Familiar faces on the Berlin club circuit, GHEIST have merged their experiences in successful bands with an unyielding love of underground Berlin culture. As performers, their talents have earned them a residency at Berlin’s riverside club Watergate, as well as crafting a delicate but powerful sound in their studio operating out of the iconic Riverside studios.
That sound is so well received that GHEIST have just released their first EP on Solomun’s Diynamic imprint. With a trajectory destined for the top echelons of dance music, we invited GHEIST into the mix & to understand their inner workings.
For those that don’t know can you start by telling us how the GHEIST project began, who is involved and what inspired you as artists?
We started with GHEIST about three years ago. We’ve been friends for a long time and we’ve been making music together in various projects before. At some point, we decided to take it to the next level and founded GHEIST, with the idea to create a hybrid act so we can combine the live feeling of a band with the energy of a DJ set.
You are all currently based in Berlin what is it like living in the city? Is it an easy place for artists to breakthrough?
Berlin is a great city to live in for a musician or artist in general. Berlin never sleeps and you’re surrounded by lots of like-minded people coming from all over the world. It has a lot of culture to offer and is vibrant in every musical genre and of course especially when it comes to electronic music. As the music industry is a worldwide game it’s not necessary to live in a city like Berlin, but in our opinion, it helps a lot to live in a place with an actual scene to it. That way, it’s easier to connect with the right people.
You are residents at the famous Watergate club in Berlin. Sunrises on the ‘Waterfloor’ are special occasions. Is there any other dance floors, past or present you would love to play and why?
Watergate is a special place to us. They helped us to pick up our career from an early stage on and of course, we love the vibe on the main or the waterfloor. We also had a great time playing Egg London and there have been many more great venues we played in the past. In the future we’d love to play every possible venue there is ;). For us, it’s the people that dance with us that make a night great.
Your latest release ‘Arrival’ has just come out on Solomun’s Diynamic imprint. Can you tell us a bit about the EP & how does it feel to have industry icons supporting your music?
The EP is very special to us. It is exactly what we are aiming for as a musical style and to put it out via Diynamic is a dream come true. We appreciate the support of Solomun a lot and also of the whole team behind him. They are very nice and warm people and very easy to work with.
Electronic music can be very successful in bringing people together. In the current climate do you think it has any role to play in social, political or environmental change?
We think musicians, artists and promoters, in general, have the power to bring people together in a peaceful way and it would definitely be a great thing if everybody gets involved a little bit more. But besides that, everybody in the world should think about what they can do to make a change possible, doesn’t matter how small it might be.
Berlin has a culture of no phones on the dance floor. However out of the city the introduction of streaming and music identification groups it can be hugely beneficial for artists to have your sets shared online. What is your take on this? Is it a good or a bad thing?
To be honest we are not the biggest fans of phones on the dance floor. Electronic music is about being in the moment and taking it in. On top of that, there are so many stream platforms by now that you can watch a set of your favourite artist online. Still, it’s not that we judge anybody who films during a set. On the other hand, the attention you get when people are filming and trying to identify a song, artist or label is an exciting possibility for our generation.
Finally, if you could invite one artist, past or present to work on a production in the studio who would it be and why?
We’d love to work with Hans Zimmer. We’re so impressed by him and his work that this is potentially our biggest life goal.
