Although Kuffdam is from Scotland and Plant is from Cyprus, they’ve never let the distance interfere with their ability to make a stomping good track. The duo first met in 2003, and they’ve quickly grown to become a thriving name in the global trance scene, with releases on labels like John ‘00’ Fleming’s JOOF and Paul Van Dyk’s Vandit. Setting out to DJing on behalf of the duo, Kuffdam is heading to Australia this month for shows in Perth and Melbourne. Rysh caught up to talk about the perils of making music when you’re a couple of thousand kilometers apart.
How has the year been going for you so far?
It’s been a really busy year so far, probably the busiest in my career due to the real mixture of tour dates, visiting new countries and of course the production work. In the last couple of months I’ve been DJing in Poland, Germany, Cyprus and now just getting ready to hit Australia for the first time. We have also been busy in our own studios at home working on new ideas for tracks for Vandit.
Your alias ‘Kuffdam’ spelt backwards is… ummm, interesting. Is this purely coincidental? How did you come up with the name?
Yes, you’re totally correct, that’s the idea behind hit to be honest. I guess it’s probably how I’d describe myself, I’m certainly not the quiet type… I like to party so I guess the name fits.
How has the aid of the internet assisted in getting your name out there?
The internet is the mighty double edged sword to us in terms of music. On the one hand we [Kuffdam & Planet] are two producers living thousands of miles apart, and thanks to the web we are able to work together, share ideas and complete tracks. We can do all this over the web thanks to software like MSN and our own private servers. I guess the downside is the issue of file sharing and how that affects sales. This in turn means the chances of us doing what we love for a living is slim. Right now both Yiannis [Plant] and myself hold down full time jobs as well as working on tracks and touring. Still, it’s damn good fun so I wouldn’t change a thing right now.
How did you and Yiannis meet? And how long have the two of you been producing for now?
We actually met over the web, I had was out in Cyprus in 2001 to DJ in Larnaca and on my return Yiannis got in touch with my tour manager and sent me some tracks he was working on. From there we really just became good friends and we starting working together, by 2002 we had signed our first tracks up to 020 Records in London. Since then we have been touring together for various gigs and I’ve been over to Cyprus to work with him 4 or 5 times a year when we focus on new tracks.
Does the distance factor cause many problems when you are co-producing with Yiannis?
Not really, at first when all the tracks were done over the web the real hard part was just trying to work out what each other wanted in the track and trying to make it work. We probably could have got together a lot sooner, god we didn’t even speak on the phone for the first year of our productions. Since then we have been travelling together for different shows which gives us a great chance to work when we are killing time in the hotel. I’ve just recently bought a small flat in Cyprus so I can visit more often. Remember, I’m from Scotland, so any chance to see a little sun is an amazing thing! That and the music is a big draw for me to visit often.
You and Yiannis have a live show, how does that work? What advantages do you find in the live show over just DJing together?
Most gigs it’s normally me DJing on my own. I’ve been DJing now for well over 12 years so it feels pretty normal just to travel to the gigs myself. To add a different dimension to the touring we decided to put together a live show which basically consists of Kuffdam & Plant using two laptops, Ableton and various effects and controllers to rework and re-edit the tracks. The show features all our own productions as well as remixes and live edits. In the last year the live show has just been something that we have done on special occasions, such as The Gallery in London and Eden in Ibiza. The advantage in the live show is that we get to tour together, enjoy playing live and sharing the experience of what we have produced out in clubland I guess.
How are the VONYC Sessions going?
VONYC are amazing to work with, as part of the Vandit label they run the station really well. It’s a very tight ship with the guys so when the shows come up I simply mix the 2 hours and send it to them. They help with all the advertising and branding so it’s nice and easy for me plus it’s a lot less time out my day. Last year I did a couple of shows as an introduction to new material we were working on, but this year I was given 4 dates to record for.
What got you into producing, and have you ever considered doing any solo work?
Two friends from Scotland actually got me into it and showed me the ropes. One of them is Terry Ferminal, who we worked with on ‘The Ones We Loved’. We had a small band together making dance music back in 1996 and worked with a couple of Scottish labels. From there I started working on my own but I have always found that bouncing ideas off a partner has worked well for me, and really it wasn’t long before I was hooked up with Yiannis and writing tracks for Vandit. Solo material is not something that’s been a huge issue for now, Kuffdam & Plant are hard at work all the time and I’m happy for it to be that. Yiannis is a great talent and we get on so well too boot.
I hear you’re not a fan of staying in hotels, anything in particular you would like to do whilst in Australia?
I don’t mind the hotels that much, I’m just not a person for sitting on my own. I always have the laptop so a movie keeps me company, but I do like to get out and meet people. I’ve had a few emails from some friends in Oz, so I’m hoping someone is gonna take me out and show me the sights. It’s a long way to come just to sit in a room for a week. I’d love to go to an Aussie Rules game… that would be top of my list!
Don’t forget to catch Kuffdam when he tours Australia this month:
Aug 24 – Rise, Perth
Aug 25 – Tranceform3rs, Melbourne
To get you prepared, feast your eyes on this clip of Kuffdam & Plant playing live at First Choice in Poland:
Stonkmaster says...
no Sydney gig, what the hell?