Catz ‘N Dogz are a duo that are 15 years to the good, their Pets Recordings label will be releasing their latest EP ‘Marlena Shaw – Woman Of The Ghetto’ and performing at the amazing Field Trip festival in Somerset.
We sit down with the duo to chat about their appearance at he festival, their writing process and the struggles within the Polish music industry.
“We produce [music] because we love it, it’s addictive and we have a lot of fun with creating new sounds and experimenting.”
Nearly 15 years you have been doing this now, what have been the biggest challenges in that time?
Wow, time goes so fast. Well we’re still good friends and we love what we do, that’s the most important thing. A couple of the biggest challenges for us have been accepting the realization that some people will love your music and others won’t, and the constant hunt for new inspiration(s).
That’s why it’s very important for us to listen to our own intuition. We talk to each other a lot, about what inspires each of us and where we would like to go with our production and music. If you really love what you do and you give 100%, people will appreciate, connect and follow what you’re doing.
And what makes you most proud, what are your best achievements?
There’s not so many producers from Poland and it wasn’t easy to start from nothing, like we did. Now we’re touring a lot and playing lots of amazing parties. More importantly we’ve made loads of friends on our travels, so wherever we go now, there’s always someone interesting and fun to hang out with.
Also our labels are doing great and we’re a&r’ing some really good tracks from a lot of up and coming talent. Its exciting and hugely satisfying when we help with the release of an EP or album from a new artist.
How has the scene back home changed in that time, are more and more Polish parties and producers rising up through the ranks?
Honestly, the worst moment for Polish nightlife was when we joined the EU, because lots of young and creative people left the country to look for better jobs. Right now lots of people are coming home with experiences and new ideas and there’s a lot of creative young people who are no longer afraid to take risks.
There are a lot of new producers with amazing skills, many of whom are still underrated. Poland’s Festival scene is the best its ever been. Events and festivals have great line ups and most of the good dj’s are playing in Poland now. We’re still lacking some great clubs but this is also changing. The places to be are definitely Warsaw, Wroclaw, Sopot, Krakow, Poznan and Szczecin.
How hard is it to stay on top in this game? Do you always have to be making new tunes to get the bookings?
We produce music because we love it, it’s addictive and we have a lot of fun with creating new sounds and experimenting. We’ve never really approached production with the thought of “lets make a #1 Beatport track” or “lets make a festival anthem.” 90% of the time we never know what’s gonna happen in the studio and for us it works best when we just jam and see what happens. We find something that catches our attention and we just explore and expand on it.
Right now there is so much music and many, many DJs and yes, having great music out there is always gonna help your career, of course. But its not the #1 key to success as a DJ, many have proven this.
And how has your writing process changed over the years? Is it easier or harder to make music now?
Oh much easier and for us that’s a good thing. I think because we tour a lot and with DJs and Producers doing more work than ever before, new technology helps immensely. We can have our studio with us and whenever we feel inspired, in the train, plane… you can just get to work and write your ideas. We create most of our music when we travel and we add the finishing touches in our studio in Berlin.
What is your current studio set up? What gear do you love at the moment?
It’s pretty basic actually. We were always very minimalist, to keep our focus more on the ideas than the potential technical problems. We’re still exploring the Nord Lead, Yamaha DX-7, Mininova Synth, Roland TB-3, Roland TR-8 and Roland VT-3. At the moment we’re collecting the ideas and looking to add 2 new synths for our next album.
What should people expect from you at Field Trip? What sounds are you loving right now?
As always, it’s a mixture of different genres, lots of edits and strong grooves. We’ve always played back to back. We usually do 1 or 2 tracks each. We use 4 cdj’s, 2 external fx (delay and reverb) a pioneer rmx and 4 hands. We like playing this way because its entertaining and we always surprise each other with new tracks or edits.
What else you got coming up/are you working on?
We’ve just done a remix of ‘Marlena Shaw – Woman Of The Ghetto’, which we release on our own Pets Recordings in late August. We’re getting very good feedback so far, which is super exciting. There is another single to come in the Autumn and there will also be a few remixes dropping before the end of the year plus a track on a compilation for our friend Yousef. We’re also gathering inspiration for our 4th studio album.
Tell us one thing you love and one thing you hate about each other…
We can ALWAYS count on each other and the things we hate we try to ignore. After so many years we’ve discovered that we aren’t going to change so there’s no point in wasting the energy.
25 – 28 August | Field Trip Festival 2017 | Tickets | Somerset
Featured Image: Yonathan Baraki
