Introducing: Detroit Swindle (Gottwood Exclusive)

Ahead of their performance at Gottwood festival in the UK this Summer, I caught up with Dutch duo Detroit Swindle to have a chat about all things music. Without doubt one of my favourite production duo's in the world right now, so it was a pleasure to be able to pick their brains. Tickets for the festival are available HERE.

1) For those that don't know, who are Detroit Swindle?

Lars: Detroit Swindle are two idiots from Amsterdam who like pumpin’ deephouse and steamy clubs.

2) With the likes of yourself, Homework and New Jack City at the top of your game, what do you think it is about the Detroit/NYC 90's influenced sound that has captured the hearts of the Dutch underground House scene so much? Out of everyone in Europe, it seems as though you guys have really perfected your own interpretation on one of my favourite genre's of all-time.

Maarten: I’ll not try and say something really intelligent or make up some psychological theory on modern day society, cause the origin of trends are so hard to determine.. What I do know is that everything comes in waves, so i’m sure we’re all gonna be psyched about that eurohouse revival in a few years..

Lars: To be honest, we’re not trying to make music that fits in a genre or is an homage to the early days of house, we just make what feels right to us. Who knows what we’ll be producing in a year from now...

But thanks for the compliment :). We’re stoked that so many people are enthusiastic about our stuff.

3) Every artist says that it's like picking your favourite child, BUT, what is the favourite track you have produced and what is the favourite remix of one of your own tracks? (mine would have to be 'Jick Rames' & Krl's remix of 'Brotherman')

Maarten: I’d say my favourite track hasn’t been made yet. But to pick one i’d say Pain Tomorrow. Its a track that stays interesting to me, even after a quadrillion times listening to it. Remixwise, i’d say its the remix Soulphiction did on that freak stuff.

4) How did you both actually meet, have you both always had the same taste in music, and how did your parents influence the music that we are hearing from Detroit Swindle in 2013?

Lars: We first met as programmers for a club in Amsterdam, where Maarten did the more electronic night, and I did the more hip hop oriented night, but it was about 7 years later that we actually had a decent talk about music and discovered we liked the same stuff... I guess our parents had quite a big influence with all the soul funk and jazz they played..I like the fact that we’re developing our sound into something with a clear link to what we grew up with, but adding a bit of a twist of our own.

5) Full-length LP's is something that most people seem to steer away from in the Deep House world - why do you think this is, and is there a full-length LP within your sights? And would this be straight up House, or would you rather go down a different route for something like this?

Maarten: We’re working on an album, which is gonna be out next year. It will definitely have more variations on it, but we’re dancefloor kinda guys, so it’ll have plenty of dancefloor kinda tracks.

6) How are you feeling about Gottwood Festival, and do you have any other festivals lined up for Summer? Is the UK one of your favourite places to party?

Lars: Gottwood’s gonna be cool i think. It’ll be our first UK festival and we’re doing live, which is always special. If we take the average of our UK club shows and add some sunlight, i’m sure it’ll be really really cool...

Maarten: UK is definitely in the top of our fav destinations. You guys could teach us dutchies a thing or two about partying.

7) Illegal downloading is one of the most talked about topics in the music industry - what are your thoughts on it, and how has it both helped and hindered your career thus far?

Maarten: We don’t wanna spend too much time or energy on it. We’ve got a muso account to get rid of most of the illegal DL’s, but if people don’t wanna pay for music, fine. Its weird, but i guess we got off on the wrong foot with the internet and not paying for things, so its hard to turn things around... The internet has definitely helped our career a lot. All these fans sharing stories... so cool.. It has really speeded things up for us...

8) Electronic/House music is flourishing more than ever right now, with artists such as Duke Dumont & Disclosure topping the UK charts in 2013 - where do you see the genre, and music generally, going within the next 5 years?

Lars: Tough to say. I don’t think its really different now from 10 years ago. Music that was cool, but on the border of something that could get commercial such as the  Armand van Helden stuff or Basement Jaxx stuff went through the same process as Disclosure or Duke Dumont are going through now, so I’m sure that in 5 years, it’ll be the same. The ‘underground’ will have left them be for a while since they went commercial, and another 5 years later, they’ll be all over it...

Maarten: I hope Nicky Minaj will be all over the Deep House scene, The Black Eyed Peas will be stuck in post modern Dubstep and Detroit Swindle are recording live sounds in outer space for their next album..