...and we love Patric La Funk

First thing to cross my mind when I hear the name Patric La Funk is a series of amazing parties in the legendary 3001 in Dusseldorf. For the last few days there is something new to associate his name with - his new track "Next To You", which came out on Beatport on 27/07 and is among my personal summer hymns 2010 :). A few days before this happened, I got to talk to Patric about his productions, his career and the man behind the Dj booth...


E: Patric, you've started your career as a Dj with being resident at 18Carat. How did you decide to become a Dj in the first place?

P: I have been working as a Dj since the late 90's when I was 15 years old, and I had my first residency at a pretty famous house music nightclub at that time in my hometown Bochum, the club was called 18karat, which translates 18carat, and I've been playing (nearly) every weekend with guest Djs like Tom Novy, George Morel or Dj Piere and around the same time I started working on my own productions, so I guess the time I had back then is what influenced me and my sound pretty much.


E: You are not only playing next to big names such as Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and many more, but we can actually say that you are a big name yourself. What is your formula for success?

P: I’m glad you like my work. I am trying hard to keep my name in the house scene for several years and of course trying to produce good tracks and play proper music. I think it’s important to work, work and work.


E: You have a monthly podcast, which is available on Soundcloud and you have your own radio show on BigCityBeats. Can you tell us something more about it?

P: Yes... The podcast is out always around the 20th of a month. I am talking a bit about the records I play. It’s always different. Deep, housy, techy or more commercial. Trying not to do it too boring...
The radio show is weekly, Mondays at 11pm on BigCityBeats. It’s right after the Toolroom Knights show and there I try to do more underground stuff... ‘cause on Monday night people are usually not preparing to go to a party. So I want them to listen to some quality house and tech music.


Patric la funk Podcast _013 july 2010 by patriclafunk


E: Besides the djing and the radio show you are also making remixes for no other but Fedde Le Grand and Mark Knight. What was your favourite remix until now?

P: One of my favorite own remixes is Mark Knight’s “Colombian soul”. I’m still playing it in some sets...


E: How would you describe your own sound?

P: I think it’s a mixture between house and some techno influences. Call it tech house if u want :-)


E: You have found your own musical label Timbee together with Timo Becker and your music can be bought on Beatport. What do you think about the music market at a time where productions have become very cheap to make and thousands and thousands of new releases come out every day?

P: Yes indeed. Timo and me founded Timbee some years ago. And we always tried to feature new artists with a certain sound. But now it’s really hard to get the tracks and the remixes you want in one package. So we decided to have a break with this. We thought 20 releases with tracks we really wanted is a good moment to take a break and maybe to go on anytime.


E: You have gigs in Europe, Australia and USA and practically all over the world. Do you have a favourite club?

P: I am very regularly playing at Cocoon club in Frankfurt, which is still one of "the" clubs worldwide. Another place I am also playing pretty often at is club 3001 in Dusseldorf. I’ve played there with Fedde, Axwell, Mark Knight and so on. I think these are my favourite German clubs. But I think my absolute favourite club is Space on Ibiza where I played every Thursday in June.


E: How do you relax?

P: I think that’s definitely cooking and eating. I am really into spices and herbs... I think it’s great to try out different kinds of tastes like spicy and sweet and so on... it's really something, which makes me forget everything around me :-)


E: It's hard not to notice that you love to “tweet” ;) Do you think that in a professional way, such networks are shortening the distance between a performer and his fans?

P: Yes, I really do so. And I think people shouldn't take everything too serious beside announcements about new release or gigs. I try to mix up business with fun tweets to share A BIT from my private life. Not too much :-) and yes, I think, beside Facebook, it’s one of the easiest ways to answer questions of my followers and fans.


E: If you had the chance to choose another job, outside the music scene, what would it be?

P: There is no other choice for me. I decided very early to become a musician. And I am still happy with my choice :-))


E: And we are happy that you did! :) What can we expect from Patric La Funk in the future?

P: Well, my new release "Next To You" is out on Dabruck & Klein's label "Replay" and there are several others in the pipeline like a collaboration ep with DBN and new remixes of my track “Callisto” on famous dutch "Black Hole". I’ve also been in the studio with Prok & Fitch just a couple of days ago in England. Further I've been working with Joergensen for a second collaboration after "Here hear", which came out on Hotfingers, Manuel de la Mare and Alex Kenjis label, and I am still doing a lot with my long time studio partner Timo Becker, there will be an ep coming up from us on Toolroom records called "Overdrive". I will also be working again with Tim Weeks, another Toolroom artist, who did a great remix for my track "Restless" in 2008, which did pretty well back then and climbed up to the top of the Beatport overall charts… So, there's pretty much to expect from me this year.


There sure is :) A BIG thank you to Patric for this interview! For those of you, who weren’t at one of Patric’s amazing gigs yet, here are the dates for his next shows:





There is also a feature with him in the new issue of "Future Music", which comes out this Friday.





Images by sushi3000.com