tamarisk
July 26th, 2004, 09:09 AM
by Mauro Calleja
Monday, 26 July, 2004
Mauro: How do you define your style of music?
Steve & Mandy: Our influences in DJing are often described as hard, callous and harsh varying from Amok, Sven Wittekind and Andreas Kremer to Marco Remus and Eric Sneo. These stimuli have led us to develop a novel style which emphasizes a lot on a heavy baseline accompanied by some crude but strong sounds.
Which are your favorite records of all time and why?
Steve & Mandy: Sven Wittekind -- From Frankfurt to Hell; Dj Amok -- Bongo Dynamics; Pasquale Maassen, Dj Amok, Sven Wittekind, Brainshaker, Switchblade -- Bits of the Devil 1. These records simply reflect the hard work behind them and are often of good general taste amongst hard techno enthusiasts (including ourselves).
Do you have any planned bookings?
Steve & Mandy: After having played in two key festivals in our islands in the last few months (i.e. Lovedance Global Masters Festival and the Heineken Masterclass Festival) now, we're looking forward for this year's Exit! TRIBU Music Festival, where we'll be playing in the Gigolo ?Records Arena hosted by FACT alongside Terence Fixmer, Richard Bartz and Mike Wills.
What are you planning for the future?
Steve & Mandy: At this point in time, we have various plans occurring and other being thought. One of these is surely our urgency to do something inventive; we passed from a 2 deck -- 1 mixer session to a 4 deck -- 2 mixer
performance. Also, we are profoundly involved in what an anti-drug abuse campaign is and entails and are currently (June 2004) working on some material aimed for a local subtle campaign (together with our partner-in-work Nik Grek). Finally, we are working hard in order to produce an efficient and professional web portal which could be found on www.zinaandmandy.com
What music do you hear in relaxing mode at home?
Mandy: This brings some controversy between us! Steve prefers to listen to a very wide range of different music tastes varying from classical music to the latest Italo-Dance hits. I'm more keen to listen to chill-out music in my free time. As one can deduce, these have very little to do with our common sideline behind the decks, however this is very significant since DJing for us is still a hobby.
What do you think is the urge of becoming a DJ here in Malta?
Steve & Mandy: We think that most people and youths in particular want and insist in becoming a DJ since it is an easy and affordable way to achieve (maybe) a small but important goal at such an early stage of life. Most of these individuals identify themselves with the type of music they play and this could be very healthy for one's personal character. The only thing that is important is that the urge manifesting itself at the beginning of the DJing course transforms itself in an ever-readiness to accept constructive comments and to work hard to further acquire new skills in the art of DJing and in the music sphere in general.
What will be the dream of a perfect utopia party scene in Malta in your opinion?
Steve & Mandy: The party scene in Malta has evolved extensively to now become one of the major commercial activities in our islands. Surely this is great for the ?never-ending-income' individuals who are surely witnesses of great events with lots of great performers. Still, event
organizers are not pleased with this situation since together with other colleagues are striving to route the very limited (as compared to the number of events being organized) Maltese partying crowd to their events. This fracture is further subdivided when one considers the different types of music. Definitely, this is not the best way to convey the Maltese Party Scene to an International Audience. Ideally, (but not necessarily the best way), the old way of having a minimum number of attractions bringing over highly international ranked artists should do fine.
Do you spend reasonable time to train yourself to learn new skills and ideas technically on turntables?
Steve & Mandy: Our training time has been considerably extended, as soon we aimed to perform with 4 decks and 2 mixers. Obviously the co-ordination needed between us as a duo is more highly outlined during such performances. Thus, we aim to train for about one and a half hours daily apart from individual training occurring separately.
What's the idea of working together back 2 back? What's your relation after all?
Steve: We started the DJing course together after reading some magazine adverts. We had no idea where this course would lead us. However at the very end of the course, we taught of uniting our different skills behind the decks and thus turn out a duo. Mandy, being described as the first woman to spin hard techno tracks in Malta, was already being considered as something innovative and novel to our Techno Scene. Thus as a couple we used the room given to us, in order to be purveyors of good quality techno sessions. We feel that we could have a greater impact when being united as one. Add to this, we consider our performances as a consecration of our
love to techno and the reciprocal love between us. Being partners in life and in something you love to do is completely superb!
What's best? Playing the latest records, be as innovative as possible or play a load of classics?
Steve & Mandy: Playing the latest records together as being as innovative as possible are crucial to obtain the respect of the techno enthusiasts. The classics saga has to be stopped if we intend to project ourselves in the future and not being slaves of the late 90's. However the most important is to place your heart in what you're doing without and side interests extraneous to what you're doing.
Please don't hesitate to send your feedback and comments on [email protected]
Monday, 26 July, 2004
Mauro: How do you define your style of music?
Steve & Mandy: Our influences in DJing are often described as hard, callous and harsh varying from Amok, Sven Wittekind and Andreas Kremer to Marco Remus and Eric Sneo. These stimuli have led us to develop a novel style which emphasizes a lot on a heavy baseline accompanied by some crude but strong sounds.
Which are your favorite records of all time and why?
Steve & Mandy: Sven Wittekind -- From Frankfurt to Hell; Dj Amok -- Bongo Dynamics; Pasquale Maassen, Dj Amok, Sven Wittekind, Brainshaker, Switchblade -- Bits of the Devil 1. These records simply reflect the hard work behind them and are often of good general taste amongst hard techno enthusiasts (including ourselves).
Do you have any planned bookings?
Steve & Mandy: After having played in two key festivals in our islands in the last few months (i.e. Lovedance Global Masters Festival and the Heineken Masterclass Festival) now, we're looking forward for this year's Exit! TRIBU Music Festival, where we'll be playing in the Gigolo ?Records Arena hosted by FACT alongside Terence Fixmer, Richard Bartz and Mike Wills.
What are you planning for the future?
Steve & Mandy: At this point in time, we have various plans occurring and other being thought. One of these is surely our urgency to do something inventive; we passed from a 2 deck -- 1 mixer session to a 4 deck -- 2 mixer
performance. Also, we are profoundly involved in what an anti-drug abuse campaign is and entails and are currently (June 2004) working on some material aimed for a local subtle campaign (together with our partner-in-work Nik Grek). Finally, we are working hard in order to produce an efficient and professional web portal which could be found on www.zinaandmandy.com
What music do you hear in relaxing mode at home?
Mandy: This brings some controversy between us! Steve prefers to listen to a very wide range of different music tastes varying from classical music to the latest Italo-Dance hits. I'm more keen to listen to chill-out music in my free time. As one can deduce, these have very little to do with our common sideline behind the decks, however this is very significant since DJing for us is still a hobby.
What do you think is the urge of becoming a DJ here in Malta?
Steve & Mandy: We think that most people and youths in particular want and insist in becoming a DJ since it is an easy and affordable way to achieve (maybe) a small but important goal at such an early stage of life. Most of these individuals identify themselves with the type of music they play and this could be very healthy for one's personal character. The only thing that is important is that the urge manifesting itself at the beginning of the DJing course transforms itself in an ever-readiness to accept constructive comments and to work hard to further acquire new skills in the art of DJing and in the music sphere in general.
What will be the dream of a perfect utopia party scene in Malta in your opinion?
Steve & Mandy: The party scene in Malta has evolved extensively to now become one of the major commercial activities in our islands. Surely this is great for the ?never-ending-income' individuals who are surely witnesses of great events with lots of great performers. Still, event
organizers are not pleased with this situation since together with other colleagues are striving to route the very limited (as compared to the number of events being organized) Maltese partying crowd to their events. This fracture is further subdivided when one considers the different types of music. Definitely, this is not the best way to convey the Maltese Party Scene to an International Audience. Ideally, (but not necessarily the best way), the old way of having a minimum number of attractions bringing over highly international ranked artists should do fine.
Do you spend reasonable time to train yourself to learn new skills and ideas technically on turntables?
Steve & Mandy: Our training time has been considerably extended, as soon we aimed to perform with 4 decks and 2 mixers. Obviously the co-ordination needed between us as a duo is more highly outlined during such performances. Thus, we aim to train for about one and a half hours daily apart from individual training occurring separately.
What's the idea of working together back 2 back? What's your relation after all?
Steve: We started the DJing course together after reading some magazine adverts. We had no idea where this course would lead us. However at the very end of the course, we taught of uniting our different skills behind the decks and thus turn out a duo. Mandy, being described as the first woman to spin hard techno tracks in Malta, was already being considered as something innovative and novel to our Techno Scene. Thus as a couple we used the room given to us, in order to be purveyors of good quality techno sessions. We feel that we could have a greater impact when being united as one. Add to this, we consider our performances as a consecration of our
love to techno and the reciprocal love between us. Being partners in life and in something you love to do is completely superb!
What's best? Playing the latest records, be as innovative as possible or play a load of classics?
Steve & Mandy: Playing the latest records together as being as innovative as possible are crucial to obtain the respect of the techno enthusiasts. The classics saga has to be stopped if we intend to project ourselves in the future and not being slaves of the late 90's. However the most important is to place your heart in what you're doing without and side interests extraneous to what you're doing.
Please don't hesitate to send your feedback and comments on [email protected]