks driving in line through the city with DJs playing on them. It was quite special to be playing when driving through crowds and you can tell that people can hear your music miles away. Another very different gig was a marathon in London called Run To The Beat. On the route you had 18 stages with DJs playing music for the runners. It was actually a lot of fun! We have of course had the more usual club gigs but what is nice in the summer is you also have outdoors gigs as well. We played a really nice one in Paris, it was just down to the water by the Seine and the crowd was amazing.”
Here at DMC we love the fact that you love our capital city London, so much so you call it your home now. What is it about the place you love so much from a music perspective?
“London is just a special place in general as it’s very much a hub in Europe. The city attracts many interesting and creative people and you can find most kinds of music here. UK has great history of electronic music and DJs and is much bigger market than for example Denmark where we are from. We love that when you have these “micro trends” in house music for example, then they usually stem from somewhere in London or England. It’s a great base to have and English people know how to rave!”
What don’t you like about London?!?
“That’s an easy one! The traffic and transport…even when you head out in good time you always end up being late. You can’t trust the public transportation and it’s not even faster to grab a cab to the airport.”
A quote from you… . As a DJ you don’t really take time off, you live and breath music and DJing.” Surely there must be life outside of music, how do you switch off?
“Sure there is a life outside the music business but there is no life without music. We are both the type of people that put music on as the first thing when we wake up. It’s just such a natural part of us to be listening to music in any situation. But to answer your question…we both like to cook and hang out with friends and family. And sometimes to completely switch off then its always useful with some mind numbing TV or films after a long weekend of travelling.”
Thankfully you are two producers who like to develop your sound as times goes by, challenging many different sub genres of house. How would you describe your style at the moment?
“We have always preferred to say that our style is just house. Sometimes it’s difficult to put an exact label on your sound, as we like to mix it up a bit. Best described would be house in the sub genres of tech house, deep house and hip house.”
Another famous quote from you..” A lot of DJs say they get paid for the traveling. The DJ part is the fun part.” What is the longest journey you have ever made to get to a club?
“That must most definitely have been Australia and New Zealand. Luckily we got to travel around on a tour there for 3 weeks, so completely worth the feeling you have when you are about to board another 12-hour flight just after the first 12-hour flight. We have also been flying to China a few times and an island called Le Reunion, which is next to Madagascar, just for one single gig. We think that because we have each other and of course love to DJ then we are fairly willing to travel any distance. Even when that volcano cloud ruined all flying a few years back, we were looking into taking a boat from the UK so we could get to our gig in Portugal. Luckily our flight didn’t get cancelled.”
As female DJs you must get asked the same old question time and time again, ‘how much easier was it for you in the beginning to get a break because you were two girls in a male orientated world’. What I want to know though, how much easier was it for you to break through so quickly was it living in Denmark?
“Yeah its true that you always get that question as a girl, but its funny because we actually completely “forget” ourselves that we are girls, don’t know if that makes sense, but we always thought your sex shouldn’t make any difference in this business. Anyway, to one of your first questions we told the story about how we started. Denmark is a really small country so the music scene is miniscule and it’s very easy to know everyone and also to break through. It’s just a completely different story when it comes to breaking through abroad. There are so many DJs and producers, especially now in this “digital time”, you really have to stand out in some way with your productions and DJíng. We have been producing and DJing now for many years, so we are feeling more secure having found our proper sound and perfecting our technical skills. With that and a love and faith in what you do combined being at the right time and place, we guess it’s the way forward, and of course that people like your music haha…”
And finally, where are some of the parties over the next few months you are really looking forward to? Electric Brixton has you two girls written all over it!
“Oh yes oh yes! We will be missing going to Ibiza playing the VIVa Warriors parties (until next year) but what better way to finish the summer than to play in this amazing venue in London. The last VIVa Warriors in London was insane and full to the brim so this one can only get bigger and better! After that we have another VIVa party for the ADE in Amsterdam, which is always good because you have most people in the business together that week. We have quite a few UK gigs until Christmas, many of them VIVa Warriors shows which we always look forward to. Its like a little VIVa community, people seem to feel connected at these parties, wearing headbands and of course we usually get to catch up with the rest of the VIVa crew!”
VIVa Warriors @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON
Steve Lawler announces Electric Brixton party with Ibiza residents
Darius Syrossian, Philip Bader, Detlef (live) and Anëk.
Friday 4th October 2013 (11pm-7am)
Electric Brixton – Town Hall Parade – Brixton, London
http://electricbrixton.uk.com/index.php
