"We chat to double adapter about broken ribs, a little film making and why you're about to have a new favorite dj act"
Q:
Dan (Apter) & Tim (Apter) = Double Adapter… that’s quite a clever play on words… it always surprises me to see how siblings get the same sort of influence, yet go into different directions when it comes to their personalities, passions and what makes them tick… yet with you guys, it seems that you share quite a few passions… was that just how the cookie crumbled, or have you guys always been really close?
D: Yeah I guess we have always shared the same interests and have both always had a passion for music and visual elements, ie. film and art. iv always leaned more to the visual side and Tim more towards the audio. We have always been pretty close, our family is pretty small so we never had cousins and relatives around all the time so we had to amuse each other. Tim thought pulling my pants down and pushing me in a bush on occasion was pretty amusing.
T: Oh yes, that happened.
Q:
You guys recently played an incredible set at “grietfest” with the super talented Haezer… and one thing you have in common, other than a similar style of music, is the fact that you both (all 3 of you) studied film or visual arts in some way, do you think there’s something particular that makes film & Electro Trash work so well together, or do you feel this is purely coincidence?
D: Ha Ha, thats something that iv always noticed myself. While touring europe a lot of the other DJ's we met had an interest in film. Its certainly interesting but most likely coincidence i think.
T: I think its coincidence, but obviously there are big similarities between film and music - they are both about creating certain emotions through your medium, and they seem to attract similar types of minds, so I guess the overlap is inevitable.
Q:
On an International stage, there is no doubt that you guys have been making a huge impact overseas. Yet it seems that South Africa and your home town of Johannesburg, is only now realizing who you guys are… with brands like MK, taking an interest. how long do you think it’ll take for Acts like yourself, and the emerging underground dance scene to spill over on to a more commercial stage… let’s say, something random like H20 or opening for Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto or Paul Van Dyk when they play SA? And is that something you want? Or is the “underground” part of the appeal?
D: i dont think the Underground dance scene is going to stay underground for too much longer to be honest and i think its something that is spreading really quickly through out the country. we would LOVE to play at H2O its something that we have been talking about for a really long time in fact. We love playing to new crowds that have never heard of us and go fuck! thats awesome! so there is definitely an appeal to the commercial scene but at the same time we will always love the underground!
T: I've never really bought into the "commercial" or "underground" mindset... to me, its always been better to look at it like "upcoming" and "established" scenes - you get the types of people who enjoy discovering new sounds (the so called underground) and then you get the type of people who are more into hearing stuff when its more established (commercial) - so I think its logical that as our genre of music grows and we become a more established act, we'll eventually start spilling over into the ears of the commercial scene - we decided long ago to let H2O be our litmus test of whether popular music taste is changing and evolving - it'll be fun to see if it ever pans out! :)
Q:
Where can we see some of the work you guys have put to film? And have you ever considered writing scores instead of distorted, buzzing bass driven crowd moving monster tracks?
D: well you can catch a music video i shot for a band called The Stella's currently on the MK top 10.
T: and of course, the Double Adapter Adapt or Die documentary which we made in April this year... its on Youtube as 6 short teaser videos, and 3 long ones of the whole doccie. Interesting that you ask about scores... I'm actually writing a symphony now as a project to test myself and see if I'm just a poser or if I can actually write something serious for a change!
Q:
A big part of your stage show is your physical performance or “Stage Antics”. do you guys consciously make a point of going all out, or does it just happen naturally? And have you ever sustained an injury or two because of it?
D: we always go into a show with the attitude of making it fucking awesome and really getting into the performance but after that it just happens naturally and we fuck out to the music that makes us want to fuck out. ha ha, iv cracked 4 ribs from falling off a stage.
T: I've fallen off a lot of stages - I tend to just rock out so hard that I lose my balance. Its fun!
Q:
Are there any DJ’s, Producers, artists or acts that you guys specifically look up to, and would love to share a stage with or colab on a track with in future?
D: Yeah definitely, acts such as Soulwax and Digitalism got me into this scene and it would be a dream to share a stage with them.
T: I'd kill to be on the same bill as Soulwax or Justice. I really look up to anyone making ANY music - good/bad/whatever: its possible to learn from and draw inspiration from anything, even if its a case of what NOT to do.
Q:
You guys obviously have creative talents coming out your ears, are there any hidden talents that only a select few know about?
D: well im actually a pretty huge nerd and ill kick your ass at pretty much any Xbox game.
T: I can handle my tequila pretty well... unless I haven't eaten. Then I'm screwed!
Q:
Where do you see Dance music in general and especially in South Africa going in the future?
D: well hopefully we can only see it move forward and evolve with the times. id like to see electro move more into the public domain and for more people to experience it.
T: I think we're definitely going to see a shift away from DJ's being the be all and end all of electronic music - its been so long since a fresh electronic band has found ground in SA and definitely also the world - So I'm hoping we see a shift towards electronic BANDS making dance music and putting on shows that are special to the people that attend them.
Q:
What’s playing on your Ipod/Mp3 Player/ Car Radio at the moment?
D: Iv been listening to a lot Monarchy and Metronomy at the moment, both really great bands.
T: I haven't really been listening to much because I've got my own music in my ears all the time, but if you're looking for something super cool and interesting, go to youtube and search "iamamiwhoami" - amazing amazing fusion or art and music.
Q:
What can we expect from Double Adapter in the near and distant future?
T: The big focus for the next 6 months will be designing refining and rehearsing our live band show, which we'd like to do exclusively from November onwards... There are plans in the works for more international touring, on three continents, but we don't want to give it away until its confirmed.I'll also be putting a lot of time into studio work over the next month or two.
We also really badly want to try and take electro into the towns in Southern Africa that don't get it a lot, but might have fans there - we get a lot of requests from PE, Potch, Bloem, Durban, and even Namibia and Botswana - so if you would like us in your town, please hit up our facebook page (facebook.com/thisisdoubleadapter) or our twitter @double_adapter and most importantly, ask the clubs you like going to to BOOK us!
