This interview was done for the German house magazine BASSics and subsequently translated in English. Steffen Irlinger is a well known radio personality in Germany and the only DJ who spins true house music on German airwaves.

DJ MG
Stefan Urankar
November 1999

The following interview was conducted by Stefan Urankar and DJ MG in October 1999:

Do you still remember the early beginnings of your DJ career? Where have you spun, and what kind of music?

I started 1989 in a club called 'Logo" in Bochum, Germany. At that time there was a lot of hip-hop, Brit pop and punk rock around, so I did from Eric B. & Rakim to Stone Roses to Fugazi almost everything. At this time it was still possible to do stuff like this. Basically, I am a punk rocker!

When did the house virus infect you?

Well, has to be around 92/93 through records from Kenny Dope, Todd Terry, Nu Groove and early Strictly Rhythm stuff, and I am stuck since.

Are there any productions from you out yet?

Yes, there's a twelve inch entitled "Copa America" on the German label Lost Vegas, which later got licensed by TronicSole out of Scotland.

Stefan told me that you constantly tried to support good underground house music through your radio show "1Live-Treibhaus" you have together with your partner Ingo Sänger. Recently this show got pushed into a later time slot while another dance show with doubtful intentions took over your place. How do you feel about this? Do you feel that the radio station slowly tries ot get rid off you?

I've done "Treibhaus" since five years and I am fine with this change of rhythm in my life. We won't change our sound and most of the people tape this show anyway. And we can continue inviting people to our show, so maybe we can even have more space for our music than it seems now.

You were one of the few chosen ones in Germany who had a house radio show on a public radio station [in Germany the biggest radio stations are owned by the government and therefore called public radio stations...]. When you look back now, was it luck or bad luck?

"Treibhaus" was without any doubts a true lucky number! Radio is a terrific medium for our music because you can reach so much more listeners than through clubs. We have influenced so many people with our sound during the years, and we always have focussed on the presentation of really deep and upfront music. Of course, you can't reach a mass audience by doing so. But slowly our work shows results at least on the production level. And that was basically all we wanted to conquer: feature good music and hope that some people get inspired by it! It worked. It was never our intention to totally revolutionize the music landscape in Germany!

How have you met your partner Ingo Sänger?

In 1989, totally drunk in this club called 'Logo.'

What do you think of the German radio scene?

Not a lot! Most of the music directors don't take any chances or don't have any taste at all. Except 1Live and HR XXL there's no place for innovation when it comes to German radio stations anyway. Local noncommercial radio stations like in America could help, but there aren't many of them in Germany. An exception is Radio X in Frankfurt, they have a first class radio program!

Are you sometimes frustrated as a lover of quality music that you always have to deal with mainstream audience?

Yeah, sometimes it's extremely frustrating. But on the other hand you also experience surprises when the music you spin works at times you didn't expect it in the first place. Those moments are almost the most precious moments, when you feel that you can reach even a dumb audience with quality music.

What do you think about the German house scene?

At the moment there's a lot of movement. A lot of connections are being started between people from different backgrounds. In my opinion house music in Germany momentarily is better than ever. My posse consists of people like Dixon and the Jazzanova crew out of Berlin, Yannick out of Frankfurt, Markus Worgull, Lars Vegas and Hans Nieswandt out of Cologne, Marc Schneider from Word and Sound out of Hamburg, and my buddies Ingo, Ramin plus a small group of upcoming people who are all over the place and work hard on our thing.

Are their regional differences in Germany when it comes to house audiences, and where do you think was the best audience, and where the worst regarding your DJ gigs?

There are definitely regional differences. In the part of Germany people are really nice and open to house music. But when you reach the flat area close to The Netherlands it's getting dark outside. In most cases though it depends on the work of local DJs, if they have educated their audiences. Sometimes you experience the biggest surprises when you spin in small towns because local people spin quality music there for years! One example would be the Bodensee, where it's most of the times really good. My worst gig of all-time? Osnabrück! My best gig of all-times? Whenever people are open-minded and don't expect any party terror!

I was wondering if there is something like a house audience in Germany at all? I mean I am in America since four years now. Stefan always complains about the problems of organizing good house parties in Germany, but he's also convinced that there are more potential true house lovers out there, who either aren't interested into the music any longer or have resigned to going out. In your opinion, how could you motivate people to come back or to check out house events?

The problem here in Germany is that people mix up house music with everything but house music! Many stupid DJs have given house a bad reputation, like Bon Jovi said it earlier. That's the main problem. On the other hand there are tons of record stores and clubs like WMF in Berlin where they spin our music on a big scale. So in my opinion it's all a matter of patience and long breath. The music gets better and more versatile, and the audience will realize this sooner or later. If there's no audience you have to slowly educate your audience. This might be slow and frustrating, but is the only way. Maybe we need a bigger net and more communication between all active people to start professional structures. But I think everything is moving slowly into the right directions, and then the audience will follow.

What is your opinion about the future of house music in general? I have the feeling that the gap between quality and idiot house becomes bigger and bigger. I have a feeling we're getting ready for a revolution in that regard. Where do you think will this movement lead us?

Like you, I witness exactly the same artistic improvements in house music. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that everything should move constantly one thing after another, I rather think that improvements should happen on a quality level. Productions are getting more complex and better and sophisticated, with more influences coming from African or Brazilian music, and luckily the boring sample culture becomes unfashionable. I have no idea where this will lead us, but I think it's important that things are in motion again. That's the way it should be!

You organize a weekly house evening called "Buena Vida" every Saturday at 'Robespierre' in Bochum, where you spin entirely Deep house without any compromises when it comes to the music. I appreciate this and would give you some space here for advertisement. We all know, without advertisements you can't run events like this, right?

As you said, at "Buena Vida" we try to feature only the sound we think is the right one. Sometimes it's working really good, sometimes it doesn't. But I am sure that we can get a loyal audience of people who agree with out music selection, of course only if the club owner allows us to continue with this event. Once we have a core audience, more people will follow. That was always how it worked.

Our upcoming schedule includes Markus Enochson from SVEK (11/6/99), Ramin and I (11/13/99), and DJ Deep out of Paris (11/20). Everybody is invited. It always starts at 11PM at Robespierre in Bochum, Germany.

At the end, do you have something like an all-time Top 10 list?

Gang Starr - Who's gonna take the weight
Sterling Void - It's Alright (DJ International)
Kenny Bobien - Rise above the Storm (MAW)
Stone Roses - Fools Gold (Silvertone)
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (Warner)
Antonio Carlos Jobim - Stone Flower (CTI)
Joe Clausell - Je Ka Jo (Ibadan)
Victor Davies - Brother (Flipside)
Bobby Konders - The Poem (Nu Groove)

Everything from DJ Premier, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Tim Buckley, Masters At Work, Kerri Chandler, Joe Clausell, Ron Trent, 4 Hero, the Burrell brothers, and everything from people from the past and future.

Thanks a lot for this interview, and good luck for your upcoming projects.