Mr. Statik is known to many from his hugely successful residency at Athens’ place-to-be, ‘Six D.O.G.S’. Originally heavily influenced by the 90′s breakbeat and early hardcore scene, Statik went on to gain international recognition in the contemporary techno scene, a long standing contribution to the community that included numerous slots at many international renowned festivals and releases on some of the world’s leading house and techno labels. Right before he moves to Berlin , MEOKO caught up with Mr.Statik to discuss his first release for 2013, why he is leaving Greece and some top travel tips for touring DJs by the man himself !
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Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Mr Statik. We know you have a busy schedule - how has everything been going?
Happy to be on board! Actually 2013 has already wiped the floor with 2012, I was in London for almost the entire January, started working at Six D.O.G.S in Athens on booking/club coordination, signed to the lovely crew of Love City Central, and the first of several EPs came out already on Berlin's Rotary Cocktail - can't really complain to be honest, these are exciting times!
I know that you are about to move to Berlin, what are your plans there?
Well I recently got a very interesting job offer from the crew that runs Red Bull Music Academy to join their upcoming Berlin HQ, so if all goes well I should be heading out there before the beginning of the summer. First class opportunity to also get a bit closer to the heart of things - most of the labels I work with these days are German so I guess it's a win-win situation any way you approach it.
So what’s something that you're going to miss from your daily life in Greece ?
Given the fact that these couple of days its already 20+ degrees in Athens and I was just seeing friends posting snowy pictures in Berlin, the sun seems to be the first thing! Good thing that I'll have to move during the summer and ease my way into the darkness. Besides that family first and foremost, my circle of friends too, in general the attitude of Greek people towards the hard situation that we're going through right now, as many guests from abroad have pointed out they can't imagine many people from other European countries facing such setbacks the way we do. Having said all that, I wouldn't mind migrating a couple of proper Greek restaurants to Berlin, it seems that the city needs them as well....
‘Carnal Haze’ on Rotary Cocktail is the first release we heard from you for this year. Tell us some more things about this mind-blowing track.
Well there's quite a story here. At first my Italian buddies, Cosmic Cowboys, contacted me to do a collaboration for their upcoming album, which is actually the laid back Digital bonus of the EP, ‘Lazy Daze’. They sent me a couple of tracks to choose from that were broken down into parts and then I sliced and re-arranged everything so as to give my own perspective. This actually worked out really effortlessly so we decided to do one more. Same procedure, definitely felt like going to a clubbier direction and since at the time I was already working on some material with my fellow Greek artist and dear friend, Lee Burton, he came on board providing the vocals/lyrics on ‘Carnal Haze’. Nico from Cosmic Cowboys then sent these two to Martin from youANDme, for some primary feedback, couple of weeks later I hear back from them that they are signed on Rotary Cocktail so there you go :)
In regards to your own productions, what projects are you working on at the moment?
Well actually the heavier amount of studio work took place through out 2012, now I'm in the process of sending pre-masters of all the signed material. As you mentioned, Carnal Haze came out already, so now I have one track on the upcoming BPitch Control Where The Wind Blows compilation at the end of the month featuring the enigmatic Beatrice Ballabile on vocal duties. We just received the masters to the upcoming IRR release together with Lee Burton called 'Tentonine", sporting two interpretations of the title track, should be out in mid April. June marks my return to Mo's with ‘Roll down the shutters’, two dub cuts featuring one of my favourite vocalists of this scene, Sasha Perera of Jahcoozi fame, plus remixes by label head Dapayk and Daze Maxim, and hopefully at some point around the summer you’ll will find my debut to one of my all time fave French labels, Karat, with the ‘Synthia Moogatu’ EP.
Besides all these, got some side projects too such as Steamupunk'd, which is focused on mine and Lee Burton's mutual love of analogue, bleepy, micro house, plus a Subbed Out related one which stems from the same-named bass-oriented club night we do with my buddy Runner, and also finally STTK MSTR which will be techno only (finally!).
It barely takes a pair of ears to tell that you have a real passion for techno. How were you first exposed to these sounds and what artists did you grow up on?
Well actually for many years since my original involvement with electronic music in the early 90s, I was more of a hardcore/breaks/jungle fan thanks to a pirate radio station in the city of Volos where I grew up and two older private English schoolmates that introduced that sound. Techno didn't really kick in properly till I moved in Athens for political science studies in '98, its where I grew up as a clubber initially and a reluctant selector - I would hardly call it DJing what I did in the beginning. However getting familiar with the early Plastikman era, Jeff Mills, James Ruskin, Fumiya Tanaka, Surgeon and the Scandinavian scene really shaped up the sound I was into. It wasn't up until 2003 and my participation in that year's RBMA in Cape town, and the interaction with like-minded AND different oriented musicians from across the world that brought a diversity in my DJ sets and a gradual decrease in BPMs. I'd say that right now I'm hiding in the shadow that techno casts upon house, or is it the other way round, can't really tell...
Apart from electronic music, what other genres do you feel have helped shaped the sound you bring today?
Well I'm a big fan of soundtracks, I always try to find the time and check out as many as I can. I've always found it so challenging to be able to combine audio and visual in one seamless way, to be able to catch the moment and still make sense on a stand alone level. On the other hand I’m a huge NIN fan, have been following them since the early days and really excited that they are coming back - super happy too that Joshua Eustis (of Telefon Tel Aviv fame) will be joining the new roster, he's such a talented musician and I had the luck to work with him couple of years ago on my first EP for BPitch Control. TOOL would also be a band that still inspires me a lot, both on a musical and a visual level, they love storytelling and I guess I'm more fixated in conceptual artists than genres on a horizontal level.
With all the traveling and the constantly expanding technology and gear, what is something that always stays in your DJ bag. What is something you always have to have with you?
Records? [laughs] Well I’m not the typical example of your state of the art, hi tech, DJ dude. Still love my vinyl and If I didn't have a slip disc injury last year I'd be still playing 100% vinyl. These days I got to split between the two formats and I've "shamefully" come to admit that a USB stick with fresh promos, new beats, on the fly purchases can come in extremely handy. Dunno if it counts as something but I never travel withiout a copy of Perlon 026 ;)
What would be your top three travel tips for touring DJs?
Try local cuisines, there's always a chance you'll be wonderfully surprised.
Arrange flights (when possible of course) so that you can spend at least a bit if time to check out the city/country's history, sometimes we tend to forget what lucky bastards we actually are.
Get a sleep mask, airplanes aren't the friendliest sleeping environment and sometimes you might just not want to scare off the person sitting next to you.
What was the most memorable set you’ve played recently?
Well I had a great time playing for the first time in Brussels at the Wood, really lovely venue/crew of people literally in the woods at the outskirts of the city, snow out side, and the crowd although seemingly young was quite receptive of a certain amount of freakiness. Klub D in Cyprus was also wonderful, first time there too, there's a very passionate team behind it and you always have to respect the extra effort of receiving such quality in places so far away from the heart of the scene. And then there's that Six D.O.G.S place in Athens that I hear is quite a treat.:)
What’s one thing that you don’t see enough of in the music industry that you’d like to see?
Well I always root for the unsung heroes and the storytellers no matter what, so I guess I'd like to see the industry revert back a bit to what the DJ is actually all about - both an entertainer AND an educator of sorts - unfortunately things are turning uneven towards the first category these days. I understand that this, in the end, is still a money business but the people behind this industry should "allow" the performers to take their risks, interesting things always come out of risks. In the end one of the most revered DJ mixes/compilations of all time for me (and hopefully other people too) is ‘Letsallmakemistakes’ by Matthew Herbert...and he's not often wrong, is he?
By Denny Kem
