From Szczecin, a city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland (inadvertent dog reference, right there), the pair began in 2003, putting on parties and hosting down-tempo electronica radio shows. As so often happens, it wasn’t long until the two friends found themselves making music. Their studio life began under the moniker 3 Channels, but after a bunch of releases on heavyweight labels like Trapez and Damien Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels, the pair shied away from the name after becoming increasingly pigeonholed as “minimal house”. A call from Dirtybird/Mothership label head honcho Claude VonStroke saw Grzegorz and Wojciech embrace their new identity – as Catz ‘n Dogz – and the pair explored a more eclectic sound palette, from deeper, late-night fodder to quirky electronica, to big-room energetic housers, and released their first two albums on Mothership.
The pair have always kept their production work pretty exclusive, only releasing music on three labels: Dirtybird/Mothership, Get Physical Music, and their own Pet Recordings label. “Somehow it works – it’s kind of enough,” Voitek explains. “If we were with someone else, it’d be too much. With Pets, we can do whatever we want. Get Physical is where our agency is; Phillip from M.A.N.D.Y. [Get Physical label boss] is our really good friend. The Dirtybird guys? It’s always a good output for us. It’s different – a more crazy sound. If we were just signed to just Get Physical or just Dirtybird, it’d be too boring for us.”
Catz ‘n Dogz’ latest project for Get Physical Music was the September release of Volume 12, their mix for the storied Body Language compilation series. Joining the likes of DJ Hell, Modeselektor and Matthew Dear, who’ve each mixed a volume, Catz ’n Dogz were thrilled to be a part of it – more so considering this was their first ever commercial mix release. As to why it had taken this long to release their first mix, the guys seemed slightly bemused. “I don’t know. We didn’t get an offer before!” Greg laughs. “Of course it was always our dream, so we’re really happy that it finally happened… We really wanted to do it special so it [took] a lot of time.” For Body Language Vol. 12, Greg and Voitek called in some favours; littered throughout the mix are exclusive tracks and remixes from friends like Squarehead and Trikk. “Right now, everybody’s doing mixes,” says Voitek. “With Soundcloud and all that, it makes sense to sell [the mix CD]. Later, people can actually get those tracks from other places. If your tracks aren’t exclusive to the mix, people won’t want to listen.”
The experience of putting together their first mix CD wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. “Everything took a while,” Voitek groans, when asked about the process. Many an hour was spent searching for music rights holders who had long since disappeared. “We got refused [on the licensing of music] because some of the labels were completely out of business,” Greg said, clearly nonplussed. Even when the pair had managed to contact the rights holders of some of the more obscure music they wanted for the mix, the master tapes were often long gone. “We had to buy it on Discogs and rip it at home,” laughs Greg. “[But] in the digital world, it makes it special. Before, when you’d go to the shop to find a record, if you didn’t buy it you couldn’t play it, because it was limited to a few hundred copies.”
In a year of firsts for Catz ‘n Dogs, they will also finally get down to Australia for a string of DJ gigs in December. Meant to visit our shores a couple of times previously, the scheduling finally came together. “We’re excited,” Greg says. “We have a lot of friends there. We’ve heard the parties are good, and of course the weather will be awesome. Here [in Europe] it’s going to be winter.” The sun is clearly a major drawcard, because Voitek chimes in about it too: “We’re really excited for the weather. Here [in Berlin] it’s been foggy for five days. There’s no sun. I feel like I never wake up.” With the days growing colder over in Europe, it’s no wonder Voitek feels a little beaten. The wear-and-tear of the touring DJ life has most definitely reared its head. “This year is the busiest year we’ve ever had,” says Voitek, and Greg continues: “[This summer], we played three times in Ibiza. We played Space, DC-10 and Zoo Project. We played a lot of summer openers in Germany and also the US tour was amazing. We had a lot of gigs.”
But it’s not just the DJing that has kept them busy. This summer, the production duo finally decided it was time to live in the same city again. For the last couple of years, Voitek called Berlin home while Greg continued to live in Poland. While the suitcase life of a touring DJ made the separation a little easier, now that they’re back within close proximity, it’s time to get back to what they love the most: making music, and putting on parties. Their Vitamin/Pets Recordings label party at the famed Berlin club Watergate has proved a monthly success, recently playing host to the likes of Ellen Allien and 2012 poster-boy Eats Everything. And now the Catz ‘n Dogz are reunited, they can get started on that third album that they owe VonStroke. Probably. “We were supposed to do it for May 2012 but I guess we’re going to do it for the year after,” Voitek shrugs.
The pair are grateful that, when they make it down to Subsonic Music Festival, they’ll be playing alongside two of their Dirtybird label mates: Worthy and Christian Martin. “When you travel with friends, you hang out, go play your gig, and then make fun of everything. When you go alone, it’s like going to work.” As for whether that makes for more drunken tour shenanigans, Greg plays his cards close to his chest. “It depends on the jetlag – I don’t know. I’ve heard some strange stories about the jetlag from Europe to Australia. We’ll see how it affects us…”
BY RICK WARNER
