You may know them from their classic hits such as Those dancing days, Jorg or Hi Life, if not I suggest you get googling as you are missing out on some quality sounds your ear drums will love you for. German brothers Sven and Lars make up the dynamic duo Monkey Safari. Managing two record labels WhatWhat! And Mambo the pair is no stranger to the scene; they are lovers of club culture and self-proclaimed nightclub addicts. Opening up their club Charles Bronson in their hometown of Halle, Germany in 2011, the club has played home to Catz’n’Dogzm, Andhim, the Adana Twins and Super Flu just to name a few. Their distinctive sound that has been referred to as ‘happy music to get drunk to’ pretty much sums it up. Naturally, the audience is very important to them, demonstrated in their aim to read the crowd and play ‘the right track at the right moment’ and I must say their recent show at Thick as thieves 5th Birthday at Revolver was no exception.
PEARL: You guys are back in Australian playing some shows, how’s it been so far? Do you enjoy coming down under?
MS: Yo! we really like Ozzy, especially Melbourne. It´s our third tour now so we know some places & nice people from the past tours. Every time it´s a warm, peaceful and familiar atmosphere, we need to come back again!
PEARL: You played at the Thick as Thieves 5th birthday this month at Revolver – you were both on fire! How was the show?
MS: Of course, it was amazing! Revolver and it´s crowd is really special, and always into the music. We really enjoy it every time when we´re there as DJs or just as guests. It was also an honour for us to play on the birthday party of our Australian agency. Thick As Thieves is a great team and make a lot of tours for big international artists so of course it was really special for us to be the one international act who played on their party.
PEARL: How do you find the crowds in Australia, are they different when you compare them to back home?
MS: The crowd in Australia made a big step in their musically development. On our first tour a lot of clubs were ruled by electro house and the harder stuff so it was sometimes a bit tricky for us to do our thing but in the past years till now, it feels like being at home. Also in Europe you’ve got different crowds, clubs and territories where some tracks are bigger than others, but every time we just play the music we like and fit for the moment. Mostly the crowd all over the world likes it.
PEARL: I read in an interview in the early days you guys in a formative sense were influenced by the sounds of Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers and Gang Starr – who do you guys draw inspiration from now?
MS: Our whole life is ruled by music. We produce & listen to different kinds of music, have our own record label and our own club in our hometown so the everyday lifetime is inspiration enough for us.
PEARL: What can fans expect this year – apart from touring are you working on any new music or a new album?
MS: We remixed Tube&Berger´s “Imprint Of Pleasure” & Mighty Oaks “Just One Day” which will be released in the near future, working on a new single for our label “Hommage” and are still working on our second album which will be released in 2015.
PEARL: You have a lot of shows coming up – is there any you are really looking forward to?
MS: It´s seems that we have in 2014 our first tours in India and North America…that´s a bit special because we´d never been there.
PEARL: What do you think you guys would be doing if you weren’t making music?
MS: There are so many interesting things you can do in the world, the key is to be happy and ambitious with your life and the things you do….then you can do what you want.
PEARL: What track do you think is going to be huge this year?
MS: Karl Friedrich – Bodies
PEARL: Whats in store for the future Monkey Safari?
MS: Just love & music!
If you’re heading overseas you can find the guys playing at their club Charles Bronson on the 5th of July in their hometown of Halle, Germany. After this they will be playing Electric Love festival in Salzburg, Austria, Buiten Westen Festival Amsterdam and Netherlands and Indoor & Outdoor Festival Freiberg Germany. For a full list of tour dates, head to their soundcloud at www.soundcloud.com/monkey-safari or their website at http://www.monkeysafari.de
JESSICA TAYLOR
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