Prince Club's Zach Speaks Toolroom Selector Series
PRINCE CLUB are two veteran dj/producers from Montreal, Canada who continue to hold fast to being mindful of the dancefloor first in both their production and sets.
The duo’s floor incinerating sound of sexy, sweat dripping, foot stomping dance music has resonated with their supporters and consistent in each of their releases on the industry tastemaker labels like Jesse Rose’s Made To Play, Riva Starr’s Snatch! Records, Dance music juggernauts Defected Records, and their current home label, Mark Knights’ Toolroom Records.
Their versatile sets range from the early deep house hours of a day, to the peak hour, hands in the air and then back into the darkness of the late late set that brings you back til the sun rises.
With solid releases & collaborations on notable labels to memorable performances at some of the industry’s most respected venues, PRINCE CLUB continues to strengthen their position as House music royalty.
Hello Max and Zach it’s such a huge honor to be doing this interview with you, thank you much for taking time out to do it with us.
Tell us more about who Zach and Max tell us something that would shock us?
Well it might surprise you to know that i rarely , rarely go to clubs or bars, I'm most of the time in the studio all day, all night. Funny thing about Zach tho, He used to be a semi-pro Roller blader ! He was sponsored and everything !
We are from South Africa, and we ask all our “guests” this. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear South Africa?
I dont know why but the first thing that comes to mind when i hear south africa is someone repeating the word “south africa” with the south african accent. I also think we never played there !
The story goes you met when Max was hitting on Zach’s girlfriend we want to know who threw the first punch. LOL
It's the other way around !! Zach was going to the same school as my Girl at the time and she was a looker so of course that Zach being the dingbat he is was trying to flirt with her, but she didn't flirt back and he was told she was dating me so we became friends and got over it pretty quick.
Apparently you two ditched your band and dove head first into deep house. Firstly, what led to forming Prince Club and secondly is the dance music scene as enthralling as it puts out to be?
Well our band broke up since everyone wanted to make differents styles of music , I needed to make music and beats so without thinking I took my sisters old macbook and started fucking around with garageband, worked my way up into ableton and it just snowballed. In parallel Zach had took on Djing and bought cdjs-1000 and quickly learned how to DJ with CD’s. We met back at sound engineering school where I was nerdy enough to finish but Zach left halfway. fortunately we had already created “madkids” so we kept at it !
You were first called Madkids and changed it to Prince Club. What’s the story behind it?
Well we had no clue what to call ourselves so one day at lunch we settled on madkids and went back to class didn't really think about it. Then that summer we played Picnik Electronique with Riva Starr and he boldly told us the Name madkids “sucked” so we changed to Prince Club and started releasing records on SNATCH!
Some people are just born as musical geniuses and others not. You both are sound engineers. Do you have any other musical training?
Well i use to play drums for a long time, Even thought kids how to play drums ! Zach always sang , he still does under “forrest” , I have now taken on playing piano and loads of other instruments.
Max lives in LA and Zach lives in the UK, what’s your producing process like, do you find it hard to work on tracks when both of you are not available at the same time in the same place?
Well i have always been making the music for prince club, We use to work in the studio together but i'm more efficient, so in studio it's mainly just me. To clarify tho we both came back to our Hometown last year (Montreal) & now we both plan to go back to L.A . Its a no brainer for me Los Angeles is where I feel at home.
Did you find it hard to adapt to working alone as opposed to working together?
Not really, like i said i've always been the main producer for Prince Club so its not really hard to adapt, I worked with alot of different artists, singers, djs, so its not really hard for me to adapt being in studio with people.
You both make music alone how do you find the time to balance being in a duo with your solo career?
I have a very structured studio week, Most of the time Monday through friday i'll be working with singers, or artists or Dj’s I produce and then friday through sunday ill work on Prince Club tracks. Its the only way i can get stuff done, by having those kinds of super structured weeks.
We discovered Prince Club after we heard your remix of Banks Drowning, there’s not a week that goes by that we don’t listen to the remix. Your sound is sexy, melodic and blissful, which ultimately leads to putting people into a state of ecstasy. Would you say you have a specific sound/style? How would you describe it?
Awwwee thank you ! Thats so nice to hear :) Honestly I have always had a love for all those 90s sounds and grooves. i love chopping up vocals as well. Making a new melody with a chopped up vocal is awesome. But i don't know about a specific sound & if so it was never intentional. Just always made whatever i was into.
Let’s talk Toolroom Selector Series the latest one is by Prince club, what were your feelings when you were asked to mix series 22? It is a big deal after all.
Well just being signed to toolroom itself was kind WOW, but then when they asked us to do the Selectors Series it was amazing because for the first time we are on a label that believes in us and gives us the opportunity to shine. They push our name & sound and we are super grateful.
What was the thought process behind selecting which tracks to feature on TSS?
We wanted to put in tracks that represented to whole Toolroom catalogue but it was so hard since the catalogue is so big so we just went with our gut and what we really like and actually play. It was actually really hard to narrow it down to these songs.
TSS contains 4 brand new Prince Club tracks. All 4 of them are incredible (can you tell we fans). Was there a reason why you specifically wrote them for the album instead of packaging them as an EP?
Haha ! Thank you so much, Hmm there was no real specific reason for these songs, most of them are songs i had laying around for a while and we kept thinking “these need to be out” like when a song you made is 1 year old but still good and you keep playin them in your sets you start thinking “yeah maybe this should be out” So we just took the opportunity to release some stuff because i'm sitting on A LOT of music.
With so many new styles of music becoming popular in your opinion what style is here to stay and won’t change?
The foundations of House music will never change. A Kick drum, hihat, bassline, claps and snare drums. thats all you need to make a club go nuts. Just has to be in the right formula. Styles & trends will always evolve, some come, some go. but House music is here forever.
Do you think luck has been on your side or do you make your own luck?
To be Honest , I'm not a lucky guy. Tho very superstitious i think luck has to do with karma and the way you interact with the universe. Mainly you make your own luck. But some people have better “life timing” which in return makes them look lucky. They are just in sync with the universe.
If you could exchange places with any other DJ who would it be and why?
Hmmm thats a very hard question, Maybe Calvin Harris just because he has access to working with all these Mega pop singers.
Dead or Alive If you had to invite three people to play at a party you were organizing who would you invite ?
Thats easy ! #1 Elvis Presley , #2 Micheal Jordan, #3 Biggie (Notorious B.I.G)
Lastly, we thinking of forming a duo and just want to get your permission can we call ourselves Princess Club, don’t want to be stealing your thunder. LOL!
you have my green light !!! Don't worry there is not gonna be any beef ;)
Thank for the super fun interview girls ! Hope we can come down to South africa soon !
Any Last messages for your fans?
Thank you for the years of support and for sticking with us, we really wish we could hug everyone who enjoys our music. We have LOTS in stores coming. Hopefully see u soon in a club near you ;)
Cheers Max
http://soundcloud.com/princeclubmusic
http://twitter.com/princeclubmusic