Here is a little Interview I did for ‘SOUNDS LIKE ME’ a music blog by Finn Johannsen a writer and author for various music magazines here in germany. The column it was made for speaks about records that changed your life or really impressed you. The original article can also be found in the link below.

ARTICLE TRANSLATION ENGLISH:

Did you hear „Dance To The Music“ the first time when you started going out to the Front?

If I remember correctly, I heard it the first time on a Front cassette, which a friend of mine gave to me. No, so not really ‘live’ at the Front for the first time.

You were quite young at the time. How come you started going there? Did friends tell you about the music and the good vibe there?

It was 1984, I was 16 and my best friend’s sister knew the cashier at the Front, Boris Breit. He handed us the Front cassettes und he owned two record players and a mixer. We spent many afternoons there after school and experimented with the record players and the mixer. He had a big disco LP collection but also bought current stuff at Tractor-Records, the best store for dance music in Hamburg. So he owned the music which was playing at the Front. I heard everything first at his place and then I really wanted to go to the Front.

When I started going to the Front in 1987, I was really blown away by it. I was not even 18, and even though I knew some of the tracks that were playing there, I never heard them mixed together in such an intensive way at a club. It was confusing and fascinating simultaneously, and I wanted more of it in a hurry. I am sure you felt the same way, maybe just a few years earlier?

I experienced it just that way! I already went to the Trinity and the Third World, also cool clubs with really talented DJs and good music, but the Front was a whole new ball-game for me. It was even more special. You did not hear anything which was played on the radio or anywhere else. Sure, sometimes they played a classic track, but a Front classic tune was also not played on the radio or TV. The crowd went nuts. They knew every record, at least that`s the impression you got. That`s why it was so much fun playing there, because you could party hard together with the crowd.

You already started playing at the Front in 1986. How did that come about? Did you already know how to mix records or did you learn it by playing at the Front?

I often practiced at Boris`s house and noticed that I was perfectly capable of mixing together two records. After he bought himself a Technics 1210, I actually got the old Lencos and the Monacor mixer from him. With those I practiced every day and recorded tapes for my friends. During 1986 Michael Görlich, the Front LJ, told me that the second DJ behind Klaus Stockhausen was leaving town and that his job would be available. I gave a tape to Phillipp, one of the Front chefs, and soon after that I had the job. I was probably the only guy applying for the job, haha!

The connection between the DJ and the dance floor was mildly said amazing at the Front, but also quite unusual, because the DJ-booth was a separated, opaque room for the rest of the club. Was that a conscious decision against the cult of personality, or phrased differently, didn`t the denial cause the cultivation of a myth based around the DJ?

Indeed a good question! I believe Klaus knows why the opaque DJ-booth was constructed, but the booth was already around in 1983, when the Front was moved from Cologne to Hamburg. For me it was normal, because I only knew 3 clubs back then. It was ideal for me. I was shy, don`t like being the center of attention and was able to do my thing at the Front without being watched. Later on it surely helped cultivate the cult around the DJ myth.

It took me years until I knew what the DJ-booth there looked like, but I thought that was a good thing. But what did it feel like working there, what was the job like? Did the given circumstances of the room influence the DJing itself?

Sure it made an impact on me, even though I didn`t know any better. But we had our peace and quiet all night long. There was only me and the LJ. At the beginning Michael Görlich, later my production assistant Michi Lange. Nobody bothered us. Often we locked the door, so nobody could get in. I could totally concentrate on the music and the mixing itself. The sound was of course perfect, because of the superb monitoring. I soon realized, after playing many other clubs, that that was not normal. Bad monitoring was basically the rule during the 80`s and 90`s. Occasionally friends of mine were in the booth, handing me jackets and taking drugs.

There are only very few clubs which still have a legendary reputation today after they close down, even internationally. Is it because of the DJs or the music? Maybe because it was one of the first clubs in Europe where House was playing? Or because the club was unique and the audience too? Or was it just all of the above, a perfect combination of everything?

I think it was a combination of all the given facts. We had the best DJs, the best club with a really good sound and light system and the best audience which was totally open minded. Basically the right place at the right time. Later on I noticed how perfect it really was. Back in the days I was really eager to go to the Front every week, be it as a DJ or a guest, and I was never disappointed. For almost 10 years every Saturday was amazing. This is what caused the cult for all the people that went there back then. You can`t imagine what it was like nowadays. Hamburg was not New York or London, not even Berlin. And Klaus and I are not at all like Sven Vaeth.

It was something completely new for me that a DJ worked with several versions of a track, often even with music styles which were not en vogue at the time. For instance Italo-Disco. What made the resident DJ Klaus Stockhausen so special? What did he do different?

Klaus had an unbelievably good taste in music. He played the best of all styles. Be it Disco, House, Italo or Caterina Valente/Frankie Goes To Hollywood Mash-Up. It totally reflected the vibe of the club. This influenced me the most, the variety at the Front. I never liked it when DJs played the same sound all night long. There have to be breaks. Klaus always pushed the audience to the extreme with Hi-Energy and then used white noise to bring them back down. Also spectacular breaks with lights out and no music for 2 to 3 minutes. Instead of that ‘Quadrophonie-Traktor’ in all four corners of the dance-floor. And then he built the vibe back up again.

Did you learn things from him or the club which you still use today? Maybe a general attitude?

Look above. Variety. Monotony has never been my thing. But that also has to do with my musical upbringing. Starting off with the Beatles, then Heavy Metal through Italo-Disco and ending the set with House, that`s definitely a long way to go. All this was possible at the Front. I have been doing this ever since.

A DJ always has a good recollection for essential moments which are linked to certain tracks. Do you remember the moment in which Klaus first played “Dance To The Muscic”?

I just remember the Front-tape which I listened to 25,000 times. It pops up after one of those amazing breaks. A space sound record is playing during the break. Insane! And then “Dance To The Music” slides in with its unbelievable Moroderesk synth-bass. It`s a perfect match. When I started going there in 1985, this track was not playing there anymore.

Would you say that „Dance To The Music“ was a typical Front-record during this time period? What was the Front sound like before House blew up?

I believe it was a typical example for the sound. But it was not really about dogmatic genre borderlines back then. Not at the Front anyway. Klaus and I just played what we felt like that day. Klaus really shaped the sound at the Front. It was supposed to be multisided. After the Acid phase in 90/91, Techno started going off, so many guests wanted to hear this. No slow, funky tracks anymore. The Unit then opened for this type of sound. So the nightlife shifted to the Kiez in Hamburg. Then an even stronger House wave came over from New York City and it was more difficult for me to intertwine opposing genres. House was just so dominant in the 90`s.

„Dance To The Music“ brought together several musical elements for me, which I was into during this period. Italo-Disco, Electro and the disco sounds which arose after the end of the classic disco era. Are those your roots, did this music interest you in particular? What makes “Dance To The Music” so important to you?

Yes, I didn`t experience the disco era myself but everything that happened afterwards. Bands such as Material, Yello, The Clash, ESG, New Order, Blancmange, Human League and Heaven 17. That was my thing. But also pop music. Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna. Later on Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Art Of Noise, Propaganda, the entire Trevor Horn material. At the same time I was a drummer for a Heavy Metal band and was listening to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

A short time after that, the first House records came over from the USA and established themselves at the Front, even though music was still playing there, which gave the club its original reputation. Did you have any clue that House would be so present for such a long time to come or did it seem like a logical continuation of previous club sounds? What do the differences look like before and after House music?

House was honestly different from everything before. You could tell at once. At the beginning it was very rough, minimal productions. A drum machine, a synthesizer and a few samples, that was it. And often really badly produced and mixed. Crackling, creaky and rumbling it went through the night. But that was one of the reasons why the records were so popular and established themselves so quickly. Even though there were very few House records which you could mix with Prince or Madonna. But you know how it is with a cult. We didn`t really notice what was going on at the time, until the UK press started writing about it. After artists such as Stock, Aitken and Waterman started using it for their hits.

How important was it for Klaus and yourself to discover new music and establish it at once? Did one expect this from you or did you have the freedom to do what you wanted?

It was really important to us to establish new music. We went to the Tractor at least once a week. Also Brinkmann in Hamburg had a really good 12-inch selection. That was probably because Björn Holstein, the DJ, who played before Klaus Stockhausen at the Front, was responsible for the record department. Klaus brought more and more records with him after his increasing visits to London and the USA. I also started travelling there, just so I could buy some records. Luckily I never had to work for a club where the owner or the audience dictated the sound. We were just lucky with the Front and the entire situation there.

I remember the Spex questionnaire in the 90‘s, in which you answered the question “best Party ever”. Your answer: Last Saturday. Was there really such a consistency? How did you guys manage this? Did it help that everything was still fresh and exciting, or was there hard work involved?

I don`t know why it was like that, but it simply was. You were there yourself. You could go to the Front every Saturday between the period of 1983 and 1995 and you were never disappointed. Obviously it also had to do with the newness of the scene. There was no other club at the time which represented the Dance and House sound with such a stringent concept and continuity. Anybody who liked the music and liked to dance, ended up in the Front. Sure we all worked hart too. The club opened at 10:00pm and closed at 5:00am. We are talking about 7 hours all systems go for the entire team, because we liked it cozy at the club. The Front was special for another reason. The whole team was really tight with each other, club owners Willi Prange und Phillipp Clarke with the rest of the gang. Every Saturday before work started, the team was standing in the kitchen, drinking coffee and you could tell that everybody was excited about the night to come. We were one big, happy family, even if that sounds kind of lame, it was true at the Front. There was a X-Mas dinner for the team, first day of Christmas, normally a strong night at the Front. At Christmas the club owners gave the rest of us an envelope with Christmas money in it. Every year we received more and more cash. Every time we had special concept events, we met at Willi`s or Phillipp`s house and developed new concepts, decorations and specials all night long. The audience was also part of the family. Everybody knew everybody. That`s what made this club so unique and the reason why the vibe was so amazing.

You were one of the first DJ who invited American DJ-stars to Germany. Before there was internet, it was difficult to find out what DJs were doing in other countries, unless you were there yourself. Was that the reason for guest DJs, basically to get a different perspective, or did you know what they were doing anyway and were influenced by them?

I was a huge Tony Humphries fan the first couple of House years. House music in the 90`s was extremely US based. I flew to New York as early and as often as possible, so I could take home as much new music as possible. So friends of mine and I recorded the Tony Humphries show on 98.7 KISS NYC and afterwards tried to get our hands on all the good records. Often it took months or even years! I still recall a tape really well on which I heard the “whip record” for the first time. That`s what we called it, because there was no playlist with titles on it. We all wanted the record so badly. I already worked at Tractor Records at the time. One day, basically one year after I heard it on the Tony Humphries tape, I opened a box that we received from Discomania, a German distributor and importer of US vinyl. And there she was: “Reasons 2 B Dismal” by the Foremost Poets on Nu Groove Records. So US DJs influenced me, because they had the new music first. And after the US DJ Frankie Knuckles played at the Front, it was like a revelation to me. Even though only a small percentage of guests knew who he really was at the time.

Were you really able to learn something new, or was it just some variety in the already excellent program offered weekly by the residents? Were there other DJs which influenced you the way Klaus Stockhausen did?

Honestly? I was even a bit disappointed. Of course Frankie Knuckles could mix and brought the newest records with him, but I thought his music selection that night was a bit boring. House-hits were playing for 7 minutes and 45 seconds and he then put dub-mixes on top of them, so he could stretch out the mix. The idea behind it was cool, but I like fast mixing. No, Klaus definitely formed me. After him there was nobody who really influenced me. Maybe „Kool“ DJ Red Alert. His radio show was broadcasted before the Tony Humphires show and his Hip-Hop turntable skills were just above and beyond those of Klaus Stockhausen`s. Simultaneously the Rap-Nu-School was developing with acts such as A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers. I really liked their records. So I tried to use some Hip-Hop mixing styles, as everybody knows by now, without any success.

Do you sometimes look back with a tear in your eye, when recalling the days where a DJ played in front of loyal and unconditional crowd? Is this even possible nowadays?

No, I don`t look back in remorse. I am still happy as a DJ. The situation at the Front was truly special and I really don`t know, if this is still possible today. Today kids check out YouTube videos and then they know how to dance to a certain sound. The internet is also good for hypes, who is the hot DJ and who isn`t. Most of this happens really fast. But all cultural areas are like this. Only the most successful and famous DJ has a loyal and unconditional fan base nowadays. A DJ superstar can do what he wants and the audience will accept it. A less known DJ can play the same records, in the same order, at the same location one week later, and the reaction will be quite different. The cult of personality around DJs has reached its peak in some scenes. Some clubs are packed when a big act shows up but the resident DJ, no matter how good he is, doesn`t draw anybody anymore. Of course great for the stars of the scene, but not for the music and the evolution of it. More and more newcomers are modeling their carriers around less and less DJs, because of this there is less musical variety. Like always, there are movements against this development, where this does not happen at all.  Even so, I would love to try out a project with the Front DJ-booth in it. Would that work?

You managed to continue your carrier very successfully after the Front closed down, as a producer and DJ at various other clubs. Was that always your plan or did this just evolve by itself?

Music has always been the most important thing to me in my life. I started playing drums when I was 18. I started working in recording studios via internships and small jobs, so I could get a general idea of it all. That`s how it all started.

Since „Dance To The Music“ was released 1983, so much time has passed and this sort of sound is coming back in fashion. Many House tracks are back to the roots and many classics are being re-released, just like “Dance To The Music”. Do you support this development or is it more of a nostalgic thing to you? How important is your past for what you are doing nowadays?

Hmm, without the past things would not be the way they are now. Just like I bought old second hand Disco, Funk and Soul records in the 80`s, kids can get their hands on music history. It expands the musical spectrum and that`s really important. I sometimes smile when listening to new versions of classics, no matter if it`s a remix or a sample, which are not even closely as good as the original. But somebody out there likes it. I always look ahead, but I carry my past with me at all times.

Do you sometimes catch yourself going to a club, which is supposed to be one of a kind, but you notice that it`s not anything like your past? Or does every city and decade have a club which can produce special memories such as the Front did? Or is it the way one perceives things?

Hard to say. I don`t know if every city has a Front. I know that I was very disappointed when I started and for instance played at the Ministry of Sound, the cult House club in the 90`s, for the first time. Just a big mass of people on drugs, which didn`t know shit about music. But of course every person looks at things differently. They did not know the Front. For them it might have been music paradise on earth.

Should one even look back at the past, because the club culture alters and evolves so rapidly and it could slow one down looking back and keep one from finding something new. How many steps should one take forward and how many back?

Music, movies, fashion, Art in general is constantly evolving into new directions. They come and go, nowadays even faster than before. But it was always like that. Everybody has to decide for himself how far back he has to look, so he can go forward. In the end all that matters is the music and the fact if it`s liked or not.