Regarding their forthcoming North American tour, they said, “We have been coming stateside for tours quite regularly since 2005; the last tour was in autumn of 2016 to celebrate the Movements 10 anniversary (Movements was a successful album of ours that was released in 2006 and re-released in 2016). This means it has been two years since we played the U.S. and we can’t wait to present our new songs. Playing the keys and the drums live is what we still enjoy the most.”
On November 8, they will be playing at Output in Brooklyn. “We have been very productive in the studio this year, so we’ll present songs from our recent album Cut The Strings, tracks from the EPs we have released this year on Blaufield and other labels, and many unreleased tracks that we are working on – not forgetting some Booka Shade classics. The set also features our brand new song ‘Sacred,’ which comes out on October 26.”
When asked about their future plans, they responded, “We are very proud to release an EP on John Digweed’s legendary Bedrock label in November, whilst we’ll continue releasing singles on our label Blaufield and playing live shows across Europe. In the spring of 2019, we will also make a return to Australia and South America.”
As kids, Booka Shade acknowledged that they grew up with electronic music. “We were fascinated by Kraftwerk and the new wave artists and bands out of Britain such as Depeche Mode and New Order.”
Book Shade continued, “We always loved playing around with synthesizers and creating electronic landscapes by layering sounds. In the early 90’s, the booming techno and house scene in Germany blew us away and we fell in love with club music. The great thing about it is that it is so instant and true – when the people dance and have a great time, you’ve done a good job. When people tell us that our albums are perfect to transfer the feeling of the club into their homes, it’s a fantastic compliment. We were actually able to live out a dream and have it become reality when we were invited to play as the opening act for Kraftwerk this summer.”
They noted that they made up their stage name, Book Shade, when they were looking for a project name in the mid-90s.
Digital transformation of the electronic music industry
Regarding the impact of technology on the music business, they said, “The connection between the music creator and the audience becomes more and more direct, which actually is great for us because we run our own label Blaufield. Ever since we founded the label Get Physical in the early 2000’s, we always believed in the power of independent music business structures, and in the power of music itself – the DIY idea.”
They continued, “We never had big marketing budgets to spend, and strongly believed that if people hear music they like, they will support it. It’s a great time for musicians to create their own brands, and when young people ask us for advice we always encourage them to believe in their ideas and support a DIY attitude.”
On their use of their technology in their music routine, they said, “Outside the safety of our studio, you would be surprised how little technology we use. We hardly know how to operate our smartphones and social media is still very alien for us.”
For their fans, they concluded, “It will be our debut at Output, so come and join us for a dance and check out some of our new music.”
Booka Shade’s original mixes for “Sacred” and “Cyril’s Garden” are available for pre-order on Beatport.
