It’s hard to envision what can happen when two people with completely different upbringings, life experiences and cultures meet. On one side we have Andrew, born and raised in Southern California, and on the other Dimitry, from South Ukraine. Two worlds apart, yet connected by a thick, visceral and intellectual thread. Somehow their paths crossed, and together they would fuse their artistic minds into a project known as Deep Tribe.
Los Angeles-based Deep Tribe is a DJ and production partnership that stirs musical minds with soul-hitting and deeply meaningful underground electronic music. Creators and innovators in their own right, the duo blends elements of house and techno with influences from other genres peppered in for an outcome that is a signature sound they are becoming widely recognized for.
Today they are gifting their fans and 6AM readers with an exclusive free remix of their very own collaboration with David O’Dowda entitled “Keep Your Head,” out on their imprint Counterfeit Fun Records, which you can You can get download here.
Furthermore, 6AM had the chance to chat with both Dimitry and Andrew as they deliver this week’s edition of Global Vibe Radio with a powerful mix that clocks at nearly one hour and 20 minutes. You can listen to that right here and also download it for free courtesy of 6AM and Deep Tribe.
When and where did you first encounter the house and techno scene and what were some of your first experiences?
Andrew: I grew up in central California. There wasn’t much of a house/techno scene there really, just lots and lots of cows (laughs). It wasn’t until after I moved to Los Angeles that I began to actually experience the whole scene. Basically it was a culmination of various underground parties that I began attending out here that resulted in me catching the house and techno bug.
It was the combination of this beautifully creative and emotionally moving music, along with the mystery that comes with trekking off to secret locations in the middle of the night, and the amazingly warm and friendly people that I met. It was all very magical to say the least and at that point I just knew this was the right direction for me.
Dimitry: I grew up in Ukraine but my experiences in the house and techno scene began for me when I moved to Chicago in the mid ’90s. Chicago is legendary for its dance music scene and the city had an almost immediate impact on me. I spent my time going out and dancing at the various clubs the city has to offer, all the while constantly searching for the exact sound that I was after. I ended up DJing at some of the most coveted clubs and legendary underground events/parties alongside some world renowned DJs. All of these combined experiences helped to create an unshakeable love and admiration that borders on obsession with house music.
Have you performed and/or produced music under different pseudonyms or monikers other than Deep Tribe? In what ways were those projects similar or different to what you do in Deep Tribe?
Andrew: When I first began creating dance music I used the pseudonym “Anda.” It was different in that I wasn’t partnered up with anyone. Because of that, I was kind of all over the place. Not very focused. Working in this partnership with Dimitry caused me to become much more focused on the end result, rather than just always creating something just off the top of my head with no real direction. I still like to do that quite often, just for the fun of it but those tracks are seldom released (laughs)!
I consider those unfocused tracks to be just fun and more importantly, practice. Just like with anything creative that you do; painting, drawing, writing, acting, etc. songwriting and production takes constant practice, dedication and so forth.
Dimitry: Prior to Deep Tribe I was working under the pseudonym “Pȯlbētä”. This was also my DJ name during the time I spent in Chicago. The major difference was that I was on the journey alone, and now I’m in a partnership. Also, most of my creative energy was focused solely on DJing and creating podcasts, mixes, and bootleg edits for specific events whereas now, the focus is mostly on production and live performance.
In our minds, the goals are bigger and more grandiose. They far exceed the previous goal of just DJing. Instead, we are constantly creating original music, working on reaching larger audiences and connecting with people all over the world.
How do you split your production and DJing responsibilities? We’ve seen and heard Deep Tribe live sets where you use bass guitar, violin, and even a saxophone before. Do you still perform live?
Andrew: We equally divide our DJing and production responsibilities and during our sets we typically play “back-to-back.” However, when we do live sets with bass guitar, Dimitry is the one DJing and I’ll handle the bass guitar duties. We relied heavily on the live bass in the past, but as we continue to release more original music, our style continues to evolve in other directions. More recently we have moved away from music that features live bass guitar. We are always polishing up our own style of DJing as a union. We are engaged in the action together and we feel that brings a special dynamic.
In the studio, we are constantly starting new songs. We’re not always finishing them though (laughs)! But I think knowing when to STOP working on a track is extremely important. We both find that if you keep hammering away at the same song when you feel stuck, you just end up wasting a bunch of time. So with that in mind, whenever we feel stuck we usually just put that song on the shelf and start working on something new in order to feel inspired again.
The Deep Tribe studio is at my place so being that I’m constantly surrounded by the production equipment, I’m usually the one starting the tracks. However, we will never finalize a song unless both of us are there together. Without the two of us working together in the studio, we wouldn’t have what we’ve come to recognize as “our sound”… the Deep Tribe sound.
Can you tell us some of the DJs and producers who have inspired you to do what it is you do?
Andrew: I’ve mentioned this in past interviews, but Four Tet always was a big inspiration of mine as far as producers go. Not necessarily his sound, because I wouldn’t say our stuff even sounds like his, but his creative and innovative approach to production. Watch some videos of him online and you’ll see what I mean. I’ve also been feeling pretty much everything Justin Jay has been putting out. The guy is a young genius! Sharam Jey is another one who’s pretty inspiring. Hearing him play live is always a pleasure, literally every time. That’s why it was so awesome when our latest release, “Now Move”, came out on a compilation with one of Sharam’s tracks. That definitely inspired me to keep doing what we do.
Dimitry: I just want to say that I am inspired the most by the DJs that are local; the people that go out every week and do all of this work to create a scene for usually very little to no pay. They bring the music to the masses and usually there is a ton of self sacrifice involved, and virtually no external reward. They do it for the intrinsic reward, and their dedication to the craft (despite the lack of funds and often times lack of respect) and that is nothing short of admirable, and most definitely inspirational.
What are some of the most recent releases you have put out? Are there any upcoming releases you can tell us about?
Dimitry: Our most recent release, titled “Now Move”, was released on a Brazilian label called Moom Records. It was on a compilation that included tracks by some very influential producers including Sharam Jey, Kolombo, and Vintage Culture. We released an EP titled “The One” which came out on Noise Revolt Records. Remixes were included by our good friends Dylan “DaVoid” Glick, Davy James, and Chief Jesta. We worked with our friend Freddy Be and released a remix of his track called “Holding Back” which came out on Darin Epsilon’s label, Perspective Digital. That EP featured a remix from Funkagenda, and did very well gaining exposure on industry outlets such as DJ Mag, Dancing Astronaut, Magnetic Magazine, and of course 6AM. Our remix of “Holding Back” even received praises from Maya Jane Coles.
In the past few years we worked with a label out of LA called Wülfpack, and have done many releases with them that are we very proud of including an EP titled “Inside My Love” which featured remixes from many accomplished artists such as Funkagenda (aka SoulTrader), Dustin Nantais, Brett Rubin, Saand, and Randy Seidman. We performed “Inside My Love” live with Violin Girl at the House Music Awards show in Los Angeles where we were also nominated for best track of 2015.
Prior to that, we released an album called “Do Your Thing” which featured remixes from a couple Chicago DJ/Producers like RJ Pickens, Twitchin Scratch plus our European friends Jack Carter out of England and our buddy Victor Vega from Italy. Our latest releases were a bootleg featuring a vocal sample of Peaches that was released on Perfect Driver — another amazing label out of LA — and it has been taking the internet by storm, and a remix of the legendary “Lotus Flower” by Radiohead released on Counterfeit Fun Records.
We have already completed a ton of new material that we are working on getting released as we speak. We guarantee there will be no shortage of new Deep Tribe tunes in 2017!
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