Introducing...Swayzak Presents SWZK Live and Stream their New Live Set

For as long as we can remember David Brown has been a regular fixture in our periphery though his partnership with James Taylor as Swayzak. Over the past few years there have been some changes in the Swayzak camp though: this time last year Taylor and Brown performed live together for the last time in Room Two marking the end of a fruitful chapter in their story having released music under the moniker on !K7, their own imprint Swayzak Recordings as well as lending their DJ skills to be part of our mix CD series. This did not spell the end for the project however; there’s been a somewhat silent member in the Swayzak project throughout all of these changes, one Richard Davis who over the years has seen many a production credit to his name as well as joining the original two members to embellish the live show. In the next phase of the Swayzak story Davis is stepping out with David Brown and dropping the vowels as they prepare to present SWZK live in Room Two this weekend. With a studio album for Tresor on the way and all these other fresh developments, we caught up with David Brown to get the low down on the setups first hand. He was also kind enough to offer up an exclusive first listen of the SWZK live set to present further what we can look forward to from this new performance partnership. Can you tell us a bit about your new album on Tresor, how did you come to release on the label? Well it was a simple tale if you have a moment? We as Swayzak started making some tracks about January 2011 but we didn’t finish them, James decided to quit for various reasons so I went forward alone. Well sort of alone, I was already working with Richard Davis on another project and I asked him if he would help me mix the album, as he is a wizard in the studio. I also had contact with a chap at !K7 who was very affable and we got on well. He left !K7 to work A&R for Tresor. Around this time I played some of the results of the recordings to Vangelis at Phonica, he said it would be great for Ostgut Ton label, I did agree but I felt Tresor was right for this particular album as we'd played there a few times and really enjoyed it. A lot of Berlin clubs had a snobbish attitude that Swayzak weren't cool anymore... maybe they were right? So s_w_z_k is a reinvention and the music a response. Tresor is a great club , it's the club that put Berlin on the map, it's Techno central, my music as S_W_Z_K is Techno and my friend was running the label so it all went perfect! When the main man Dimitri Hegemann came to meet me the deal was sealed over dinner. Comparing this album to your fabric mix there’s a notable difference in tone – what’s changed for you in your influences? Would you say Berlin and your host label have had an impact? Fabric was 2002 and we felt back then we wanted to make a more chilled mix album with the music that influenced us, not the music we would always play as DJs but some great reference points such as Negativland , Konrad Black, Akufen, LCD Soundsystem all on the same album. Whereas a lot of the other fabric mixes we felt were DJ mixes that were closer to DJ sets you'd hear in the club, ours was a compilation of music we loved. To 2012 - as a reaction to the scene I wanted to make the music as extreme as possible, a sonic assault on the senses , it's dark it's deep its' heavy, that's what I like. James Taylor worked on it as well? Does that mean you’re still working as Swayzak in the studio? That was our last work together, 3 days in Montpellier , he worked on some of the loops with me so I felt it fair to give him credit. Now I work alone as Swayzak or with Richard as S_W_Z_K Live. Maybe one day James will come and play again, would be nice in room 3! You’re working with Richard Davis on your new live project, Swayzak presents S_W_Z_K live, how did you came to work together? We met after his label sent us his album back in 2002 . We were blown away by his voice and still are.. he worked on many Swayzak tunes. We have remained firm friends ever since we have worked Live many times together with Swayzak, so far he's only managed to make a handful of the S_W_Z_K Live shows but they were all wicked! How does the live set relate to the new album performing with Richard? The album was written by me , Richard had input in 3 or 4 tracks and we mixed it all in his house in Berlin. How could I not ask him to play with me he is my friend and we share the same musical values... we like playing together, he has become more involved in the latest release on Tresor "Variant and Empires EP", one side is his and one side is mine... so we move forward as S_W_Z_K together ! Can you run us through your live set up, I know you’re very much Ableton based, does Richard share your set up? We use Ableton to record , Reaper and Cubase to mix , some tracks were also processed using a variety of tools such as Protools (in Bologna at my friend Francesco's studio). Live we use Ableton as it's the most flexible for electronics right now , it’s been our mainstay since 2002 pretty much when Mr Villalobos told us about the software, I would like to use more hardware but right now a laptop and plug ins works really well .....after ten years we really know how to use this software "live" and unrehearsed ! What’re you planning next release wise? Lots of vinyl back issues and some Swayzak material from way back that never saw the light of day, plus a handful of new remixes are coming very soon. There's also our next project "Davis & Brown" which is very different to the S_W_Z_K material, the first release will come out on the Construct label next year. SWZK will be performing live for the first time in Room Two this Saturday, joining Efdemin and Terry Francis in Room Two. For more info and tickets go here.