1. Growing Up
Friso: I grew up in between Cologne and Frankfurt. Two house and techno capitals during this time. That inspires me a lot, because you had different clubs, labels, record stores, etc around. I would also say being in my mum’s car going to the shops listening to Fleetwood Mac or Paul Simon with the sun beating down through the car sunroof. My mum and dad would listen to music all the time. It was a big factor in our lives, especially the Motown sound.
Take it Easy: I grew up in a small city called Celle. In this city it was all about hip hop. Here the Battle of the Year was founded and we had one of the most famous graffiti Hall of Fames in Germany. It was no surprise that I had been influenced by rap music when I grew up in this type of place. I also started DJing here. Another influence was my dad who is a big fan of Bob Marley and UB40.
2. Inspirations
Friso: I grew up from a very young age with house and techno music. During this time, Daft Punk’s Homework was the inspiration as it was for many. I loved how they combine all this different worlds, from house to techno to pop. The last really inspiring live gig I saw was from Kink – he is a genius.
Take it Easy: During my time in Celle I was inspired by acts like Dilated Peoples, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common or Gangstarr. When I moved to Hamburg 12 years ago I first came in touch with the real electronic club scene and I loved it. In this time acts like Boys Noize, Justice or Digitalism influenced me a lot. Today I am really inspired by artists like DJ Koze, Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar, &ME or Maceo Plex. You see I have not only one music direction and my heart is still fully anchored in hip hop.
3. Your Crew
Hamburg was always a really good and helpful spot for us. It is such a good thing if you have some many open-minded friends around. Hamburg was the hotbed for our career. We love our crew and this city.
4. The Music You Make
It’s hard to describe your own music. But we are really thankful that so many people like what we do. We love to see the smiling faces at night. I remember a really nice moment during our first Australia tour in the morning hours at Revolver in Melbourne: We were playing one of our tracks and the crowd was singing our song. We were just speechless.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
The electronic music scene is changing so fast. Right now we have the feeling that the things getting more minimalistic and a bit harder again.
Catch Adana Twins at Brown Alley on Sunday November 2.
