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.

Back Home is out now on Defected Records.

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

You can read the article here.

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