Pig & Dan Interview: We are not the type to stand and press buttons

The end of summer hits us once again this weekend as Supernova finish their series of Summer parties in Egg London with a bang on Saturday. The next month sees them starting their Winter programme (although let’s face it the rest of the country is already deeply ensconced in the bitterness of that weather regime) but before that they’re going out with a bang, Livio & Roby, Paula Poletto and Pig & Dan the illustrious artist charged with taking their tunnel techno into the darker months.

Ahead of the showcase we caught up with Dan from the latter to find out his relationship with the city ahead of the show, as well as the upcoming productions to look forward to, their movement away form playing live and the nervousness brought on by a first gig in Amnesia.

MACHINE MIX by Pig&Dan on Mixcloud

Hi Pig & Dan, thanks for speaking to us! You’re due to play Egg London shortly, how many times have you played London before and what do you like about the city?

Well I (Dan) am a born and bred Londoner, and have had the pleasure of playing many times in many different venues in London over the last 22 years. Igor (Pig) also has played loads of times as he was also based in London for some years however as a duo we've played around 15 times at venues such as Fabric and Egg.

Igor and I are now based in Mallorca and even though we love and miss London dearly, we can't say we miss the weather or traffic at all. What we do miss is the amazing ambition people hold. The incredible mix of culture and of course the amazing music world that’s so deeply part of its roots. Ah I’m getting soppy now…

How did your partnership come about?

Basically after meeting on a plane on the way to Mallorca a mutual friend said that we needed to meet each other because we shared the same tastes and passions for music. After we agreed to meet, I then realised that Igor was in fact that same guy that id bumped into years before on that flight. From then on we decided to give it ago and things gelled really well together in the studio. Something that’s not that common at all.

You guys have had a particularly hectic touring schedule this year! Out of all the places you’ve played, which stands out to you?

Uffff that’s never an easy question to answer. I think this year Argentina, Holland and Mexico really did stand out. We've had the great honour of receiving such warm welcomes by such energetic crowds in those areas. Let’s see what the rest of the year has to offer.

Your back catalogue is extensive to say the least! How do you think your sound has changed since you began producing?

Over time we have learned so much about pushing the envelope. I very much hope we have progressed but to say how is not so easy. Experience can sometimes hinder artists because if you’re succeeding then you don't want to lose that, however with time you gain that edge of confidence and that’s priceless. I guess the biggest change is having a name and that opens new doors to experiment more than when we started.

Where do you look to for inspiration when producing?

Inspiration is what it is, you can't look for it and sometimes it’s just not there especially when you do look for it. We are very lucky to be super inspired by experience and each other, and an emotion or a sound or image all get our creative juices flowing somehow. Sometimes the simplest thing triggers off a whole load of ideas.

How do you approach your live sets? For those of us that haven’t witnessed you live, tell us what we can expect.

We don't play live anymore, the reason being is that the translation is often not exactly what we want for us or our music. We want live to be really live, but with techno you rely an awful lot on technologies to supply that sound that’s resembles the original record. We are not the type to stand and press buttons, we both truly prefer to play our music as a DJ set instead.

What remixes and productions have you released recently?

Just now we've released two brand new tracks on the 100th release for COCOON which holds such an important part of our foundation. So chuffed to be part of the family once again. Also we've just had the great honour of producing two remixes of the all-time classic ‘Goodlife’ by Inner City to celebrate the 25th anniversary (god I feel old saying that).

Coming up very soon we have new releases on Soma, Bedrock, ELEVATE, Waveform, Terminal M and Bullitdodge. Plus we are just about to start remixing for Paul Kalkbrenner and Deadmau5

What else lies in the future for Pig & Dan?

Working on trying to be better at what we do. Also Building our label and events under our own brand ELEVATE plus Producing / DJing all over. The reason I say "Producing all over" is because we often produce on planes as we travel. The future looks bright and we are both very excited to see what’s around the corner.

And finally, if you could relive one gig from your past again what would it be, and why?

I think the first gig at Amnesia in Ibiza for Cocoon. The vast amount of nerves was so overwhelming because of the history of this club and event for us both. The fact that we were there behind the decks with such a receptive crowd was hard to believe or describe.

Mixing was almost impossible as my hands shook so hard I found it hard to get the pitch where I wanted it for the first mixes (WE DONT USE SYNC). I was looking down to a crowd I’d been in so many times looking up at that booth dreaming of being there one day. It was a true milestone for us both!!

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