Hamburg producer Doctor Dru brings us behind brand new release “The Grain” and tells all on rising record label Jeudi.
WWD: Thanks for joining us Dru!
You’re based in Hamburg, a prolific city from which many contemporary house producers have emerged. What’s your personal view on this?
Hi guys! Yes, that’s right. Hamburg has quite an output of house producers. I don’t know why. Hamburg has got a high quality of living, lots of green, water but in the same way it’s also a quite unexcitedly city in terms of underground and subculture. Maybe that helps to retreat and to do your stuff without too much distraction. Still you can go out and there are nice clubs but it’s just not the wide range like e.g. in Berlin or London.
WWD: Have you established any particular connections with other producers from the city?
Not really. You know, mainly I am an alone worker. Of course , I’m in contact with a lot of people and sent my tracks out for feedback and other producer sent me stuff. But it’s not Hamburg specific. In terms of sound and when finalizing music I’m always in close contact to Monte, one of my closer friends here in the city. He analyzes my mixes with his big ears and if there’s something that doens’t work he can point out exactly what it is. That helps a lot as you can imagine how often you are listening to your own stuff till its finally finished.
WWD: The people behind Jeudi are still unknown. Can you tell us something more about the people involved?
JEUDI is basically me, as Doctor Dru and my pals Davidé, club owner in Hamburg and Take It Easy, who’s also one part of the DJ team Adana Twins. We run the label. Since recently we also have a label manager who is coordinating between us as we are quite busy with our projects and touring.
WWD: Was the label born in a particular moment?
The label came out of a frequent Thursday club named JEUDI happening at Baalsaal, an underground techno spot in the redlight district. It was around 2010 and that’s where I’ve met all the guys like Adanas, Davidé and a lot of other artists. The idea of founding the JEUDI label was more an emotional thing. After a lot of drinking and partying with the guys we were like “Let’s do a label” Oh, there’s a track we could release. And thats how it started. We all were learning by doing. Like it’s so typical for this business, you know. That’s what I love about it.
WWD: Your release “The Grain” has just been released. What can you tell us about the creative process behind it?
The basic idea of the track “The Grain” was already there as a rough version last summer and I’ve played it at some festivals. Then it spent some time on my hard drive left alone. Somehow the moog riff never let me go so I had to sit back on this track and finished it in spring this year. “The Pattern” came out of a session where I was sitting in the studio and was checking out some synth. These days where you sit down with the manual or Youtube vids. Suddenly I had this nice sequence. I love the vibe of the track. It’s like a running train..going and going.
WWD: Have you got any other forthcoming projects for this Summer season?
I think my remix of the legendary Romanthony is coming soon. I don’t have an exact release date , yet. Then I’m currently working on my next EP and another remix coming in autumn. A few nice summer gigs and enjoying the European summer.
More info:
https://www.facebook.com/dottoredru
https://soundcloud.com/doctordru
https://twitter.com/DoctorDru
https://www.facebook.com/jeudirecords
https://soundcloud.com/jeudirecords
https://twitter.com/jeudirecords