Brian Tappert

Traxsource’s head honcho and Soulfuric boss Brian Tappert teams up with Mannix Kling in Tisno at the Defected Croatia festival to talk facts about the new life of Soulfuric, his connection with Defected and new material from Jazz’n’Groove…

 

Interview by Mannix King

 

Last time we talked that was in Amsterdam at ADE when you told me Soulfuric is taking a break and there is no Brian Tappert/Jazz’n’Groove material on the horizon. Now Soulfuric is back releasing new music, you have remixed some bits and we hear that you will go into the studio with your long term partner Marc Pomeroy again. Why did you change up your mind?

Well musically everything moved into the right direction. For me it feels alot like 1999 again so I got the spirit and feeling that it was about time to do something. At the same time Simon Dunmore, who we have been working together with for a long time, expressed serious interest in our back catalogue as well as releasing new music. That was the one thing that was missing, a strong partner that understands us. And yes, Marc and I have talked about recording again, I brought out many synths and different recording gear from our storage, so all we have to do now is to find the right project to get us going again!

Please tell us a little more about the partnership with Defected! 

Simon Dunmore has been instrumental in our carreers from the very beginning, he signed records from us from 1995 on and obviousely the very first Defected release was a Soulfuric record (Soulsearcher ‘Can’t Get Enough’). Before Simon left A&M Records, to form Defected, he wanted to have people around him, who he could rely on production wise. We were one of these people so we were quite involved in the process when he launchd Defected. So what I’m trying to say is, beside being friends for a very long time, we also are connected to Simon and his crew just as long. And of course as Traxsource we sell his records as well, so were are business partners too. How can we imagine the daily work of the new formed Soulfuric empire? Who signs records? Who commissions remixes? Who decides on release dates etc….?

It’s like some sort of group effort, Simon has a great team around him and we also know a thing or two about House Music, so we are all pitching records and try to find the best ones to put them out!

You hosted an own event at the Beach Stage as Soulfuric this year at Defected Croatia. How did you like it?

It actually was my first time in Croatia and I can clearly understand what the hype is all about now-it’s a beautiful place and the festival is simply amazing. If you are into House Music this has got to be one of the best places to go to. Concerning our label hosting we are very happy that Simon Dunmore asked us to host a stage there-it has been amazing to see the artists we work with now (Angelo Ferreri, Scott Diaz, Copyright…) alongside us veterans (John Julius Knight and myself). The vibe has been enourmous and I still get goosebumps when I think about the reaction we got from a wide range of participants. Hopefully this is just the beginning of many events to come on various places all over the world.

Final question-what can we expect from Soulfuric within the next few months?

We have some new signings lined up and we have classic remixes done by new and upcomers as well as established producers. There is alot of potential and you can be sure there will be some amazing projects hitting you soon!