Frederic Berger and Patrick Buck aka Kaiserdisco have rocked the right clubs, remixed the acts that matter, put their names in bold across festival marquees, retained the highest quality through honest endeavour and made the name Kaiserdisco a worldwide authority with guru-like guidance of the groove.
Blessing the back catalogues of Drumcode, Suara, Snatch and Get Physical meant the unveiling of their own KD Music, always a long-term goal for the pair, was a natural knock-on effect. They may have been quoted with tongue only partially in cheek by running a label with a “we produce it, and if we like it, we release it” ethos, but it seemed a risk-free declaration given the pair’s established quality control, extending to giving rising talents a way in, and inviting Eddie Amador and Danny Serrano to their ranks.
After what has been a watershed Kaiserdisco era celebrating 50 KD Music releases this year, their new baby KD Raw is prepared to get to the heart of the dancefloor even quicker, starting in blistering fashion with the ‘Three Lions’/’Fifth Element’ EP. “The important concept behind Kaiserdisco is to make the people dance…it’s our main goal to stimulate the people!”
Read below a very interesting Q&A interview we had with the duo.
Interview with Kaiserdisco
Hello Frederic and Patrick, without a doubt for us it’s an honor, and at the same time, we are excited to chat with two of the greatest and best known DJs and Producers in the electronic music world.
Q. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us guys. We would like to start this interview by asking, how are you? And how have been the last few months with all this world pandemic COVID 19 for both of you?
(Patrick) Thanks for having us, and thank you we are both doing fine. The last few months have been a quite strange time for us, as for most people all over the world as well. In Germany the pandemic started mid of March, I was skiing in Austria when the Austrian Government decided that all hotels, restaurants and ski lifts have to shut-down from one day to the next. Also all foreign tourists had to leave the country within 48 hours. Back at home I was advised to stay at home in quarantine for two weeks, which I did. At that time people started to wear masks and disposable gloves in the supermarket. For me it felt a little bit like “The walking dead”, as everybody tried to stay away from another and not to get in contact with other people. Fortunately Germany was not hit too hard by the pandemic, as most people followed the rules and so we do not have many Victims due to COVID 19, compared to other countries. Unfortunately it seems like that especially the younger people are not fearing the virus any more and they are starting to ignore the rules more and more. This leads to increasing numbers of infections now and so I don’t see reopened clubs in the next few months, but we will see.
Q. Do you guys feel the lockdown has slowed your progress as an artist, and tell us if you could find some positives in all this situation?
(Patrick) Yes, it definitely has! It’s quite easy to stay in contact and reach your fans, when you are travelling and playing every weekend. You also have a lot of content to post on Instagram or in the socials in general, when you are on tour somewhere around the globe every week. We are not touring now for about eight months and the only way to throw out some interesting news is by doing interviews and releasing new productions. In the beginning of the pandemic we did a few online dj-sets as almost every deejay did, but after thousands of deejay sets streamed live from the deejays bathroom, living room, garden or roof top terrace it was like a massive overdose and we reduced it a lot. As you can see it’s much harder now to stay in contact with your fans at the moment and so the whole situation has definitely slowed our progress as an artist. The positive thing for me was that it feels like the whole world was slowing down and coming down a little bit. It is also nice to spend a lot of time with my girlfriend, as she is in home office since march almost every day.
(Frederic) Absolutly! From January to March we worked quite a lot in the studio and finished almost all our productions for 2020. Then suddenly the lockdown came and we stopped everything for around 6 weeks before we met again in the studio and talked about the strange times and what we are going to do with our productions. Of cause it has a lot positive and sometimes also some negative effects to see your family 24/7. We both enjoyed it quite a lot in the beginning but it feels also strange if you are not able to do what you love. We both really don´t miss hanging out on airports but we miss to party.
Q. When and where did you guys first get into electronic music – kaiserdisco was born and raised in Hamburg right? How did all this begin? And how would you describe your local scene?
(Patrick) Yes, that’s right. We both are born and raised in Hamburg. In the early nineties it was the beginning of a very huge “techno wave” in Germany. It was also the time when we started to go out on Parties and when we got in touch and were infected with electronic music. It’s funny, Fred and me went to the same Clubs and to the same Parties for many many years, but we never met each other. It took about 15 years until we finally met, at night in a club, connected by a friend of mine. Both of us were members of other production duos at that time, and we decided to meet in my studio for a first collaboration. There was such a brilliant vibe between us in the studio, and after we finished the first production it was absolutely clear that we have to go on, and Kaiserdisco was born. That was back in 2008 and our sound changed a little bit from then to today, as well as our local scene here in our hometown. Hamburg is the second biggest City of Germany and there was always a very good Club scene. Of course not as big as in Berlin, but always nice and maybe a bit more familiar. Whether which music genre you prefer, you’ll always find the right place to be.
Q. Which artists and music did you guys listen to when growing up, and do they influence your tracks at all today?
(Frederic) We both loved and still love Depeche Mode. Not only for their brilliant tracks, we love them for always being ahead of their time, giving talented producers the chance to remix their tracks and also for always having this typical and unique sound. Of cause they still influence us as we still love these outstanding industrial sounds.
Q. Are there any DJs that have inspired and influenced you guys in your career?
(Patrick) Yes of course, we are big fans for example of Sven Väth and Carl Cox. Both of them are having an absolutely amazing stage presence. Of course a deejay has to play good music and must be able to master the technique, but in our opinion it’s much more than that. It is very important to interact with the crowd and to transmit good mood. Laughing, dancing and showing the people that you are having fun and that you love what you are doing is extremely important. Sven and Carl are shining examples and it is always great and fascinating to see them play.
Q. We read in your Bio that the important concept behind Kaiserdisco is to make the people dance… With no clubs and festivals for a while yet, what purpose do you think ‘dance’ music helps at this moment?
(Patrick) As all other music genres as well, dance music puts you into a special mood. It makes you feel happy and hopefully you feel like dancing. Of course there are no festivals and also no clubs opened at the moment, but nobody can forbid somebody to listen and dance to music at home. A few days ago I was standing on my terrace, listening to some of our older tracks and it just made me happy and I had to dance. Music always helps and transports emotions, and that’s probably even more important in strange times like these.
Q. What do you guys miss the most about playing at the parties and touring?
(Patrick) We miss the closeness and the contact to the fans and to the crowd in general. It’s an incredible feeling to party together with hundreds or thousands of people, all in the same mood and feeling the same thing. Sometimes there is an indescribable Energy in the air which you can’t see but you can feel. That’s what we miss.
Q. Talking about gigs, you guys played at a lot of various festivals and clubs around the world on multiple continents, what was the biggest audience you performed in front of?
We think that was in Amsterdam for Loveland during Queens Day, where we played for around 25.000 people.
Q. In 2018 the Delusional crew booked you guys to play in Guatemala City in what was an epic night at The Secret Garden. Do you guys remember something from that party?
(Patrick) Yes of course, the place has a very good atmosphere and the crowd was just amazing. I remember that we played our track Analog Birds, which was just released at that time, and the people went absolutely nuts. It was a great night and we enjoyed every single moment.
Q. How has your experience been the times you have visited Guatemala? What has caught your attention the most about our country?
(Patrick) I’ve only had the chance to visit Guatemala once, so far. It was a quite busy weekend for us. The day before we played a show in Lima and the next day we played another gig in Playa del Carmen in Mexico. So we arrived in the evening in Guatemala, went straight to dinner and after to the party. Then straight back to the airport to reach our flight. So I can only say the food was good, all people that we met were super sympathic and everything I’ve seen on our way, looking out of the car was quite beautiful and looked really nice. Unfortunately sometimes it’s like that, but we’ll try to stay a bit longer next time to do some sight seeing and get more impressions of your beautiful Country.
(Frederic) I had the pleasure to play twice in Guatemala. The first time was on a big Warehouse rave together with Anna, Technasia, Julien Jeweil etc. and the second was together with Patrick at Secret Garden. Of cause it’s great to play on a big Rave with thousands of people but we both really enjoy to play a packed cosy gig where you are right in front of the audience. You can build a much stronger connection. The party at Secret Garden was one of the best parties we have played in the last years, the energy was outstanding and electrifying. We really hope to come back one day!
Q. Congrats on your 50th release of KD RAW featuring a remix by Markantonio. What’s your relationship with Markantonio and how did the signing of this EP come about?
We know him for quite a while already and we like him a lot for his productions and also for his work on his label Analytic Trail. He was asking us to remix his track Cento for his Analytic Trail Release 100. He also told us that he loved our track “Bipolar Disorder” so we asked him if he would be up to remix it and he immediately said yes of course. So it was a nice remix switch, we are on his Analytic Trail 100 and he is on our KD RAW 50. The second track on the Ep is a Remix that we did of our own intro “Paranoid” which was out on KD RAW 32 already. That’s an idea that we are trying to force in the future again. First releasing an Intro as a third track on an EP and then later making a remix out of it.
Q. Do you guys have any other releases cooking up for 2020?
(Frederic) We have only one more Kaiserdisco release planned for this year and that’s going to be a remix that will be out in November on our 3rd Master Cuts Compilation on KD RAW.
Q. What else do you guys like to do as a hobby or strong passion besides music?
(Patrick) Cooking, biking, running and lying in the sun with a drink in my hand.
(Frederic) Kickboxing and I am a real cineaste, so I love to watch movies and series.
Q. Speaking about your podcast recorded exclusively for the Delusional crew in Guatemala, How would you describe your Dj set, and what can the listeners expect from it?
(Frederic) We’ve put together our current favorite tracks and gave you an exclusive preview of our next EP which will be out in the beginning of 2021.
Q. In your experience, Can you guys name three things that have changed or evolved in the electronic music scene from when you started with your career until now?
1. Social Media became immensely important. Unfortunately it seems like posting on Instagram is more important than playing or producing good music.
2. Everything became much more professional, especially the big Festivals. It’s a huge business and sometimes it feels like it’s unfortunately all about the money and not about the music anymore.
3. Buying music turns into streaming music. When we started music streaming companies like Spotify were absolutely irrelevant, as they were still in their infancy. Today around 50% of revenue from music comes from sales and 50% from streaming. And it looks like this is changing more and more in the direction of streaming music.
Thank you guys, for your time.
(Pat & Fred) We thank you, it was a pleasure!
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