We Are Modeselektor Page #4

from the youth club,

so he was employed to do it.

We're like locusts here.

So now we found it after all.

There are no titles on this unfortunately.

And this is the very first Elektroheadz.

From the year I think also No, 1999.

Same basic principle: Bands, young artists

or musicians who were still going to be musicians

came to my studio

and tried themselves out.

I went to school in Berlin-Kpenick.

That's how there was

a connection to the Allende club,

because it was the central point

for all the DJs, skateboarder,

graffiti artists, bands, whatever.

During my pedagogical education

I did a year long internship here.

In the years 1998 to 2001 during this job,

we did normal stuff with the youths,

usually when Gernot

was working here as well

it was like that:

Let's stay on a bit after finishing time.

And usually we went home

at 5 am with the first metro.

So, basically we used

the studio ourselves,

because we did not yet have our own studio

to try out our ideas.

Many of our friends, other musicians,

Siriusmo for example

who was from the same

background as us, came by.

We just hung out a lot and tried out a lot.

And stayed up all night.

At that time there was not only the ALL,

we already had a weekly thing in the Kurvenstar.

It was like a parallel universe what we had.

We had our own,

but never our own studio,

and that's what we had here.

And above all it was that we had...

Think about the responsibilities.

We didn't have children yet, no company,

we just lived the moment.

- I don't miss that life -

somehow it was the complete opposite

to the relatively organised thing we do today.

It was also exciting.

This is how we really learned to make music.

By dealing with things for a long time.

Technical things, sound and so on.

It was learning by doing.

There was no concept.

We didn't have a release in the back of our minds,

but it was just trying things, experimenting.

This is how our way

to work has developed,

in this room here

if you want.

I believe this is where the

name Modeselektor was created.

We already had this Roland Space Echo

in this studio back then

and it was like:

Well, what are we going to call ourselves.

It says Mode Selector there, let's take that.

For me the beginning of Modeselektor

was like a transition phase.

Basti and Gernot were

DJing a lot together

and at some point it was established

that they make music together.

I noticed that there were

two completely different characters.

Basti as a relatively quiet,

even-tempered guy.

And Gernot who brings in all that energy.

The incredible thing is that that

was brought Modeselektor forward,

because if Gernot hadn't been there for Basti,

Basti would have probably worked his way up

with smaller not quite as intensive things.

Gernot I think was the one

who pushed Basti as well.

I think at that time there

was a special spirit.

It was the generation of the kids

who grew up after the reunification,

who had their childhood

during the past GDR years

but then sort of came into

this emptiness of the reunification,

who grew up in a bubble.

Back then there was this sort

of lawlessness and we just did things.

"Where Modeselektor and their notebooks arrive,

aggression is pre-programmed.

In a purely musical sense of course.

So the two former Public Enemy fans

create rhythmical sound fronts,

whose heavy basses

occasionally might alarm the police.

As it happens last year

in the Berlin Club Central. "

You met more and more people,

and those people noticed:

Ah, they are called Modeselektor,

they make cool music,

they have to release something.

That for example took a very long time,

until we finally gave our first demo

to Ellen Allien from BPitch Control.

To the boss.

Took about a year.

I think it started in the year 2000 or so

one of the Pfadfinder told me

a lot about Modeselektor.

That they have a few buddies

who make great music.

And at some stage I said:

Yes I'd like to meet them, they can drop by.

I can't even remember if they did drop by.

Anyways, I heard them at some event

and thought they were really interesting

because they have a lot of energy together.

And when I looked at them

in that small venue I thought:

Wow, they are really behind what they are doing.

They love that music, that is their life.

I had not seen guys who

got so into it in a long time.

And then they gave me their first tracks,

or one anyways,

and I think I even asked them:

'Don't you want to do a record on BPitch? '

And that really took a while,

until that was there.

I rang them a few times,

and they came to the office

and I asked:

'Guys, what's with the record? '

We rented a small room there,

that was maybe eight or nine square meters,

in the same house,

and it was triangular.

Pretty good for a studio.

Or bad?

Who knows?

Back then the acoustics

weren't that important to us,

and then we made our music there.

So we were always

in touch with BPitch anyway,

because it was in the same house.

So one thing led to another.

Then we gave her the demo CD,

but that track was really bad,

we got no feedback.

Then we kept talking,

and we got four tracks ready

and she promptly released them.

That was our first EP 'In Loving Memory',

BPitch Control Number 042 in 2002.

The record is called like that

because a good friend of mine and Szary

who we went to E-Werk with a lot,

died around that time:

Enny, rest in peace.

He was a really cool guy,

but he was very sick unfortunately.

And I always liked the idea of putting on

something like a combat gear on the subway

and come out of a manhole cover

into a destroyed world.

Listen, we just put them on now temporarily.

We stay like this and walk in with the things,

and walk through the train

and you go ahead.

We walk through the masses

so we get the reaction of people.

Coz they will sh*t their pants

thinking it's a robbery or anthrax or

Come on

When Modeselektor came to BPitch it was

not like I discovered them as a super A&R

who got the artists off the road,

it was more a kind of family thing in a way,

a network that emerged

from the same musical interests.

You could say that Ellen used to have a...

I don't want to call it a mothering role,

but she definitely educated

us young rough artists in some way.

Ellen Allien from BPitch was definitely

very important for Modeselektor.

Just by giving them a platform.

It was already an established label.

And Ellen realized things

that the boys wanted

and basically gave them

complete artistic freedom.

She did smooth the way for them.

Also through her international contacts.

I don't know if the guys

would have been positioned

internationally so early on without BPitch.

She took them on tour as well.

The label had an international position.

That was definitely important.

At that time, most people wanted Ellen,

so we tried to have BPitch nights

where they also could play.

But there were some

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