 “I think the people are just bored listening to the same beat for six hours or more now, because I certainly am. I liked minimal a lot four or five years ago, but I can’t get a kick out of that anymore and I still like electro and still play it, but there has to be a change into something punky after a while; that’s the mixture which makes me freak out. I also don’t want to see some nerd performing who’s hiding behind a laptop; I want to see some action.” Emma Scandal.
Flying Berlin’s flag for punk meets rock meets electro meets everything, The Scandals are a duo with a clear vision of what they like, which they showcase on their always interesting Berlin Insane compilations. Partners in crime as DJs, lovers and record label owners (the pair run Pale) both Steve and Emma are as passionate about the music as they are about each other on occasion trading blows. “When we were DJ-ing with James Murphy and Mark Moore at The Rio club in Berlin last year suddenly Emma and I had a little ‘discussion’ because something was wrong with the turntables and it ended by us pulling and tearing each others clothes until the discussion became even more heated,” Steve chuckles. “Emma eventually destroyed my whole new shirt but after 10 minutes everything was fine again and we had a great party.” And DJwise, they take an equally unconventional approach to technical ability favouring the anything goes aesthetic of punk. “We don’t beatmatch at all, i’s not possible with that kind of music we’re DJing. How would you beatmatch to a song which ends with a hard guitar riff?” says Steve. “You make a break and start with something else which fits from the feeling and that’s way more important for us that we feel alright and the crowd rocks. It’s just like Peaches sang ‘You came to see a Rock show, this ain’t a fucking talk show.“ “We never prepare a set before like classical DJs, either,” he adds, “You will never hear two Scandals DJ sets the same. We put on the player what we feel is right just at that moment when it’s time for another song. It’s totally different to the way normal DJs are used to working because we carry so many different genres with us.” Their eclectic approach is exemplified on Berlin Insane 3, a double compilation covering tracks from the likes of Whitey, Atomizer, Fixmer/ McCarthy and Nobless Oblige to Glamour to Kill, Lavender Pill Mob and their latest favourites Punx Soundcheck. “John and Arif are the best fucking electro producers in the U.K. We know and that’s not just what we think,” says Steve. “They mirror and reflect exactly the type of electronic music we like, it fits perfectly into our sets and they’re both so lovely. They live the same way we live and they think the same way. These guys are definitely Pale Music’s main electro act.” Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Starting with the Berlin Insane III compilation: What’s the theme or dominant concept?
Emma: “I think the main criteria is that the acts or artists we choose have to keep the spirit of insanity or craziness inside their shows or their personality. Also the point of being unnerved from the world around, people who scream and shout out what they think or face that in their kind of music. Before we release any track on one of the Berlin Insane compilations we always need to meet the people or somehow get connected with them, which means we need to build a little relationship. Imagine we would release a track of someone on a compilation and all of the sudden after it’s released he turns to be a complete asshole. Horrible.”
Steve: “Yeah, man, I could not release a song from a complete stranger. You know in one year we get sent around 250 to 350 songs. Also a lot of people just send an e-mail with an MP3 but without any personal information. Sorry, they will never make it on it. We need songs on a CD so that we can listen to them in the car when we’re on tour or driving around empty Berlin roads. Also what became a little tradition is that on each compilation the first song is always by a member or ex-member of Einstürzende Neubauten because they were really the first ones who did crazy and insane stuff and they still do; and they’re from Berlin. That’s why it was just a must to return to something like this to show the world outside the real side of Berlin, that there is not just techno, house and minimal; that there are thousands of other performers in this city of refuge.”
Skrufff: Many of the artists are not from Berlin; do they have to have some connection, with the city, however tenuous?
Steve: Totally, yeah, there can’t be an artist on the compilation who’s never been to Berlin or doesn’t know the scene over here. It’s the city where all the other cities in the world look up to because here everything’s running together. Electro producers hang out with Punk Rock musicians and Techno DJs start to work with Rock & Roll bands; and it all sounds fantastic.”
Emma: There’s been just one exception in all these years, which was on the last compilation, which was for The Paradise Boys from San Francisco. We got their vinyl via The Vanishing who moved to Berlin and we loved the song so much, we played it over and over again. So we tracked down their phone number and called them directly and they just loved the idea. The label gave us the song which was very easy and now they’re planning to come to Berlin.”
Skrufff: There’s a strong rock/ punk vibe throughout the collection, a million miles away from house music or techno: what’s your stance on this rock versus dance debate; is house and techno on the way out?
Emma: I‘d say there is still a lot going on in the electronic music scene, but it has to mix itself up with other influences; it can’t always quote itself. People are used to an electronic and virtual reality by now, what we need and search for is something real and human – with faults, peculiarities and edges.”
Steve: “Look Jonty, the biggest sign that techno was on its way down was when the Love Parade did not happen last year because nobody went there anymore. There was even one magazine, which asked us last year if „Berlin Insane“ had taken over the Love parade generation. How bizarre is that please? The way we compile the CDs is also the way we DJ. The people want to rock, they want to scream and shout,to freak out and they want to sing while they dance. They can’t do that listening to Minimal or never-ending Techno tracks. If you go to a straight techno club and you leave in the morning you can’t really say how many different songs the DJ played, because it was all one beat the whole night through. OK, with five Es in your head you’re not interested in lyrics or in the message of a song because your head is somewhere up in the clouds and you don’t have a clue what’s going on. A lot of beats and sounds from techno or house are really cool, so why not use them to build a rock´n roll spirit? We don’t want to release fucking boring music, hip elevator or snotty lounge music. That’s over, that sucks, there’s no fun.”
Skrufff: Berlin, from a media perspective, is currently a minimal paradise: from your perspective, how important is minimal for Berlin? (If at all)?
Emma: Actually Berlin is not that much a minimal paradise. Cologne, the home of Kompakt, is the city for the minimal freaks. Anyway, I don’t listen to minimal anymore, I can’t tell you much about it. I don’t even know anyone who’s producing minimal. “
Steve: Somehow it might be important. It can be, but it just doesn’t touch us,
it’s not our cup of tea. For sure, to dance to it might it’s alright but somehow it sounds all the same. And I think we have the same number of clubs over here for electro or Electropunk, maybe more.”
Skrufff: You and Emma are Germany’s only DJ couple: Who makes the final decision when you both disagree?
Steve: It works like this: we both have similar tastes in music and we know most of the tracks of each other. Sure sometimes it’s a bit stressful when we make a party together and during a song one of us realizes that there’s not so much time left til’ the song is finished. But nearly always it works, if it is really rare that we make a hard break to another genre and usually then the crowd is screaming. Sometimes people come up and ask if we can play some drum & bass or house and we’ll say ‘Sorry, you paid to hear The Scandals’. And later in the morning we still see them dancing. Sometimes the promoters write on the flyers ‘The Scandals – Live“ even when we’re DJing. But we’ve also had sets when there was some trouble going on.”
Emma: “I can’t remember a situation when we both disagreed, but I remember a lot of situations when we started to fight, mainly because we had to start after a live band and the equipment wouldn’t work, but people always think it’s part of the show.”
Sometimes people from the audience, when they are wasted, come up and want to drink with us or want to tell us which songs they want to hear and we’re getting unnerved and are going to pour some drinks over them. Sometimes the equipment gets wet and the engineers start to hassle us. That’s why it’s always written into our contract that we are not responsible for what happens during our sets, and that we don’t like it when promoters or club owners start to argue with us during our show. They booked The Scandals – that’s why the people show up.”
Skrufff: You’re set to release Punx Soundcheck’s debut album on Pale Music shortly, 2hat made them right for you guys to sign?
Emma: “Steve and I were always DJ-ing their track ‘Metrosexuality’ last year and I was looking for a cool act which could fix to Kook featuring Roxxy´s Release Party at Maria, so we asked them and the funny thing was that we were the first people who had Punx Soundcheck live. By coincidence I made a flyer for that party out of a punky plastic duck, exactlylike one John has at home. It seemed to be meant to happen.”
Steve:. “They live the same way we live and they think the same way. They accept that we’re not shitting money but that we put all the energy we have in the records we’re gonna’ do with them. The relationship is a totally honest one, we speak nearly every other days on the phone, so everybody is always updated with all the problems and all the sweet things in life. We did the Punx Soundcheck feat. Marc Almond single and in April we’re gonna do their album. These guys are definitely Pale Music’s main electro act. Berlin Insane 111: A Collection of Sex Rock and Sleazy Electronics compiled by ‘’The Scandals’ (without any sleep)
http://www.pale-music.com
Article by Jonty Skrufff (JontySkrufff.com) Subscribe to skrufff music newsletter at www.skrufff.com
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