Excuse The Mess Interview with Ralf Kollmann
Where did your musical journey begin and how did you find dance music and the techno sound?
Little Ralf loved to listen to the radio. I discovered special shows that aired Maxi and Instrumental Versions once a week and recorded everything with my father’s old tape machine. I was inspired by his record collection, even though I didn´t understand what this music was about. He had this Krautrock stuff, Kraftwerk of course and some other early experimental synthesizer bands in his collection. I made my first steps in the disco arena when the first techno and house wave developed in the clubs in Germany and other cities, in the early 90’s.
I got my early club lessons in Sven Väth´s legendary Omen Club in Frankfurt. I remember a very special night when Richie Hawtin, Daniel Bell and Speedy J all played together, it blew my mind. I realized then that this was a new movement and a whole new lifestyle for a young generation was created. Wow! Just realized that this was 17 years ago… I started as a passionate Raver and became a passionate Maker- being proud of mobilee and our artists playing a little role in the global techno circus.
Tell us about growing up in Germany and watching the development and evolution of dance music scene- from the front row as it were.
I wouldn´t say that I sat in the front row, cause before Germany was hit hard by electronic dance music there was a house movement in Chicago and Detroit, later the Acid House hype in the UK developing from Manchester… When I discovered clubbing it took a few years before techno became mainstream by the help of Love Parade and Mayday. The Sponsors and Media in Germany followed up with Top 10 Chart Positions- I think it was similar to the huge success of Prodigy and Underworld in the UK. That boosted the original Techno underground in the mainstream market and some vibes got lost of course.
When everybody was used to seeing Techno beats and Euro Dance on Music TV, a new underground developed, around 2000- and that inspired me a lot to dive back into the music thing again; celebrating it, enjoying it, feeling it and finally, starting the label in 2005 with Anja Schneider. It’s great that people who inspired me as a little raver are now colleagues and friends. And I still like to rave of course!
Why is everybody obsessed with Berlin right now?
Berlin is one of the most liberal cities in the world. When it comes to clubbing; Panorama Bar and Bar 25 are known all over the world in reference to Berlin’s Nightlife. Compared to other metropolitan cities, it’s affordable to live here without having three jobs. It’s quite relaxed and the city is a huge creative space. There’s a big density of international Labels, DJ´s and Producers who’ve decided to make Berlin their home. The Sound is defined by international activists who discovered Berlin as an inspiring city to live, make music, go out and have fun- it’s the undisputed epicentre of techno music and it will probably not change in the near future.
You’ve played in many cities around the world, recently playing in New York, Miami, Amsterdam and Dubai, tell us about your travels…
It’s always a pleasure to travel and discover other cities, countries and meet enthusiastic and passionate people. Especially the music we are playing and enjoying ourselves; it seems to connect very special people all over the world. The vibe is similar everywhere… if I am playing in a small wooden hut at a beach or at 5 star hotel club resort in Dubai, the people are interested in the music we are doing.
Barcelona is amazing during Sonar Festival, San Francisco and Los Angeles are my favourite party towns in the US. I have a lot of fun playing in London and also Ekaterinburg in Russia. I must say, it’s a luxury that in Berlin we have the opportunity to party for 24 hours- sometimes it’s sad when the party stops at 3 or 4am, when it was just about to get nasty! But every trip has something unique, and it’s great to if you have residencies all over the world where you make friends and know what to expect when you are coming again.
I’m really looking forward to coming to South Africa for the first time in my life and being the first mobilee dude there!
You’ve been nurturing the mobilee label going on 5 years now, how does it feel to have created this yourself and been part of an international music movement?
Anja Schneider and me started it as a side project five years ago and within a short time it accidently became a full time job for both of us. Every mobilee artists is playing an important role and transporting our vision with every gig and every release. After five years we are more than proud that we created an established platform for talented artists who play all over the world. We started the label at a time when the music market changed completely and that taught us to be flexible and go our own way all the time. It’s important to leave the well-worn path sometimes and try something new and take risks. And we still see ourselves at the beginning with what we started and have ideas and visions for the next years to come.
Mobilee is 5 years old in 2010, what can you reveal the label plans to do to celebrate?
We are just developing the activities for next year. The 5 years anniversary is playing an important role next year and will be the main theme in 2010. We are doing a world tour on five continents in 5 cities each. We will release a very special anniversary compilation featuring exclusive, never-before-heard material from every artist on our roster. This is one celebration you aren’t going to want to miss. We call it “mobilee 5² tour” and it will be showtime! Hope we can make stop in South Africa again next year!
Mobilee is recognised for being on the cutting edge of modern music marketing techniques, tell us about the thought processes behind that…
We are living and acting in a high tech environment. We grew up with internet technology and social networks. It helped us to become popular worldwide without spending multi million dollar budgets in marketing so it’s obvious that we are trying to be on the top with modern music marketing techniques. We just launched a mobilee touch mix application for the I-Phone. The update with 5 new tracks and even unreleased music is available in a few days. We are trying to create a lot of visual content for our artists and exclusive content like mixes and behind the scenes features for our social networks.
It’s very important to keep an eye on what is going on out there. You should always be prepared for sudden changes and embrace new technologies and opportunities. You can cry about how difficult it is to sell music because of illegal downloads, or you can spend this energy finding new ways of distributing your music and using the creative potential of your artists and staff to develop new ventures
Mobilee is also known for its familia vibe amongst artists on the roster, how important is this kind of energy to running a successful label?
That’s part of our label philosophy. We wanted to establish strong and long lasting relationships with our artists from the beginning on. Nowadays you need a strong platform and a strong brand if you want to be recognized as an artist. We are joined forces, building up a strong visual and musical identity, we produce our own event ideas for Sonar Festival, Winter Music Conference or Amsterdam Dance Event and give our artist as much creative freedom as possible. I think that’s part of our unique standing. We are musically versatile. The mobilee sound is created and defined by our artists and not dictated from above. The personal relationship to our artists is very important. If the personal chemistry is not right we cant achieve something together. We would never release music from someone we don´t like personally, even if it’s the biggest hit we have ever heard in our life.
How would you describe the sound of the label and how has it developed over the years?
It’s essentially just what Anja and I like musically, and this can often vary. We started listening to house and techno a while ago – and we’ve been passionate ravers since the early 90s – so the Mobilee sound is very versatile and primarily defined by our main artists. For us, the most important thing is to release music that makes people dance. Club music is made for the dancefloor – especially 12” releases. When you get down to brass tacks, the whole industry is based on nothing more than moving people’s asses every weekend!
EXCUSE THE MESS WITH MOBILEE RECORDS
Join us for the worldwide Cavo Paradiso album launch on 30th May at Egg nightclub in London. It’s going to be a night of quality house indulgence with lashings of Greek island flair! Mixing muso’s Argy and Lucca Bachetti will be playing live and in the flesh to show you first-hand what a night at Cavo Paradiso is all about!
There’s only one question I can ask Erick Morillo when I finally get him on the line, ‘Dude, you are living the dream- how does it feel?’ It’s taken two days and two trips to Defected HQ to get him on the phone; ‘It’s his first day in Ibiza and he’s on his yacht- with some girls,’ -and he basically can’t get to the phone- or so his people tell the Defected people, who tell me. Villa’s, yacht’s and shiny disco balls; man, its tough being at the top!