UK born, Berlin based duo Stereo.Type turned heads with their debut track ‘Momento’ on Get Physical back in 2013, before taking some time out to hone their production and DJ skills and cement their sound. They are back this year with a catalogue of new music, including releases on Katermukke, Get Physical & Constant Circles, and an array of live performances from the deserts of South Africa’s AfrikaBurn, to Watergate Berlin. We welcome them to Constant Circles for a release on SPIRALS, an interview & a guest mix. Introducing… Stereo.Type.

How did you guys meet and what made you decide to start working together? 

We met whilst working together in London in 2011. We started attending parties together and in late 2012 we decided to start Stereo.type. After lots of partying it was time to try and do something ourselves! Both of us had been into Djing since we were 18 and George had dabbled in Production during a Music degree at University so it made sense to see what we could offer. Also, our music tastes compliment each other so well, which can be very hard to find.

How do you work as a duo? Do you both have specific roles, in the studio and on stage?
When we started in 2012, Bryan was finding a lot of the tracks and making most of the podcasts and George was making music. Since then Bryan has learned to produce and now everything is done pretty much equally.
On stage it is simply a B2B session. This seems to have worked so well as the chemistry has always been great. We never really discuss what tracks each of us will play so we are often mixing into a track we’ve not heard. We find this more inspiring as we can bounce of each other spontaneously.
What is your production process and what are your key pieces of studio kit?
When we are first sketching ideas for basslines and melodies we tend to work alone. We will get together after this to look at adding extra layers and sorting the arrangement. We both have quite different approaches, George is more structured and has studied music theory whereas Bryan prefers to play around with creative techniques to come up with new ideas.
We both use Ableton. Although it’s cliche, we still think it is such a great DAW and there are a million different creative ways of using it. Bryan uses Push to come up with his ideas. George works for NI so we are always using the Komplete plugins, Reaktor is amazing for creating unique synth sounds and even quirky percussive grooves. We also love Omnisphere, there are so many great ways of using that.
You guys started your career with a pretty big track on Get Physical. How did the relationship with that label come about and are you releasing any more music there?
George had been friends with the M.A.N.D.Y guys for a few years so they were up for listening to what we were working on and everyone at the label seemed to love ‘Momento’.  It was only the second track we made together, we were both pretty new to the production game so found it hard to follow up. This past year we have been putting much more time aside for music. We have a track coming out in August 2017 on a Full Body Workout compilation for Get Physical and the plan is to work with them more in the future.
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What’s your dream label to release on?
We both loved Get Physical since we first became interested in dance music in 2004 so that was the dream from the start! Now, Cityfox would be our dream target. They only put a handful of releases out each year and have such a great concept, a great club in NYC and run cool parties all over.
Which of you has the worst habit and what is it?
Bryan leaves everything to the last minute. Whenever we go away to play he’s normally running around a few hours before the gig trying to find somewhere with wifi so he can download the tracks he wants to play. This strategy seems to have worked OK so far though!
You have both made the move to live in Berlin – has this had an effect on your music career?
We have always loved so much of the electronic music that comes out of Berlin but moving here has inspired us so much more as we are able to hear such great music in clubs on a weekly basis. Three of the four labels we are releasing on our Berlin based so it seems to have had had quite an effect! The competition in Berlin is crazy for a Producer/DJ so this certainly keeps you on your toes.
What is the most important thing to see when visiting Berlin?
That is a very tough one, there are a million things to see in Berlin! Of course there is the obvious but it would be too boring to mention the clubs here and Berlin has so much else to offer. Come in summer and rent a bike as it is the best way to explore the city. Check out Tuefelsburg which is a hill built from the rubble during the war, now covered in forest. There is an ex US military watchtower there that has a great view over the city.
What has been the most crazy or interesting gig you have had since you have been performing together?
Our highlight so far was a five hour set in the main room at Watergate in April 2017. It was a private party so not a regular night but the place was packed and playing for five hours on that sound system was a dream. We played a lot of our own tracks that were mainly unsigned at that time and it was great to see them go down so well in that environment. 
What do you have coming up in the neat future – releases and gigs?
Our first solo artist EP has just dropped on Katermukke sister label Mukke and we have another track releasing on Get Physical imminently. We also have an EP coming on Einmusik’s label Ein2 late September and of course our track for the Constant Circles ‘Spirals’ compilation releases early September.
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Other than that, we are working on some fresh solo material and also some great collaborations. We have started projects with Ryan Murgatroyd from South Africa and Justin Marchacos from NYC. Both are good friends of ours and artists that we really respect. It is very inspiring to work with artists we admire and we are learning a lot from them.
How did you put together your guest mix for the radio show & what have you included – any exclusives or surprises?
We tried to showcase a lot of what we are about, from electro techy grooves moving more melodic and emotive and of course a load of basslines! We have included a couple of our own tracks – ‘Signals’ has just released out on Mukke and ‘Time Out’ is an exclusive that comes out at the end of September on Ein2.
We are very happy to be asked to compile the mix for Constant Circles and hope that you guys like the sound!
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