If hard edged drum & bass is your thing, you’ve no doubt heard of Germany heavyweight’s Phace. Releasing music on Tee Bee’s label Subtitles, as well as Renegade Hardware and Virus, the duo will be dropping their debut album early in 2007. ITM caught up with Florian Harres (aka Bluescreen) of the duo prior to his impending Australian tour.

How did the idea of the two of you working together come about?

Nico and I met in early 1998. After a couple of parties and hanging out we found out we both liked the same styles of music and our friendship got stronger. In the beginning we spun records, but later in 1999 we started to work on beats just for fun and have continued doing exactly the same thing since that point. Just having fun in the studio.

Your debut LP ‘Psycho’ will be out soon. Tell us more about it.

Right now we plan on putting it out in January 2007. It is going to be a 4×12” vinyl album plus a 12” sampler. Furthermore there will be a CD release of it with 12 tracks, including 2 non drum & bass tracks. We worked on the album for a bit over a year and we are quite happy about the outcome. For us it was a dream come true to do an album on such a great label as Subtitles.

Your music has been described as dark, deep and even futuristic. What is your take on that?

We can understand the description, but in general all we want to do is to make some future funk rock & roll sound. However you describe our sound, in the end all that matters is if you can have fun with it or not. If we can make people happy with it, it’s the best thing for us, no matter if you call it dark, deep or futuristic.

There are bits of 90s drum & bass in some of your style, are you guys a little bit old skool too?

I am not sure if I would describe our sound as old skool, but we most definitely find a big part of our inspiration in the late 90s drum & bass sound. On the other hand I would say that we do not try to imitate anything, we want to bring our own vision of this sound to life. Other people grew up listening to Metallica, Kyuss or Wu-Tang Clan. We had those times too, but for us it has been people like Ed Rush, Optical and Konflict that stayed on our tape-deck for ages.

Who do you count as your greatest influence?

Like I mentioned before, drum & bass wise it’s people like Optical, Ed Rush, Matrix, Konflict, Usual Suspects, Bad Company and Stakka + Skynet, but we don’t limit ourselves to just drum & bass. We find a big influence in any good music there is, no matter if it’s rock, hardcore, classic, soul, funk, hip hop or electronic music.

You guys are dubbed as “creators of disturbing funk” on your myspace page. Tell us more in your own way, what is meant by that?

I remember an Aim conversation with Matrix when he called our sound “disturbing funk”, and I thought he pretty much hit the nail on the head. We like to use random sounds and arrangements, which in the end usually make sense as a whole. We try to keep the vibe interesting to listen to. Our aim is not always to please the dancefloor, but even if we keep it deep and dark we still try to give it a funky, modern and fresh groove.

Your first release, Brainwave/Polymer, was celebrated by the bigger boys in the industry, how did that feel?

I remember we cranked some bottles of champagne when we found out people like Optical were playing it… so it felt awesome for sure. Not the hangover the day after though!

What’s it like being on the Subtitles Recording?

Subtitles is the best label we have worked with so far. Tee Bee is a hard working man who is respectful, loyal and fair. He gives us space to totally do our own thing in music and I am very thankful for that. It’s a nice little family that we’ve been part of for almost 2 years now. We can say we feel like we’re at home with them.

Tell us about your work with Noisia?

Noisia rule. For me they are pretty much the most talented guys out there, along with Misanthrop. It’s been a pleasure to work with them, they are pretty much my neighbours, just a 3 hour trip from my house, so it has been really good to hang out with them. We plan on getting together to work on beats again soon.

How has winning several awards at Future Music Drum & Bass Awards helped you guys?

Locally it helped us out. We got into the spotlight and local promoters started to give us more attention. Even if it’s just a smaller award in comparison to the Knowledge Award, it is the only drum & bass related awards we have in Germany. We were kinda happy that people are really feeling what we are doing.

Has winning changed you guys?

It definite hasn’t changed the way we are, and it won’t. All it changes is how you deal with music in general. When you are successful with anything in life, you get more responsibility and more people want something from you.

You have been featured in magazines such as Knowledge and Resident, and have online sites dedicated to you guys. Do you feel like DJ superstars now?

No way, it’s been smaller articles which gave us a bit of spotlight here and there. It has been a good thing to be on the cover for Resident magazine, as it’s the only German language drum & bass magazine, but it didn’t change us. We want to do good music and we want to have fun.

Since breaking out internationally, what has been the best things that’s happened to the both of you?

For me it’s been the advantage of travelling and getting to spots I have never been to before. Experiencing new cultures broadens your mind and view on things, and it’s a fun thing to do. As Nico is not playing out yet, but plans on doing this in 2007, he hasn’t yet got the taste for travel, but I am sure he will very soon.

You guys will be doing a lot of travelling in these couple of months, what will you be expecting in each city that you’re going to?

I never expect to much hype for the parties I play as I am realistic and know we are not doing the commercial sound for the more “mainstream” heads, which we don’t have anything against at all… when you set your expectation lower, you end up being surprised when people show up and have a good time out there!

Finally, putting aside drum & bass, what is life like on a normal basis for you guys?

At this point Nico is finishing his degree in European Economics and is pretty busy with writing his diploma. I finished university 4 years ago and am working in a media agency during the week. It is all getting pretty busy with the music stuff going on for me, so I actually plan on some major changes in the new year, but haven’t decided on anything yet. First we want to get that album out and we will see what happens. One step after the other…

Phace tour Australia in October, don’t miss out!

Oct 6 – Adelaide, Tonic Nightclub
Oct 7 – Perth, Leederville Side Bar
0ct 13 – Melbourne, Geddes Lane
Oct 14 – Brisbane, Elephant & Wheelbarrow Pub
Oct 20 – Sydney, Hermann’s