INTERVIEW WALTER MERZINGER AND ARNO KAMMERMEIER (BOOKA SHADE) – 10 DAYS OFF 20/07/06

When Walter Merzinger and Arno Kammermeier from Booka Shade teamed up with DJ T and Philipp Jung and Patrick Bodmer from M.A.N.D.Y in 2002 to found Get Physical Music, all they wanted to do was create something adventurous and new. Combining elements from disco to trance and from techno to pop, they’ve managed to craft a truly original sound that has won over the world. After two highly acclaimed albums (‘Memento’ and ‘Movements’) and two essential singles on the soundtrack of 2005 (“Mandarine Girl” and “Body Language” in collaboration with M.A.N.D.Y.), Booka Shade are at the top of their game. Last Thursday, they played a live set at 10 Days Off in Gent. With Arno on drums and Walter on keyboard, they played special versions of the songs on the album and tried out some unreleased stuff, while the temperature and reaction from the crowd went way above the boiling point.


SL: Is this the first time you play at 10 Days Off?

Walter Merzinger: Yes. We’ve heard a lot of good things about the festival from DJ T and M.A.N.D.Y., who have played here before. We’re very excited to be a part of it this year.

SL: Get Physical has established itself as a coherent quality brand over the last four years with a distinct sound and look. Was your phenomenal success a question of right time, right sound?

WM: There wasn’t a major plan, it all happened by accident. We started the label because we weren’t happy with the direction the German club scene was taking. We wanted to do something different. This was 2002. There were some really good records on the market by Chicken Lips and Metro Area for example. More disco-oriented retro stuff that was very interesting musically and still worked on the dance floor. We wanted to do something in that direction and add our own flavor to it. So we combined those elements with our own techno and trance background, and that’s what became electrohouse. Electrohouse didn’t exist until then. We saw the immense impact on the dance floor and we went with it. There was no plan, it all just happened. We thought we’d sell about 500 copies of our first record, but in the end it sold much more. Especially the fact that it ended up influencing so much people, is fantastic.

Arno Kammermeier: Looking back now, you can say that the fact of six people with such a rich and diverse history in electronic music coming together provided us with a great filter. When every one of us gets excited about a track, there’s a good chance that other people will feel the same. But then again, all you can do is listen to your heart and that’s what we did. When we wrote “Mandarine Girl”, we constantly had goosebumps, it really touched us. “Body Language” was born out of a mistake. M.A.N.D.Y. just finished mixing the ‘Body Language’ compilation and we wanted to include an exclusive track. We went into the studio and within half an hour, the track was created. Originally, the bass line wasn’t really a bass line. It was played in a higher octave. It was only later that we pulled it down and added another sound to it. We weren’t planning to release it as a 12”, but in the end we did to promote the compilation. We had no idea it was going to be such a success.

WM: “Mandarine Girl” was originally released as a B-side. DJ T came up to us and said that the crowd went wild every time he played it, so we should release it as an A-side. We think about the tracks up to a certain point, but you really have no idea what will happen once it’s released. If you hear “Body Language” for the first time, you don’t think that it’s a track every DJ is going to play. It’s so different and it’s difficult to get it into a set. We still have the feeling that we’re outsiders in the music business. In the beginning, we were a little concerned about that, but now we’re happy that we went our own way and that we’re not just another minimal label. We’re hoping to provide DJs with records that can create a special moment on the dance floor.

SL: How did you get together with Philipp and Patrick from M.A.N.D.Y. and DJ T?

WK: Arno and I have been friends for about 22 years. We’ve known the guys from M.A.N.D.Y. for over 15 years. DJ T, we met when the plan to start a label came up. We were looking for someone who had been in the business for a long time. DJ T is a DJ legend in Germany and he was in charge of Groove Magazine, the bible of techno, so he knew the business inside out. He wanted to leave the magazine and was looking for something else, so it came together perfectly. We all have a history in different areas of music production: DJ T came from publishing, M.A.N.D.Y. had experience in A & R and we’re a production team.

AK: We’ve known Patrick and Philipp for such a long time and they used to come to the studio when we were producing music for R&S Records, Harthouse and Touché in the mid nineties. We even did a few productions together. After a night of partying, we used to go back to our studio and try stuff out.

SL: You all have your own accent, but the Get Physical productions share a certain something. What is it that connects you guys musically?

WM: It’s really hard to characterize the Get Physical sound. We’ve been described as a disco label, electrohouse, minimal or deephouse. For us, it’s more about emotion. We’re not afraid of harmonies and melodies. If it feels right and touches our hearts, we go for it. Whether it’s old skool trance or guitar music. We try to stay open-minded. That is what connects all the Get Physical productions. We try to create a maximum of emotional impact with a minimum of musical elements.

SL: You’ve signed a few new artists to the label, like the Belgian Jona and the fantastic Jay Haze and Samim from Fuckpony.

WM: Jay Haze has been around for a long time. He’s an American producer and Samim is from Switzerland. They met in Zurich and based themselves in Berlin. DJ T was absolutely crazy about the stuff that Samim was doing, so he did a record on a compilation for the label (“Appreciate” on ‘Body Language Vol. I’, RD). Then he started working with Jay and stayed with us.

AK: That’s the funny thing about Get Physical. We all have our “babies”. Fuckpony was definitely an act that DJ T brought to the label. Chelonis (R. Jones, another artist signed by Get Physical, RD) was someone we knew from a long time ago in Frankfurt and when we heard his demo, he became our baby. He was the first outsider we signed to the label. We have no fixed way of finding new talent. Sometimes people approach us, sometimes we ask artists we like to work with us and sometimes people send demos. We’re glad that our family is expanding and we try to look for people that have more to offer than a good record. Anyone can make a good record. We’re always more interested in people with a story to tell.

WM: And we’re especially touched by people who don’t sound like us, or like M.A.N.D.Y or like DJ T. Take Jona for example. His work sounds really young and fresh. He has a lot of ideas and tends to overproduce, but it’s really different and we like that. We’re not a label that specializes in one kind of music.

SL : You guys opened for Depeche Mode in Berlin two weeks ago. How did that come about?

AK: It was a great and bizarre experience. Usually, they have Goldfrapp opening for them, but they wanted something different for the show in Berlin. The concert took place in the Waldbühne, which is an amphitheatre that holds 20.000 people. Martin from Depeche Mode knew the label and liked our work, so when Mute and Virgin were looking for an opening act, they came to us. But we only knew for sure that we would be doing the show one day in advance. It was really weird, because I was a Depeche Mode fan from day one. Or maybe day three (laughs). I saw my first concert in 1983 and never missed a tour from then on. Opening for them was a great honor, but I didn’t realize what happened at the time. Only when I saw a video of the show afterwards, I realized that the reaction of the crowd was very positive. I was worried about that, because their fans can be very harsh. We’re also doing a remix for the upcoming single of their ‘Best Of’ album. After that, there’s a remix for Tiga’s “3 Weeks”. 

ROBBE DEMUYNCK