Making a welcome return to Australian shores, German based DJ, producer and remixer Scot Project finds himself in the enviable position as headliner of Transmission’s 7th Birthday in Sydney, and Smells Like Pharmacy in Melbourne. But, it’s all in a days work for this hard dance maestro, having appeared on the mainstage at Godskitchen Global Gathering, Homelands, Slinky, Gatecrasher and Dance Valley (to name but a few), as well as countless other parties around the globe. i_have_ADD caught up with him before he hopped the plane for the long haul flight down under.
Scot Project, otherwise known as Frank Zenker, first got his introduction to dance music and DJing at the tender age of 13 thanks to his brother, “I started really early with DJing because my brother was into hip-hop. At the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s I listened to the very first house records and was taken in by electronic music. After the first acid house releases in the early 90s, I found I liked that stuff, so little by little I found myself more interested in techno and trance. I like to listen to a lot of forms of music, like house, techno, 70s and 80s classics, and sometimes even some guitar based music. It is always important to listen to different styles to keep your mind open and maybe get inspired! I think like most I would have to cite guys like Kraftwerk, Sven Vath and Thorten Fenslau as being greatly inspiring to me in the early days.” Call me a curious cat, but I was also interested to hear how Mr. Zenker ended up with the superstar DJ alias of Scot Project, “The name comes from Star Trek… ‘Beam me up Scotty!’”
Scot Project landed his first gig in 1986 at a youth club, not as illustrious as the main stage of Dance Valley, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right? So now, some 18 years later, Scot Project finds himself playing to packed tents and fields at large scale dance events as well as small sweaty clubs. I was keen to find if Scot Project had a preference between the two, “Playing at small clubs is really great. Normally you have more contact and more of a connection with the people when you’re spinning at venues that are no bigger than 500 people. But my recent experiences with really huge parties, like 5,000 to 35,000 people have been amazing. They are both great, I remember playing Plastic in Sydney which was only a small club, but banging people!”
With a long list of solo productions, Scot Project is now hard at work in the studio between his DJ commitments all over the globe. He’s also recently taken a step back from remixing other artists in favour of working on his own material, “I would like to take some time off to focus on my own production tracks, but my DJ schedule is still very busy. I don’t produce as much as I did a year and a half ago, but I try my best to keep on with it. I just finished a new Scot Project track and my first mix compilation, both will come out soon. I am not focusing on remix work at the moment, besides of course remixes on mine and Kan Cold’s own Druck Label. The newest Druck release will come out soon with a Scot Project mix.” And his favourite remix to date? “I think that would have to be The Second Trip or Ding a Ling.”
A respected name in the hard dance scene, I was interested to hear how Scot Project described his own personal style, “Everywhere in the world has a different name for the sound I play, but I prefer to call it tech-trance. However, I find it boring to play only these sounds when I DJ. I usually play the same sound as I produce, which is hard trance, but of course I also play different types of music in my sets, from trance to progressive and hardstyle, to some techno tracks. You can’t eat the same thing every day!” I was also interested hear how Scot Project felt his German heritage had affected his success and approach to DJing, producing and remixing, “The German sound is very much what has become known as hard trance plus progressive, techno and tech-trance, whereas the UK sound is still very much hard house. Of course I produce a very German sound as my influences and early music experiences were formed this way. I have never seen any point in changing my sound to suit UK and international crowds though… I like to bang it out the same wherever I play!” And although a little cynical in his opinion of the current German dance scene, Scot Project was positive it would return to form, “I do not think it’s any secret that the German scene is very much in decline. I’m sure this will not last and it will be back and bigger than ever, but right now I play overseas nearly every weekend.”
Having toured Australia in the past, Scot Project holds only fond memories. The most notable? The weather of course! “In the past I have come to Australia in the middle of your summer, so this time I am happy to escape the horrible heat wave we are having here in Germany as I hear it is a bit cooler over there! I really love coming to Australia, I have made many great friends there and the party people really know how to enjoy themselves!” Chances are that for his upcoming tour he’ll find just as many people enjoying themselves, with headline sets in Sydney and Melbourne at some of this year’s biggest parties, “I have played for the Pharmacy guys twice now, and of course my good friend Kan Cold (Hennes & Cold) played at the last Transmission when he was in Australia. I am greatly looking forward to both shows very much! The party people in Australia, and Japan too, are just amazing! I am looking forward to reminding the party guys that DJ Scot Project means business!”
DJ Scot Project plays:
Transmission’s 7th Birthday, Saturday September 6th
Smells Like Pharmacy, Saturday, September 13th (BUY TICKETS)
