Cityfox began when four friends - Martin, Phillip, Ben, and Billy - joined forces to create a special party experience in Zurich's music scene. They have since brough their legenday parties overseas to New York with future plans to expand to other cities in the US. Adrian Ravelo and Steve Paskovich of SoundPark Radio interview Billy, Ben, and Philipp of Cityfox to discuss their coming together to start the Cityfox brand in Zurich, what defines the "Cityfox Experience," differences between the crowd in Europe and New York, staying true to the original vision of their label, and what guests can expect at their upcoming Space Knights party in New York on Saturday, September 28th. Keep an eye out for the first episode of SoundPark radio premiering tomorrow with a special mix by Adriatique on Pulse Radio!
What is Cityfox? Who are the people behind Cityfox? Tell us a little about your individual backgrounds in the industry and what brought you all together for this project. Billy: Cityfox started as a promoter in 2006 and then as a record label in 2009. But, first of all, Cityfox is a community and group of people who love what they do. If you break that group down to the people behind the scenes you’ll find four guys: Martin, Philipp, Ben, and myself. Initially, Martin and I started Cityfox as a series of parties. We wanted to fill the gap after our favorite and legendary club “Dachkantine” had to close their doors. I think for many people in Zurich, we achieved our mission. We then turned Cityfox into a monthly institution with a simple formula, our code of practice. We look for quality in each detail – music, sound, crowd, visuals, locations, decorations, and installations. In 2008 we opened a club in the old stock market in Zurich and this is where we met the then manager, Ben.
Ben: Working together with this crew was one of the major factors that led me to join the then brand new stock market club “Alte Boerse”. Their nights, and especially their mornings, were always marked in red on the event calendar. All it took was a few long mornings and an ominous trip to London for us to realize that we shared the same passion for quality and detail. My side was always more focused on the operations, ensuring that the often intense party nights could be staged as we wanted. Our friendship grew and with that my real involvement with the label started. Setting up the contacts for the 2011 Blkmarket Membership showcase in Brooklyn set the stage for something entirely new for us. I enjoyed the crowd and the company of New Yorkers so much that I knew I had to return to the city. We decided that with our broad set of skills we could set up and manage any form of pop up club. So we gave it a shot, almost dying fifty times in the process, but with a lot of help from our new New York friends we managed to pull the 2012 Soho party off… and well now we’re here.
Philipp: Since the late nineties, when I first visited Ibiza, electronic dance music has been my passion. I remember when the club “Alte Boerse” in Zurich started. Cityfox continues with their monthly events, which were a highlight of Zurich’s nightlife. I was pleased to see someone bringing my favorite international acts there. The space was acoustically perfect because it was the old trading floor of the Zurich stock market. The sound system was mind-blowing. It surprised me that someone put so much effort into quality and created something that became state of the art. Sadly, this is very rare in the scene. We had so many good times together that I started to become close friends with Martin, Billy, and Ben. We soon realized that we not only had so much in common, but we also shared the same vision and pioneering spirit. Because of this we knew we had to do something together. Bringing all of my corporate, strategic, and conceptual experience to the team led us to form two new companies – one as a music label and another for our other projects. I think I can say we are now four partners, complementing each other perfectly. Each of us has his particular strength in a certain field and together we are strong enough and capable enough to realize something big.
What is the Cityfox Experience? Billy: The Cityfox Experience is the result of all the experiences we’ve had producing events over the years. It’s our take on what a party should look, sound, and feel like. We want to bundle and transform our experiences into one big experience for the crowd.
Ben: The event itself, crowd, experience, music, and vibe all play the main role here. We want to deliver something special, something real, and something worth the money people have to spend. Sometimes promoters rely on big names to fill a space. This strategy can leave people feeling disappointed and disconnected. Our aim is to create a communal feeling at our events, so really community is king.
What’s the big difference between the vibe/parties you are throwing in Europe compared to the ones you’ve been throwing state side? Billy: To be honest, the crowd. The scene here in NYC is kind of fresh, even though there is a big background in dance music. We’re totally in love with the vibe and energy you can create here with all of these lovely people.
Ben: Same with me, it’s the raw energy that the New York crowd emits. It’s not only very special, but also so addictive. The crowd here seems to largely select itself, which was quite a change for us as we are always adamant about having a door selector for our parties. Here we learned that it’s not really necessary. If you produce a certain kind of party then you will attract certain likeminded people, which for me is great.
Philipp: It is very special when people are really into it. They understand the effort and quality we bring and know the vibe will be very good every time. The community is very supportive and gives so much back. This motivates me every time and tells us that we are on the right track.
Back in November (and now again with the upcoming Space Knights) you took over an empty space and created your own vision while with Monkey Business you took over an existing venue [Output] and injected your experience into it. Do you have a preference here, as I’m sure there are advantages and disadvantages of both approaches? Billy: We clearly prefer to take over empty spaces and have complete control of the factors mentioned before. First of all, sound is extremely important to us so we want to choose our preferred system to work with. Of course there are advantages of working with an existing club, as you don’t have to think about the basics like restrooms, bar, power, etc. We also have to say that we had a clear vision right away with Output; the excellent room planning gave us enough space for a Cityfox transformation.
You’ve been throwing parties for a few years, why has New York been your main and only US focus this far? Billy: We have a bit of history here in NYC. In 2009 the Wolf + Lamb guys invited us over for an intimate show at the Marcy Hotel and in 2011 we had our Blkmarket Membership show. You have to start somewhere, and we couldn’t have found any better place to start. That being said, we want to expand and explore other cities in the US, but our process of throwing events needs time and we don’t want to rush it.
Tell us a bit about your label, what does your catalog convey about your brand and how do you feel it differentiates yourself from the other imprints out there? Billy: It’s not a goal of ours to release music that’s different than on other imprints. We want to release music we love with people we love. We really don’t follow any hype or trend out there. The music we release always has a trippy and psychedelic touch with a solid serving of melancholy. I think we’ve released some timeless pieces so far and will try to continue that into the future. We’re really a family, and while we have a small circle of key players, we always leave ourselves open for new talent.
Let’s talk bigger picture, what can we expect from Cityfox in the future? Both as a production agency and as an imprint. Billy: We really want to focus on NYC and the rest of the states with our events. We do have some plans and ideas in the works for a second series of the Cityfox Experience. As an imprint we have quite a few projects and releases in the pipeline. You can expect a re-release of a ten-year-old anthem we very deeply relate to. Sorry, still want to keep it a secret but we’re super excited about it. We also have a new artist joining our roster with our next release – Mark Slee from San Francisco, who is also playing the Cityfox Experience event this Saturday as The Digital Knight Sir Slee! This comes with a super nice and epic remix by Jeremy P Caulfield & Cesare vs. Disorder. Further in the works are new releases from Laurent Bovey, one half of Digitaline, introducing his new solo project Marlowe, then also Mark Henning, Lee Jones, Gregorythme, and the young guns Adriatique. We clearly want to increase the number of releases but still, quality before quantity.
Ben: On the event side we are definitely planning to set up a second series soon. We have not quite worked out the last details just yet. It should definitely be staged here in New York. Maybe a little reduced, back to the roots - simple, with a focus purely on quality sound, visuals, and good drinks. The Experience on the other hand seems to have a life of its own; it just wants to grow and explore. There is so much going on at the moment that we want to ensure that when we do something, we do it proper and at the right time.
As you look to take your brand & artists into the future, what’s the growth strategy you’re employing? Are you looking to grow internally, with more releases by your current artist base, or by bringing in new complimentary talent? Billy: Both, we try to do that all of the time to be honest, but the reality is often something totally different than the strategy you have. Of course we want to grow and we’re open to new talent, but we’re not actively searching for it. Maybe we should change this but then again we want to keep it a family and we want to work with people we love and trust. We don’t want to rush and push too hard. We believe everything happens for a reason so we like to just take it how it comes. Believe me, I’m trying to push our artists but they are like cats, you can’t tell them anything.
Philipp: I mean we definitely want to grow our brand, our community, and also our artists. But, we are in the lucky situation to be independent and not under pressure. The vision and goal of the imprint is quality before quantity and timeless music. This is what Cityfox was always about, so sometimes it’s not easy. Especially now as electronic music is becoming more and more popular and reaches a broader audience. In the genre of deep house there are more and more hypes. When you start to release music to follow a hype it’s like a double-edged sword. We treat the relationship with our artists with care and view it more as a friendship and family, but we are always open to new talent and new music. There are so many people out there who share the same taste of sophisticated, deep, and timeless electronic dance music so I am confident there will be some very interesting stuff soon on Cityfox.
Tell us a little about your relationship with Gregorythme. His latest EP is his first release under the Cityfox imprint in over a year. What does this project say about your brand and what you’re trying to accomplish? Billy: That really says everything about the brand. Gregorythme is a key player and has been on board since the beginning. He is the other half of Digitaline, who played at our first party and were a part of our second release ever. At that time they were our favorite producers and live acts; I think I was their biggest fan. Their music not only implies everything we’re looking for but they also represent our taste. Gregory is able to transport such a deep melancholic and trippy feeling with a single sound. Immediately after starting to work together, we became close friends and I think I’m still his biggest fan. He never takes the easy way out, even when he can. Same as us when it comes to the label and the event productions; we never take the easy way out. He really wants to reach your brain and heart with his music, not just your feet, and this is exactly what we want too. He also just released a wonderful track titled “Born Again” on his own label, Raoul Records. You should definitely check it out!
You’ve had a string of smashing parties in New York, which have left the city buzzing. What are your plans for the US (outside of NY) in the near future? Ben: I doubt we would ever get tired of this buzz but we definitely want to start exploring more of the states at some point. There are still so many cities that lie there waiting; Los Angeles, Miami, and not to forget Chicago or Detroit. A fox is never far from food and we heard that Chicago has some amazing restaurants. The tool for this exploration would definitely be “The Cityfox Experience.” With our new sound system arriving and literally all of the other items we’ve accumulated, we’re capable of popping up in any town. A Cityfox never sleeps; he waits. On a more personal note I’ve always dreamt of doing something in Asia. Tokyo has had a pin on it for quite some years now. Who knows where we will go from here, it really is a very exciting time for all of us.
Philipp: Like Ben mentioned, New York is kind of our new home base. But, there are other very interesting cities in the US that are on my radar. I also have a special relationship and attraction to the west coast, specifically California. I mean we have close friends in San Francisco, especially our partner label Listed.
What’s the story behind theme of your upcoming party, Space Knights? Billy: Martin and I come from a medieval city in Austria, which is certainly part of it. But, to be honest, we were just standing on the dance floor at one of Lee Burridge’s All Day I Dream parties this summer, which takes place at the same venue (The Well), and it put us into a certain creative condition. We turned toward each other and said – Hey, let’s do this, and let’s do that. We came up with the idea to build a virtual castle and to give all the artists a character; they should be our Space Knights. One thing led to another and the vision started to become reality. You add an idea here and there and the vision became even bigger. At the end, the budget exploded and we reduced it to the max. We don’t like telling you all of our plans for this experience, since it should somehow be a surprise and we wouldn’t want to steal people’s own impressions. But, we can promise you that we put a crazy amount of effort into this. We shipped a container with our own sound equipment over, actually the sound system we love. Combine that with a 3D sound mapping and the result is a world premier sound that neither our sound engineer nor ourselves have heard before. We have a story to tell at the event, and that story is told with music and visuals. Hopefully you'll want to hear the tale.
Can you tell us who your special guest Knight will be? Billy: Yes – It’s M.A.N.D.Y. (Philipp Jung) as His Highness Price Philipp!
