Paul Kalkbrenner’s music is almost the complete opposite of what most people mean when they say “Berlin techno”. You’ll find no warehouse-ready kick drums and painfully fashionable haircuts here. Instead, Kalkbrenner’s music is bright, positive and unashamedly designed to reach huge audiences. Over the past 20-odd years, Kalkbrenner has taken the fundamentals of techno and wrapped them in a sweet, life-affirming package. He doesn’t seem to do negativity.
Though he came up through the clubs in Berlin, and became properly famous acting as the stereotypical bad-boy DJ in the cult film Berlin Calling, Kalkbrenner has always felt that bigger stages were the natural habitat for his live techno performances.
“I feel more that it is my destiny that I arrived on those stages, not just because they’re main stages and it’s more popular, but also because it’s where my music works best,” he says.
“I feel much more comfortable at a huge festival, like 50,000 people, and I’m up there on my stage, surrounded by my monitoring, than I was back in the day. Walking into the club through all the people, setting up your stuff by yourself, then playing live after the DJ guy who didn’t leave you enough space for your live gear – this would be, for me today, much more stressful than any huge stage where you’re actually kind of alone up there.”
In 2010, Kalkbrenner left the Berlin-based label BPitch Control and started running his own show. He started his own label, hired his own tour manager and took full control of his career. After five years in the driving seat, and feeling the commercial limitations of his DIY approach, he accepted a contract with Sony Music to release his latest album, 7. It immediately hit number one in Germany and in several other European countries.
Those five years of independence have taught him some important lessons, though, and helped him to build a reliable team around himself. Keeping those people on board has been key to continuing success.
Trustworthy
“The people are trustworthy, they work together,” he says of his team. “It’s not like sitting down with a much more sophisticated tour manager, or stage manager, who will tell people big time what’s going on now. I’m still with the same people. So it’s all about the continuity from that time. It’s a very good team, and growing. It’s like with a football team. You come with the money and buy a Premier League club and try to buy everything together. [But] Man City hasn’t won the Champions League so far, because you just can’t buy it. It needs to grow.”
Having spent so much time working with close friends at one label, and then with total independence at his own label, was he nervous signing over some of that control to Sony?
“I would have been much more nervous five or 10 years ago,” he says. “This year they came to me with this big contract and the archive, and they said: ‘Do whatever you like. Also grow artistically.’ No bullshit can happen to me there now. I needed the time because, before, as an artist, I wasn’t big enough. When you maybe have just made one album and you sign a contract, it’s not a good contract like this. They can definitely tell you more what to do then than is now the case.”
One of the big draws was the unique offer of free access to Sony's vast archive of recordings. Some of them, such as samples of Luther Vandross and Jefferson Airplane, make prominent appearances on 7.
“You can really snoop down in this archive; they have everything,” Kalkbrenner says. “Top-quality single stems from, like, 1965. Unbelievable treasure. I’m the first artist to be granted access, so it’s an honour. Also in a way, it’s a good kind of pressure under my ass, to do it well. Not to bullshit with it.”
Beyond Europe
Another factor in Kalkbrenner’s decision to join Sony was the chance to perform outside Europe more often. Although he is insistent that his music be placed as far away as possible from the EDM explosion spearheaded by David Guetta and Skrillex, he sees greater opportunities for performers such as himself in the US and across the world. As a result of their success, there’s a growing audience for his brand of techno.
“I read this thing that Oliver Koletzki said, that EDM is not about music, and I can agree,” he says. “I actually don’t want to speak bad about it, because in the US the David Guettas of the world have also opened the gates for other electronic music, like me. It’s all about what people are used to hearing. They are getting used to four-to-the-floor beats. I would have sworn that our football, soccer, would never arrive in the US. Also techno – never. But you see, times are changing. Soccer is in the US, and on its way to the number-two sport. It’s coming big time.”
Fatherhood
Now heading for 40, and having become a father this year, Kalkbrenner is at a stage where many people pull back from music and touring. Although he's had a quiet summer while waiting for 7 to drop, Kalkbrenner is not about to get off the road.
“It all feels very good together right now,” he says. “I have a good feeling doing it. This is not necessarily the case for everyone who becomes a father who is making electronic music. I always thought I was like a late father, but now, as it happens, it was exactly at the right time.”
Paul Kalkbrenner plays the Rankin Woods stage at Electric Picnic on Sunday at 9pm
