Intereview with Wackside taken by Thomas Fath.
Brickhouse Label Launch Party@U60311/Frankfurt/Germany (20.05.00)
This could have been the night of the year, if not some major BI*CH visiting from Boston/USA didn't steal my sleep the night before the party (a BIG "Thank U" JADE!). So we went there and I already fell asleep in the car on the highway to Frankfurt. Wackside launched their own record-label, after working already successfully with Polydor/Universal Records. The party was promising a lot of fun already in advance with such big names like Knee Deep (Record Of Interest/Hamburg/Germany), Michi Lange ("Brothers, Sisters", Boris Dlugosch team-partner and Peppermint Jam artist) and the Wackside crew in one club on the flyer. A guestlist holding 400 names was another hint for a majorly wild party. As expected the night WAS the bomb, although I kind of passed out at 5 a.m.. There was not ONE record, that I could describe as just average. Hubee and Marco Soehnke from Wackside did a great opening with lots of high class dance bombs, like their own remix of Ann Nesby's "Love is what we need" followed by Michi Lange, who took over the turntables and showed us the typical pumpin' Sound Of Hamburg. With some CD-R's that he mixed perfectly in the vinyls, the set was outstanding up-to-date. The crowd went almost insame when he droped the Knee Deep mix of Afro Medusa's "Pasilda", probably one of the most sought for record this summer already. Noone can wait for it's release on Azuli Records and Universal Records, which will be hopefully soon. Around 2:30 a.m. Basti from Knee Deep took over the turntables and as expected, gave us some wicked tunes as well. Another crowd-pleaser of this worth-to-remember night in Frankfurts and maybe one of Germany's best Houseclubs, was surely ATFC's "Bad habit", which was suposedly already a big shooter at the Miami Winter Music Conference and is huge in the houseclubs here in Germany already.
The crowd was excellent and really got into the vibes. The atmosphere was somehow very erotic, surely supported by those sexy GoGo girls and boys, who knew how to move their bodies. Among the guests was Lamont Humphrey, a black singer from the USA, who lives quite a while already in Germany. I was able to hook up with Lamont and two of the Wackside guys backstage for a short interview, before they mingled with their friends and fans in the club again. Here are some interesting thoughts, that Mike and Benjamin from Wackside/Brickhouse and Lamont Humphrey shared with us.
The Interview
After an interesting little tour through the backstage area of U60311, the club where the Wackside guys celebrated their label-release party (I should also mention that these guys hold a monthly residency at the club), we slowly made our way into the kitchen so that I could begin to ask a few questions, but as we began to talk, some GoGo boys and girls came in and started to change their clothes, needless to say, the atmosphere became less than conducive for an interview, so we decided to look for another spot... Finally, we found a really quiet room, totally UNDERGROUND deep under the club.... and here we go:
Thomas Fath: Tell us a bit about how everything began, how you guys started and how you met?
Wackside: Well, first there were the dinosaurs and the bees and sex and all this, you know....no seriously, Ben (Benjamin Hart) and Hubeee (Held) were already producing tracks for Logic Records (a once infamous record label from Frankfurt/Germany) as the Cord Boys and later produced dance charts hits like "I Can't take it" or "Rockin' myself" on Epidrome Records (Epic/Sonymusic's dance sublabel). I produced and remixed a couple of clubhits the last ten years already. Maybe you remember "Let there be house" from the hiphouser Deskee, which was my biggest success. I joined Hubee and Ben in 1997 and we decided to form "Wackside".
Thomas Fath: What were some of your best or most famous remixes and productions?
Wackside: Well, we did lately remixes for Yello's "Squeeze please" for Polygram Records, we worked with Jam & Spoon, for who we did remixes for "Stella", then Danny Tenaglia's "Music is the answer", Spiller's "Batucada". Some of the next released Wackside mixes will be ATFC's "Bad Habit" for the German Defected/Edel Records release, the a new Lost'n Alive as well as the remix for Love Connection's "The Bomb" with additional Phats and Smalls remixes on Polydor Records. One of the remixes we did last year got just released, our remix for Sweet Female Attitude's "Flowers".
Thomas Fath: You did those LAST year? I received the press-copy about three weeks ago? How does something like this happen?
Wackside: This is the mystery of record-label policy. This happens often. Remixers finish a remix, give it to a label.The label decides to release the remixes, but then postpones the release from month to month. This is why sometimes a remix sounds totally old to us, especially when we know it was done months before the white label or retail release.
Thomas Fath: Are there any unreleased Wackside mixes, that we should know about?
Wackside: We did a really great mix for B-Zet and it was never released. Some DJs know the actetate and almost beg us to copies. It's probably one of our best remixes. Then we did just lately remixes for the new Mousse T and Ann Nesby co-work "Love is what we need". Everyone likes our mixes, they pump really nicely and you'll surely agree, when you'll hear it later in the club. The problem is that Ann Nesby's record label doesnt't want to release it and so we cannot do anything about it and just play our CD-R. We keep on trying to make a good deal with the label and hope we can release the mixes somehow.
Thomas Fath: Talking about your own projects. I heard the first time of Wackside when Boris Dlugosch played "Turtle funk" at the Music Conference in Cologne (known under the name PopKomm) two years ago. What else did you do?
Wackside: We did an album and "Turtle funk" was our first project, our first single as Wackside and got remixes by Junior Sanchez and Boris Dlugosch. It was really outstanding and big in the clubs. People would talk to us and say how wicked the beats and the entire idea behind "Turtle funk" was. Then we had a following single "I'll get over you", a more soulful tune with mixes by Ian Pooley and Pete Heller. The latest production we did is our third single "What's on your mind", which became a remix-treatment by Tom Novy, Layton & Stone and Munich based Milk'n Sugar.
Thomas Fath: I heard you're working with Lamont Humprey? Is this true?
Wackside: Yes, we do. We just finished the remixes for "You''ve got the fuckin' nerve to call me coloured".
Thomas Fath: Sounds cool. Tell us more about it? This was around a couple of years ago on Logic Records, wasn't it?
Wackside: Yes, and now we met through a friend, an A&R at Sonymusic. Lamont was at his farewell party while a Wackside track was played. Lamont asked him, who this is and he said: 'It's a new Wackside and only I have it yet.' Needless to say, that he hooked us up with Lamont quickly and he not just got the song, but a deal with us to remix his "Fuckin' nerve" for Warnermusic Germany.
... all the sudden, as if we called for him, Mr. Lamont Humphrey popped in the room, looking really fierce, dressed all in black with a black trendy Cowboy hat ...
Wackside: Hey, Lamont, we are just talking about you, good that you join us.
Thomas Fath: So how did you meet? I heard, that you coincidentaly noticed a Wackside song at a friend's farewell party?
Lamont: Yes, I asked who this was and I was told it was Wackside's latest and yet unreleased remix. I thought it was great and my manager said he knows Wackside, so basically one hour later, we met with them and talked about working together. That's how the story goes...
Thomas Fath: What are you doing right now?
Lamont: I'm touring and perform at several parties and clubs as a live-act. Right now I was performing in Berlin at a Spanish Propaganda party, a party concept that started about four years ago in Stockholm/Sweden and now takes places in Berlin. This time it was done togehter with the Barcelona club Salvation, hence the name - "Spanish Propaganda Party". It's kind of a warm-up for the upcoming Gay Pride, with the spanish GoGo-dancers and drag-queens. I was booked as the live act there. 
Thomas Fath: You guys just launched your first label Brickhouse Records. How did this happen? What intention do you have with it?
Wackside: We want to give new upcoming and ambitious talents a platform, where we can stay more underground as if we or they work with a big label. We're especially interested in local newcomers.
Thomas Fath: Talking about BIG labels: you hold a contract with Polydor Records. Wasn't that hard to get to the point of working with such a big major label? Can you still do what you want or do you have to take care of more commercial aspects?
Wackside: We sent our album to a couple of big labels in 1997 and Polydor Records called us and said that our album was great. The guy seriously knew all the details about the breaks, the rhythms, and seemed to have contemplated deeply about our album and was REALLY into it. We just knew this was the one we wanted to work with. We think Polydor Records gives a lot of creative freedom to do what we want.
Thomas Fath: What will be the following projects on your own Brickhouse label?
Wackside: We work with Emel, a female singer and most likely Mousse T. will do remixes for this. Then we have Lutz Markwirth from Frankfurt (former Lofthouse Frankfurt resident DJ) and Marco working together on a project. Not to forget our first release: Supersmack's "Back in the days", with Kiez Kidz remixes. The basis was more or less our mix for Shane & Boo's "Saturday love" which we did last year and we developed it a bit.
Thomas Fath: How is it anyway, being Houselovers in Frankfurt? this is such a Techno-city!
Wackside: We prefer going out in Hamburg, where we have almost all our contacts and friends, like Knee Deep, Michi Lange, Boris Dlugosch or Mousse T.
Thomas Fath: Well, I guess I'll let you guys go and hope we will all have a great night tonight! Thanks a lot for taking the time to let us and our readers know the news!