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Back in march 2011 we did a tour in Asia. We also visited Indonesia and before we did our set in Jakarta the peeps from DanceSignal did an interview with us. They asked us questions about Tonco Tone, what gives us inspiration and Simon Dunmore. Check it out:
Ahead of their official induction into the house music hall of fame with their House Masters Chocolate Puma compilation, Defected asked Rene and Gaston to give a little insight into what some of the tracks mean to them. They duly obliged with stories of battling against record labels, creating a gay anthem and Pete Tong asking for a replacement copy after he played a certain track to death. Continue Reading →
We did an interview with Romania’s biggest online music magazine.
1. Hello guys, what are you doing? How did this year start for you?
This year had a good start for us, we did some very good gigs already. We had a lot of downloads and positive comments on our Missy Elliot “Get Ur Freak On” bootleg and our remix for Nouveau Yorican “Chiuso”.
Right now we’re working on a House Masters compilation for Defected to celebrate 10 years of Chocolate Puma and us producing together for 20 years this year.
We are also working a new CP Single and some collabs with Firebeatz, Gregor Salto and Bingo Players and remixes for Kraak & Smaak and others. We’ll also be relaunching our label Pssst Music. So quite busy!
2. Maybe some people didn’t hear your music and they don’t know anything about you. Who are the members of Chocolate Puma’s Project and what is his distinctive style? How would you convince them that you really deserve to be heard?
Chocolate Puma are Zki & Dobre and we make music people can dance to.
Each weekend we do a gig somewhere on the planet where we only play our own tracks. You might know us from songs like Always And Forever, Disco Electrique, I Wanna Be U and The Good Men – Give It Up.
3. Why have you chosen this name for your project – Chocolate Puma? What is the significance?
It came out of nowhere, like it was sent to our brains from a brown planet. But we think it fits the music quite well!
4. You are for a very long time in music industry, but you still hold the leading positions, you don’t give signs of being tired. How have you survived over time, how have you reinvented yourself?
It’s just the love for the music that keeps us going. Music, that’s what we do and we’ll always be doing. At the same time it’s very important for us to keep being connected to the dancefloor and new studio techniques, while the young producers out there keep us sharp and inspired!
5. Have you a favorite quote? Something that inspires you?
No, we get inspired by non-verbal stuff.
6. How would you describe your sets? What are the styles you mix more often?
Our sets are for 90% filled with our own productions, remixes, edits and are basically very energetic! We like a lot of different styles of music, so we could throw in anything we like.
7. What tunes are on your playlist at the moment?
Chocolate Puma & FireBeatz – Go Bang!
CP “Tonco Tone”
Nouveau Yorican “Chiuso” (Chocolate Puma Remix)
Drop The Lime “Hot As Hell” (Canblaster Remix)
Firebeatz “Hidden Sound”
Afrojack “Polka Dots (Chocolate Puma edit)
8. Which is your favorite club where you like to mix?
That’s a very difficult question, as the are a lot of good clubs all over the world, but to keep it close to our home: Paradiso and Panama in Amsterdam.
9. If you were to pick some DJ’s who’d had brilliant performances in 2010, which one would you choose?
Definitely Bart B More, but Laidback Luke had a great year also!
10. At what studio projects are you working now?
We’re working on a new Chocolate Puma single, a new Bingo Players vs Chocolate Puma single, and we have new projects with Firebeatz and Gregor Salto coming up.
11. Recommend us some „must listen” tracks
See question 7 ;-)
12. Favourite piece of equipment/gadget.
Anything with an i.
13. Chocolate or ice-cream?
Chocolate Caramel B&J
14. Twitter or Facebook?
Twitter, but Facebook comes close at the second place.
15. Can you caracterize by a single word:
Miami
…..messed up this year.
ADE
….the best for business.
Ibiza
….. here we come!
16. A message for the readers of Music-News Romania.
Watch out for a big year for Chocolate Puma, keep on dancing and protect your ears!
Thank you!
Music software developers FXpansion are known for their excellent drum plug-in GURU. We love GURU, and we just started using its rather excellent successor GEIST. So FXpansion thought it was the right moment to sit down with us and ask us some questions.
FX – How did the collaboration of DJ Zki & Dobre aka Chocolate Puma first come about and what’s kept you together all these years?
Z&D – We met around 1991 at a radio station where Zki was doing his show. He played me a demo of a track he was working on, and I instantly had some ideas about it. So we hooked up and we soon discovered that putting us in a room with equipment and crazy ideas worked very well indeed. Around the same period we also made a new jingle for his radio show which soon became one of our biggest hits, Give It Up by The Good Men. What kept us together is the mutual respect we have for each other. We both have our strange little things, and we are quite different people, but despite these differences we have always gone in the same direction in how we look at music, fashion or art.
FX – As producers you’ve worked under a number of different guises, why all the different guises?
Z&D – It was just a different time back then. For us it just made sense to use all these aliases, partly because, despite the huge success, we liked it to be underground and let the music speak for itself. But also because musically we were all over the place and we needed all these different projects. Now times have changed and we narrowed it down to just one, Chocolate Puma.
FX – Typically what roles do you play when creating a DJ Zki & Dobre production?
Z&D – Basically it’s me behind the controls and Zki giving input. And after all this time making music together we don’t have to use many words anymore to express how we feel about a sound or a drum. It became such a natural process.
FX – Tell us a secret about the way you make music?
Z&D – I think we’re very open for any musical style and sounds. We always keep our ears open for the next generation, as you can learn a lot and get lots of inspiration from young kids making the next big thing. That makes us work harder, as we don’t want these kiddos to beat us at our own game, haha.
FX – What impact have advancements in music technology had upon your production technique?
Z&D – We see it as a constant evolution. Nowadays we completely work ‘in the box’, but we’re still using old school mixing techniques we learned over the years, while taking full advantage of all the possibilities within a DAW. And those possibilities are endless, so you can really lose yourself going deep into details and forget the important stuff, but other than that we love it.
FX – What FXpansion products do you own and how do you use them?
Z&D – We own GURU and we use it in every production. It’s basically the core of our beats, and beats are the most important thing in our tracks. GURU is great, because it’s fast and simple. We also use samplers like Kontakt, but we feel that all the possibilities are a bit too much for us when it comes to laying down beats. We like to work fast, especially with beats, and GURU is just perfect for that.
FX – Do you have any GURU tips or tricks you would like to share?
Z&D – We used to chop up samples with Recycle, but the fun thing with GURU is that it’s kind of unpredictable in the way it slices your samples. So for us it was quite surprising to discover new things in a lot of our old records and samples we’ve already gone through over the years. So, go back to your record collection and your sample library, throw it in GURU and see what happens. Great fun.
FX – What do you do to entertain yourself when you are on tour?
Z&D – If we’re not in a plane reading a book, making a bootleg on our laptop or just feeling miserable of the few hours of (or no) sleep, then we just love to visit all these different countries. I mean, we’ve just been to Azerbaijan, not really a destination you would choose for your holiday, but how cool is it to visit a place like that?
FX – Where do you see yourself in ten years time in terms of making music?
Z&D – Well, we’re making records now for almost 20 years, and we couldn’t imagine all the things that have happened to us. But I think we will still be trying to make the best record we can.
Since this interview took place Zki & Dobre have been getting down with Geist (GURU’s successor) and find it to be even faster and more intuitive than GURU! :)
We had a little chat with the lovely chaps and gals @ Defected about our new record ‘Tonco Tone EP’.
Never shy to stick the ends of their tongues firmly into the sides of their cheeks, the video to Chocolate Puma’s new single ‘Tonco Tone’ is typically off-the-wall and displays the kind of humorous outlook the Dutch production duo are well known for. We caught up with them via email to have a quick chat about the single, the inspiration behind the video and their forthcoming appearance at Defected In The House at ADE.
So guys…’Tonco Tone’…what’s the track about?
It’s basically about having fun and not taking things too seriously. And trumpets.
And the video? What’s the idea behind it?
We heard the nephew of our favorite bartender playing our tracks and we were blown away. So we asked him to feature in our video. Luckily he said yes!
The star of the video bears a striking resemblance to Curt Smith from Tears for Fears…do you have an particular affinity for 80’s soft-rock groups?
Urgh, soft-rock. Although one of us really is feeling the Curt Smith hairdo.
You’re playing for Defected in a couple of weeks for ADE…are you looking forward to it?
It’s the holy trinity, Miami, Ibiza, Amsterdam, so yes very much! And playing in our home town is always fun.
Is there any upcoming material you’ll be testing out that we should keep our ears open for?
Yes, we’re working on a remix for The Beathiefs which is shaping up nicely. It still needs some dance floor testing though.
You’re in the enviable position of being able to play only your own material at gigs…when and why did you make that decision?
About five years ago. Actually we had a little break from DJ’ing, but at some point we felt the time was right to get behind the decks again. Instead of ‘just’ playing other people’s records we wanted to do something that would set us apart from other DJ’s, and by playing our own productions we think we found it. Also for us as producers it makes so much more sense, as the connection between the dance floor and the studio gets stronger and stronger.
How do you feel when ADE rolls into the usually fairly relaxed city of Amsterdam? Do you think it has changed the rest of the world’s perception of the city?
Although ADE has put Amsterdam on the map as one of the dance capitals of the world, we think the world still has this perception of Amsterdam of coffee shops and scantily-clad ladies behind windows.
Which parties – other than the Defected one of course – would you recommend as worth checking out?
Definitely Bart B More‘s ‘super secret hush hush nobody knows where it is’ party featuring his French friends from Sound Pellegrino.
What does the future hold for Chocolate Puma? Will you continue to do what you do indefinitely?
Till we drop.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about…?
Everyone visiting Amsterdam should try a broodje kroket.
Tonco Tone (including MFS) is out 20th October on Defected – click to listen & pre-order
Future Music is a magazine for producer geeks like us. We’ve been reading it for years now, so it was quite cool when the FM guys came by to our studio to find out how we do things.
Now, producing music is one thing, explaining how to do it is another!
Anyway, this edition of Future Music Magazine, including a shiny DVD, is on sale now. Hope you like!
We had a little chat with the guys from Defected about our single ‘Back Home’.
You know a Chocolate Puma track from the first moment it knocks you around the head with its absurdly punchy beats. A ridiculously catchy vocal will follow soon after and that’s it; it’ll be in your head from when you first hear it, throughout the rest of the day or night and probably for a few days afterwards. You’ll either love it or hate it (although we’ve found most people sit firmly in the former camp) but regardless of which it is, it’ll bounce round inside your head for a considerable time.
Now, the Dutch duo have dropped a new track that’s set to follow in the addictive footsteps of its predecessors and attach itself to your brain like a house-loving limpet. We caught up with them to find out more…
Guys..this track is banging! What’s it all about?
For us this track was about taking our classic Chocolate Puma sound to the next level; making it tough and powerful but still trying to have as much soul and funk in it. And a bit of nanana, naturally.
Tell us about the vocalist Colonel Red…
We got introduced to Red by the guy who featured on our Dub Of Boom track. He is an amazing soul/jazz singer, originally from the UK, currently living in Rotterdam, Holland. You might know him from his Sweet Liberation album and his own Ruff Language label. The cool thing is that he is a genuine soul/jazz guy but at the same time knows everything about acid house, clubbing and Robert Owens.
You have a very distinctive, punchy sound…any production tips you’d like to share with us?
Choose the fattest sounds you can find. Use sounds with different characters and layer them. For example, using an analog synth sound, combined with samples from an old scratchy record, and live recordings from your kitchen ware gives you much more depth than just staying ‘in the box’. Also don’t think you need much equipment. ‘Cause you don’t. We just use Logic and use the standard plug-ins. That’s all. Oh, and good ideas don’t hurt either. Also, we just started giving production tips on our website chocolatepuma.com. We already got some features about eqing and compressing, so you definately should check that out.
The artwork for the single is also fantastic…who did the design?
The artwork is done by Dutch multitalented artist Marc Sokpolie aka Zwazi. We had a cool brainstorm session with him about all kinds of things we’re digging. After a few weeks he came up with this great illustration of us floating in space, with in the background the debris of the ring of Saturn replaced by wrecks of all the cars we like. The artwork for this single is actually a fragment of this bigger illustration. We even have made t-shirts!
When is the happiest you’ve ever been to be ‘Back Home’?
We love playing all over the world, and being at all these exotic is great. But at the same, being away from your loved ones is not always the easiest thing. Especially when we were stranded at Sao Paulo airport for a million hours due to a strike. Coming ‘Back Home’ from that trip made us quite happy indeed.
What can we expect from you for the rest of the year?
We made lots of bootlegs over the last year and we will share some of them with the rest of the world in the next few months. Also, we’re re-launching our label Pssst Music, which will be our little playground for tracks that won’t fit in the Chocolate Puma/Defected picture. Demolishing clubs and causing mayhem at the summer festivals is also on our to do list.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about..?
One of us is going on a holiday to Iceland. No kidding.
Past, Present & Future van de Nederlandse House
Bijna 20 jaar geleden begon het allemaal op een zolderkamer in Haarlem. Daar werd door René en Gaston, de mannen achter Chocolate Puma, een van Nederlands eerste en grootste house hits ooit geproduceerd. Tegenwoordig, vele jaren na het eerste succes, staat het duo nog steeds aan de top van de mondiale house. Nieuwjaarsnacht gaat Chocolate Puma haar derde actieve decennium in, met een speciaal optreden tijdens Nightlife Circus in Utrecht. We nemen een kijkje in de past, present en future van het duo.
Past. We schrijven 1992 en de wereld is in de ban van Give It Up van The Good Men. Het is de eerste single van twee enthousiaste Nederlandse housepioniers, René ter Horst en Gaston Steenkist. Enkele jaren later scoren zij wederom een tweede wereldhit, nu met Chocolate Puma – I Wanna Be U. René vertelt over de eerste jaren van housemuziek: “Eigenlijk waren we in het begin overenthousiast. Dag en nacht waren we met bezig muziek maken. We maakten toen zoveel platen, dat het onmogelijk was ze allemaal uit te brengen; tenzij we onder verschillende aliassen produceerden.” De lijst aliassen is dan ook lang, van The Good Men en Chocolate Puma, tot Jark Prongo, René et Gaston, en ga zo nog maar even door.
Present. Tegenwoordig focussen René en Gaston zich op Chocolate Puma. De tijden zijn veranderd geeft René aan: “Vroeger konden we gewoon muziek maken en maar zien wat er mee gebeurde, tegenwoordig komt er een manager aan te pas en moet er veel genetwerkt worden.”
Dat betekent niet dat het nu slechter zou gaan, integendeel, 2009 was een fijn jaar voor Chocolate Puma. “De overstap naar Defected, het fameuze label van Simon Dunmore, heeft ons goed gedaan. We krijgen veel inspiratie en feedback van ze, ook al is onze muziek voor Simon persoonlijk eigenlijk al aan de stevige kant. Het fijne van Defected is ook dat we dezelfde filosofie hebben, het gaat ons om plezier op de dansvloer. Bij Defected kunnen we ons concentreren op het maken van dansvloergerichte muziek en voelen we geen druk een radiohit te produceren.”
De samenwerking met het fameuze Engelse label heeft ook geleid tot het mede mogen samenstellen van de compilatie Defected In The House – Amsterdam edition. Chocolate Puma is hot en lijkt een hoogtepunt te beleven. René ziet dat iets anders: “Ik omschrijf onze huidige fase liever als een fijn punt. Geen hoogtepunt, want het kan altijd beter, en daar streven we ook naar!”
Future. Wat kunnen we in de toekomst dan van Chocolate Puma verwachten? “Het liefst zouden we de Olympische Spelen van 2012 openen”, zegt René. “Dat is onze ambitie. Ik vind dat je ambitieus moet zijn. Ik zou ook graag nog een keer een wereldhit scoren, maar dan wel een typische Chocolate Puma track.”
Typisch Chocolate Puma is een energieke, funky dansvloer track. En die worden niet meer geproduceerd op en kleine zolderkamer, maar in een professionele studio aan huis. “De studio is bij mij thuis, naast de woonkamer” geeft René aan. “Het is een goede graadmeter, als mijn vrouw ‘s avonds een melodietje fluit dan weet ik dat we goed bezig zijn.” Bijna dagelijks sluiten René en Gaston zich op in die studio om te werken aan de toekomst van Chocolate Puma.
Die toekomst begint in het nieuwe decennium. Met een speciaal optreden op Nightlife Circus in Utrecht opent het duo het nieuwe jaar. “Nieuwjaarsnacht blijft een speciaal moment”, besluit René. “We zijn nu al aan het nadenken hoe te gaan openen na het twaalf uur moment. Je wil toch meteen een feestje bouwen en een goede start maken in het nieuwe jaar en decennium!”
Op 31-12 staat Chocolate Puma op Defected In The House in Club Rex, Hilversum en op Nightlife Circus in de Central Studios te Utrecht. Meer info: .: NIGHT LIFE CIRCUS 2009 :.
txt Rob de Bruyn
img Momono Bookings
Beatportal decided to jump inside our brains and get our tips for writing a hit house track. So if you exactly follow our 10 ten top tips, you will have number 1 beatport hits, eternal fame, limousines, lots of groupies and a reason to smash hotel rooms.
You can read the article here.
Hello, Hello! A big thank you for sitting down with us ahead of this Saturdays ‘Strictly Rhythm’ it looks set to be a blinder!!
Right, so first and foremost…What can we look forward to this Saturday?
We’re playing at the 20th anniversary of the most influential house label ever, Strictly Rhythm. So you can imagine we’re very excited. And the fact that the party is held at Ministry of Sound doesn’t do any harm either.
How would you describe your sound and style?
In our productions we always focus on the beats, they have to be rocking and funky. If the beats are laid out, we can go in every direction. From smooth vocals to freaked out electronic sounds. As long as it has a good vibe and the right amount of energy. And as we’re only playing our own production and remixes, that’s what you can expect. Banging beats and lots of energy.
You guys have worked under the alias of name aside from Chocolate Puma such as ‘The Goodmen’ what’s the philosophy behind this?
We used a lot of aliases in the past. It was just another era. In the early 90′s using different names was very common. We always have been all over the place, and as we have been producing so many styles of music and so many tracks, we figured we needed as many aliases. Now times have changed, we’ve grown up a little, the whole game changed, and it just feel right to stick to one project name. We’re more focused then ever.
Where did the name Chocolate Puma come from?
We used to have a brown goldfish in the studio called Puma. So there you have it.
Since first rising onto the scene, how would you say your style progressed over the last years?
We’re still pretty eclectic, but our sound matured. In the early days we were like young kids in a candy store, trying everything at the same time. Now we’re a bit more focused, while still trying to keep it fresh. Production wise a lot has changed because of the new studio techniques. From cutting tape and using dusty mixing desks, to having your complete studio in a laptop, we’ve seen it all. But in the end we still love to make proper dance music.
What influences you guys when you go into the studio?
Almost everything, from records by young upcoming producers, old skool soul, 90ties house, the weather, punk rhythms, movie themes and vintage car sounds, to new plug-ins, hip hop, fashion hipsters and weird music blogs, you name it.
Have you got any tips for any rising producers out there?
Be original. Be yourself. Work hard. Do it for the music, not the fame.
What producers/ DJs are doing it for you at the moment?
Bart B more, Bingo Players, Baggi Begovic, Prok & Fitch, ….
What are your top ten tracks?
There are 3 tracks that are absolutely setting the dance floor on fire at the moment.
- our latest collaboration with Bingo Players – Disco Electrique,
- our remix for Shovell – Soul Makossa,
- and our remix of the classic Sole Fusion – Bass Tone on Strictly.
Other favorites are
- Sil – Dirty Windows (Chocolate Puma Remix),
- Bizarre Inc – Playing With Knives (CP Bootleg),
- Bart B More – So It Goes (Chocolate Puma Remix),
- Chocolate Puma – Dub Of Boom, Only Love Can Save Me, Morning Rain (Moist Beats)
- and some new trippy futuristic weird untitled demos we’ve been testing out lately.
What do you guys prefer producing in the studio or DJ-ing to a crowd?
We love to do both. When we’re in the studio we can’t wait to test out our latest tracks. And when we’re in front of a crowd we get really inspired by the energy the people give us. It puts the sounds we create in the studio in a whole new perspective. We then can’t wait to get back in the studio to translate that feeling into new music.
What would you say has been your biggest achievement?
After 18 years of producing records still being around.
How does the crowd differ in Holland from anywhere else in the world?
The Dutch crowd is known for being a bit more critical, so you really have to work a little bit harder to get them throwing their hands in the air. But that’s a good thing, it keeps us sharp. And maybe that’s something that sets Dutch DJ’s apart from the rest?
Where in the world is your favourite place to play?
This year’s WMC in Miami has been very good for us. The kids in Eastern Europe are always insane (in a good way!), and Sao Paulo is fantastic!
Your playing at DanceValley, will you be playing any other festivals this summer?
We’ve been known for always playing anywhere in the world, but in Holland. But this year we’re doing a lot of Dutch festivals. For example Free Your Mind, Defected In The House @ Lakedance, and some really nice and cozy festivals like Trix in the Mix, Zomerkriebels and Mattrix at the Park.
Have you got any funny stories from any past festivals?
Well…maybe not funny but nevertheless very memorable. While playing at this massive 40.000 people festival in Brazil, all of a sudden Zki disappeared off the stage. So when I looked down, there he was, laying on the concrete, next to a girl! It turned out that they had these banners behind the 10 ft high stage, but forgot to make a proper fence, and as a result they both fell down. Fortunately they had no major injuries, apart from some scratches and bruises.
Talking of summer what’s your favourite ice-cream flavour?
Chocolate Fudge of course..
Lastly, what do you think you would been doing now if you weren’t a DJ?
Ice cream manufacturer!
Thanks guys, you’ve been great!
Welcome!
source: http://ministryofsound.com/Club/NewsDetail.aspx?n=194
The Good Men, Riva, René et Gaston, Klatsch!, Jark Prongo, Zki & Dobre en Tomba vira. Zomaar wat pseudoniemen van Gaston Steenkist en René ter Horst. Tegenwoordig zijn ze ook wel bekend als Chocolate puma. Dit duo scoort hit na hit en voorlopig zijn ze nog niet klaar. En maar goed ook! Housejunks.com interviewde één van de grootste spelers in de Nederlandse housegeschiedenis. Continue Reading →
