Three friends with three different backgrounds, all with a passion for music, who just so happend to hook themselves up with Jalapeno Records, a fairytail right? Thats exactly how the story goes for dutch trio Oscar de Jong, Mark Kneppers and Wim Plug, better known as Kraak & Smaak. With very diverse backgrounds, a whole heap of talent and experience, the banging breaks trio pooled together there knowledge and ideas to create a sound that shies away from the usual genre definitions of eclectic and lounge. Kraak & Smaak’s newest album ‘Boogie Angst’ is what Wim likes to describe as “the album that fits everywhere”. With a little bit for everyone and the some. ITM caught up with Kraak & Smaak to discuss how they got hooked up with London’s Jalapeno Records, their dubious name as well as their new album and what they have in store for us next

How did you guys get started?

Mark and Wim have known each other for almost 20 years and grew up together DJing and collecting records. We always wanted to produce music and a few years ago, Mark met Oscar in a local bar. They started talking and Mark learned about Oscar’s musical background and evolving production skills. That’s were it all started; We started working together and it all just clicked.

So how did you manage to hook up with renowned Jalapeno Records?

When we had finished a few demo tracks we wanted to send them around, hoping to be picked up. In the Netherlands there wasn’t a serious label scene for our style of music and we figured that, as we knew the UK breaks and the more general dance scene through the releases we bought for DJing, it would make sense to send our music to those UK labels as well. We decided to try Jalapeno Records and they got back to us straight away. The rest is history!

Why Kraak and Smaak?

Oh no! Not again! Well, ok then… It was originally the official name of Wim’s one-man firm for DJ activities. When we sent demo’s around at the time we started, Wim used this headed notepaper to make it look serious. When we were talking with the Jalapeno guys about a possible release they suggested we keep the name. It’s funny, people remember it and of course if you pronounce it the English way you get ‘Crack & Smack’. Actually, we naively weren’t aware of that until Annie Nightingale made a few comments on that on her radio show! Ouch! It means something completely different in Dutch.

Although you all have extensive CVs, you also have very different backgrounds. How does this affect your music?

We think that this is one of the main reasons why things are going so well for us. Each of us takes their own individual expertise into the studio with them. Mark and Wim’s DJ activities, their nose for what works on the dancefloor and their record collections (i.e. sampling material), and Oscar’s formal musical and production background through the conservatory. There’s a good dynamic between us but at the same time we don’t feel restricted to comply too much to any particular genre. The end products seem to be different in a positive sense, musically interesting and catchy but with an edge.

What are your main influences?

Although it may not always show on the CD, our influences are very eclectic. Mark and Wim grew up with 80s music, in particular new wave and alternative music (Wim has for instance been a long-time Birthday Party fan!), while Oscar grew up with classical music and modern composers. Through the explosion of the house scene and the advent of hiphop we were introduced to modern dance music, funk, jazz, etc. etc. We have been digging vinyl crates and sucking up as many different musical styles as possible since… In one way or another we came up with the Kraak & Smaak style but we have lots of other crazy stuff cooking as well. One of our unfulfilled dreams at this point in time is to release our own beats and breaks album with all our favourite samples on it, including weird and silly Dutch vocal samples!

What can we expect from you first full length album, Boogie Angst? How do you approach the writing and assembly of an album?

Although there are tracks on the album that have been released already on 12”, we have put much effort in trying to make it a proper artist album by remixing and editing earlier songs and adding new ones and spending long nights debating the tracklist. We think we have succeeded in cooking up an album that has the power to entertain everybody at any time: it has down and uptempo tracks, funky breaks, jazzy soundscapes, house, etc. It is an album you can listen as well as dance to and the funny thing is that it still sounds like a real album instead of a bunch of tracks thrown in together. Perfect for a funky Australian barbecue we can imagine. Most of the reactions to the album up til now have been very positive. It seems that people have been waiting for something new to come around, apparently tired by the monotonous pump of commercial house and trance records.

Is there a lot of competitiveness in you area of the music industry? How does this hinder or help? How do you combat it?

Difficult to say; of course we knew the UK breaks scene from buying records and now we’re sort of part of it. For one thing, the whole business of being able to release records through a UK label has helped us very much. It gives you an advantage that is less likely with a Dutch label of getting an access to a world stage. Having said that, we still feel a bit on the outside looking in and that suits us very well. From our point of view it would be nice to be able to release good music that has the capacity to cross boundaries. We hate thinking and acting in terms of scenes and there is a lot of music going around – breaks or other styles – that deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.

You have done mixing work for big names like Resin Dogs, Max Sedgeley and Skeewiff. How does this compare to writing you own tracks? How much do you learn from this kind of thing?

It’s cool to be able to work with other people’s tracks as it gives you the opportunity to try someone else’s ideas out in a different context and see if their song or tune works in a different setting. It is always a thrill when you can transform a track into something totally different that fits with your ideas. Apart from that, it is also nice to be able to ‘tune in’ without having to have a long process of putting the puzzle pieces together which you have when you are working on your own material.

What’s this I hear about a giant record store?

Mark owns a vinyl record store in our hometown of Leiden and we all work there regularly. So if you’re around someday, be sure and drop us a line through the Kraak & Smaak website and we will escort you to our vinyl paradise!

What kind of reputation have you got with your peers?

Of course we are all loved as we are Kraak & Smaak – the best thing that happened to the musical world since James Last. We are also thought of as very generous as we give away free tracks to download on our website www.kraaksmaak.com

If you didn’t have music what would you have?

We would probably have very boring, badly paid jobs in either the flower bulb or fishing industry.

What can we expect out of you in the future?

For the moment we are busy promoting the album through dj-ing, playing with our live band and giving lots of interviews! However, we can’t wait to get into the studio again: besides having a lot of new ideas we also have a number of nearly finished tracks lying around. In theory, we have already finished our second, third and fourth album!

Kraak & Smaak’s debut album, ‘Boogie Angst’, is out now through Jalapeno/Inertia.