Voitek : Sacco Drykorn, Jeans Replay, Polo Nik,e Sandales & Belt Stylist own
Gregory: West Drykorn, Jeans Lee, Polo Nike, Sandales & Belt Stylist own
Nach einem feschen Fotoshoot mit Haniball im Wald, treffe ich Grzegorz und Wojciech alias Gregory und Voitek alias Catz n Dogz vor dem Plattenladen Rotation am Rosenthaler Platz. Kurz darauf setzen wir uns in ein libanesisches Restaurant, machen uns drei Bier auf und beginnen den Chat. Auch am Tag darauf rieche ich noch das Gespräch an meinen Klamotten.
Cheers guys, thanks for showing up.
Thanks for the interview.
I haven‘t asked any questions yet.
Are you prepared?
Yes, just wait a second. Let me get out my list. Just kidding. You are originally from Poland. How long have you been living in Berlin?
For a bit more than a year. But we knew each other before.
From school?
No from the internet. We met in Stettin and Stettin is not such a big city. When we met I was about 17 and smoking a lot of joints and running through the cities with posters and making parties. That was a really fun period of my life. He was making parties, I was making parties and then we met through our friends. It was all really natural at the time. But slowly we are starting to feel a bit more pressure. The level of expectations is really high.
What is the music scene in Poland like?
Earlier there was a big scene for rave and techno parties with some commercial DJs also from Germany. Then it moved to the clubs and started the club culture. Right now it‘s starting to become more professional. We are starting our residency next week at a club called SQ III in Poznan. It‘s a really cool club. They‘ve already had some big names there like Troy Pierce, or John Digweed on a more commercial level, also Steve Bug. That‘s how we made our first connections with some people from Berlin. We invited them to our parties. We also went to Berlin a lot for buying vinyls, mostly at Hard Wax. Since Poland joined the European Union it has become easier for us to travel and also to get other influences from other countries.
How popular were you in Poland before successfully releasing on international labels such as Dirtybird of Get Physical?
We weren‘t really popular. Polish people usually like stuff more that is popular outside of Poland. Usually stuff that is not so popular in Poland needs to become popular first outside of Poland before it will become popular back in Poland. For example Robert Kubicza, our best Formula 1 driver. He had to leave Poland because nobody was supporting him and then he became famous abroad. Or like Klose and Podolski, your best football players. But right now we are having the best parties in Poland. The people are amazing and we have great support.
Has the worldwide crisis affected the club scene?
The club scene all across Europe is struggling. Many things happened. But a lot of people have moved to Berlin. So you can play almost every day in Berlin. But not all over Europe like before. Parties in Poland right now are cool because people are absorbing the music differently than they do in some places here.
Your music is strictly dancefloor isn‘t it?
Not really. We are currently preparing an album and I think we will surprise a lot of people with it.
Is there a change in direction?
No, there is, wait. Why am speaking all the time. Grzegory, you explain. We decided to make some music that we like listening to. We‘ve been listening to a lot of Dubstep and Jazz and House. We are trying to bring it to another level. We want to have diverse styles.
When will it be released?
Maybe in May 2010. Right now we are finishing a remix request for Lunar City Express on Moon Harbour. We also have our own record label since three years. Channels Records.
What‘s your favorite album at the moment?
Definitely the album from 2562. It‘s so amazing. It‘s like a collection of Dustep and some Detroit House and even like Prodigy and old Photek stuff. It‘s like the feeling I used to get when listening to electronic music for the first time. That‘s also what we are trying to do, to produce those trembles.
So who is the cat and who is the dog here?
I think that I am the dog. Because I generally trust people in the beginning and then I get burned. Grzegorz is always more distant in the beginning.
And then he gets burned?
No, cats don‘t burn. They always know what to do. They are more secure.
And do you have pets?
Voitek bought a dog, I bought a cat. And then we were thinking about the name and we thought of Catz n Dogz. And we think the name is really funny. And we are funny people. We like to make jokes. We don‘t have one big artistic view of things. We are having fun. We can come up with other funny names like Petcast or Pets Gone Wild. We are entertainers.
What about fashion? Are you into fashion at all?
Yeah we like fashion. We like to go shopping a lot. We buy almost all our clothes abroad. Not in Germany, not in Stettin. But when we go to San Francisco all the money we earn from playing we go and spend for clothes.
And the clothes you are wearing in the shoot? Are they your clothes?
No, those are from Haniball. He dressed us. But some of the clothes and ideas were also ours. He prepared some nice stuff. We were outside. The idea was to do the shoot in a more wild environment. We were actually barefoot in some of the pictures.
And smoking cigarettes.
Yeah.
Are you learning German?
I‘m going to school, yes. Gut.
Thank you for the interview. Let‘s go pay our beers. Where‘s the guy?
Or we could just run. Polish style!
Interview Lev Nordstrom
Layout Vinzent Britz
links
Voitek: Sacco Drykorn, Polo Nike
rechts
Gregory: Trousers Drykorn, Polo Nike, Braces Devaki
Voitek: Trousers Tiger of Sweden, Shirt Stylist’s own, Braces Devaki
links
Gregory: Jeans Lee, Shoes Reebok, T-Shirt Artist’s own
Voitek: Jeans Replay, Shoes Reebok, T-shirt Artist’s own
rechts
Voitek: Jeans, Shirt Replay, Belt Wrangler, Sandales Stylist’s own. Fly Devaki
Gregory: Jeans Lee, Shirt, Belt Replay, Sandales Stylist’s own, Tie Devaki
Concept, Styling, Production Haniball Saliba
Photo Robert Klebenow
Hair and Make up Stephan Maikowski
Vielen Dank an das Dj Team Catz n Dogz
Haniball Saliba
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