A DJ, artist, label owner, music explorer, father, traveler and many more things besides, Spartaque is most definitely a man with many strings to his bow. A native of Ukraine, he’s been living in Barcelona for the past few years — a move that’s paid handsome dividends for his career. Originally a lover of all things minimal techno, his sound has since transformed somewhat over the past few years, and now incorporates a more heady, dancefloor driven techno sound. Regardless of what he’s putting his hand to, it’s safe to aay we’re digging it anyway. A favourite of many in-the-know DJs and a truly talented individual, we caught up with Spartaque, just as his One Man Festival release was about to drop…
WWD: Hey Spartaque, welcome to When We Dip! How has the coronavirus impacted you?
I believe it was the same for me as for pretty much all other artists. Everything just… stopped all of a sudden, all of our touring, all activities, all plans – this was all crossed out. Moreover, most of us were unable to react to the developments in any way. So yes, in terms of finances, work, and usual activity the coronavirus has seriously changed our lives. I can’t say changes were favorable for me. On the other hand though, I’ve been spending great time with my family and now I look at many things from a completely different angle. I realized that I don’t depend on touring that much and we’re just fine. We get by, we spend quality time together, and in fact it’s a really interesting period in my life that has made me look at things from another perspective.
WWD: What have you done to keep busy, have you learnt any new skills?
Actually, as far as I am a family guy and raise a daughter I’ve been busy all along as the kid was always at home so my wife and I had to adapt our schedule to make sure everyone has time to do their job, which is important for both of us, and take care of our girl. The skill I’ve been learning throughout the quarantine period is team management because we have a business, we have labels to manage. Another skill is time management. At pre-COVID-19 times, I lived a more relaxed kind of life. My daughter would go to school and I’d have more free time at my disposal. Now, as long as each of us had longer hours of childcare to deal with, I had to become more focused and more purposeful. So the two skills I had to pump up were team management and time management.
WWD: When do you think you will be back in clubs, and how different will it be?
In short-term perspective, club life won’t be the same it used to be. Although it will depend on the country hosting the event. Actually, across Eastern Europe, for example in Czech Republic where I traveled in early August, as well as in Ukraine, parties don’t differ much from what they were like before. Perhaps there are certain limitations in terms of attendance in in-door venues but open-air events are packed. So it was really cool performing there and I see that life is blooming in Eastern Europe. As for Western Europe, I see that, say, in Spain, larger clubs are introducing certain restrictions. For example, you can’t switch bar counters, which seems kind of weird… Also, clubs are no longer able to pay DJs as much as they used to, so of course this unfortunately caps our incomes and affects clubs’ profits, too. I’m sure things will be getting back on track gradually, but club culture the way we know it is probably gone for long. I hope that once scientists create the vaccine, everything will be restored and we will all go back to norm. Everyone is craving for that.
WWD: Did you reflect on your role as a techno star during the black lives matter movement, as many of us did?
Sure, just like everyone else, I was shocked when I watched that video where that poor guy was strangled to death, where such aggression spilled out. This is something totally unacceptable, in my opinion. I try to remain really cautious about any statements on social network but of course I was happy to support this global movement – that’s when artists worldwide would post black squares on their social profiles, this way supporting the cause. We did this on social profiles of all our imprints, and I believe that in the 21st century, racial discrimination is simply unacceptable. For me, as a musician, there are lots of artists who I deem as idols, role models… And they’re people of color. So it is heartbreaking to realize that someone can be humiliated, intimidated in everyday life, have their rights curbed because of their skin color.
WWD: Tell us about going back to your techno roots – firstly how and where and when did you get into techno?
Actually, I wouldn’t say that my roots go down to techno. See, I only started playing techno in its right, classical sense about five years ago. Prior to that, I was mostly into minimal techno – that’s the domain where I had built my career in Eastern Europe. The music I played and released including on my own labels was more in a format of Boris Brejcha, who has actually never changed his ways. But I made a decision to shift toward a more European format, which has been an exciting endeavor for me. I really love this style, I love the energy, the subculture as such. And so, yes, for the past five years, this is the sound we promote on our imprints. And the stuff I write is also of the same kind. This type of techno sound allows me to open up most and show people what I got in terms of my musical views and preferences.
WWD: And why go back to that sound now?
As for the current format – of the stuff I produce and my One Man Festival release – now I can say that the acid format is still really popular. People’s feedback is awesome, this kind of tracks does work well, and many top DJs use this format. So if you produce your track sticking to this style, there’s a high likelihood of hitting it right in the target, making it to top trends. So this was the essence of the experiment, the move to launch such a release. This is the reason behind the kind of sound you will hear in my latest releases.
WWD: Tell us a bit about the move to Barcelona. What motivated it and how’s it been going?
It so happened that I realized one thing: for my profile and career to develop, I need to be at some boiling spot in Europe’s club life where many things would revolve around me, where I would be able to be in close contact with lots of other artists. As far as I’m a family man, we opted for Barcelona. See, you get plenty of nice bonuses here apart from work. It’s beautiful architecture, super delicious food, mega friendly people, Spanish language I have long sought to master, which is a valuable asset for an artist touring a lot across Latin America… In fact, we’re really happy we have made this choice. Barcelona is an awesome place to live in. Every time I reflect on this I realize I’m a lucky guy.
WWD: You have been hugely prolific over the years, how have you kept it up? Do you ever have to force it?
Yes, I always try to generate ideas and newsbreaks but sometimes I have to make myself do it. Especially when it comes up to producing remixes – when I’ve got to finish the job until a certain deadline, which is already looming over me – then I just sit down, get myself together, and do my job at a rapid pace. In general, I love producing music. This is something I truly enjoy. I will touch upon my studio setup a bit later – I believe many will find it rather peculiar, far from a classic perception. Anyway, if you love your job – and I do love writing music – being prolific shouldn’t be an issue.
WWD: How has your studio setup changed over the years? What defines what gear you use?
My studio setup is one of those things I’d love to tell you about. It’s rather unsophisticated. Now it’s FireFace soundcard. I recently sold my Focal monitors – this is unrelated to crisis, I just realized I almost never use them. I got myself used to working with headphones on. This is probably why none of my neighbors have any clue that they have a DJ or music producer living next door. I really am quiet at my studio. Although sometimes, my wife asks me to turn it down a bit – even in my earpieces – when our daughter is going to bed. Speaking of other hardware, besides my soundcard, it’s just a midi controller and Ableton Push, both of which I use and enjoy. But again, I’ve simplified my setup as much as I can to be able to produce while on the road. I’ll be honest with you – most of my latest tracks I wrote on the road – flying somewhere on tour, staying at hotels, and so on. Now, due to the fact that our music business, our labels are rapidly developing, on weekdays I mostly perform administrative functions, including doing my CEO job. And I find my time running short for producing music. In this regard, writing music on the road comes in… or rather say came in handy. When I fly somewhere I’m able to switch off all gadgets, go offline, and get to making a track for a couple of hours with no distraction whatsoever. So I start it on board a plane, finish it off later the same night at a hotel when I arrive, and also try it out at a club where I play to see the initial feedback from the crowd. But now rules have changed, so I continue producing from home. But I wouldn’t want to change anything in my highly mobile sound producing setup. I want to be up in arms to do my thing on the road whenever things get back to norm
WWD: What have you got coming up/are you working on?
Actually plenty of stuff is going on right now. A huge number of new releases. Soon my remix for Nakadia will come out on Metodi Hristov’s Set About label, then there’ll be yet another release on Codex, and on October 30, my album will see light. I’m very excited about it and I’m in great anticipation of that event, which I’m sure will be awesome. More really interesting projects are yet to come, of which I’ll tell you in the upcoming interviews. Anyway, I guarantee lots of quality music. I do hope there will be tours, and of course I wish that all of us finally leave these turbulent times behind. I hope the virus will leave us alone soon and we will all return to dance floors where we will meet. Thanks a lot for this interview!
Keep up with Spartaque on Facebook and Instagram. Spartque’s One Man Festival is out 21st August via his CODEX label. Listen/pre-order to the release here.