With the new Moon Harbour compilation InHouse Vol.4 due for release on 6th June, SHA’s Craig caught up with the man behind the mix, Dan Drastic…

DAN DRASTIC

Hello Daniel Faulwasser aka Dan Drastic and welcome to SHA, how are you today?
I’m fine, just came back from a not too busy weekend with one gig in Belgium. So I’m quite relaxed.

You have just finished mixing the new Moon Harbour compilation: Moon Harbour Inhouse Vol.4. Having had tracks featured on previous volumes and now being asked to mix the compilation, tell us a bit about what the series means to you?
I’ve worked in the Moon Harbour office since 2006. My job is DJ Promotion and the manufacturing of our releases. That means I worked on 3 of the 4 compilations in the background and I also had a track on them. It was always a big project to work on for a couple of months and it makes me always proud when I finally find it in a record shop.

With 12 tracks including exclusive sounds from the likes of Matthias Tanzmann, Luna City Express, Reboot, Ekkohaus, Martinez and yourself, how did you go about selecting what tracks would make the final cut?
The most credit for selecting the tracks goes to Matthias Tanzmann. He always has a good taste in finding music that fits exactly in Moon Harbour’s profile, which is also exactly the music we enjoy to play in our DJ sets.

It has been 3 years since the last volume of the InHouse series. Why was now the right time to release volume 4?
2010 was the year of the 10th anniversary of Moon Harbour, last year we released a Circoloco compilation mixed by Davide Squillace and Matthias Tanzmann. We try to make one compilation a year, so it was simply time for a new Moon Harbour Inhouse compilation.

Moon Harbour was founded at the turn of the Millenium by Matthias Tanzmann and Andre Quaas. You joined the team in 2006 and have been a core member since. How did this link first come about?
I first met Matthias around the time he founded and we always had a lot of mutual friends in the scene, so we always met each other at clubs and festivals. We also started to make music together in 2005 shortly after I moved to Leipzig. Also Andre and I became friends around this time. Since I was in the scene for more then ten years already, they asked me if I wanna join the team. So i started working for Moon Harbour in 2006 and my first release was 2007.

Your own EP Noodle Stories was released by the label in January. It had a food theme throughout from the title track to B sides Fish Fingers & Custard and Los Pollos Hermanos which translates in English to The Chicken Brothers. What is the story of this release?
It’s mainly pop culture references. Noodle Stories was a bit on the always funny Nerdist podcast I listen all the time, it’s makes no sense but I liked the sound of it. Fish Fingers & Custard is a reference to Doctor Who, he likes this combination of food. Los Pollos Hermanos is a nod to Breaking Bad, it’s the name of a Chicken restaurant run by one of the main villains. The overall food theme was just an accident.

Your hometown is Chemnitz in Eastern Germany where you ran popular parties at club Lait Solaire. How did you first get involved with music?
Mostly over the radio, because with 16 I was to young to go to clubs. As I turned 17 in 1993, I started to go to clubs in nearby cities like Leipzig and Dresden. I also started to DJ around this time and had my first gigs back then.

You then made your way to Leipzig and into the Moon Harbour collective. You are now based there and play regularly across Germany and beyond. What have been the highlights of your dj career?
Playing the first time somewhere you always wanted to play at, everytime is a big thing so its hard to choose just one.

You have a new remix of Yariv Bernstein’s track Tandem out now on Punch Music. The track has definite acid undertones to it, is this a nod back to the acid house days?
Yes for sure. I always loved the crispy sound of a 303, I think it’s the most famous sound of techno. It started the whole thing and was always around.

Finally, what else can we expect to see from you across 2012?
I have a couple of new tracks in the works and a couple of great gigs lined up for the summer. I’m actually pretty curious what will happen the rest of the year, because it started quite well.

Moon Harbour In-House Vol 4 (Mixed by Dan Drastic is Released 6.6.12)

RELATED LINKS

MOONHARBOUR.COM
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
SOUNDCLOUD
DAN DRASTIC