Lowri Clarke talks touring and tunes with Booka Shade's Arno Kammermeier.
Even if you’re not a dance music fan, you’ll have heard the name Booka Shade. Their intricately arranged soundscapes speak of lunar landings, sunrises, night falls, love, loss, mandarins, white rooms and of course, slickly produced German electronic music. It was only a matter of time before they became the globally known outfit they are today. The music and melodies are underpinned by tough, deep beats and share a certain cinematic lushness – plus an incredibly well produced, dark edge. Their tunes are unmistakably theirs.
The German duo Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger are back on tour this year after a 16 month break. It was well needed says Arno: “It’s a great pleasure to stand on stages again – we had a break from playing live after the last festival summer and playing nonstop for the last four years. At the end of that we were really ready for a break – and now there is huge excitement to be onstage again.”
Having just returned from Australia, the remainder of their tour will take them round key cities in Europe and then onto the glorious summer of festivals. London dates include their upcoming Koko gig on May 13th and closing the Lovebox Festival in Victoria Park this July.
They are of course promoting their fifth studio album, ‘More!’ Fans will be pleased with the new material. It’s got the classic Booka sound with more dancefloor facing beats than 2008's 'The Sun and Neon Light' – they aimed to replicate the live show says Arno, to bring the energy of the stage to their fans home stereos.
“It’s great for us to see that the work of 16 months is rewarded – and people see that it’s a progression in a sense. What we want to achieve with the album is to create and expand the Booka Shade sound universe. When you listen to it you’ll immediately know it's us. When you find your own little place in the electronic music world it’s amazing. And I feel like we’ve done that. This album has the atmosphere and melodies that are rather typical of Booka Shade – the last album was a bit more moody and home listening - but the aim for this one was to bring the energy back from the live shows.”
The duo famously come from musical rather than DJ backrounds. They have been rumoured to say in the past that they would never DJ. Never say never. During the last 16 months they have been hitting the decks at various European clubs. It really helps to road test your new material says Arno: “We started to do a couple of DJ shows – the DJing helps quite a bit with the production – you can try out how your productions work on a dancefloor. All the songs on the album, if you strip them down, have really good club beats.” They also found the different discipline to be a refreshing change: “It’s a different artform DJing – to work with other people's music was freeing, exciting and inspiring – to take something somebody did and then tweak it and loop it. Exciting and so different. We wanted to have this difference after the touring.”
This return to the UK is important for them – and they remain humble about their success: “It’s probably difficult for you people to understand – but coming out of Germany as a German musician – being accepted in England is something very special. The first gig we ever played in England was at fabric – that was a real career starter – a stepping stone. England was one of the countries which accepted us right from the start.”
So what is Arno’s favourite Booka Shade tune? “That’s like asking a parent to pick their favourite child…..but if I had to choose - one song I always like is 'Night Falls'. The very first time I heard it when we had developed it I got goosebumps…and I thought ‘this is a great track. I’m really proud of this.’”
Booka Shade’s music speaks to so many people, it sends shivers down the spines of ravers the world over. So it’s good to know that this feeling, this dancefloor love is what drives them: “We thrive on the ecstatic feelings of electronic music. We don’t have to go to clubs every weekend to feel it but every now and then it’s really good to go out to a club to get this feeling again and to realise this is what we do it for – this collective feeling of people going crazy and having a great time – it is in the heart.”
Facts: Booka Shade founded Get Physical Records in 2002 with M.A.N.D.Y and DJ T.
Failsafe tune: Tim Deluxe remix of Washing Up (Tomas Anderson)
On the bill for the big gig in the sky: Bob Marley, Depeche Mode acoustic set. On the decks: M.A.N.D.Y
Booka Shade doesn’t mean anything. It just sounds good.
You can download 'Regenerate' from their new album for free here. Check out the video for 'Donuts' - their new track with M.A.N.D.Y here.
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