Interview: Booka Shade

Arno Kammermeier of German house duo Booka Shade chats to Skiddle about parting ways with their record label, combining instruments with electronic sounds, and the benefits of a good yoga work out. 

In the dance world, DJs are what jocks are to the high-school world. Kind of ironic then that much of what these highly-lauded computer (or should I say, laptop) producers do mimics that of the school ‘nerd’. And with names like Walter (Merziger) and Arno (Kammermeier) you’d be forgiven for questioning their motives. 

But as ‘Booka Shade’, Walter and Arno have one main focus; the dancefloor, where tracks are drenched in melody, atmospheric sounds and solid beats. In their most recent release More! the songs are differentiated through slow house groves, retro electro synths and muted German trace (see classic template ‘Teenage Spaceman’). 

In 2002 the Frankfurt duo founded the 'Get Physical' Record label with long time friends M.A.N.D.Y. and today Arno tells us why eight years on it’s time for Booka Shade to leave the label and partnership.

Since their beginning the pair have made the transition from mere DJs to a live band; where technology is replaced with instruments; electronic cymbals replaced with real ones. They may have a techno feel but it’s the instruments that allow Booka Shade to become the live performance.

“The plan was to produce an album similar to the live shows; with the same drama, same style. But it didn’t work.” Why didn’t it work?

Because for an album; the way we like to hear them you need all different kinds of layers ofdifferent songs. You want the up-tempo songs but also you want the interfering stuff, the slower stuff and the darker, deeper stuff. Our shows are a lot about energy. We want to have a lot of this on the album but our albums always have more depth in the songs. In a live show we have at least one slow song; for a while we had a song called ‘Outskirts’ that had a lot of layers, which is great for a live situation.

I was speaking to Philipp from M.A.N.D.Y, and he was saying Booka Shade has decided to leave the 'Get Physical' label? 

It’s quite difficult to make decisions when there are six people involved. Philipp has always worked for the record label so it was quite obvious that he should continue. We’re still connected to the label; we still love it because it’s our baby; we’ve done so many releases and productions through it. But for the album it was important to bring in some outside help because a little label only has so much promotional power. There’s only so much money we can spend. So we brought in Co-operative Music to help with 'Get Physical'.

Are you guys based in Berlin? Philipp was saying he is currently renting an apartment because another DJ is staying in his.

 (Laughs). Well Philipp is a bit of a rolling stone. Walter and I both have families so we’ve got a bit more structure. Though most of the writing is done on the road and the final touches are done in our studio in Berlin.

Best food in Berlin? 

Of course you have to eat a currywurst at least once!

You’ve both taken up Yoga, has that had a positive influence on Booka Shade?

(Laughs). It helps us a lot. How do you know that? No but it’s true because our show is quite physical and we work very hard with the drum-set and of course the travelling. It’s something you can do anywhere. The breathing technique is pretty good. I can play for an hour in a hot sweaty room and I know I won’t faint. I don’t have to breathe at all!

So I guess you’d be a pretty good swimmer then?

Yes definitely.

You’ve said you have real cymbals instead of those electronic cymbals. How is it getting used to the difference? Were you a bit ambivalent at first?

The way we combine the electronic sounds and the natural sounds and the more technique style to the real-listening style; we’re looking for a more organic sound. We like to combine the two worlds. On the album there are a lot of songs that sound electronic but still there are a lot of natural elements flying around. The real cymbals give you much more energy and make you feel more like band. Where we come from and where we’re grounded is the techno club. We’re a techno feeling but with instruments. When we play venues like the Forum we bring club music into a live situation. The instruments help us create this live feel. Hopefully in two years we will have a real drum-set instead of the electronics.

Your favourite song to play?

When you play a lot of shows and are constantly touring you’re tired all the time. But half an hour before the show the adrenaline kicks in and then you just want to go on stage and have a good time. I love every concert. Of course one of the highlights is Body Language because that’s when we have all the arms in the air. All the lights are on. We always do different arrangements of the songs that we play. We change them every couple of weeks in order to keep them fresh not only for the audience but for ourselves. We’ve also begun performing ideas and songs from our next album.

So you try out new stuff live on stage?

The live show is one place but the DJ sets are a better place because it’s more spontaneous. We’re enjoying this a lot because we only started last year. We did a lot of Ibiza shows this Summer and we’re heading to Australia next year. The fun thing about DJing is taking someone else’s music and playing with it.

Are outfits on stage important?

We tend to be rather black with everything we wear. But fashion isn’t too important to us. We let the music speak.

Do you like to drink while writing music?

Sometimes, but we work a lot during the day. But only recently after an Ibiza show Walter went home and took that energy and adrenaline and the feel of Ibiza’s Space Club and came up with a great new mix of Teenage Spaceman. It was produced right after the show on the computer. In saying that we’re good red wine drinkers.

Being in the industry for as long as you have, do you now have complete control over every aspect of Booka Shade?

That’s the nice thing about starting the label 'Get Physical'; we were tired of working with major record companies, we always had the control. With 'Get Physical' we created a set up with help from people all over the world that is ultimately controlled by us. Although if you have an international brand like ‘Booka Shade’ there is always something that goes wrong. Only yesterday we found out that our new single ‘Teenage Spaceman’ went up with the wrong mixes, so it had to be taken down and corrected.

Has the internet been advantageous in terms of independent production?

Absolutely. It’s a great time for independent structures. All this promotion that you can dowith Youtube, Facebook and Myspace means you don’t necessarily need big labels.

I read you said German people don’t dance to R&B music. Is it non-existent in Germany?

It sounds like something Walter would say. People in Germany like to have a straight groove. We like the straight beats. But I think Booka Shade’s music proves that you can have a sexy beat in house music and have a groove going on and still be able to play big stages. We are all surprised how we get away with not having completely pushing beats. Essentially we have a lot of house grooves in our music; that’s what Booka Shade is about. Normally you’d expect a big, strong bass drum that kicks in your face, and that’s not the case with Booka Shade. We’re quite happy about it.

Interview by: Jasmine Phull

Catch Booka Shade live on the following dates:

Leeds O2 Academy, Thurs 11th November BUY TICKETS

Manchester, The Warehouse Project Fri 12th November BUY TICKETS

Find out more about Booka Shade

Tickets are no longer available for this event