Guestlist, Interviews

Interview: Netherland’s Hottest Export – Homework (Exploited, made to play)

0 Comments 07 December 2011

from 1 April 2011
HOMEWORK

 

The Netherlands can be proud of their offspring: two guys are shaking the ground of all clubs with names these days, and they are from Amsterdam!
They are young, they have a good sense of humour and and they make good house music. Making one track after another between touring the world, they are emerging as new stars of the electronic music scene: Tom Waist and Zip Stolk, better known as DJ duo Homework, working under the label Exploited, by DJ Shir Khan.
Making a statement to the bigger scene at their debut at Panorama Bar last January, they now gaining fame not only in their hometown Amsterdam, but also in hard-to-get-into-“the scene”-Berlin and the rest of the world.

Lately, their newest EP was out of print for the second time – the second print was out of stock even before they were availabe in record shops due to l preorders and now the third and last limited vinyl prints are ordered and soon available – be sure to preorder a copy…!

They are coming to Berlin the upcoming week for the record release party at Picknick club!
Lucky readers, they found some time for the exclusive interview for stylistberlin:

Interview: Homework NOW

Where are you right now?
In our super-secret studio in Amsterdam.

What are you doing at the moment?
It’s Sunday night 10pm, March 20th 2011, there’s a mild breeze outside. We’re working on new material, which always seem to involve an unhealthy amount of cigarettes, beer and espresso’s.

Describe yourself in three words or one sentence:
Two young brothers in (musical) crime with a love for things that were made before we were born or before we were able to walk properly.

Your Soundtrack of your life currently, reason…?
Tom: Rick Poppa Howard – I Won’t Lay Back

Zip: Donnie – Holiday


Your three favorite tracks of all times?
Tom: in no particular order –
Spandau Ballet – Gold (Extended Version)
Aphex Twin – Windowlicker
Horowitz plays Mozart Piano Concerto 23 2nd movement
Zip:
Talking Heads – This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody) 
Donald Byrd – Think Twice
Aurra – Make Up Your Mind

What makes you happy the most at the moment?
When it’s possible to listen to the radio in the hotel bathroom and realizing there is not one mediocre track by Kerri Chandler.

A little bit about your background… Since when have you been dj-ing and producing together? (When was that legendary birthday party, who is that friend? 2007…?)
This story has been told a million times, but it all started when we met in Amsterdam-based record store Concerto, where we both worked at the time. We dj-ed together at a birthday party of Zip’s high school friend Job. This was in 2007. After that we gradually started getting more gig’s in Amsterdam. Producing came not long after that, but it took us a while to find the right sound. Fissa Tune was one of the first tracks that fitted what we wanted to present to the world.

When did you meet DJ Shir Khan for the first time, label boss of the renown EXPLOITED?
We met Jan-Simon in person in Berlin or in Amsterdam. Not sure really. Alcohol has destroyed a great deal of good memories, haha. I think the first time we saw JS semi-live was via Skype, after he had decided he wanted to release some of our demo material on his Exploited label.

Any anecdotes?
JS in Berlin, after our gig in Cookies, in a bar called Donut, saying the word ‘motherfuckers’ in his typical German accent. Still cracks us up just thinking about it. <3

Where are the white shirts and black ties you used to wear as kind of statement?
Zip never really liked wearing them. Tom still likes to wear them for stylistic occasions. We still have a couple of them laying around in our closets.

You stick together all the time, are there any moments you’d rather work alone, and what do you like about having a partner like Tom/Zip?
Even though we like to keep our production process a bit of a secret, we do tend to work on material separately sometimes and bring it together in a later stage. The best thing of being a duo of two longtime friends is that we more or less have the same musical upbringing and therefore taste. It’s great to have somebody around you can share your musical interests with. Apart from that we talk about everything and nothing and we share the same fucked up sense of humor. Arguments are rare and mostly end up being discussions where we understand each others stance. Sounds boring, doesn’t it?

You are producing “house” music with the “right grooves.” Do you actually love your own music and would you dance to it as a guest in a club?
Not to sound narcissistic, but if you don’t like your own music, what is the point in producing it? We would definitely dance to our own music, though there is so much other good music out there we had nothing to do with. We’re still like little, naïve children though when somebody else starts playing one of our tracks in the club.

The greatest influence on your musical style now, compared to the beginning?
In the beginning we were very much inspired by contemporary producers and as of late that has changed to an interest in more vintage influences: (house) music from Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc.

Where do you get the inspirations from for your tracks and remixes?
Sampling is a big part of the way we produce music, so most of the time our inspiration comes from listening to music in general. Anything from hip-hop to disco or folk music (as was the case with our earlier work). Lately our focus has been on soulful music in the broadest sense.

2010 was a big year for you, you went international for the first time. How did it feel to get out of Amsterdam into the world?
Like an immense privilege! It felt as though we did not really deserve it. Every performance was an adventure and everything felt like a big honor. We are still so happy to travel and share our music with other people around the world.

“Fissa Tune” was the first international success, a great one. With “Hudson Square” you are catapulted in yet another, higher dimension. The first pressing of the vinyls was all sold out, right?
Yes, the first pressing (250 copies) sold out before it was even out yet. There will be a second pressing (300 copies) soon. Hopefully all of those who haven’t been able to get the vinyl will go grab a copy in their local record store.

– Tom, did you really buy just the one copy? ;p
Tom: Haha, yes. I just had to buy a copy at Concerto. It felt nostalgic in a way. Back in the day I used to scout the vinyl department for new releases and now I could find our own release between all the others. It felt very surreal.

What is your personal favorite track from Homework so far (reason?)
All our work is very dear to us. It’s too hard to pick a favorite.
The secret project with Riva Starr you announced in February was just revealed, are we to expect more presents like that the upcoming months?
Our track The Street was released on Riva’s Snatch! Records in March, on a special birthday compilation. Right now it’s slowly rising in the Beartport house top 100. The day after the release it was already on #33 and as we speak it’s on #13. We’ll give away a free Homework edit if “The Streets” hits the top 10. Right now we are working on new material and there will be a number of releases coming up. But they all have to remain “hush-hush and on the Q-tip.”

Compared to the average international house music scene, you guys claim high recognition over the globe already. How do you handle the “fame”?
Fame is a big work. It’s not as though we can’t go out to our local supermarket anymore. The recognition is very flattering and we try to stay as sober about it as possible. When people want to take a picture with you… haha, it feels so unreal.

What does your day look like?
Tom: I love to sleep, so usually my day starts around 1pm. I also love to cook, so I start making plans for dinner while I take a shower. Good cup of coffee, a smoke, a look at some production work I did last night. After that… depends on the day, I guess. Some days are clogged up with answering emails; others with reading books and hanging out in coffee parlors or staring at my girl.
Zip: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: from 10:00 till 18:00 I work as a PR for Paradiso. Paradiso is one of the main concert venues in Amsterdam. We’ve got a wide range of artists coming over. From Slayer to Nicolas Jaar and from Nas to Queens of The Stone Age. Thursday is my day off. I try to get some sleep and work on some productions for Homework. On Friday Saturday and Sunday we’ll probably be touring Europe.

Lucky Strike or Marlboro or weed?
Luckies any day.

Sushi or steak?
Depends really, we love both. Steak is a better choice if you’re going to have a long, long night ahead of you. We do tend to go for sushi most of the time.

Vinyl’s or digital?
Since we come from a record store background we definitely prefer vinyl over digital, though there are so many advantages to digital. But our vinyl collection is too big not to choose vinyl. There is of course the sense involved that vinyl is just magic in so many ways: sound, warmth, nostalgia and the fact that you can actually hold a record in your hands.

You made your passion your work, is there any time left for other “hobbies”?
Sometimes it’s difficult, since there are a lot of things that have to be done to keep the Homework show on the road. We do have our own hobbies thankfully. It’s great to step away from music and garner inspiration from other sources, such as writing, reading, cinema, graphic design, etc. Tom’s obsession with cinema can of course be traced back via his video clip work for Homework and Exploited.

What did you read lately? Do you have time for that at all? Can you recommend a book or a mag?
Yes, we are big readers. Especially on a plane we tend to read a lot. Currently: The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (Tom) and The Confessions of Rick James: Memoirs of a Superfreak (Zip).

Last year, you mentioned you want to work with artists like Round Table Knights, Mowgli, Camel, Renaissance Man, Jesse Rose, Claude Vonstroke… You have actually been turning the tables with some of them back to back now, even with one of one of my favorites, Worthy…
It’s been great meeting and befriending some of these guys. Our buddies from Switzerland, the Roundies, will get the Homework remix treatment. Our remix will be released in April on Made To Play.

What will your ideal future look like?
A world where everybody is #winning all the time. Preferably bi-winning.

You met a lot of new people, what was the best/worst moment, favorite gig so far?
One of our best gig’s that comes to mind was when we played Cookies in Berlin on a Tuesday. The vibe was so great that night and it was genuinely amazing to mix with the vintage disco mixer they have over there. We felt like mini Larry Levans.

Last summer, your greatest wish was to play at Panorama bar “someday” – I was at your debut gig and you rocked the party, the crowd was partying during the whole long set and all the fellow Djs were all holding thumbs up. How was it for you? What comes next?
Playing Panoramabar was a dream come true. The four hour set felt like a real hard task before hand, but it was actually one of the greatest experiences we ever had. We could build our groove with the greatest precision. Hopefully we will return to Panoramabar later this year. Our goal for this year is to play at Le Bain in New York.

Please tell us something about your current / past projects / Releases / Activities from you to keep an eye on in 2011:
As said there will be some new releases coming soon, but we are not going to tell you about them just yet. Watch out for that remix for Round Table Knights in April.

People say that the word is going to end in 2012… It is a huge mess right now if we take a look at nature, politics, economics… Ever thought about sustainable lifestyle – do you do anything to live “green”?
We haven’t seen Sex And The City 2. That is our way of saying ‘fuck you’ to the materialism of the modern day world.
… and if we ignore all that: Where do you see yourself in 2015? 2020?
Hopefully in Japan, playing back to back with Moodymann and Kerri Chandler.

“Do you want to be famous, or do you want to be happy”? You gained quite a lot of fame, are you happy now? What do you say?
As long as the world gives us the opportunity to have this adventure for an extended period of time we are more than happy. Ecstatic might be the right word.

A last word?



More about Tom Waist & Zip Stolk:

. Name: Tom Waist
. Date of birth (age): 13/11/1986 (24)
. Live where (district), reason for choosing the place: Amsterdam (West), Westside bitches!
. Relationship status: steady as a rock
. Children: my iPhone
. Occupation: megalomaniac
. Label: EXPLOITED
. Online appearance: drunk
. Name: Zip Loi Stolk
. Date of birth (age): 22/12/1989 (21)
. Live where (district), reason for choosing the place: Amsterdam (Old South) Because I want to look like one of the high rollers
. Relationship status: divorced
. Children: 7 boys & 5 girls
. Occupation: Sidekick Robin
. Label: EXPLOITED
. Online appearance: Naked
http://www.myspace.com/officialhomework
http://www.twitter.com/homeworkdjs
http://www.soundcloud.com/homework
http://www.facebook.com/officialhomework
http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/homework
THANKS for your precious time, guys!

******* WIN YOUR TICKETS FOR HOMEWORK IN BERLIN (APRIL) *******
http://stylistberlin.blogspot.com/2011/03/stylistberlin-special-giveaways.html

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LISTENING TO:

JOSHUA RADIN "Song for you" from "The Fall" Album

JOSHUA RADIN "High and Low" from "The Fall" Album

yuna "Good Times" (party) - DJ set @ 60Hz, Berlin

JOPLYN "Cold Flames" EP

OUER (Live Set @Watergate)

STYLISTBERLIN TRIBUTES:
GLIMPSE & MARTIN DAWSON (R.I.P) "OUR FRIENDS ELECTRIC"

AJAX (R.I.P.) "DANCE TILL DAWN", 2007 MIX

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