A couple of hipster DJs are hitting these shores this weekend: Steve Aoki in Taipei (tonight at Luxy) and Christian Schwanz (aka Cee) in Kaohsiung (tomorrow). The former is a darling of the US indie dance music scene and the latter a pioneer in Berlin and Vienna’s underground club circuits who promotes “barefoot music,” now lives in Malaysia and doesn’t stand reporters up.
Vinyl Word: You grew up in East Germany. What was the music scene like then?
Christian Schwanz: When the Berlin Wall came down I was 14. But I still remember quite well how the music scene was organized before the world opened up for us. My elder brother always made sure I got some good stuff to check out. The scene itself was small and intimate and everybody knew everybody else. There was one East German radio station that tried to push the boundaries by playing not just the usual. The station was called DT64. I used to listen to a lot of indie music; only after the wall came down did I hear reggae for the first time. When I was 16, I started playing bass guitar and joined the school band. We really believed in our sound and out of that first band we developed the band Microfish, which actually released a 12-inch many years later with ... Sonar Kollektiv. That was when I was 20 ... Around that time I also joined the Al-Haca Soundsystem and after joining them I started producing for the sound system. Things grew and grew and grew.
VW: Are you still with Al-Haca?
CS: Actually Al-Haca turned from a sound system crew into a production unit and band and after releasing three albums with Al-Haca, the band collective ... stopped existing. But the cool thing is the sound system just got back together and I will actually re-release the first album in Japan very soon. So Al-Haca is back again as a sound system ... I now focus on my solo shows plus Barefoot Asia Sound System.
VW: Do you have other jobs besides deejaying?
CS: I am still connected with Vice magazine in Europe and I do creative marketing stuff with a few cool people. I also started doing the artist bookings for a chain of bars and smaller clubs in Kuala Lumpur. Guess I am a busy man.
VW: What’s “barefoot music” about?
CS: Barefoot is a way of life. Barefoot is music and so much more. It’s the heartbeat. Sometimes slow and deep, sometimes fast and up. We never knew how to call our music and names became so unsexy: Futurebassraggadancehallglitch ... what? And the name “eclectic” sounds very clinical. So barefoot is bass-heavy and versatile like our music. It’s a global growing fungus.
VW: Besides the music, what is essential in a barefoot party?
CS: Open-minded, fun-loving, barefoot people and some good drinks. Big bass speakers. That’s it.
VW: You recently started Barefoot Asia Sound System. How’s that going? Did you find it harder to promote underground music to Asian audiences?
CS: There is no general Asian audience. Every place is different. I have been to quite a few countries in the region now and they are all special, you know? But yes, feedback is great. It’s fun to start new things here. You gotta love it.
From 10pm to 7am tomorrow at the Brickyard, B1, 507, Jhongshan 2nd Rd Sec 2, Kaohsiung City (高雄市中山二路507號B1). Admission is NT$350 (guys) and NT$150 (girls).
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