62. Paul Kalkbrenner

Paul Kalkbrenner

“Next year, a lot of people will hear my name for the first time, but I am still doing the same fucking thing I was always doing,” jokes a zany Paul Kalkbrenner while reflecting on a year...


 

Style: Techno for boys who don't hesitate to cry.
Best known for: Big concerts
Tune of 2011: I hope it was one of my own.
Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2011: My little brother, Fritz

What's the future of DJing? It's becoming more about personality
Favourite app? The Lufthansa app is quite nice.
Discovery of the year? My team Bayern Munich have only conceded one goal so far this season.
Rediscovery of the year? It's my 10 year anniversary next year, so I am collecting tracks from 1992 and a lot of these come from England.
Awkward Moment? When I proposed to my girlfriend. And she said 'yes'. Usually I am never nervous when I talk to her but this moment I was.
Style or substance? Substance. It is everything that is there once the style has gone.
Pet Hate? Someone chatting me up while watching a football match... Very annoying!

“Next year, a lot of people will hear my name for the first time, but I am still doing the same fucking thing I was always doing,” jokes a zany Paul Kalkbrenner while reflecting on a year in which stages, the amount of people he plays to and the numbers in his tour have grown exponentially.
“Now when I play, it is to, like, 20,000,” he remarks incredulously. “I was in Asia, America and Europe, I have been everywhere. What has been different is that there have been two trucks, two tour buses and 30 people in my team, and only me in concert.”

Along with this intensified focus - no doubt spurred by his star appearance in 2008 clubbing flick 'Berlin Calling' during which he had to get up at 5am, shoot for 15 hours a day and “carry the whole fucking movie” - has naturally come added pressure. “Now with all the sound, light and visuals and everything, 30 people doing it, I cannot slack off, or I will disappoint the whole team,” he quips.

As well as snowballing across the world, he dropped his fifth artist album, entitled 'Icke Wieder', on to the imprint he set up last year, Paul Kalkbrenner Musik, during the summer. Bringing his sound back to the linear techno format of his early work and away from the emotive, florid styling of recent tunes, it's clearly a bid to show his new entourage of followers what he used to be about, at a time when his original releases are selling “20 times more” than when they first came out. But that's movie stardom for you, eh Paul? ADAM SAVILLE