BOTTOMS UP MIX BY STAFFAN LINDBERG
Interview and Photography by Danny Calvi
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| It's the hottest day of the year in Berlin — RealFeel® 32° — but Staffan manages to keep his cool. |
26-year-old Staffan Lindberg grew up in Malmö, Sweden but like any young homo who has a bug for clubbing, he’d eventually moved to the big city of Stockholm. He loves Berlin nightlife for its unique combination of music and sound system snobbery, plus there’s that enthusiastic crowd of pleasure-focused gays to follow and dance to what’s going down on the dancefloor. Staffan created this mix live, so there were no overdubs or edits before we posted it. Staffan also never bothers to listen to mixtapes without playlists, so we've included one below. This Friday night, catch one of his spontaneous sets at the House of BUTT.
It’s super hot when I meet Staffan at the Hermannplatz U-bahn station. Like all Scadanavians, he’s a bit sensitive for the heat and is covered in 30 SPF sun lotion. We head over to the Volkspark Hasenheide, which also happens to be Kreuzberg’s best option to score some weed or take in a bit of nude sunbathing.
Danny: Do you encounter a lot of Swedes in Berlin?
Staffan: Oh yeah. They move here in like big groups of ten, like packs of wolves… I recently met up with a guy I knew from Stockholm and he lost like seven kilos in a month, just from dancing and partying hard. I see Swedes, Danes or Norwegians all over the place, but I can’t even remember the last time I spoke to a German person.
At the House of BUTT, everyone gets to play for like two hours, which is rather quick by Berlin standards.
In Sweden, we always close at 3 or 5 A.M. at the latest unless it’s like a warehouse party. If you have a bigger booking for the night, it’s actually very rare that he or she gets to play for more than two hours.
What’s the longest you ever played?
The last time I played at S.N.A.X., I played for seven and a half hours down in the Lab.Oratory. After a while, Boris came down and took over. I didn't even get to go to the toilet. Luckily, I could pee in bottles. They don’t mind there.
I’m sure they don’t. They probably saved them for their piss party. And did you get to take a break to eat?
I found a bag of gummy bears that I just kept shoving in my mouth.
Yikes! You don’t know where those gummy bears have been! Time for the Swedish pop question… Let’s say you are forced to listen to an entire LP of either Ace of Base or Roxette. Which do you choose?
Ace of Base without a doubt. I happen to think that Ace of Base are really underrated. Jonas Berggren recently hired two new twenty-two year old girls and they tried to do a comeback tour, but that didn't really work.
I remember when Frankie Goes to Hollywood tried to reunite without Holly Johnson. That also wasn't working…
Definitely not.
There are deejays who just deejay and deejays who make records… You’re a deejay who produces, no?
Yeah, the first track of the mix is my track. It’s coming out on my next EP by the end of the summer. If you want to make a living out of being a deejay — with a few exceptions — you have to produce. I get inspired in the studio by deejaying in clubs, and I want to play the music I produce for the dance floor.
Your mix-tape is quite assertive…
What do you mean by assertive?
You know, like someone who has no problem asking for what they want.
Ah okay, like not shy.
Like a little bit fierce maybe… How fast is it?
It’s like 125, 126 beats per minute. I’m so done with slow.
Or maybe it sounds kind of futuristic?
I put in a lot of break-beats and like garage-sounding stuff, like stuff that isn't really 4-4. I think it’s really nice to put things in to confuse people. It doesn't always work when you play out, but when they get it they really get it because you can dance a different way to that kind of beat. I would say my mix is like a prime time hour for my kind of set.
Yeah, it’s good we swapped you and DJ Sprinkles.
Normally, I play at around 128 to 129 bpm depending on how the vibe is. Does DJ Sprinkles want to be referred to as he or she?
I’m not sure actually, but what’s the point of booking a transsexual deejay if you can’t refer to her as she?
In Sweden, we've have a new word for that. There’s him, her and hen. And hen doesn't refer to a female chicken in Sweden, so it is actually the option between honom and henne. It’s so convenient when you’re talking about someone and you don’t know how hen wants to referred to hen-self.
More about Staffan can be found here. House of BUTT takes place on Friday night, 21 June 2013 from 11 P.M. to 9 A.M. at Prince Charles, Prinzenstraße 85, 10969 in Berlin. That’s just one hundred meters or so from the Moritzplatz U-Bahn station in Kreuzberg. Entry is €5 all night long.
Staffan Lindberg – The Orbit
Fjaak – Remember Me (Arttu Remix Number Two)
Roman Flügel – More & More & More
Box Of Yummies – Whena (The Yummy Dub)
Tripmastaz – R U Scared
Pearson Sound – Gridlock
Scuba – M.A.R.S.
Kink – Trevoga
Toddla T Sound – Worst Enemy (Deadboy Dub)
Henrik Bergqvist – Spin
Mr G – Bounce
DJ Duke – Warrior Drums (Remix)
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