M.A.N.D.Y. 'We love the North of England'

Shaped continue to impress themselves upon Manchester's underground scene when they welcome lifelong friends and celebrated collaborators M.A.N.D.Y. to headline their latest soiree at the always great Gorilla venue on Friday 19th September.

As one of the hottest production and DJing teams in the house community, Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung have been honing a carefree, joyous approach to tech flavoured dance music since back in 2002.

As one of the most heavily booked house DJ teams in Germany (hear why in their DJ Mag mix below), they've had an enormous influence on the scene as we know it today, whilst Get Physical (which they run alongside Booka Shade and DJ T.) continues to lead the way in the sharpest of dancefloor cuts. We caught up with them ahead of their four hour set at Gorilla this Friday.

Hi guys. you're set to play Shaped in Manchester on Friday. You're not strangers to the city, what do you like about playing there? 

Manchester obviously is one of the very important cities for the dance movement in the UK, starting in the early eighties even. We love the northern parts of England a lot, it's very honest, unpretentious and full on!

What can we expect from your four hour set at the event? 

It’s a journey for us too. We talk about the set beforehand and we are discussing the direction that we want to take, but very often it takes us by surprise as well and it turns out completely different. That’s what we love about longer sets. 

You've recently finished a two week tour in Asia. What moments stood out for you?

To be honest the whole tour was great and very satisfying. We always played at least an hour longer than planed and we saw a real change there. It was pretty difficult the last couples of years, but the underground has definitely scene picked up again. We used the off days very well and met good people all the way.

How does the UK scene compare to the rest of the world?

It is still one of the key markets and very important as an indicator for the rest of the world; always has been and there is always some new movement every couples of years, which influences a lot of producers all over the place.

We're loving the recent Ryan Murgatroyd release on Get Physical (listen below). What process do you go through when selecting tracks to go on the label?

When we toured in Africa we met all these great people, who are very dedicated to our music and Ryan is a one of the leading people in South Africa in the dance scene. It was an honour and great to spend time with him and we got along very well so working together just felt natural and mandatory. It will not be the last co-operation.

When can we expect to hear some new material from M.A.N.D.Y?

I can’t believe it myself, but we are about to finish the album by early next year. Or at least we’ll have 30 tracks ready by then. So we are working quite intensively on new stuff, it’s a good feeling. Not easy due to the travelling but I think we’ll get there this time. 

Summer is coming to a close, what has been the highlight for you two, and what are you most looking forward to in the winter months?

For me personally it was the start of my little festival in Los Angeles called U R aRT. I started this intimate daytime festival with Rob Garza from Thievery Corporation and my longterm buddy John Wander. We just had the closing party and it was insanely good.

The festival is all about how to combine art and music and kids and pets and everyone is welcome. It's a good feeling. And of course Patrick and I are very happy to tour together again much more now. I moved back to Europe and it’s much easier having a base. And we moved very close together now, so we babysit each other in case of emergencies too. 

And finally, hypothetical question... You have the power to curate your perfect party. You can play alongside any DJ past or present. Where would you have it, and who would join you?  

Xilitia would probably be the ideal place or Rey 14, both in Mexico, both insanely beautiful and out of the ordinary locations in the middle of nowhere but so full of everything. I would love to have Thom Yorke as a dancer (see some of his moves above), Boy George as a performing transvestite, Pete Tong as an MC and M.A.N.D.Y. all night long!

Now that would be something else! Thanks guys.

Catch M.A.N.D.Y. when they play for Shaped at Gorilla in Manchester on September 19th. Grab your tickets here.

Tickets are no longer available for this event