DJ The Crow (aka Überdruck)

Guest DJ for Trance Generators May 16 2003 @ the Fridge

The Überdruck story began in one of the first techno clubs in Germany known as the Reactor club in NRW, which was founded 1993 by Dirk Nothroff. He had the experience as a DJ for more than 18 years as he initiated the club, where he worked as a DJ-resident as “DJ the Crow”. The club was open for three days a week and found a good resonance. After 4 years of resident-time he handed over the club to his successor Timo Maas. This decision was made to produce his own style and to have more time for booking dates. When he separated from his former producer after three years of successful work for building up his own music studio, he then met his future studio partner David Rzenno on one of his DJ-gigs. Sharing musical interests, they decided to cooperate and build up a fresh new style of music.

The own label “Überdruck” was founded in 2001 by Dirk Nothroff to be independent from the influence of producers and to follow up his own style.

The first Überdruck production started with the title Drugface, which was a release as a remarkable picture vinyl at the beginning of 2001. It was produced in cooperation with Dirk Nothroff and David Rzenno at the “Überdruck-studio“. Drugface had a threshing resonance in the clubs and the DJ-scene and found it´s way into the playlists of many radio stations and DJ-clubs in England (Judge Jules, Dave Pearce – Radio One ). The second “now or never” and third single “Bloody slut” continued with the success of the first single. They were licensed to many labels worldwide for publications.

All singles from “Überdruck” are produced by Dirk Nothroff and David Rzenno in their own “Überdruck studio” since 2000. Many projects such as Überdruck, The Crow, Drugface, C4, Toolboy, Schalldruck and Lazard as well as many successful remixes for DJ Shredda, Signum, Organ donors, Fallout boy, Lazard and Drugface derive from the studio. Most of the worldwide DJ-gigs are done by Dirk, sometimes together with David on tour.

In a short time the “Überdruck-Label” advanced to one of the most selling techno and hardstyle label in Germany, where a lot of other successful producers found a platform for their special style of music.

At the moment the actual Überdruck single is in production and is likely to be presented in may 2003. Überdruck is represented in England, where his typical style is very popular. The next overseas tour is already booked for “down under” in april 2003 in Australia. Another highlight of the Überdruck-story is the licensation of the project “Überdruck presents Drugface” entirely for the english label “Bulletproof”.

The picture vinyl single “fat as fuck” appeared in the beginning of february and is already in many top 10 and DJ-playlists. The next future will present more singles from Überdruck, TheCrow, compilations and an “Überdruck-Records Label Tour”!

Überdruck
Interview by Allan McGrath

With its savagely oscillating acid lines, violently throbbing basslines and fist-shaking kick drums, the uncompromising and unmistakable Überdruck sound has undoubtedly injected some much needed power into the year¹s hard dance proceedings. Hailing from Germany, the potent two man partnership have enjoyed an explosive 12 months, commanding deserved turntable time from everyone and anyone on the hard dance scene, their tracks ŒBloody Little Slut¹ and ŒFat As Fuck¹ fuelling frenzied dancefloor reactions time and time again. Sure enough, a subsequent stretch of UK DJ sets duly followed with consistently crowd pleasing performances at nights such as Neo, North and Tidy London ensuring further UK appearances will no doubt continue. With an April tour of Australia confirmed to compliment dates all over the globe the Überdruck mission for worldwide dominance is now well under way providing the perfect time to catch up with co-producer Dirk and delve a little deeper into the history and future of their punishing production style.

You¹re the turntable front man in the duo. How long have you been djing? I have been djing for 19 years now and i¹ve certainly played a lot of productions in that time. Seeing many styles of music come and go over that period I¹ve observed what has happened and what can happen with such styles.

How would you describe the music you make these days?
Me and my production partner David make our own style, fresh and with no rules. We do what we like in our productions. The dutch like to call it "Hardstyle" the harder, different style away from the well known old trance sounds.

Well your music is definitely at the harder end of the spectrum! What is it that attracts you to this sound? I´ve been djing a long time and the commercial sound bores me. I like to produce for the real club people, the people who love dancing in a club to feel and hear the music. The crazy hard sound is also great as I love to shock the people with madness.

Madness indeed! What inspires these crazy productions?
I suppose one develops his own taste in the course of the time. I¹m always listening to many good productions and picking inspirations every weekend I play. I wake up in the morning after dj gigs with my brain full of grooves and production ideas.

What labels do you record for?
Most of our productions are for my own Label Überdruck. We collaborate as the Drugface act with English label Bulletproof records and have also completed many remixes for English labels like Bulletproof, Sectioned, Tidy Trax, Honeypot and some German major companies like Wea, Sony, Universal, Urban.

Your own label Überdruck has certainly been one to watch over the last year, with several searing productions causing major dancefloor damage. What have you got planned for the label¹s immediate future? Überdruck 13 is the next out and will be available from the 31st March. It¹s by new act Wallstädt & Dorfler and is called ŒSyncronized¹. Überdruck 14, ŒDistordet Soul¹ by Mayhem, is also the product of a new act but by no means an unknown one. Mayhem is actually a collaboration between Mass In Orbit and Sean Dexter from Hypertraxx, well known for his work on Overdose. At the moment me and Dave are working on the second track of the latest Überdruck single which should be finished in the next couple of weeks. This will be Überdruck records number 15, with Bonito Julio from Austria unleashing ŒMad Creatures¹ as Überdruck 16, so watch out for them!

What aliases do you record under and how do styles differ between them? We use many aliases for our productions all of which depend on the style. The main guises are Überdruck, Dj The Crow, C4, Toolboy, Drugface, Schalldruck, Lazard. We entered the German sales charts with a trance-dance track "Lazard- 4 O´clock" in 2002 a four year old production of mine and the crazy Dj The Crow stuff is always good for some surprises, no rules ! I¹m always looking to uncover new methods of production and new sounds. Forever forwards never backwards. The real party crowd needs these fresh beats and crazy sounds.

I know you¹ve previously cited the likes of Kraftwerk and KLF as influential and inspiring artists- What current production acts do you respect? I respect all producers who have their own style in production, all the actual musicians; those that don't get remote controlled by a big major company. For example I like Kosheen and Fatboy Slim.

Did your recent success come as a surprise?
I¹ve had some big successes in the past with various dance tracks but I´m extremely happy that my other side (the harder, darker side) has also produced a good response. Me and David have produced many titles within the last 3 years, often spending the whole day in the studio. For sure this caused many stresses with our girlfriends. Sorry ex ­ girlfriend, for me this was a reason to separate from her.

Your unique sound has recently been rocking some of the UK¹s more underground hard dance clubs- what do you make of the crowds at these events? Do you hold ambitions to play in mainstream UK clubs? I am getting a lot of enquiries from England at the moment. I¹ve loved every gig that I have played in England, each underground event had a good crowd dancing and everyone was having a good time. I love to play in front of this sort of crowd, a crowd who loves the music and isn¹t only there for big names behind the turntables. Although i¹ll play at any venue where one would like to listen to my music I will never play another style or change my set for the mainstream clubs just because it is one great commercial event.

What other countries have you played in and which of them have showed the most enthusiasm for your punishing sound? I have played in many countries all around Europe. The most enthusiasm I have received is in the Netherlands, Russia, Poland and of course England.

In a UK dance context the Überdruck sound certainly fits a hard and underground vibe - do you see yourselves as underground artists? I like to let the people decide where they put us. The thing is you can be a relatively unknown "underground artist" for many years and eventually release a strong and popular production; suddenly you are huge success and secure many dj bookings. You are the same person with the same style as before you have this big success yet some how some people who listen to your music before its was so big like to say you are now commercial! It¹s partly for that reason that I changed my style to the harder side (hardstyle). I´m getting very bored with the commercial chart tracks. The underground club crowd gives me the right inspiration for my tracks and an effective dj/producer needs this crowd contact and the reactions. I try to make music for the real party people and don¹t need to sell out my ass for people that let their tastes be dictated by what the hit is of the media. I¹m no pop superstar.

What does the term underground mean to you?
For me all new things come from the underground and without the underground there would be no new music. The underground allows space for some crazy brains to produce tomorrow¹s big success with brilliant ideas. In many ways everybody alone for himself is the underground.

What are the three indulgences that you most enjoy?
Girls! Djing in front of a good crowd! I¹m not sure which one first. Haha! I¹m also quite a fan of good Italian food, especially after finishing a new production.

Is there any advice you can offer to budding producers?
Search and find your own style and don´t look only for the money. Make your music with joy and you will have success in the future but it can be along time before you find it!