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If you’ve lived in Macao for the past three years or you’ve got to the age whereby your choosing your holiday destination is based on the food available rather than the dance floors, then you can be forgiven for not having heard of Booka Shade. Otherwise there is very little excuse. To be fair if you don’t know the name, then you’d definitely know the German electro outfit’s sound. Their track ‘Body Language’ has transcended genres and clubs alike, putting it on a par with Claude Von Stroke’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Detroit?’ as one of the biggest crossover tracks of the last few years.
Since the release of ‘Movements,’ their previous LP in 2006, Booka Shade have completed one mammoth world tour (taking in nearly 150 shows in 20 months) and are about to embark on another. In the interim they have released the 12”s Tickle / Karma Car and Numbers, both international radio and club hits in their own right and the latest in the DJ Kicks series. So, with the imminent release of album number three, ‘The Sun and The Neon Light,’ you’d think Booka Shade could afford themselves a holiday?
“We have just had a break for only a couple of weeks but already I have started to feel uncomfortable being at home all the time,” Arno Kammermeier (one half the duo) tells me, his workaholic nature evident from the start of our conversation. ‘My wife always says I’d rather have you play at the weekend because I can’t stand you on a Saturday night when you’re at home. “I get nervous,” he explains, “because I think I have to go on stage.” Well, as anyone with a missus can tell you, keeping ‘er’indoors happy is half the battle won, cue yet another world tour for the Berlin masters with even bigger dates this time around.
“Last summer was fantastic, we played some very very nice shows but this summer is gonna be even more amazing.” As well as some of the mainstays in the dance calendar such as Wild In The Country and the Glastonbury Dance Village, 2008 sees Booka Shade’s appearance at some of the world’s biggest rock festivals, a fact that is still surprising to themselves especially. In August they travel to the States for Lollapalooza but before that there’s the small matter of Germany’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, where they line-up alongside the likes of Motorhead, Incubus and The Streets.
“I remember clearly looking at the line ups of those festivals for the last 20 years and I never imagined we would play there as an electronic band. It’s really funny how things develop and sometimes quite unrealistic really. Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘what strange movie is this?’ But then on the other hand, it is good to watch your movie, and go long with it and not try to read the script,” comments Arno.
Reading the script is definitely not what Booka Shade are about because they haven’t taken the easy route with their latest release. After producing records like ‘Mandarin Girl,’ ‘In White Rooms’ and the colossal ‘Body Language,’ any major record label would’ve told them to produce a ‘Movements II’ album. “You think that this would be the easy way but it’s not,” Arno assures me. “I think people always appreciate if you try a little bit harder.”
But surely a completely new direction would bring with it-unbridled pressure from the outset? ‘When we started 15 months ago, we always said no, what pressure? But then after a while, we felt it for sure especially now that the album is finished. ‘The Sun & The Neon Light’ combines their first two albums. It has the atmosphere of ‘Memento’ but it has the strong pop song writing of the ‘Movements’ album. There are hook melodies all over the place with many that you can really cling onto and in truth it presents Booka Shade as a band in their own right.
You have to listen to it and you have to get into it but when you do there is a lot you can take out of it. There are acoustic strings, percussion and electric bass and guitar with the computer being used much more as a recording tool rather than as a method to create. Anybody who bought the latest DJ Kicks release will know Booka Shade’s track ‘Numbers,’ a late addition to the album, but a very welcome one. That was the first time the duo really introduced the full vocal with verse and chorus and repeated the feat to devastating affect.
“We thought we would continue with it [vocals] and I think it feels very natural. We don’t want to compete with any solo vocalists or anything like that. The vocal is like an instrument in the music, it is not a pop vocal that sticks out, rather it is in the production, like you would have it in an ‘Air’ album. ‘Moon Safari’ will always be an instrumental album for me although there are a lot of vocals on it.”
Some artists that embark on tours of this magnitude often get a bit formulaic towards the middle of it and can often end up like a record on repeat. For Booka Shade this could never be a problem as every couple of weeks they change the set list to bring in new tracks or new arrangements of the classics just to keep people on their toes. “We know that many people will see us a couple of times on the tour because they are in Ibiza or at a festival and then at a club show. So it’s quite important for us to keep the whole thing interesting,” he says.
Their world tour arrives in London next week, but before you all start clamouring for tickets, it’s been sold out for a while. Their choice of an evening slot at ULU came as a surprise to many when it was announced last month and clearly suggests a change of approach. “In the early evening shows, there is a lot more you can present as it is not only for the crowd to have their hands in the air. You can show a bit more.”
Having set up their record label, ‘Get Physical,’ in 2002 with long-time friends and collaborators M.A.N.D.Y. and DJ T, the label is steadfastly approaching it’s 100th release and Booka Shade especially are very keen to mark this landmark with a bang. ‘We plan to have a special set up so that we come together to do something with M.A.N.D.Y or with T, it’s a shame because for quite a while there has just not been enough time to work with them.’
“It’s a strange way how things develop because when we started the label it was really meant to be a little playground for everybody.” Strange indeed but Booka Shade haven’t got where they are today by playing games. If after another 20 months another 150-shows, you still haven’t heard of Booka Shade? Then you’re probably not worth knowing. And I doubt you watch ‘Peep Show’ either.
