Brodanse hail from the north of England and, as their name suggests, they’re a pair of brothers. The duo have been making waves in a very short space of time thanks to their high work ethic, keeping on top of a label, DJ gigs, developing a live set and great collaborations, such as the track they did with Groove Armada. With support from luminaries such as Pete Tong, they’ve progressed to a level where they’re now picking up gigs at places like fabric. Not bad eh?! We spoke to them recently ahead of their appearance at Emerging Ibiza, here’s what they said…
Tell us about the beginning, what DJs/sounds/parties got you started on your journey? Which one of you got into the music first?
Austen: It all really began when Scott was hanging out at the old Sankeys in Manchester around 2007, he was watching guys like Zabiela, Switch, Gabriel Andanda and Oliver Huntermann – it just looked really vibey, from there we got some decks and began to try and make our own music. Around 2010 I moved to Milan and got into the disco scene and began hanging out at a record shop on the weekends. A couple years later we got back together, combined everything we had learnt and formed Brodanse!
What were you into before house/techno? Any amusing/embarrassing revelations you’d like to share with us?
Scott: In our teen years we were really into hip-hop, especially that 90’s sound, in fact so much so that Austen attempted MCing whilst in sixth form (fortunately he moved on from that and no recordings survived)! The move into house all started when we were about 15 and 18 and went to a club called Ampersand in Manchester, it was really funky house, we loved it and just stayed right in the middle of the dance floor all night with our sunglasses on! We had never really heard or felt anything like it before then.
How do you feel your sound has evolved over the years, has it changed much? What kind of stuff were you making in the beginning?
Austen: Like all of these things it just seems to get better with time, practice and education. Fundamentally it is the same, we have always lived for the groove but now we can deliver our ideas in a stronger way.
How did you get started with making tunes? What software/hardware did you invest in?
Scott: It was Logic at the beginning and endless hours of tutorials, everything was self taught and experimentation. We had a Macbook of course, some second hand Mackies and a Midi Keyboard, nothing too fancy but it got us going!
What would you say is your greatest achievement to date?
Austen: There are a few highlights, but signing to Nic Fanciulli’s Saved Records is right up there, as it was a long time ambition! Same with playing at Fabric, ever since we first stepped foot in the building we wanted to play there – it is our favourite club! Also holding a Danse Club label party which sold out with Groove Armada at Factory 7 was amazing!
You’ve been doing your live thing more recently. How did that come about?
Scott: Austen really wanted to do it for ages after seeing Ame in Tunnel (Milan) perform live, however we knew that in order to do so we needed to move over to Ableton for our production which was a big deal. Over several months we made the transition – fortunately it was the best thing we did and we never looked back! We are now total Ableton converts!
You’re quite tight with the Groove Armada guys. Tell us how that came about?
Austen: It all started in the green room at Village Underground, the guys had been supporting one of our tracks (Activate ft Cari Golden) and we said we would hook them up with Cari if they wanted, one thing led to another and ‘Sweat’ was born… the rest is as they say is history!
You guys are at Emerging Ibiza this year. At Emerging Ibiza industry experts choose emerging artists and aim to showcase their talents while helping them learn the industry ropes along the way. What are you hoping to glean from your expert Coco Cole?
Scott: We are really interested in doing radio and Coco knows what she is doing in that department – she has already given us some great advice and is a big supporter of what we do!
And what are you hoping to gain/learn from the experience in general?
Austen: This will be our debut in Ibiza so we’re sure we will gain and learn a huge amount whilst getting inspired! I have a feeling we will love it!
Is there anyone else at the festival you’re excited to meet or see perform?
Scott: As we run the label Danse Club and we personally A&R all music it will be really exciting to hear some new stuff from the guys playing at Emerging Festival. In fact Jamie Roy who is performing at the festival recently released on the label so good things to come!
What’s your experience of other festivals and conferences? Any in particular you’re big fans of?
Austen: We opened up the Port Stage at Bestival last year which was awesome! We had a never done a festival before and the next thing you know we landed from New York at 6am, get shuttled down to the Isle Of White and we were taking over from Rob Da Bank! We are also doing Lovebox this year on the same stage as Groove Armada which is really exciting!
What would be your dream festival appearance? Who else would be on the line-up?
Scott: We are really into Secret Garden Party after going down last year and would love to eventually curate a stage there. For us the line up would be (in time order):
Late Night Tuff Guy – warm the room up and get everyone feeling good.
Derrick Carter – really get the party rocking.
Groove Armada – just do their thing.
Brodanse – get real deep.
Lauhaus – to take everyone into the night!
You recently moved back to Manchester. How does it compare to London? Where’s good to go, besides the usual clubbing venues?
Austen: London is London – it really is at the forefront of what we do, but for us the move to Manchester was about getting back to making music and building a proper studio.
Scott: In Manchester you do have some cool things going on at places like Joshua Brooks and Soup Kitchen and there is some interesting new spaces opening up in particular one near Cheetham Hill. We are currently working on bringing something totally new together, it is not a rave, it is a concept . . .
And finally, what have you guys got coming up? Anything exciting we should know about?
Scott: Our Saved EP drops in June which we are super excited about – especially after we saw Nic Fanciulli and he said ‘Big record that boys’! Fingers crossed! There is also an EP coming out on Ray Okpara’s AMA Recordings in October and there is a remix forthcoming we did on Soweso of a Lauhaus track.
Austen: We also have an EP coming out on Danse Club in September that we made with a DJ W!LD remix!
Scott: And we have been hard at work on the label recently so we have some big tracks coming out from long time heroes like Ray Okpara, Nikola Gala, Tom Ellis, Reset Robot and Eddie Richards!
