Cheap vodka and behaving badly with Catz N Dogz

Image: Catz N Dogz

In the frenzied world of house music it's without doubt that 'Greg' and 'Voitek' the duo behind Catz N Dogz have put their native Poland, where they established their club night and production alias 3 Channels (a move that later prompted Claude VonStroke to snap them up for DirtyBird), on the dance music map.

You'd be mistaken to think they're brothers with the synergy they demonstrate as a duo, although it's quite hard to believe, and they're definitely people you'd want on your tour bus as they always seem to be having a grand old laugh, especially with accomplices like Eats Everything. 

Their fun loving nature has been counterbalanced by serious drive and big ideas reflected in their driving, off kilter tech house productions, not to mention their performances behind the decks (as seen above), making it easy to see why their label Pets Recordings and the likes of their Pets Parties are craved by so many in the know ravers around the world. 

So after another glistening year from the heavyweight pairing that recently saw The Reverse People EP land on their Pets imprint, we sent our man Ben Smith for a chat with the twosome.   

Hey guys, thanks for chatting to us! First up you're heading to Sheffield to play alongside Route 94 on November 22nd, have you played in Sheffield before and what have you got in store for it?  

No it's going to be our first time, we played almost everywhere this year in UK but this will be our last stop before NYE in London. So we’re excited to meet all the new people and rave together!!

You've just finished touring South America, being well travelled people what's the craziest party you've played and where do you enjoy playing most? 

To be honest we don't know because we're always finding amazing new parties and experiences. South America is usually very good. We played Chile, Brazil and Argentina. Huge parties, a few thousand people and great vibes. The people go crazy there.

We like to play in the UK a lot and most of the time you’re like WHAT THE F**K JUST HAPPENED. We have a lot of crazy stories. We also love to play in Berlin where we live right now. 

I've experienced Poland myself and it's got to be said the alcohol's pretty cheap, so what are the parties like over in Szczecin? 

Vodka is definitely cheap there. Although right now it’s not about vodka any more. There are a lot of cool clubs but summer festivals are the best. There are a couple of very good ones with good sound systems and line ups.

Szczecin itself has just a few small clubs with electronic music, City Hall is inviting DJ’s from all over the world but that's about it.

A few years back the scene was very big with many clubs and big parties.

Surely spending so much time together must have its downfalls, what are each others most annoying traits?

Usually we fight over stupidly small things like who has to have the middle seat on the plane or who should order the room service. That's just part of the game though.

We spend more time together than with our partners, which is pretty sad haha!

What's it like working with Eats Everything for Catz Eats Dogz, he seems a pretty funny guy?  

Its exciting and we love it. We have lots of fun in the studio, talking bullshit and behaving badly. We like to experiment a lot and usually there's something cool coming out of this. We also play out together a lot.

We did Ibiza a couple of times together, our Pets parties as Catz Eats KiNK with KiNK playing live and all of us back to back. We play together for the whole night, it's always fun.

Your label Pets Recordings and the parties keep on growing and growing, what vision do you share for the label? 

We have a lot of good music coming out soon on Pets. A new KiNK ep, new Eats Everything release. Next year we are going to put out our own new album.

We've created a clothing line with sweatshirts and t shirts and we're also putting some faith back into vinyl with some real treats for record buyers out there. Hand made artwork and sleeves, secret vinyl only tracks and loops. We're looking to continue to do good parties and release good music.

Next year also sees us celebrate 5 years of Pets so we're going to prepare something special. 

You've just released 'The Reverse People' EP on Pets sister label Step, what's the thinking behind the vinyl only release? (Listen to 'Kobietron' from that EP below). 

Vinyl is the natural selector of music. You need to put more effort into producing and releasing it and its a format that people love and appreciate. We also love it because its what we first started playing with. We were always dreaming when we were younger about our own turntables.

Step is a label where we release just four releases per year, vinyl only, with a more clubby, raw selection. Limited copies of records makes it more special and we direct it to people who really love the music and want to support the scene.

You seem very much committed to giving under the radar acts exposure rather than solely focusing on yourselves, is that an important thing for you both?

It's what we love. We love to DJ and discover new artists and music. When we get a good demo or tracks, we want to share this enthusiasm with other people, that's why we put in so much effort because there is so much music around that we don’t want it to get lost. 

And finally, hypothetical question, if you could have signed any track from history to Pets or Step, what would it be, and why?

Haha there's so much. I would choose Pepe Bradock - 4 (above), this song is like the whole life in one song.

Catz N Dogz hit Ahora at Sheffield's O2 Academy on November 22nd. Get your tickets here.

Tickets are no longer available for this event