Julietta talks to Skiddle ahead of zutekh & tpot's secret courtyard party

This Sunday, zutekh and tpot join forces to bring you an all day party in a never before used outdoor courtyard space in Manchester city centre. 

 The party will run from 3pm to 11pm, with the secret location only released to ticket holders the day before. With a limited capacity of just 130 people and headlined by Julietta, the party sold out in just eight days. We caught up with the lady herself to talk about three decades of musical discovery, the differences between the German and British music scenes, and why she's looking forward to Sunday.

And remember, for the people that didn't manage to buy tickets for this party, zutekh will be running Part Two of their Summer Series on Sunday 11th September with Jay Tripwire and Adam Shelton. Tickets for that party are available here.

So let’s go back to the beginning - how and when were you first infected with the music bug? And how did you get into DJing?

The music bug infected me already a looong time before house and techno. In my childhood I was continuously surrounded by a lot of music in my parents’ house because my dad played several instruments in different rock bands and introduced me into real “handmade” rock music. Obviously it was the worst that could happen to him that I chose the complete opposite music in the end – for him house and techno was strange computer music with no soul. It took him a long time to understand why I was so into it.

Curiously I never wanted to become a DJ in the beginning. I was collecting music for my whole life and discovered in the early nineties house and techno. But it took me many years until I found myself in a proper DJ booth…

You describe your style as somewhere between house and techno. Who has been your major influences over the years?

If I think about it, I’m wondering if it maybe already started with Depeche Mode and all this new wave stuff in the eighties, followed by Moodymann, Moritz Von Oswald, Glenn Underground, DJ Sneak, Basic Channel, Studio 1 and Rreaks in the nineties – just to name a few. Sometimes I was a bit more techno, sometimes a bit more house influenced.

You’ve played in many legendary clubs across the globe including Panorama Bar and Rex club; does one in particular hold a special place in your heart?

It’s quite hard to choose a special one, because every night can be special in a certain way, even if it’s a not so well-known club and maybe not that packed. There’s one that comes directly into my mind in this moment: in March I played on a little south sea island in New Caledonia (between Australia and the Fiji islands). The place was outstanding of course with its entire typical south sea flavour, and the crowd was a funny mixture of French and Milanese people. That was very special for me, also because it was at the other side of the world.

Where has been your favourite place to play in the UK?

I loved every single gig at Half Baked, London, and Below, Birmingham. Sunday Circus in Glasgow last year was also fantastic, and not to be forgotten my debut at fabric in May! Actually I liked nearly every gig in the UK.

Do you think there is a lot of difference between the UK and German music scenes?

Totally. At the moment I have the impression that at some parties in Germany (Berlin excluded) the people seem to be a bit saturated from electronic music – nothing is really new for them and everything was heard several times already. In the UK you still feel such an enthusiastic vibe at parties. AND: the people love to dress up. It’s so nice…

You have a residency at Harry Klein in Munich and in 2009 set up the in-house record label – two years on, how is the label going?

It’s going pretty well! After Seuil and Franco Cinelli’s summer release we have number five waiting in the pipeline, which will be a bit freakier.  So keep your eyes open!

Harry Klein is a predominantly a vinyl label, do you still try and play on vinyl as much as possible? Do you think it’s dying out?

I still try to buy vinyl, because there are still a lot of good vinyl-only-labels on the market, but it’s not so easy with the digital overflow. It’s sad but understandable though – for young people with small budget it’s always cheaper to buy an mp3 instead of a whole record where you probably like 1 out of 4 tracks. we all grew up with vinyl, but for new upcoming DJs mp3 is not the future, it’s already the present! I assume that for the common music industry vinyl is dying, but there will be still a market for vinyl. Hopefully.

What producers/tracks are you supporting at the moment? Do you have any plans to get in the studio yourself?

Actually I’m playing a lot of old records mixed with some new artists. At the moment I love the releases of Delano Smith, Skudge, mrsk, Le Loup, Fred P. And many many many more. And Daniel Stefanik is also dropping out amazing releases at the moment. And no, there are no plans for the studio right now. I’m just finishing a project with Yossi Amoyal for Sushitech, where I am glad to be part of.

You are playing at zutekh & tpot in Manchester, have you heard much about the parties there? What can people expect when you play on 7th August?

Honestly I don’t have a precise idea about the party, but I always heard Zutekh in combination with DJ names I really like a lot. So it has to be good! 

Finally, what is your DJ diary like in the coming months? Where else can we catch you playing?

After my weekend in the UK I’m going to play another gig at Rex in Paris, some gigs in Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Germany, Netherlands, and this winter will follow my second US tour. Very excited to go there!

See upcoming zutekh events here

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