Following the huge success of ‘Ruckus’ which held the #1 spot on Beatport’s Deep House chart for 8 weeks, Arndt Roerig and Marko Vidovic are now gearing up to release the title track taken from their highly anticipated sophomore album ‘We Are All Stars’, scheduled for release in May 2017. Dan Prince delves in…
Arndt, Marko a huge welcome back to DMCWORLD…where on planet earth are you today?
Hi Dan & DMC! Today we’re on the banks of the lovely Rhine, in our home town Solingen, Germany. We’re currently in our studio crazily finishing our album, our next single and music video before deadline week. Ouch, the heat is on!!!!
Before we kick off a huge congratulations on your brilliant BBC 1 Radio 1 Essential Mixlast week…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dmtqb
Thank you so much, we’re glad you enjoyed it!
So, a new year and another piece of gigantic news from Tube & Berger. This time in the form of your mouth watering second album ‘We Are All Stars’ coming out via Kittball & Embassy One in May. You teased us with ‘Ruckus’ in September and now comes the title track that our old mate Pete Tong recently premiered. Please talk us through the track…
‘We Are All Stars’ is the title track from our forthcoming album. I guess we wanted to make a real statement about our evolving sound. The track boasts club grooves and indie vocals with a T&B melody and twist. We decided to go back a little to the spoken word intro like on ‘Imprint of Pleasure’ and then worked the sampled chorus vocals around it with strings and beats.
https://soundcloud.com/tubeandberger/waas/s-UmjRO
What else can you tell us about the long player…
It will feature 12 tracks including typical T&B club grooves and vocals through to harder edged Tech House to downtempo electronica, indie electronics and chilled beats. It will also include some great collaborations with our long-term partner Richard Judge, the amazing UK indie bands White Lies and Zoot Woman and a new Berlin indie-tronica duo called RBBTS. It has been fun but hard work. We really want to make a record that represents where we are heading musically but also respectful of where we came from and who we are.
Shit question but here we go : your favourite track from the album and why?
That’s too tough to answer right now, we’re still right in the middle of it, things change everyday and we both have different ideas. All of them, lol!
Was there one track in particular that was difficult to complete?
That’s a very good question as right now we are still working on one particularly tricky track! All of them have had their challenges though. We are perfectionists and there are 2 of us so a lot of debate goes into each track, we also have vocalists who quite rightly, want input too. It’s a process but it’s going to be worth it!
Two gigs last week well worth a mention, namely Electric Brixton in London and Kompass in Gent…how did these two beauty go and how many tunes from your new album did you play?
They were both great shows, Electric Brixton was packed out with lots of our London fans which was great to see. They even brought Tube & Berger flags! We brought Richard Judge with us as he actually lives in London and he sang live on 4 tracks. He brought the Ruckus for sure! Gent was cool too. It was a Kittball party so always a bit special as we rolled with the whole crew. We don’t do it too often but when we do, well, a lot of fun was had!
Can you cook? If so, what are your speciality dishes?
Tube : My famous spicy Minestrone soup and incredible tuna noodles.
Berger : My spicy chicken Cajun……….hot dog.
The last time you had an argument over something?
Ha ha! Erm …….we never argue. Not us, honestly.
The best piece of advice you have ever been given?
Turn Off Your TV.
What are the 5 big tunes in your box this weekend…
Swagon – Detlef & Ossey James
: It just works super well everywhere, there’s nothing wrong with a big fat bad ass old Hip Hop/R&B sample now and again.
House Music Is – Brett Gould
: Great producer on a consistently good label, Snatch. It’s nice to hear a newish sample about ‘House Music’ and not the ‘House Is A Feeling’ one again lol…
Dead End Thrills – Cubicolour (Patrice Baumel Remix)
: Indie vocals on tech house, what’s not to like?
Did you take my Money – Juliet Sikora – Kittball Records
: Ms Sikora representing quality House music as always. Our beloved sister is a top top House music Producer & DJ. She is now getting the recognition she deserves.
We Are All Stars – Tube & Berger – Kittball Records/ Embassy One
: Of course, it’s a banger!
Other than your own, the last album you listened to all the way through?
Sohn – Rennen
Bowie. Prince. Jackson. Who hit you the hardest – if any…
Well, all 3 are great artists of course, but theories abound about the very mysterious deaths of Prince and Jacko. We are not 100% convinced all is as it seems. As for Bowie, he lived a great life. We think art always came first and he never seemed sad or angry like Prince and Michael Jackson.
Some DJ gigs you cannot wait for this summer…
We are playing for ANTS at Tomorrowland and for Eric Prydz’s new residency at Hi Ibiza, both will be top shows and we’re very excited about performing. Our agents are busy booking up our Album World Tour so we hope all the shows are all going to be great. Our Album Launch parties – we have 3: Cologne, Berlin, Dortmund – should be off the chain too! DJ & Live performances hopefully.
The next time you will be setting foot in the studio will be for…
To finally finish our album and make club mixes and radio edits for the next 2 singles (they’re nearly there!). Plus, rehearsing our Live set for the Tour – gulp!
An up and coming producer to watch out for this summer…
On the club side then Tech House dons Detlef and Brett Gould. On the electronica downtempo side then Felix Laband and Lorn…
And finally, as you mentioned you hail from the ‘City of Blades’ Solingen! As folklore goes, in the latter part of the 17th Century a group of swordsmiths from Solingen broke their oaths by taking their sword making secrets with them to England. Has your home city ever forgiven us Brits?
For sure! Good lads! Us Germans always like to teach you English a few tricks of the trade….like playing Football, producing Techno etc. We just hope those Solingen Swordsmen got their rewards in the end from the English ladies. Maybe the English ladies helped them polish their swords? Sorry, I have turned into an old fashioned Benny Hill guy – too long in the studio Dan!
‘We Are All Stars’ is out now via Kittball Records on Beatport and via Embassy One on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music &Co…
https://soundcloud.com/tubeandberger
https://twitter.com/TubeandBerger
https://www.facebook.com/tubeandbergerofficial
http://dj.beatport.com/tubeandberger
