Catching up with... Reboot

We were left baffled by the sonic imagintion of Reboot, aka Frank Heinrich, back in 2009 when he gave fabric blog readers a rich insight into his equipment, both in the studio and his live show. His massive gear collection and innovative production techniques, crafting his intricate polyrhythms through an astonishing array of congas, cymbals and shakers have elevated Reboot as a prime-time mover amongst the world's finest electronic artists. Shuffling his grooves alongside luminaries like Luciano, Chris Tietjen, Robert Dietz and Markus Fix, Reboot released his debut long-player, ‘Shunyata,' last year and now, come 2011, he has a fresh summer season in Ibiza ahead of him. In anticpation for Reboot's ever-evolving live show in Room One this Saturday, we caught up with our favourite Frankfurt talent to talk about his first-ever clubbing experiences and experimenting between DJ sets, aswell as upcoming releases on Rekids, Peppermint Jam and Definition:Music. What’s more Reboot has knocked up an exclusive promo mix. In his own words, it's ‘a mixture of deep and groovy summer tracks and some more uplifting clubtunes.' Download: Reboot - fabric Promo Mix Hi Frank, How's life treating you? Can you tell us a bit about your home life, your surroundings and the things outside music that keep you smiling? Very well! There sure is not much to complain about. I have the job of my dreams, I am healthy and so are my family and friends. What else could I ask for? The summer season has just started and travelling gets a bit more stressful but on the other hand you have all these amazing parties in the sun. So, that evens out the lack of sleep. During the summer there is not much time at home but when I get some days off, I try to relax and recover as good as possible. Spending time with family and my friends. Going to the market and cook with them, read a good book or just chill on the sofa. Also I just started doing some sports. Not my biggest pleasure yet but I guess that time will change that. Tell us about some of your first ever clubbing experiences and where you were exposed to underground music for the first time? The very first time I got in touch with electronic underground music was through a weekly radioshow called Clubnight hosted by Sven Väth. That must have been around 1990. I remember that me and my friends where sitting in front of our tapedecks and we couldn’t wait to start recording the show. About one or two years later an older friend of mine smuggled me into the Omen in Frankfurt. Sven's legendary homebase. The atmosphere and energy in that little room was so mindblowing, that I knew straight away – this is my thing. Not long after that night I started buying records and saving for my first drumcomputer . Alongside friends like Chris Tietjen, Robert Dietz and Markus Fix, you have propelled 'the new sound of Frankfurt' on to dancefloors. Is this where you main passion lies and has the focus changed for you musically at all? My main passion is house and techno music! All this "new sound of Frankfurt" thing was more something the media came along with. At this time there was a bunch of producers and friends, digging into the same interpretation of house music. Thats why there was so many productions from this region that had the same spirit. During the years, I had many different influences, especially from non-electronic music. That also conducts your favours in what you DJ or produce but the main formula for a dance track always stays the same. So the focus never changed a lot. How do you prefer to play, DJing or live? Is their a natural flair with one when it comes to being creative & experimenting? I love both, but I also have phases when I prefer one or the other. After touring with the live set for quite a while, I am really happy to play some more DJ Sets these months. I believe, that you can be as creative or experimental in a DJ set as much as in a live set. You are just working with different tools and possiblities. In my live set, I can completly twist and remodel my own productions and through this create a new song. In a DJ set it is not so much about the one song but the feeling and atmosphere over a longer period of time. The live shows are ususally very compact with one hour and you try to present a broad range of what you produce. A DJ set takes more time and should be something like a long trip through styles an emotions. We last caught up with you to talk about your studio equipment guide back in 2009. You can get a great sound out of a room and obviously you are triggering it but what makes your equipment sing? That depends on the equipment. I do use Ableton as a main clock, but my synthesizers I usually play on keys or trigger them via analoge step-sequenzers, like the Manikin Schrittmacher or the one I have in my modular system. Also I trigger synths and drumcomputers with a midi drumkit from Roland. You can do amazing loops and melodies using this method. Most of my drum machines have internal sequenzers that I use. So usually I don't have to push and pull little blocks on my computer monitor. Can you describe the chemistry of Cadenza and how do you feel the label has helped to push you as an artist? Cadenza is a family buisness. Thats just what it feels like. Working with everyone in the team, Lucien, the backoffice and of course the artists, is absolutley wonderful, professional and very friendly. That always was a important fact for me and one of the main reasons why I am 100% behind this company. Of course the label, the Cadenza shows and not at least the Vagabundos helped pushing my career a lot. I am very thankful for the support and the opportunitiy`s that Luciano offered me over the past 5 years. What's it like to be a Vagabundos character? Where does the concept originate from and in what ways are you expecting to top last years success? I believe, that the Vagabundos concept perfectly represents the way we are actually living. Travelling all over the world, partying like crazy and leaving a mess where ever we showed up. And that is also where the concept originates from. Of course we are exaggerating it by using the makeup, hats, clothes and design just to make it more fun for the crowd and of course for ourselves. It has a lot to do with not taking yourself too seriously and just have a good time. We already topped last year regarding the size of the production and especially the design of the interior in Pacha. And I am very confident, that after the big sucess we had with it last year, a lot of people that didn't really believe it could work at Pacha, at least got a little bit curious to see it this year. What's coming up for you this summer? What, where and who are you most excited about seeing? Well, of course our nights at Pacha! We already had a couple of nights and we are very happy how it is starting off. July and August should be a blast there. Also I have got a lot of gigs and festivals I am really looking forward to. Cocoon in the park for example, Greenfields, Il Muretto, Ushuaia,Electric Zoo Festival in NYC. There is going to be a lot of crazy nights this summer! Where are some of your favourite places to go shopping for new music & who are some of the new artists making their way into your record box? My record store is and will always be Freebase in Frankfurt. That's the place I am coming from. The music selection that my friends Carsten and Bernd are offering is just one of the best in the world. Also I love to go to Disc Union in Tokyo. They have a enomous stock of rare house and techno records. At the moment I am really into the stuff that Adam Port, Terje Bakke or &ME are producing. But thats only to name a few. There is so much cool music coming out every day so I couldn't possibly name all of the great newcomers out there. What new releases/projects we can we look forward to in the near future? I just finished a bunch of remixes and I am working on new Reboot tracks at the moment. The actual releases are mixes for Spencer Parker on Rekids, Can 7 on Peppermint Jam and Horatio on Definition:Music. Also I am working on some special collaborations, but it is to early to talk about them at this point. Be sure I won't get too lazy. Can you tell us about the mix you have done for us, how was it made? The mix was made with Traktor, 4 decks and several controllers. To be honest, it is not much more than a mix of some of the tracks that I really like at the moment and play in my current DJ sets. A mixture of deep and groovy summer tracks and some more uplifting clubtunes. It's always hard to draw a big picture in a 60 minute mix, but I hope people will still enjoy it!