The first releases of Ben Champell came on the market in 2012, which were quite housy and groovy, as he was accompanied by many Balearic influences. In 2015 he moved to the city on the Elbe river in north Germany, Hamburg. The rough north took over and his sound became darker and harder. He has published his original music under many labels including OFF Recordings, Unity Records and Complexed Records.
They say it always rains and it’s very cold in Hamburg. We want to find out who is the man who wants to bring Hamburg back on the techno map and what’s up with the wet image of the city with the many bridges.
In addition, Ben Champbell delivers an hourlong energetic mix of raw, deep and peak time techno for the 149th Klubikon Podcast.
What’s the best thing about living in Hamburg?
Hamburg is a city to fall in love with. The city has so many facets and wonderful impressions that effects me since I live here in my music. However, I have to clear up directly with a rumor, it rains by no means always here and the weather is not only bad. On the contrary, the summers are great and the winters actually also, you just have to tolerate a bit of wind if you want to live on the coast. In addition, the city also offers many different musical directions, so I live here with some of my idols from the beginnings as a small DJ like Oliver Huntemann or Kaiser Disco. There is a colorful mix of clubs and bars where you can discover a new location on every corner, on St. Pauli for example. In addition, there is a small but fine underground scene that also includes everything from hard to soft. All in all, a wonderful place for an artist to always get new inspiration.
What’s the worst thing about living in Hamburg?
The scene in Hamburg is very small and in my opinion lacks a bit of innovation in some places. Often, the same DJs are booked, the names they know will sell out the place. On the one hand understandable, on the other hand, I just wish for more openness, and more courageous promoters who will also offer new and different things to the scene, especially after corona. I hope that this positive trend will continue and pick up speed. I myself try to contribute with my event series Unter Deck to make techno in Hamburg a bit more colorful again.
Tell us about your latest release for Complexed!
After my debut on OFF Recordings last month with ‘Vanta Black’ EP, a new three tracker EP of mine, ‘Hold On’, is out on Complexed Records. The three-tracks ‘Filthy Chords’, ‘Hold On’ and ‘Brainworm’ are out on the label of my very good friend Drumcomplex. We have a very close friendship for many years now and I’m happy to release my tracks on his label. The quality of the releases is consistently good and always innovative. I’m pretty proud to be a part of this great team and to have Complexed as my homebase.
You’ve released on some prolific labels like OFF, Unity or Crash! What comes up next?
I am currently working on an album. It should be 12 tracks in the end, of which about half is already finished. In addition, there are remixes for Fractious and of course new EP’s. The next release is a collaboration with Infamn Konijn from The Hague on Railroad Recordings at the end of November.
If you weren’t a DJ, what else might you be famous for?
Oh wow, that’s a really tough question. I think I would be a cook. (laughing) I actually like to cook very much and always try out new things. Somehow it’s like making music, you always take new ingredients and influences and work out a new dish.
What five tracks could you play in your set forever?
Oh, that’s a tough one. I play at so many totally different venues, festivals, radio stations so my sets depend on many factors… but let’s try:
1. Jeff Mills – The Bells
2. Sam Paganini – Rave
3. Dustin Zahn – Stranger to stability (Len Faki Mix)
4. Radio Slave – Grindhouse (Dubfire Terror Planet Remix)
5. Moderat – Bad Kingdom (Marcel Dettmann Remix)
What’s your 5-year plan?
That’s also a difficult question somehow. In the music business you can’t really plan anything at the moment. What I can say is that I definitely want to continue with full power and a lot of new things will come up very soon…
If the world were ending, what’s the last track you would play?
John Miles – Music (was my first love)
Check out the tracklist for Ben Champell’s mix for the 149th Klubikon Podcast HERE.
