Following on from a hot hot hot! release on Hafendisko, we caught up the Snacks boys, Rene & Aljoscha, to get the lowdown on ‘Easy’, their love for analogue, secrets from inside the studio and that, which is to come for the budding Berlin based duo. It’s all below!
WWD : Hi guys, how are you doing this week?
A : Hi. We did have a pretty wild weekend, but we’re feeling quite relaxed at the moment cause we’ve been mostly on holiday the last few weeks. Rene went far away to the land down under and I was a few days in Italy. Good mediterranean food and a little bit of swimming. Off to London tomorrow and we are really looking forward getting back into it.
WWD : In your public biography it’s summarized your musical background. But let’s go more in-depth, what are the most important facts that have inspired your approaches to music?
A : Music itself, funk, good times/ bad times/ break ups/make ups/ Ex Girlfriends (Shout out to J+K) / Purdie / Matteo Capreoli / Frederik Noir / and all our old bands.
WWD : In your opinion, what are your strong points when you collaborate?
A: An enthusiasm for new music and good music and the love for machines. Rene is really exact in matters of mixing, grooves and musical theory and I am the one who is working around it with the machines, new sounds and usually making a lot of chaos, which we bring together in the final mix.
WWD : Tell us about your studio process? Do you have different particular roles?
R : It usually starts with a lot of listening to new and old music. Getting inspiration is crucial. We might having a sampling session where we cut drum hits, loops or accapellas. We both come up with basic ideas and will at some point pass it on to the other person who will add their ideas or offer some suggestions. Aljoscha is really great with all the hardware. I’m more proficient in mixing and the theory side of things. I like the varying approaches we both have and the fact that we have quite different strengths works effectively in getting to the end product.
WWD : I see you’ve got a lot of hardware in terms of synths. What are the essentials in your production process?
A : Definitely the Roland SH101, we love that driving bass sound, a moog filter for the overdrive on everything and our new bought Polysix, which sounds incredible.
WWD : “Easy” is your latest production released on Hafendisko. What can you tell us about the creation of the track?
R : It was Aljoscha’s birthday and we went together to the Hardwax Record Store cos I wanted to get him some records for his birthday. We we’re listening to these back at the studio and stumbled upon a sample we quite liked and it went from there.
A : We first worked around with the sample on our MPC and then Rene played some grooves on the congas.
R : After the first sketch we met with Dominik Krämer an incredible bass player and asked if he would record some live bass for this particular track. This really brought the song together and the rest was “Easy” 😉
WWD : How did the connection with Hafendisko come about?
R : We played on a hot friday night at Pudel Club in Hamburg and our booker Kai Fischer introduced us to Tobi who runs the label Hafendisko. He was really into the “Easy”. From there it was just emails and sorting out the finer details of the release. Great guys to work with!
WWD : For the label you also recorded a nice podcast. Did you use a particular criteria to build the tracklist?
A : Thanks for the flowers, we wanted to create a podcast which captures the Hafendisko sound and as well of course music we like to play out in clubs and at home.
WWD : Have you got any forthcoming plans or projects?
A : We are working on a couple of really exciting releases and refreshing our live act.
R : Also at the moment we are collaborating with an incredible soul singer who will join us for some of the upcoming live shows. I’m excited about this.
More info:
http://www.hfn-music.com/hafendisko
https://www.facebook.com/hafendisko?fref=ts
http://www.snackslive.com/
https://www.facebook.com/snackslive?fref=ts