Detroit Swindle Interview: A Tale Of Two Cities

Considering their partnership as Detroit Swindle only launched in 2011, it's nothing short of remarkable what Amsterdam's Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets have achieved up to now.

The duo came together while working as DJs in the same club in Amsterdam, bonding over a shared love of Motown, hip-hop and house music. They quickly found their way into a studio and just as quickly reaped international recognition for their efforts.

They have recorded for Freerange, Future Classics, Dirt Crew, Tsuba, Classic Music Company, Kerri Chandler's Kaoz Theory and have remixed the likes of Hercules and Love Affair, Chet Faker and Seven Davis Jr. With each release they maintained a consistency that saw them quickly progress from being favourites of DJs like Chandler, to gaining a much wider audience.

They started their own label Heist in 2013 and released their debut album Boxed Out in 2014. In 2015 they recorded their first Essential Mix (have a listen above), which was extremely well received.

Currently spending much time in the studio, the pair are working on music, as always and also on refining a live showcase which was debuted at this year's ADE. 

Detroit Swindle have just been announced for 2016's Suncebeat festival. So, when we caught up with Lars and Maarten, prior to their appearances at Hidden in Manchester and at Hard Times 22 anniversary, we asked them about Croatia, Amsterdam, Detroit, their live show and their links with Kerri Chandler.

How was ADE?

Maarten: It was crazy. I think it was our busiest ever because we launched our live show during ADE. We had a lot of preparation for it. There was quite some attention around, so we did lots of interviews, photo sessions, plus some talks about music and inspirations for brands like Sonos, one that was with Microsoft. 

We were also playing every night, doing a radio show with Heist, our label. Yeah, it was busy.

Amsterdam is a world famous city but it's not that big. It's far from being the big sprawling mass that Berlin or London are. How different is the place when so many thousands of music lovers descend on it for ADE?

Maarten: It's chaos! But it's easier for us knowing the areas of the city you have to avoid. Since it's so small and there are only a couple of places where the daytime conference runs, you just know where not to go with your bike during the day if you don't want to run...

Lars: some techno DJs over!

Maarten: Ha! The size of the city also gives it an extra vibe though. There's so much happening on the street, so many people moving about going from meeting to meeting or party to party, if you want you can really dive into it and feel the energy. All these people with a shared interest together, that's something really nice.

Did you go to any parties?

Lars: We played a couple but we didn't really party. I'm not sure it's the same for everyone, but for us that week was all about work. The live show was on the Thursday and so we were working on that every day for a full week before. We had DJ gigs there on Wednesday and Friday, then we had another gig in Venice on Saturday, so no, it really was all about work.

How different is the new live show that you debuted there from what you've been doing previously?

Maarten: Musically it's the same, so it's us plus a keys player, we play pretty much everything from our studio, improvise a lot and play interpretations of our songs.

The new live thing is that plus a whole visual show, where the visuals are rendered live based on the music, so a solo will have a visual representation on the screen, things like that.

Where does the inspiration come from to incorporate this whole visual side into the show?

Lars: We like to be in control. Even when we're playing DJ sets we'll make requests to the lighting guy. Basically we wanted something that would add to the music that we play live. We wanted something that would be real time, so now we have something that adds to what we play without restricting us to playing a song in a certain way.

So are you looking to do more live sets in the future rather than DJ sets? Was this done in preparation for festival season next year?

Lars: Yeah, in a way, but also because we like to do new things, we never sit still. We're always trying to look for the next thing and that's it for the moment. We're still going to DJ loads, but there'll be a couple of blocks of a live tour next year and we'll keep that really within that period of time, because it's a lot of work to do it, stop and then start again, mentally and technically.

You've just been confirmed to play at Suncebeat in Croatia next summer. Are you looking forward to that? Have you played in Croatia before?

Lars: Yeah, definitely. We played Garden Festival there a couple of times and Maarten played for like an arts festival there this year.

Maarten: Last time we stayed in Croatia for a week, brought some friends and family, enjoyed the weather and the music, so I think we're going to do the same again this year. It'll be a good opportunity to relax in a busy, busy schedule. When we saw the other artists who are playing Suncebeat we were like, yes, let's play there! It's going to be awesome.

It's run by the people who used to do Southport Weekender and one of the most popular guests at both those events is Kerri Chandler, who's been very vocal in his support for Detroit Swindle.

Maarten: We pay him a lot of money to talk about us!

Ha! Have you hooked up with him? What does it mean to you to have someone so long in the game, with such a big profile, sing your praises?

Lars: Yeah, we're big mates and we released on his new label Kaoz Theory. We did an ADE party together and got a lot of big, wet kisses after our set, so that's always a good sign.

Maarten: The first release on Kaoz Theory was a compilation with 16 tracks. Kerri did a track, DJ Wild, Seth Troxler, we did one... We've played with him quite a few times. It's always nice, he's such a great guy. We have a musical connection. He makes great stuff and we've been fans of him for a long time. We still play so many tracks of his.

When I listen to Detroit Swindle (above), in the way that you are melodic, you actually remind me more of New York house, like Kerri Chandler, than you do anything electronic from Detroit.

Lars: Definitely, yes. That's because the Detroit tribute part of our name doesn't come from house or techno. When we started our inspiration wasn't really house. Next to the other stuff we like, we both really like Motown and that era of soul music. We both really like hip hop too.

And J Dilla, Motown, that was our biggest common denominator at the start. It was from that musical perspective that we started making house, we weren't so much inspired by house music itself. It's easy to mistake that in our name because of the whole Detroit techno scene, which we do love. I'm a big Carl Craig fan. But the name has nothing to do with that.

Maarten: I grew up with Otis Redding and Motown, Marvin Gaye. That's what got played in my home and I loved it from a very young age. The more melancholic tunes and the blues influence really appealed to me. I used to play drums, so I always used to play along to those songs when my dad would play 'Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay' or 'Inner City Blues'.

Lars: The old Jacksons stuff was on Motown and I used to be the biggest Michael Jackson fan when I was much younger. That's where it started for me. Then I found out there was this whole catalogue of this label that I didn't know – I was only 7 or 8 – so I found all these amazing new artists that I'd never heard but liked. Marvin Gaye was probably the next to stand out for me.

Though weirdly it wasn't specifically about the artists for me, it was the whole thing - the sound, the way they were managed and how they produced hit group after hit group and hit song after hit song. The session musicians, the horn sections, it was the whole vibe of it, not just specific artists.

What about Detroit hip hop? What was it about that sound that separates it from the hip hop that came from New York or the west coast?

Lars: I'm a nineties hip hop guy. I started out playing hip hop. New York stuff to me is very forward, very energetic, DJ Premier is a good example. Everything is on the one and on the two. Detroit hip hop is kinda more dark, musically and it's very offbeat. Everything is behind the measure or even just random.

Maarten: Super sloppy production.

Lars: Very manual MPC style tracks. A lot of samples slowed down, chopped into little bits. That's what we both like about it and I think it's something you can still hear in our tracks. Everything is behind the measure and it has a certain bounce to it that we take from there and that other hip hop didn't have back then. I'm a big fan of a lot of 90s hip hop, but that stuff was just really different.

I'd never heard anything else like the stuff that J Dilla did. A couple of tracks that he did for The Pharcyde I was just blown away by and stuff like “The Clapper” and the “Donuts” album. Back in the 90s I liked those records, but I wasn't so much of a Dilla fan as I am today. I recognised that they were special, different, but truly it took me years to be able to appreciate those records in the way I do now.

Quite a lot of attention has been given to the scene and the music in Amsterdam over recent years. You had the famous nightclub Trouw, which sadly closed this year.

Then you have the Rush Hour store and the Rush Hour label with quite a few DJs associated with that doing quite well, people like Antal, Young Marco, San Proper, Tom Trago and Hunee. With it being such a small city do you have any connection?

Lars: Yeah sure. We play with Tom quite a lot.

Maarten: He's just a few studios down the hall from us, as is Hunee, San Proper... They're all here, in the same building, so you just meet these guys if you're making music. We chat, everyone has their own schedule. Rush Hour have like a family. They have guys who started working the shop, then began to DJ, then moved into production.

It's great to see a shop and a label giving such a boost to, and being a platform for, young artists. We started quite differently, we took our own path. We sometimes meet and it's nice. We have our edge and they have theirs. It's cool, you learn from each other. It's amazing to see what they have done for Amsterdam and for its music scene.

Lars: We're not really in the inner circle there because we started off so differently. It was weird. Our success came almost overnight.

Maarten: And it didn't come from here!

Lars: We didn't start off like these young guys, working in and making music out of Amsterdam. We were both in totally different areas and we decided we wanted to make music, specifically house music which, although we loved it, we had never worked in.

Instead of gradually building things up, in Holland, as we imagined, suddenly we had international success and we were much more popular overseas with all our early releases than we were here. It went down completely differently to how things happen at Rush Hour. We're all great pals but we were never part of that movement.

Although I guess every artist that comes from Holland and is operating within this genre is a billboard for the wider scene in our country, so in a way we are connected.

You're playing at Hard Times birthday in Leeds at the beginning of December. I don't suppose that name actually means anything to you guys?

Maarten: Well, it's been around for 22 years according to social media I've seen.

Lars: I've heard the name but, to be honest, neither of us knows anything about the history of the place.

For many years it was one of the key nights in the north of England to be championing the US house and garage scene, particularly the New York sound. I think you'll have a god time. All sorts of people played there like Todd Terry, Roger Sanchez and Masters At Work's Kenny Dope Gonzalez, who is also playing there the same night you will. Are there any DJs who you're looking forward to sharing the stage with in the future?

Maarten and Lars simultaneously: Kenny Dope! [laughs]

Lars: We love Masters At Work. We're playing a gig with Kenny Dope's partner in MAW, Louie Vega, when we play at Suncebeat next year. We've not had gigs with either of them yet, so they'll be great. I'm really excited to hear Louie Vega for the first time.

Maarten: They are also playing a gig together, as Masters At Work, on New Year's Day and we're playing the same party but in the other room. So we have a battle on our hands [laughs]. No, they are legends, man. I was browsing the internet the other day and I saw Kenny play a two hour set of just 45s as a promo for something. It was such fun watching him dig out these funk classics, he's such a dude. He loves music.

So, now you've refined the live show, what's the next project for the restless Detroit Swindle?

Maarten: Well, the live show is an ongoing project. The launch was just the beginning. I think the most important thing for us to do now is to find time to go into the studio and finish new music. We have tonnes of sketches and a lot of energy, but not a lot of time.

For the last four years we've been telling ourselves that we shouldn't take on this many projects or bookings, but we always say yes to everything, because we always see so much cool stuff that we can do. So, we're like, Yeah! We'll do this remix and Sure, well do a new live show.

And then we have all these ideas but we forget that we're happiest when we're just making music in the studio. So we're aiming to narrow it down to just a couple of projects and have as much time to produce as possible.

With you having ventured into producing vocal tracks are there any particular vocalists you'd like to work with?

Maarten: Since the beginning we've always said that we'd love to do something with Joe Dukie, lead singer of Fat Freddy's Drop, the New Zealand funk dub band. Who else?

Lars: We had a whole list! Actually that 64 Ways (above) was kind of an accident, although it was a very happy one. We're finishing our new live room now, so the plan was to work more with vocalists, but we haven't really spent enough time asking who. So, it's a good question actually. One that we need to ask ourselves!

Can you tell me specifically what any of these forthcoming productions are? Have you taken on any particular remixes or are you working towards a new album project?

Lars: We're making a new EP for our label. There's a couple of tracks that are already in the live set, so some people might have already heard them, but won't know what they are. We're also working on a project for Tsuba.

Maarten: I think the last remix we did was the Seven Davis Jr one.

Lars: No, the last one we did was actually The Roundup one, no?

Maarten: Oh yeah, for Heist. Every year, at the end of the year, we put all the names of the artists we've released in a bowl and we draw names. Whichever name we draw gets to remix another, so everyone gets to remix each other.

Lars: It's kinda like musical incest.

Maarten: Ahahahaha! We remixed one of our lesser known Dutch artists called Nachtbraker for that. And we haven't taken on any more new requests since then because we just really want to make some new material. We need to get rid of all those cool sketches we have and put something original together.

The next album I don't anticipate coming next year, probably the year after, although with us, you never know. Anything could happen.