They’ve been working together for now well over a decade, making their names known around the world for their tracks and the energy they exhibit when playing back to back. To Dabruck & Klein “it’s all about the music” – a statement they live by on a daily basis. AscenDance Radio had a chance to catch up with these talented men and here is what was said:
Dabruck & Klein Interview:
Dayanna Guerrero: We’re here with Dabruck & Klein the men who turn their sets into one crazy ass night of musical tag, playing back to back and continually pushing one another to deliver one hell of a show.
You guys have been in the music scene for now over a decade, what would you say the musical journey has been like for you and what have been the major milestones in your musical career together?
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): Can you say that again?
Dabruck & Klein & Dayanna Guerrero: (Laughs)
Frank Klein (Dabruck & Klein): So many English words I don’t even know.
Dabruck & Klein & Dayanna Guerrero: (Laughs)
Dayanna Guerrero: I’ll go slowly (Laughs)
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): Can you do it like this: What do you like? What’s your favorite foods?
Dayanna Guerrero: Those are boring interviews.
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): Now I got it. Yeah Like I said, we’ve been working together for over twelve years. Besides our DJ-ing and producing career we have a big label called WePLAY, before we worked for a label called Superstar so we already have people in the back for many, many years. So four or five years [ago] we decided that we would put more pressure or focus on our own stuff because sometimes it’s very hard to work with artists. We have always been DJ’s and we still love what we do. A lot has changed since we met the Armada family, and we got to management with Armada the last two years.
Dayanna Guerrero: Stefan, you previously said that you both have the same sort of musical taste but what is the overall dynamic between you two and what role does each of you play whether in your productions or in your sets?
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): Did I really say that? Okay. (Laughs) It’s very funny; when we met first (like twelve years ago) it was like this really kind of special music, it’s not like what it is today. Of course, we already have the big background in the 90’s with electronic music in Germany or Europe. It’s sometimes very funny because we play back to back and sometimes I’m looking for the next track and he’s already playing it so that’s something. It’s like the boy group effect, I’m the good looking guy…(Laughs)
We really have the same music taste you know? What the perfect mix in our team is that one is more like loud and the other one is more.. Frank is also taking very good care about the business side of things, like what I’m not very good at. If somebody calls me “Can you do a remix” – “yeah, yeah of course” “what is the fee?” “Oh its nothing because we just bought a few new dogs and have to feed…” “Oh wow really I love dogs” and that’s sometimes not very good. I’m sometimes more in the studio and stuff like that, we have a perfect team.
We’re still best friends so it makes it very easy to travel (for twelve years).
Dayanna Guerrero: You released an album entitled “2:48 AM” which is still generating buzz and it features a lot of productions with some heavy hitters in the industry. What’s the significance of “2:48“, what went into making this album and how do you feel about the way it turned out?
Frank Klein (Dabruck & Klein): The significance of 2:48 AM was told [in] different stories in the last year but now we tell you the truth.
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): We’ve said like 2:48 a.m. is the perfect moment in a club and stuff like that but the truth is we have a broken watch in the studio for ten years and it always says 2:48 a.m. First we said like okay, our debut album we wanted to call it “Dabruck & Klein: Greatest Hits Volume II” but our management was like “guys it won’t be funny”. So we decided to do something else.
It’s very hard sometimes to find track names and album names because a lot of people say like “What do you mean by this track and what do you want to feel?” We always say we’re doing music for the feet; you know, were in the club to make you happy, to put your shirt off and party and not to think about. It’s not like we do a track and say at home “Oh what do they want to say with heartbeats?”
Dabruck & Klein & Dayanna Guerrero: (Laughs)
Dayanna Guerrero: Your love for all types of electronic dance music can be seen in your work. Would you say that it is the fuel that keeps you going or do energy drinks also play a role?
Frank Klein (Dabruck & Klein): We stopped drinking energy drinks because it’s not good for your health. We also take no drugs, we sometimes drink alcohol.
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): We drink alcohol every time, he’s a liar.
Frank Klein (Dabruck & Klein): Okay, okay, okay. I think the music is the fuel and what we get back from the people. That’s what we really appreciate.
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): If you see, Frank [has been] DJ-ing [for] 25 years, I’m DJ-ing [for] 15 or 18 years – no 20 years, shit!
Dabruck & Klein: We’re old. (Laughs)
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): Music changes a lot and it’s like every two years there’s a new thing and we like it so much. It’s sometimes funny because when we started with our Label as well we only signed Trance music and House music came with Swedish House Mafia with Boogie Pimps and all these guys, the French influence and everything. We love it so much! Now we’re with Armada again, on a trancy label, not a trance label. That’s what we tried to do with first album but the second album will be much more dance floor oriented because we did some chill-out tracks on the last album and some people don’t understand it. So there are more questions than people say they like it so we decided to make a really club album for the next time.
Dayanna Guerrero: Back in 2008 you started the WePLAY Record label, and at one point it was even named best label. What lead you to create this label and are there moments where you look back and think to yourselves “did we just do that”?
Frank Klein (Dabruck & Klein): We decided to do our own label because as we said, we worked for another label (ten years), then we wanted to do more of what we liked. On the other label the focus was more on earning money but we wanted to do music we like so we said we would do a label with just music we would play in a club. So we decided to do WePlAY and we have a really good partner and he’s doing all the business stuff and he’s really on fire for the label. That’s why in three years we’ve been best label in Germany two years in a row.
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): And we have been in the dance music charts and in every category we have been #1. The thing is like we have been the guys behind the label Superstar Recordings. We did everything, we have been the heads but there was a background a guy from more of the bank side, lawyers, or controllers. We had huge success we had nearly twenty top 20 hits in the last decade, you know twenty five Gold records, so many awards and stuff like that. But you know, what’s the point when our boss was more like “we need more hits, hits and hits” and that’s what we like at the moment. So at WePLAY we’re doing Axwell, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Dirty South, Laidback Luke, Erick Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Tocadisco and name a few more..
Frank Klein (Dabruck & Klein): Dabruck & Klein
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): And to be honest that’s what we like, not everything is a huge success in the charts, but we have a very good business set up. We sign tracks because we like them or we can play in our sets.
Dayanna Guerrero: And that can be seen in the WePLAY Club Essentials Vol. 1 is set to be released at the end of this month. Can you tell us more about that?
Frank Klein (Dabruck & Klein): Yeah. These days it’s really important to have good working compilations. We did compilations before (lots of compilations) but now we decided to start a series so the Essentials will be our premium series compilation. The first one will be released at the end of the month. We did a mix for the first one; the plan is that every volume another big name does a big mix for CD #3.
Dayanna Guerrero: Is there anything else that fans can expect to see from you?
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): Yeah like we said in the beginning, we’re just working on a new album. We just did a lot of remixes as well; we did so many remixes in the last five years. We just remixed Lenny Kravitz which was very cool and a big honor because we’re big fans from back [in the day]. Yeah we’ve got a lot of good cooperation’s on the album; we did just two tracks with Morgan Page just flew into Germany. We have two with Tocadisco, we have one with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, we will do something with Emma Hewitt (it looks like), just working on a remix for her as well.
Dayanna Guerrero: We were just with Morgan Page, he’s a really nice guy – very down to earth.
Stefan Dabruck (Dabruck & Klein): He’s very down to earth and he’s very, very talented. It was one of the first times that someone was in the studio and he was going on the controls saying “Oh let’s do it like this and that”. He’s a very cool guy and I think he will be a very big star in a few years.
Dayanna Guerrero: Well guys, thank you so much for taking your time to speak with us and we can’t wait to see what you have in the works for 2012.
Dabruck & Klein: Thanks a lot!
For more information on Dabruck & Klein, check out the Dabruck & Klein Website, visit the Dabruck & Klein Facebook Page, or keep up to date by following Dabruck & Klein on Twitter.
Be sure to also buy your copy of the WePLAY Club Essentials Vol. 1 album!