A potent St Patricks Day lineup if ever we’ve seen one. Dublin based promoters Residence have put together a sumptuous double header to commemorate the day when a holy man banquished all the snakes from Ireland in one swoop (surely there is no better time to celebrate with some house music?). Pairing Germans Tube & Berger with their fellow countryman Claptone has proved an inspired choice with considerable hype now building in the capital.
With a number of Beatport number 1’s and a host of successes over the past two years the stock of this musically diverse duo has consistently on the rise and with this in mind we thought there was no better time to catch up with Arndt Roerig and Marko Vidovic ahead of their Dublin debut.
Tube & Berger play Residence at Lost Society Sunday March 17th
1) You’re co-founders with Juliet Sikora of Kittball Records. Based in Germany, you showcase some fine home-grown and European talent as well as guest releases from extremely talented artists. Can you tell us what your favourite release off the label has been and what plans have you in store for Kittball?
Our favourite Kittball release is definitely “Free Tribe” because it was a kind of breakthrough for us and it always causes a funny vibe wherever we play it. At the moment we recieve tons of demos and once a few weeks we take our time and go through it. In the end we have like 97% that just doesn’t fit for one reason or another and 3% of music we really like, play and support. We only release music that gives us thrills should explain what we mean. The next little big project we have at Kittball is Juliet Sikora’s first album. She’s working hard in the studio right now and we’ll also do 2 tracks together. There’s another Kittball Konspircy Compilation with great newcomers like Paji, or Wild Culture and we even signed a track from the one and only Mr. George Morel.
2) Germany is famous for its Techno heritage and its ever present culture but it must be said German house music seems stronger than ever. Labels like Diynamic, Monaberry and of course your own Kittball are all flying the flag for German house. Are there any up and coming German artists you have your eye on and are tipping for a bright future?
There’s pretty much going on in the German house scene at the moment and there are so many good new artists that it would be unfair to name just a few. All we can say is that there’s big stuff to expect from young guys like Milan Euringer who is 19 by the way…
3) You had huge success
with fellow Kittball artist Milan Euringer producing Beatport No.1 Lovebreak, you’ve just released the Greyjoy E.P. with another label artist P.A.C.O. and the title track is certainly going down a treat! Do you find collaborating with other artists easier or is it more of a challenge to produce the killer tracks?
There’s pretty much going on in the German house scene at the moment and there are so many good new artists that it would be unfair to name just a few. All we can say is that there’s big stuff to expect from young guys like Milan Euringer who is 19 by the way…
3) You had huge success
with fellow Kittball artist Milan Euringer producing Beatport No.1 Lovebreak, you’ve just released the Greyjoy E.P. with another label artist P.A.C.O. and the title track is certainly going down a treat! Do you find collaborating with other artists easier or is it more of a challenge to produce the killer tracks?
Collaborations are great if they are based on a win win situation. We love jam sessions in the studio and put handmade music into a cold dead computer to see what happens and of course it’s always nice to have guests.
Our next collab will be with Coyu from Spain who runs the label Suara. We decided to meet and not to exchange files via internet because we want a real jam session.
4) Your Beatport releases span back as far as 2006. They range from electro house to techno before you ventured to tech house and onto the deeper sound you’re topping the charts with today. What was it that made you deviate so much towards the sound you’re producing now?
4) Your Beatport releases span back as far as 2006. They range from electro house to techno before you ventured to tech house and onto the deeper sound you’re topping the charts with today. What was it that made you deviate so much towards the sound you’re producing now?
Berger and me started as a Punk Rock band and now we do something that people call Deep House. In the car we both like classic music and in our sets we still like to have some space for different styles. We see this as a journey through music. The electronic music scene is changing quickly. Trends and hypes come and go and we’ve seen a lot since we started raving in the 90ies. Minimal was hard for us because we never really liked it. But we love what we do at the moment and we are happy that people buy and support our stuff. The recent Deep House hype by the way, got nothing to do with Deep House like we know it and we don’t think our music is deep at all. We’d say it’s Esoteric Techno or Hippie House and it will be something different in the future and that’s for sure.
5) I personally came across your work in 2011 when ‘Free Tribe’ uprooted an afterhours club in Toronto. This bouncy tech house gem was part of the ‘It Began In Africa’ project. Can you tell us a bit more about that and your involvement in it?
We worked together with the African Childrens Choir (ACC) and invited many other Dj buddies to remix the original tracks of the ACC. We released 2 compilations called “It Began In Africa” and the project gained over 10.000 € for building music schools in the poorest regions of Africa. At the moment we are thinking of a final 3rd edition of “It Began In Africa” and we plan to go to Ghana next winter and get to know the kids of the ACC.
5) I personally came across your work in 2011 when ‘Free Tribe’ uprooted an afterhours club in Toronto. This bouncy tech house gem was part of the ‘It Began In Africa’ project. Can you tell us a bit more about that and your involvement in it?
We worked together with the African Childrens Choir (ACC) and invited many other Dj buddies to remix the original tracks of the ACC. We released 2 compilations called “It Began In Africa” and the project gained over 10.000 € for building music schools in the poorest regions of Africa. At the moment we are thinking of a final 3rd edition of “It Began In Africa” and we plan to go to Ghana next winter and get to know the kids of the ACC.
6) As for the new E.P. we couldn’t help but notice the track names, ‘Greyjoy’ and ‘Tyrion’. Are you big Game of Thrones fans and is that the reason behind the titling?
Well.. We read all the books and watched the series… Tube even wears a Game Of Thrones shirt sometimes and we were not allowed to call the track “The Khaleesi Gang Bang”. So we had a few drinks and the name decision was made. Fail! Please don’t tell anybody and let’s hope we don’t get sued or become dragon food…
7) You’ve been dominating the Beatport charts since the close of the 2012 summer season. What have you guys got in store for the 2013 season. Is Ibiza calling?
Si claro! Ibiza loco loco! We’ll play in a new club called Moma and at Pacha a few times from June until September. Summer 2013 will be hot and it will be hard to find enough sleep. And I’m afraid we have to dominate the Beatport charts for a little longer.
7) You’ve been dominating the Beatport charts since the close of the 2012 summer season. What have you guys got in store for the 2013 season. Is Ibiza calling?
Si claro! Ibiza loco loco! We’ll play in a new club called Moma and at Pacha a few times from June until September. Summer 2013 will be hot and it will be hard to find enough sleep. And I’m afraid we have to dominate the Beatport charts for a little longer.
8) You’re playing Lost Society, Dublin on none other than St.Patricks Day. Are you looking forward to being in town and playing in Ireland on such a big night? What can the crowd expect from you guys?
Everybody heard of St. Patricks Day and we’re so happy to be a part of it. We both have never been to Ireland and we can’t wait to have a wild night with you guys. It’s a shame that we’ll arrive so late and won’t be able to get a real impression of Ireland. But we’ll have the hell of a party. Aaahh!!