Exclusive Mix & Interview – GHEIST

Regulars at one of Berlin’s landmark venues, Watergate, where they kickstarted their project, and since have experienced a meteoric rise, playing audiences across the globe with their rich and emotive sound. Fusing progressive with house and techno textures, the German natives have forged a deep, melodic sound of their own, which is melancholic and euphoric in equal measure.

The band, have played a across the world at of clubs and festivals, having built a reputation as a versatile group, alternating between a full-on live performance and a hybrid DJ set. As every good live act, GHEIST’s prowess in the booth stems from their incredible studio productions, which have landed them on various imprints, including Sasha’s seminal Last Night On Earth.

We caught up with the duo during our 10th birthday celebrations for a quick chat and an exclusive mix

Thank you for being part of Decoded Magazines 10^th birthday, it’s been a memorable time for us, but for yourselves, you’ve been conquering some of Berlin’s best dancefloors for the past three years. Can you share some of your most memorable experiences from touring?

Happy birthday, and congratulations on 10 years of Decoded! What a great achievement! And thank you very much for having us.

We have come around quite a bit in the last few years and had some incredible times. Most memorable to us are the people we meet and the friends we make along the way. We have a lot of respect for the love and dedication some people put into the organization of their events; they literally spare no effort to make a night as smooth and memorable for everyone as anyhow possible. These guys are the backbone of what we are doing, and they deserve all the appreciation.

How does performing at landmark venues like Watergate compare to playing at festivals or clubs around the world?

For us, everything started at Watergate; we were lucky enough to play our very first show ever at this amazing place. We will forever be grateful for that. But in the last two years, we have been playing a lot less at Watergate as we are touring much more outside of Germany. We usually have a great Festival Season in Europe, but the rest of the year, we are touring in South and North America. To play in Berlin will always be special and unique to us, as we are also home here, but we love the energy of a good festival and the crowd in South America or the feeling when you arrive in New York.

How has the Berlin music scene influenced your sound and artistic direction, are there any local artists or venues that have particularly inspired you?

Berlin definitely is an amazing place when it comes to the music of any genre or art in general. Being cultivated in a club scene that gives you artists from all over the world is something amazing. We are kind of spoiled that way. Even though Berlin as a city has a strong vibe and a feeling that weighs kind of heavy, when it comes to electronic music, we had the chance to be influenced by mostly international artists, most of them moved to Berlin eventually anyway ;).

But at some point, you stop going out in clubs as you are touring on the weekends, and if you’re home, you’re in the studio or meeting your friends, having dinner, or enjoying being by yourself for a moment. Nowadays, we pick up on new artists when we’re on the road.

But yes, Berlin had a huge impact on us, clubs with no phones, the way people party and allow themselves to let go is unique and left a big impression of how a rave should feel.

Live acts have certainly been emerging and making a point of difference in the industry over the last 10 years. Can you describe your live setup and the key elements that make it unique?

Our live setup is less technical as it is a state of mind. We use Ableton as a DAW; we bring several MIDI controllers, an SP-16 drum machine, an electric guitar, and live vocals. What makes every live performance unique is the approach and the idea behind it.

When we play a live set, it becomes more of a concert to us than a rave. Everything gets more intimate and personal. At the same time, we want everyone to experience a party and dance.

What are the main differences and challenges you face when performing a live set compared to a DJ set?

When it comes to curating a live show, you will always face the problem of selecting songs. Especially in the beginning, when you only have a small repertoire to choose from, it can get really difficult to create a storyline that fits and works in the club.

One of the biggest issues is the sound; on one hand, you need very good monitoring to be in control of your sounds, and on the other hand, it is tough to compete with a DJ sonically. Obviously, the qualities of a Live set are different from those of a DJ set, and in a perfect world, there is no need to compare them to each other, so we can simply enjoy the variety of different feels and musical identities.

Something we love to do quite a lot is play a hybrid of both worlds. We basically use a DJ set-up and add life elements to it. This way, we can choose from basically all the tracks out there, create edits, and make them our own, and we’re still able to create the feel of a concert whenever we intend to. This gives us a lot of freedom and countless possibilities.

How has the music industry changed since you first formed GHEIST? What are some of the biggest challenges and opportunities you’ve encountered in the industry over the years?

The biggest shift of values goes hand in hand with the presence of social media. There are still artists out there who benefit from the time they started their career, a time when it was more about your community and music than about the number of followers.

But nowadays, there is no way around social media; it has become a reference for your value, which also leads to a rising number of “DJs” who are, in actuality, “influencers”. So, in reality, you also have to be a content creator on social media to be able to succeed as a musician. Another thing is streaming platforms, which clearly underpay artists, which also leads to less money on the label side, especially for smaller labels. This means less money to spend on new artists and their music. It has become so normal for everyone that music is just accessible at any time for nearly nothing, which leaves upcoming artists with only one choice to survive: you have to tour as much as possible.

At the moment, as there are so many artists out there, we have the feeling that your productions and the quality of your music become key again, which is actually very nice. It’s always been a tough business, and it always will be, but it’s also very rewarding to create and express yourself. Everything is constantly in motion anyway, and there is always a way.

With technology changing rapidly and more affordable to the average user, how has advancements in music technology influenced your production process and live performances?

To be honest, it’s great that we’ve been given all these wonderful tools. They allow you to create so quickly and effortlessly, especially in the initial moment of an idea, which is amazing. But it’s just a different way, and you still have to do the work and have a great idea. When it comes to our live shows, it allows us to travel quite light and still bring endless possibilities, and we are grateful for that.

Much has been written and said about the demise of the artist and album. What do you think it takes to produce and release an album in today’s music landscape?

Producing and releasing an album has never been easier. You don’t need a lot of equipment, you can basically do everything at home on your laptop, and you don’t need a label to put your record out. You can do it all by yourself, which is great, but there is a big chance no one will even know that you just released an album. The amount of music being released every single day is insane.

So before you think of an album that also has to be really good, you must create awareness of your act. To do that, you have to put in a lot of work that is not just related to making music.

It’s simply tough to stand out when there is so much going on, but it’s possible.

Since launching Radau Records in 2018, how has managing your own label influenced your artistic vision? Are there any key learnings and milestones you’ve achieved?

The idea behind Radau Records was to give us the freedom to release whenever and whatever we want, without any restrictions or guidelines to follow. Since we started Radau, we not only achieved that, but we also learned what it means to release music and what’s possible when you put some love and effort into the process. This helps a lot when it comes to releases on other labels. We can articulate better what our needs and goals are, and we can see quite quickly if someone is doing a good job. Radau is our little island on which we can rely at any time we see fit.

What advice would you give to emerging artists looking to break into the electronic music scene? How important is it for new artists to have a unique sound or identity in today’s music industry?

First of all, just do your thing; that’s by far the most important. Don’t get discouraged by setbacks; building your path in this industry will take a while. If you’re in the position to do so, build a community, a musical home where you can support each other; this will help you along the way. If you are not lucky that way, you just have to be stronger and fight a little harder.

It all begins with your music, do what comes naturally to you and be aware of your strengths; everything else follows. Don’t try to copy your favourite acts, but you can learn a lot from them. And most of all, enjoy what you are doing, and it will reflect on your feedback; nothing is more infectious than passionate people who love what they are doing.

With exciting releases on the horizon, can you give us a sneak peek into what’s next for GHEIST?

We‘re constantly working on new music, that‘s for sure. We have some exciting collaborations coming up, which we can’t wait to share with you. Our next release will be on Anjuna in October. As you might have noticed, we‘ve been giving away our remixes of   „You and Me“ and „Numb“ to our fans on our social media. There are some more remixes like that coming up, which we are playing in our live shows. We‘ll keep on touring; at the moment, we‘re finishing the festival season in Europe, but in October, we‘ll be back in the States.

We‘re looking very much forward to seeing you all on tour up till then stay safe and happy 🙂

Gheist x Decoded Mix Tracklist

1: Night Flight I GHEIST Edit.
2: Hans Zimmer- Interstellar I GHEIST Remix
3: GHEIST – Marimba I Robag Whrume Rmx.
4: GHEIST – Frequent Tendencies 2024 edit.
5: Disclosure – You & Me I GHEIST remix
6: DJ Seinfeld – If U Like Me
7: GHEIST – ID
8: GHEIST – Sysygy 2024 Edit.
9: Christoph, Franky Wah – The World You See
10: GHEIST – Auditorial (Stream / Download here)

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