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DJ Hell
This interview was done in a teeny tiny and very hot green room, at the top of a skinny and precarious staircase at La Paloma while the chicks of Dirty Princess (one wearing a g-string and pasties and the other wearing a small sequined tube top and an equally small and sequined skirt) were warming up for their show.
The first time I saw you was in Rome at Goa Club.
When?
A year and a half ago.
That was crazy.
Yeah, It was AWESEOME.
It was crazy.
You played Energy Flash and you mixed it into Warm Leatherette. And then I have a mix of yours, La Boum Deluxe, and you also did the same mix. It’s awesome. I was wondering have you always had Energy Flash on rotation or did you play it ten, fifteen years ago and stop –
I played it ten years ago and even Warm Leatherette I played twenty years ago already. So, so I think it really works together. The two pieces, they are timeless music, you know, they work really well by themselves, I think if you a good DJ you should drop stuff like that in your DJ set and not only the brand new stuff. That’s what I’m doing.
Right on. And at Goa Club you were supposed to play with Mount Sims. You were on a tour with him, and since then I’ve noticed that you’ve toured with him some more. Is there a special relationship between the two of you?
I think I have a special relationship with every kind of Gigolo artist, like Dirty Princess, so I, you know, we are, like after a while it becomes like a friendship, you know, because I hope they become comfortable with the Gigolo family and with Mount Sims, you know, I saw him and I realized that he is such a talented artist and a great musician, a great performer, you know, I was just following my instinct and when I see something great I try to pick it up and take care of it and maybe give it some advice, give some background or some help or some security, you know, to let the people know that they can do whatever they want. That’s what I told Dirty Princess that there’s no limit. I will let them know if there is a limit, if they go too far
Are Dirty Princess relatively new to Gigolo?
Brand new.
This year?
Yeah, brand new. I saw them performing and they sent me some video material and I really liked they way they doing it, they make it quite new and unique to me so I invite them to play already some shows together. And tonight and then next week we play at the Crystal… in Berlin, it’s a big gay parade in Berlin… and they’re going to perform at after party.
They’re a good example of how when you play the audience doesn’t just get a set; there’s always a big production that accompanies your set. Has it always been like that?
Not always. When Fischerspooner come into the picture, you know, I tried to learn something, get more influence from a more artistic-side how to present and how to do things differently and Fischerspooner, I think, when they came to Berlin everybody was shocked because, you know, nobody knew what to expect or what kind of show they’re doing. But it’s all performance, it’s all art. Even they had some special things. If something went wrong live then or there were some small mistakes they made a big scene, they made… even stopping the music and saying Let’s do it again, we did something wrong… Each band or group has it’s own way of doing and my thought is to watch them and let them know that somebody believes in them.
I had been under the impression that you were the one who set the precedent for these spectacular shows and FS were following suit.
I am the president?
No, the precedent, the first one to do that sort of thing.
O, also I like to be the first one. (laughs) Sorry. (banter with Dirty Princess)… All I try to do is help the artist, and push them. I did it with Miss Kittin, with Zombie Nation, with Fischerspooner, with Tiga, with a lot of people. They try to get in the spotlight… I’ve been in the business since a long time and I think Gigolo made a pretty strong impact.
(German banter)
I have most of your Love Parade sets since 1998. Throughout the years the amount of electro increases. How did electro (in it’s present incarnation) first come to your attention and who were the first artists and what were the tracks that first intrigued you?
Well, I could give you a historical lesson… Ladies, you want some champagne? Of course, I know you!
(banter in English and German).
As I remember, the first time electro funk or electro music was created was when Afrika Bambaataa and Arthur Baker played rock. That was the first… to me, understanding of electro funk music. They combined Kraftwerk – Trans Europe Express with some electronic funk beats. I think it was one of the first records that they call, that they called electro. That was the early ’80s… Kraftwerk already did a lot of, so-called now, electro funk music. I think electro music was always there in different forms. What Gigolo did or what we tried to do was… try to bring this type of music back on planet Earth and combine it – like in the ’80s with pop music – and tried to give them a new flavour, a new place and even that time when we start doing it there was no live acts, there was only DJs playing the whole night. We tried to bring some faces and performances and some, you know, excitement back to the club because it was all faceless, just name DJs playing all night and it was quite okay for the period but it was ready for the change. So that’s how I felt, The funny thing is that some press people or all the press people were jumping on the electroclash hype and give them a name, you know… I think there were so many misunderstanding and wrong – like wrong way of writing about what’s the new thing, what electroclash should be,. I think at the end it went really funny because a lot people say electroclash is like Peaches or retro or even, even Chicks on Speed or they say Felix da Housecat was electroclash, DJ Hell was electroclash. So they brought everything into the picture, you know, even in the fashion scene it went really popular and everyone was talk about electroclash. But in every article I was really laughing when they get the names down, they were doing the name-dropping and they write down what’s the real electroclash and they write down about Peaches and even Fischerspooner, you know, I think these people have nothing to do with electro funk or even Afrika Bambaataa. Maybe Casey Spooner never heard Planet Rock, I don’t know, you know, or people like Peaches were never thinking that she’s going to be part of some super hype in 2000, you know, she was doing her thing, you know, nobody now call Peaches now electroclash, nobody call maybe somebody still call me electroclash DJ because that’s where I get a lot of spotlight but at the moment since 2002 I didn’t play a lot of electro stuff maybe it’s already coming back. I don’t know because it’s always going in circles, you know, like two years ago there was acid music coming up again, a lot acid Chicago house music, very popular so, so I think to me right now there is a big difference between kind of melodic kind of flavour, going back early ’90s from the trancey music but not the version that’s here right now, there’s a new kind of flavour, it’s got a very darker side, very experimental but but it’s still the flavour. So, it’s changing and the press is kind of slow you know, so I talk to you. Maybe let them know what I think about this. You know, it’s funny to see the hype , we passed it, a lot of people say that it’s over, Gigolo records are not hip anymore because, you know, already in 2002 we had Fat Truckers, we had Mu, we had like The Psychonauts, we had like a lot of rock bands from London to Gigolo and there nothing to do with electroclash but in the papers they were always named… The Psychonauts and Fat Truckers were hardcore rock ‘n roll… it’s always funny to see what the press thinks and what they’re not thinking… I can give you my definition of what’s hip or not. Maybe Gigolo isn’t hip anymore, who cares.
I think the term electroclash is being used in the same way many people use the term techno. They don’t realize that it’s not an umbrella term but a genre within electronica.
Defintions change everywhere…
(Super loud Spanish cameramen)
Your last self-produced album was New York Muscle. I really enjoyed it My favourite track on it is Keep on Waiting.
Thank you.
And it really reminds me of The Velvet Underground’s song Waiting for the Man.
Which song?
Waiting for the Man.
I will have to check this out.
I don’t know why, it’s not even the lyrics but both of them have such a similar feeling… How did New York influence you?
The city, the city. You know, if you live in New York… it influences everything… it is the most powerful place….
(Hell asks the cameramen to be quiet in English)
New York is like the place that, you know, it’s like, like, such an energetic and powerful place, you know. It was my idea to go there and get all the influences, all the energy, get the muscle… working in the studio and at the end we had this product coming out, this Muscle, and I’m still proud of it. I think it’s a very strong statement. I hope it’s going to be a soundtrack to a movie in New York.
It could very well be.
Maybe it’s more like a soundtrack for the city.
Could you ever live there?
I was living there in ‘94 and I was living there right at the production twice… but i miss it already I always feel very comfortable there and I feel like I have nothing to explain, where everyone understands what I’m trying to saying. All the freaks come together, you know… it’s a great time… not feel like an outsider where misunderstand all the time… there’s power over there, it’s a great city.
So, then why is your label based in Munich? Talking to other Germans I’ve been told that Munich is kind of snobby and conservative everything that International Deejay Gigolo isn’t.
Maybe we snobby, I don’t know. But, if it’s necessary we can be whatever you want. I think, I think Munich was just the city only because I was living there and i don’t want to move but right now the label is already in Berlin. We moved there and operating out of Berlin. The label is there, the office is there, the booking is there. We still have an office in Munich but Berlin is the city of the moment. I mean, it always was; it’s a great city. We decided to move two years ago… it’s a new stuff, new office, new action, new people. And it’s great there. Do you like Berlin?
Berlin? Yeah, it’s my favourite city in the whole wide world.
Berlin?
Yeah.
Thank you. I take it personal.
Totally. After that it’s Buenos Aires.
Yeah? I love Buenos Aires too.
Yeah, I guess it was Diego Ro-K who brought you to Buenos Aires?
No, Romina Cohn.
Is she still on your label?
Yeah, of course. She’s busy touring and she did a compilation; It’s Only Gigolo but I like It. For the Argentina market. And she mixed all Gigolo records. She’s coming to Germany after the summer, going to stay here and tour in Europe. That’s the plan. With her mother, of course.
With her mum?
Yes her mother is coming. I like her mum. They are quite close. The mother is, like, protecting her, kind of, because she has trouble with flying.
You are playing at the Goethe Institut in Tokyo.
I actually played there last week.
I think that’s so cool that the Goethe Institut, which represents Germany, would be so creative and innovative as to bring in a DJ.
Why not? Sorry, what’s the question?
The question is, basically, why is Germany so cool? Why are Germans so cool that they are open-minded enough they exhibit you instead of a German painter from the 18th century.
There were also other artists from Germany presenting… I did it already in Mexico… and some other countries. I’m representing Germany, I’m representing myself, representing Gigolo, representing a lot of people, so they invite me… and I got there, I will make it happen It was great time again…
Interview by Ariadna Peretz
http://www.zulunation.com/afrika.html
http://www.dirty-princess.com/
http://www.velvetunderground.com/
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