Falko Brockskieper is probably best known as the head of Sub Static, the label he runs in conjunction with long term collaborator MIA. He is also a rather good DJ, Producer and is about to make his live debut, showcasing his new album "Heavy Day" to the masses. We spent some time on a sunny morning chatting techno, house and moving to Berlin.
So you moved here from Cologne – you did art there?
Yeah, I moved to Cologne from my home town to stay at the academy of media arts. I graduated in 2002, stayed a few years more and then about three and half years ago, MIA and I thought it was time for a change.
Are you still involved in the arts? Apart from your music.
No, not at all. The reason why I started with arts was because I was really into graphic design. I do all of the graphic design for our labels, and for a few friends as well, and some other stuff in that direction. It was really about media design, but as I got into music more and more, it stopped, and now the stuff with the label is my only outlet for that! But it’s fun that way, when you do something like that you are doing it just for yourself, it’s not about some customer that doesn’t understand!
What prompted the move to Berlin?
Well, first I got really tired of Cologne. In the end, especially when you are involved in the scene, it’s a really small city. It’s a nice city, but for me personally, I got stuck there a bit too long. Within a few weeks I decided I needed a change in my life, and decided to move to Berlin. You know, like everyone! Ha ha! In Cologne, people were maybe a bit critical, but really the reason everyone does it, is it’s worth it. I didn’t regret it for a single day. Here, just by walking through the streets you can find an influence, or find that every day there is something going on at a club, or a party, or something happening. In Cologne it was like, do I go to the one party, or not!
Sub Static was set up while you were still in Cologne though?
Yes, the first release was 2001. It started in Cologne when MIA and I met. We shared that fascination and we thought it would be good to have our own little playground for what we and a few friends were doing.
So do you still work with the same artists?
There are few artists that are still on board like René Breitbarth, a long time friend. His was one of the first records. He did one last year and will probably do an EP this year. Things definitely move and change, you meet new people and you change the style of things a bit.
Is there a certain sound you are looking for?
It’s really different most of the time. We are definitely not the label that thinks that such and such a sound is cool, so let’s see who is doing that. I think it makes no sense. It makes the label appear artificial. So most releases are quite spontaneous – we hear something from an artist, and it’s just that feeling, “Yeah, we need that.”
Categorizing electronic music is a really difficult thing but how would you describe your sound?
It’s weird whenever I write about my own stuff, I sometime make fun of it and make up stuff just for that record, but really the term I really like is just: techno. Ha ha! Because for me that is the one place where it started, where I got in touch with that overall style. I am really not a fan of tiny sub categories. For me what I am doing is techno, even if sometimes I want to do a more downbeat track, or even something a bit more housey. So techno and well, maybe house are the genres I see myself in!
How did you get involved in music production?
Well, I started DJing in 1993 in my bedroom, of course. That’s where it started. I was getting into raves and I found it all really fascinating when I was like 17. I started DJing and then about six or seven years later I started to try and make my own productions. I guess, you know, the classic way!
How do you feel about performing the album? You haven’t played live before!
Yeah, well the release party will actually be the second time I will have played it live. So we shall see!
How was the making of this different to Host Deluxe?
Well, the first album was much more, let’s say, naïve. It was much more simple. Well, I guess my music was more simple! At this time I didn’t have so much pressure, we just had our little label, we didn’t think about, how can we market this, or whatever. It was just, send this to distribution and they will sell it. But if you want to survive as a label and as an artist, you have to think about these things. Competition and the more commercial side of the underground music scene has increased so much in the last five years, to the point where it’s now completely different. So I had to really think. I wanted something you could really listen to on a CD and I wanted some DJs to play it, so it was a much harder process to make it. I really had to think more about the style of everything, about what I was trying to say to people. It’s actually a totally new approach, which is what everyone now is doing. In some ways that is really quite sad for me, as the innocence is lost a bit, but on the other hand it’s interesting and challenging, especially when you are into graphic design and things like that. You then get the whole picture.
What other artists are interesting you right now?
Well, I think first off the most well known DJ’s are not the best ones. The irony is that if you are a big DJ, you have to have some big records to play out, where one has nothing to do with the other. For example, Mark Schneider is one of my favourite DJs. He is a really good example of how DJing is a real passion for someone, he’s not trying to be fashionable but he still is, because he goes his own way. I mean artists, its always changing, but Jay Haze I am really into. Jay has the approach to go beyond what it is common to do. I really hope his new album format is going to work out. I really like the album.
He’s remixing a Lament as well?
Yes, him and Mike Monday. It’s going to be a two track release, no original and I am really excited about that too. Mike Monday and MIA are also paying at the record release party at Watergate, which is the starting point of some shows to support the album. Just don’t ask me where yet.
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