Out of fashion since 1995. Poker Flat just gets deeper
Interview by Dan Prince
Poker Flat Recordings has been dealing out underground house music with a unique twist since 1999; from the de- fining debut “Loverboy” through the Bugnology series, acclaimed albums and worldwide club hits, Steve Bug’s essential imprint has unearthed new talent, developed ri- sing stars and welcomed veterans into the fold. Steve Bug‘s reputation as an exceptionally gifted DJ, pro- ducer and music connoisseur is about to carry the belo- ved imprint to its 15th anniversary, which will be celebra- ted with its finest collection of raw talent yet. After shuttering his legendary Raw Elements-imprint (1995-1998), Steve Bug embarked on the defining label that would soon be considered as one of handful of the handful labels credited with moulding the sound of tech house and minimal house. Poker Flat Recordings arrived with a bang – the very first release named Double Action included the massive hit “Loverboy” – and began to grow from strength to strength, gathering fans, critical and DJ support from the very outset. Double Action was followed by a string of quality singles and EPs by Martin Landsky, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Berk- son & What and Guido Schneider, plus defining longplay albums by Trentemøller, Märtini Brös, John Tejada, TJ King & Modular K and Donnacha Costello. The sub-labels Dessous, Audiomatique and Traffic Signs cemented the presence of the Poker Flat familia, and fur- ther refined the signature sounds of Vincenzo, Adultnap- per, Phonique, and Steve’s own alter ego Traffic Signs. Fifteen years deep, and Poker Flat Recordings is still on top of its game. In celebration of this milestone, Steve Bug & co. plan to mark it in style, with a 15 Years Of Poker Flat digital compilation of 16 new and unreleased track by Tom Flynn, youANDme, Josh Wink, Anaxander, John Tejada and more alongside a number of new remixes by Taylor, The Organ Grinder, Sebo K, Audiofly and more, the 4 Jacks series of EPs featuring the brightest leading lights of the scene, and birthday parties taking place in cities including London, Paris, Berlin and more. Poker Flat’s unwavering dedication to the finest under- ground house music is 15 years young, with absolutely no sign of slowing down…DMCWORLD checks in…
Hey Steve welcome to DMCWORLD…where on planet earth are you today?
“Hey Dan, I have just got back to Berlin from a short Asian tour.”
Cool, so let’s kick off with a massive congratulations on reaching your Poker Flat 15th Anniversary – without doubt the number one source for stripped down futuristic house music and musical diversity. The label was founded on your own and some of your friend’s production’s like the Martini Bros and Martin Landsky…sub-labels soon followed. Was there a burning ambition back then to create a worldwide presence with Poker Flat – or was it simply a nice avenue to release some good records?
“The main focus was to release great music that we liked and wanted to support. Of course that included some of my friends as well. But back then it was mostly all about that. No one really wanted to take over the world by storm when they started a label. We didn’t have business plans, or managers, nor press agents to become successful, the music used to speak for itself.”
I love the way you discovered house music back in the day. You were invited to a mixed gay club in Hamburg by friends so you nipped down to the local record shop in your hometown of Bremen and bought an early house music compilation to see what you were getting yourself into later that night. And you loved it. Can you remember any of the tunes on that early album that grabbed your attention?
“It was called the House Sound of Chicago Vol 2 and included these tracks: Adonis – No Way Back, Marshall Jefferson – The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body), Mr. Fingers – Can You Feel It, Virgo – R U Hot Enough, Hercules – 7 Ways To Jack, Mr Fingers – Washing Machine, Jungle Wonz – The Jungle and others…”
Your DJ career began in little after hours bar near Space in Ibiza around 1991. Wow how the island has changed since then. 5 Star hotels paying six figure sums Vegas style for DJs, Bill Gates handing the keys of his S250m yacht to Madonna so she had somewhere to sleep this summer, the best chefs in the world opening restaurants…Afrojack and Paul Oakenfold infamously said on Radio 1 this year that the island had “lost it’s mystique and was too VIP nowadays”. What is your view on this incredible little island in 2014… slightly different from 1991 huh?
“Yes, it has become a rather posh place. The island itself can still be beautiful and holds mystique if you know the right places, but in general it lost a lot of what it had in the 90’s.”
“I like the idea of being on the dancefloor with my eyes closed and moving my body to some deep tunes that carry me away for hours and hours.” When was the last time that happened?
“It has unfortunately been a while. I remember dancing for an hour and a half to Moodyman’s set at Sankeys, Ibiza this summer though. Even though his mixing hasn’t something I’d call a flow, the choice of music was great. Also in Japan I heard some good sets, but I was too busy talking to people I’d just met. In general there are two reasons why the hours of dance with closed eyes hasn’t happened for a long time. One is people ask me to take pictures or just want to say how much they like my work – nothing wrong about that, just distracting me from getting lost in the music. The second is that not many DJs are able, or willing to play sets to get lost to. They’d rather play something that has build ups every two minutes, cause they think otherwise people might lose the patience.”
Tricky question – brave answer please! The record you wish you had made?
“Hmm, there are a few that I can think of, but probably Quadrant Q1.1/1 on Basic Chanel – but it had to be at the time. I remember it totally blew me away and my production skills had been far from making something even close to it.”
Your early music style was very deep and melodic. In an interview a few years ago you were asked by the interviewer to sum up the Steve Bug experience in 7 words – to which you replied…”deep, playful, soulful, energetic, individual, positive, house music.” Ten years on…what would those 7 words be now?
“Deep, playful, soulful, energetic, individual, moody, house music. So I only changed from positive to moody, positive sounds rather cheesy to me though. Hahaha!”
Dude I felt for you on that long flight to Singapore last week! So, which film did you choose in the end…Postman Pat, Planes: Fire & Rescue or Rio 2? Yowzer.
“Haha! Non of those, they were only 3 out of the 38 movies available thankfully. I ended up watching Lucy, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Cold In July. All three amazing movies. Cold in July was my favorite though.”
Luckily there is nothing like business as usual in a DJs life. Every night is different, every club has a different vibe, and every crowd has a different energy. Where are some of the new or simply stand out clubs you have rocked in 2014?
“Air, Tokyo. Amazing sound, amazing crowd, you simply gotta love it. I also had a great time at Output in New York…such an amazing club. There are probably a few others that I forgot about right now, but these two are definitely my favorite clubs in the moment.”
“I’m sure we’ll see and hear new labels on a music genre that isn’t even new so I prefer to ignore genre categorizations.” With your quote in mind, what is the most stupid music genre you have heard recently?
“Deep house. Because everything seems to be deep house these days.”
What is the hardest thing about running an underground label in 2014?
“Getting heard by the people without giving everything away for free. To promote a record you have to give out free downloads to magazines, you have to put up tracks on soundcloud, youtube and so on – all platforms where you can easily download music from. People are simply not digging for music anymore, they wait until it comes to them and in most cases it has to be free. So making money is probably the hardest thing. It is sad that people think everything should be for free, because if labels stop making money, they will disappear and in the end so will the music.”
As part of the 15th Anniversary celebrations you are releasing 4 EPs throughout the next few months featuring the strongest artists across your roster – which will then be made into an LP of exclusive material. What are some of the tracks you are especially blown away with?
“youANDme – Quince, Mark Henning – Mad Half Hour, the Taylor remix for my track Shot In The Dark and the DJ Tennis & Mind Against remix for Trentemøller.”
You will also be releasing a ‘Best Of’ LP featuring the finest Poker Flat releases from the last 15 years. Please give us 5 of your proudest releases…
John Tejada – Sweat
Martin Landsky – 1000 Miles
Trentemøller – The Last Resort
Dan Berkson & James What – Ghosts
Steve Bug – Wet
And finally Steve…looking back at 15 glorious years must be wonderful. But as one never to stand on his laurels, what are you most looking forward to about the future…?
“Retirement? Hahaha just kidding…everything that the future brings to us. I am always curious about what’s coming next, but I am living for the moment and I just signed a lot of new stuff for the label. Also I am working on new projects and ideas, all too early to speak about. But here is one thing I’ve been doing, a new Traffic Signs with Jake The Rapper – it will feature a Joyce Muniz and a Steve Bug remix and we have a video coming up for it which is super freaky. I am so looking forward to this one. Keep your eyes and ears open…”
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