DJ/producer duo Adriatique, made up of Adrian and Adrian, has burst into the international scene after making a name for themselves in their home city of Zurich. In addition to throwing two monthly parties in their home city, the two friends have been embraced by Solomun and the Diynamic family and have played at the legendary Neon Nights at Sankeys Ibiza. This summer, they set off on a North American tour hitting cities such as New York for Cityfox's Space Knights and Los Angeles for Culprit's famous rooftop parties. We had a chance to catch up with the guys to chat about some of their touring highlights, playing in the US vs. playing in Europe, their parties in Zurich, and what else is on their horizon including their highly anticipated debut at The BPM Festival in January.
What has it been like being part of the Diynamic family, releasing on the label as well as playing at Neon Nights at Sankeys? How did you originally meet Solomun? We met Solomun the first time personally when he played in Zurich. We were already in contact then about the possible release. From that point on, everything happened very naturally step by step from releasing music to playing at some of the parties, as well as meeting the other guys from the label. After being part of the agency roster, we definitely were part of the label overall.
Tell us a little about your monthly parties in Zurich. What is the scene like there? We have to say we have two things going on: "Moving Around Us" and more recently "Mirror Dance". We started with the first one of our premier parties in Zurich for which we got very good response in Supermarket and Hive Club. Mirror Dance is happening at the lovely Zukunft Club which is run by the Drumpoet guys such as Kalabrese or Alex Dallas. Both projects focus very strongly on the musical journey we've had and the artists we have invited. I would say we know 9 out of 10 of the people we book quite well... intimate places for musically directed people.
What are some of your secrets for remaining productive and not killing one another while spending so much time together on the road and in the studio? We have no other choice, right? We've really become like brothers over the years and we have disputes and stuff like that which is part of every strong relation. We try to lay back, think of everything, and get into the right mindset. That's really the thing we want to do, not only now, but in the future too.
As a duo that play's bass driven melodic house music do you often find yourselves compared with any other artists? Tale of Us comes to mind…. The people who see us live will confirm that our range soundwise is quite big. That comes from our different roots in electronic music for which we are thankful. But yes, this comparisons come to mind... of course everyone has their own flavor but there are a few people which try go get this hypnotic mixture between techno and house.
You recently embarked on a North American tour including stops in New York, Miami, and San Francisco. What were some of the highlights? The Cityfox stuff which is going on in New York is definitely big. With every party we've played there it rose to another level so we are already looking forward to the next on on the 14th of December in New York. Overall, the tour was great. The vibe at the Culprit rooftop party in Los Angeles was sick too, not to leave out the other stops in the US, Canada, and South America - it was dope! We are coming back for you!
You work closely with Cityfox and have frequently played at their events. Other than both being from Zurich, what else has brought you two together? They have a very good sense of the people they want to work with. We've been on their radar since we built this project together so they came to us and we've been on the same page since the beginning.
How have your experiences playing in the USA compared to touring in Europe? You have to fly longer, that's for sure. I would say people are different in almost every city and that's the one thing which makes this so versatile and interesting.
Tell us a little about the exclusive mix you made for Pulse. We did a few mixes in the last month so it was not that easy as we are really picky about podcasts and DJ sets. It's quite a melodic one with some released and unreleased stuff from ourselves. I think could be a good one for an hour drive or so.
What else is on Adriatique’s horizon? We are touring quite a lot until the end of the year. Then we will go for the first time to BPM together with the Diynamic Family, playing also at the Culprit daytime event. Then we have a little tour in South America and also some gigs in the US.
In January, our new Culprit EP will come out. We are already working on some new music for Diynamic and Cityfox. We also have a little tour project in mind for next year - can't tell too much about it right now but for what we can say is that it will be more extended than our "usual" performances.
