[Music & Interview]: JANEIN

 

 

Jan Götze, the guy behind the moniker JANEIN, was born in Leipzig 1993. 20 years later he started to Dj using the name Janein… which it is wordplay. On the one hand stands for “Jan”, his first name, plus the German word “ein”, “one” or “a”, meaning “one person”. On the other hand the artist name shall express a compromise/middle course using the German word for “yes” and “no”, but also being something raw, unprejudiced.

 

Hello Jan, we met at a party in Berlin’s Revaler Strasse. Actually I cannot remember the name of the club, but it was just a short stopover for me – coming from another party, listening to your set and returning to the party. Not sure if you remember or ever knew why I wanted to listen to you. I was just going to start my own booking agency with two artists signed already and looking for some more. One of my artists recommended me to check you out. So I did and really liked what & how you played. Unfortunately I had to cancel the agency just before it really started so we didn’t work together in this way, but I am happy we have stayed in contact so we have this nice feature now. So let’s start with the interview. What kind of music did you listen to in your youth and raised your interest in djing? When and why did you start it?

Hey Jürgen, yes i can remember! This was at the end of 2013, when i was starting with Djing. Sadly that your booking Agency never started but i am happy that we hold the contact til now and a good music blog is even better than a agency, i think. 😉 In my youth i listened most of the time to Hardcore, Punk and Metal Music but my dad gave me a electronic influence with Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd.

 

 

You were part of a collective in Halle/Saale called “Station Endlos” which just splitted up a few weeks ago, right? How did you get in touch with them back in the days being based in Leipzig? What were the intentions of that group of people?
[Remark 2019: Jan is not longer member/resident of Station Endlos]

Yes, I am a part of the “Station Endlos” collective from Halle. We didn’t split up, we just had to close our club.. because it was not legal BUT we have now a new place and will open it soon – this time legal. 3 Years ago i met Johannes and Leo (two guys behind the collective) in Halle, they told me their vision of opening a club, connecting music and art. So I immediately said “I am in” and that’s the story how I became a resident at the Station Endlos.

 

As mentioned you are from Leipzig and for sure also played in one of Leipzig’s well-known clubs, the Distillery. Is it one of your favourites? How was it playing there?

For me it was always a dream to play in a club with a history like the Distillery Club in Leipzig, so of course it’s favourite! It’s always warm and sweaty there and the most important thing is that I can play 110% from the beginning of my set til the end – I mean the people like it hard and wild, hehe. The other great thing is that I already shared the stage with guys like Rodhad (during a Dystopian Showcase), Monoloc, Matrixxman, Etapp Kyle, Speedy J, Joel Mull and of course Distillery homie Vincent Neumann.

 

 

We had already an interview with Rebar who also told us something about the scene in Saxony (read it here). Could you please tell us what you think about it? Is there any difference to the scene in your hometown Halle or the techno capital Berlin?

I think the biggest difference here is that the parties usually don’t run from Friday til Monday. I mean you have here really good clubs and parties but it’s more selected than in Berlin.

 

You already played at several festivals. What do you prefer: club gig or festival? Do you prepare yourself in a different way if you are booked for a festival? What was your personal festival highlight? Any nice anecdote in a club?

I like both, Festivals are great but also I love to play in a club. When i prepare my set I only think about the start… about the intro and two tracks after it. I really like to interact with the crowd. You ask me for a highlight? One highlight was the THINK Festival, Leipzig in 2016, sharing the stage with Rodhad, Chris Liebing, Dixon and Ellen Allien. This does not happen often especially if you’re young artist like me. I mean I have been Djing now since 4 years.

 

 

You just started to produce a while ago. Released on a compilation. What was your inspiration to start with it? Any favourite producers?

I started with producing because I wanna get deeper with music. I want to understand the music that I play. My favourite producers at the moment are Escape to Mars, Recondite, Inhalt der Nacht and Kobosil!

 

We just heard the rumour that you are founding your own label right now – starting with a nice sampler/compilation. Why do you think the world needs another techno label? What will be your concept?

Yes I start my own label with my good friend Stigmatique and the label will be called “SEELEN”. Our first release will be out at the beginning of 2018 – a Various Artist sampler on limited double vinyl and as download via Bandcamp. The idea behind the label is to give Leipzig a new form of Techno and to give young artist and talents the chance to put out their stuff which has often a high quality – so they can show it to the established artists. Maybe it’s a game changer.

 

 

Most people in the techno world have to do a normal job or just study with the help of their parents. How does your daily life look like?

I don’t study, I work as a service provider on a part time bade (4h a day). That’s what I do from monday till friday, from friday till sunday I am a DJ 😉

I also have the option to pause the job for a couple of days, weeks or months whenever I need it. Example, in the beginning of this year i was two months on New Zealand and Australia Tour.. so I quit the job for that time and began it again when I was back from tour.

 

This feature contains the exclusive track “Σ”. Could you please tell us something about it? Was there any specific moment you got the idea for it? How did you produce it?

The track is called “Σ” what means “sum” or “total”.. so that track is the total of all what I learned til now. The track is produced with the Jupiter 80, Roland TR8, Roland System 1M , Space Echo RE-201 and some VST- Plugins. I got the the idea behind it during a jam session. The track was mastered by Nihad Tule.

 

 

We are already getting to the end of our small interview. So here comes the question about your future. What is already planned? What do you want to achieve in the near and far future? What are your dreams?

For the future I want to produce more stuff and set the focus on the label working together with some nice artists. And of course I wish to play some memorable gigs.