Ofenbach are the fresh new DJ duo from Paris – storming onto the world scene with their newest release ‘Katchi’, already hitting #2 in the French singles chart and poised to jostle its way into the UK charts very soon. Dorian and César (as they are known by their mums) look to fuse their love of retro rock with the emerging sound of deep house. The result is a contemporary blend of pop dance with a touch a rhythm and blues. A very original sound, catch what they had to say in the below special interview…
How long have you guys been working each other?
Dorian: We’ve known each other for more than 12 years and met through playing in rock bands together at school. We both play musical instruments – I played drums and César sings – our first band was called ‘The Creepers’ and we used to practise in my parent’s basement in Paris. It was about three years ago that we started making electronic.
What do your parents think about you being musicians & DJS?
Dorian: they are very happy for us and both have supported us since the beginning. My father was in a couple of rock bands and my mother is an actress.
César: my father was an auctioneer and my mother was a painter, so they were creative and always supported us.
How would you guys describe your personalities?
Open-minded, we are definitely not shy! This is because we’re still young, we’ve just left school and we love partying.
How would you describe your production sound and your DJ sound?
We Describe our music as deep-house with rock music: ‘deep-rock’ music. It’s a mix between all the rock music of the 60s, 70s & 80s and new deep house music with all the electronic sounds and bass. Our sound is made from real instruments except drums, bass and synths. It’s ‘rock-electronic’ music.
Where did the rock inspiration come from?
We grew up on rock music. We always listened during our childhood, with our parents. In Paris, there were a lot of rock bands around that time, when we were 15.
Which bands influenced you the most?
Dorian: for me it is The Rolling Stones. The first gig I saw was The Rolling Stones in 2007. I love the sound and I love their story too!
César: for me, my favourite album is ‘Breakfast In America’ by Supertramp. I also love bands like Led Zeppelin and AC DC. I’ve been to a lot of AC DC gigs!
It’s been three years that you’ve been making electronic music. Previous to this you were in bands. How has your journey been? What was your first big break? Has getting to this point in your career been easy?
When we started this, it was just for fun and we never expected to do it professionally. The journey took a lot of time. We were discovered on Soundcloud after we had uploaded a few tracks. We signed shortly after and that’s when we started to develop our deep house & rock sound.
When did you start DJing?
We started DJing around the same time we started Ofenbach. We started out in the small clubs in Paris where our friends put on parties. We learned to mix and went from there.
How do you feel about the big French DJs who have come before you?
Like everyone we love Daft Punk. We did a Bob Sinclair remix previously and we hugely respect all of them! We very briefly met Martin Solveig too.
Who’s has been supporting your records?
We have had support from people like Robin Schulz, Tiesto and many others. We played with Martin Garrix only two days ago as well.
Talk to us about the guitar. We hear it a lot in your music, especially rhythm and blues. Where is this inspiration coming from and why that particular genre?
Because of our musical upbringing. The Rolling Stones have come from the blues and, to us, this blues sound matched perfectly with the deep house sound we were playing with. There are also not many electronic songs with a slide guitar in them!
Can you talk to us about Katchi? What is the story behind the song and what is your connection with Nick Waterhouse?
Katchi was a song originally written by Nick Waterhouse and Leon Bridges. When we heard it for the first time, we thought it sounded like a super hit from the 1960s. It surprised us that the song was so recent so we contacted Nick Waterhouse and asked to do an electronic version. We met him in Paris, he is very clever and really open minded – it was really easy to work with him.
What’s the idea behind the video? And the 1950s style, look and feel. Is this a look that you particularly love?
We love this kind of vintage image and we think visuals is a super important thing in music. We wanted this vintage image in the video but we also wanted to do something funny, so the song has a party, dancey feel to it too.
You’ve got a USA & Canada tour coming up. How do you feel about that?
We are so happy, we’ve wanted to tour for such a long time. We found some really amazing clubs and are so excited to be headlining the tour.
What other things are you interested in outside of music?
We are really passionate about cinema. We both attended cinema school in Paris, where we studied world cinema. We ended up having to quit though because music was taking up just too much time. We still love cinema and that’s why we are really passionate and meticulous with our music videos and their image. We try to make them as cinematic as possible too.
Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
We would love to collaborate with the great rock singers. It’s definitely one our dreams to have a singer like Jack White from The White Stripes to work with us on a song!
Do you like and use any tech gadgets?
We’re not too into technology no, we don’t even play PlayStation! All we play is music!
Are there any particular fashion brands that you like?
We love Levi’s because of their vintage 50s & 60s aesthetic. Also, because they have a long history of making clothes for artists. We recently worked on a project with Levi’s called ‘Levi’s Music Project’ where they chose ten aspiring musicians and DJs to learn about the music industry from us.
What’s your ultimate goal as Ofenbach?
To bring the rock, deep house, electronic style of music that we have been making into the spotlight. We also have an album that we want to release next year.
OFENBACH – ‘KATCHI’ VS. NICK WATERHOUSE IS OUT NOW
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