Polish born, Germany based Klaudia Gawlas has been gracing the stages of festivals and clubs all over the world for the last decade. After her success of single ‘Papillon’ in 2013, her career has taken off leading to releases on UNCAGE, KD RAW, SCI+TEC, MOOD and soon on Joseph Capriati’s Redimension. You can find her playing some of the biggest shows and we caught up with her shortly after she played here in her home country of Poland last month.
Hey Klaudia, thanks for speaking with us. We learnt that you were born in Poland, can you tell us a little about your childhood here?
Thank you for having me. Yes, that’s true. I was born in the South of Poland, in Cieszyn and left to move to Germany with my mum when I was about 8 years old.
My childhood was good there, I loved school and was a happy child. I had a big family there too, so I was always busy with family life but compared to Germany it wasn’t easy to make a good living in Poland. My parents worked endlessly, and we had shortages of being able to buy things – like coffee, I remember a time when there was a line of 300 people just to get some coffee. Life was very different.
Thankfully these days its better in Poland and the economy has grown substantially and is still increasing, but my Mum left Poland with me as my grandma was half German, and they missed the family. It wasn’t a planned move, and I didn’t even have time to say goodbye to my friends and family, so that was a crazy time. I am very thankful for all the opportunities I had in Germany. It was a new life.
We saw you played here twice in April at Sfinks700 Club, and Transformator Club – do you have any dates this year we can look out for?
Not yet, but working on some more soon, and I keep my fingers crossed for those as I love to play there, as its Poland and my home. Poland also has a lot of talented new artists coming to the forefront, alongside some nice techno focused events and good clubs opening. It’s nice to see this and an exciting time. My first gig at MAYDAY was in Katowice, maybe 10 years ago. It was such a small scene then and look at it now – amazing!
Gigwise, you have a lot of big ones this year. What’s been the highlight so far in this first year back since the pandemic?
It’s really hard to pick a highlight. It always depends on the crowd, soundsystem and venue. If they go crazy, it’s a magic night to remember. Meeting nice people always inspires me very much, so those moments are always special to me. But I can tell you, if the technique and the soundsystem is good, and the people are having fun, I’m in heaven.
We’ve had a preview of your ‘Changes’ EP on Joseph Capriati’s Redimensions imprint. Wow! What a track. What’s behind its meaning and inspiration?
I produced this track during the first lockdown. I was sitting in my studio and every one of us was sad, or down because of the whole situation. I was struggling with my feelings and didn’t know what’s happening and where to put all my emotions. We all were in shock. The hate in the social media world was getting worse, and hate was never a good solution to anything. It’s always love and positive energy what leads you to good things.
So, I spent every day in the studio to hide myself from this crazy world and suddenly found this vocal. This was exactly what I was feeling. “The world is changing, don’t you see it, don’t you hear it?” Some things are really separating us. The hate in the socials was growing…. I just want to tell the people, hey watch out, here is something happening and that’s not ok. We should solve it together. We are all humans, and we only have one world.
This track just touched my heart. And it made me very emotional in the studio. I think producing this helped me feel better too. Therefore the inspiration was definitely the pandemic situation and the fact that our world is changing a lot and very fast “Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad…”
Do you plan to release more on the label or have any shows with Joseph this year?
It’s not planned yet, but after my first release on the label with ‘The Siren’ I was playing with Joseph in Switzerland. Was a very nice night at Nordstern. We will see what happens in the future. I can tell for sure, I have many tracks to come, because I spent so much time in the studio the last two years.
It’s June, Pride month. How do you feel the dance community has actively improved open mindedness and inclusion over the last few years?
I think the techno scene was always open minded about it. That’s also a reason why I fell in love with this scene so many years ago. No matter of skin colour, sexual orientation or intelligence, we all felt a part of one thing, that is special.
I remember the first club I went to was so international, so crazy, but still so lovely and so many beautiful minds out there. This was like what I could have imagined being in the Garden Of Eden would have been.
You could see this connection, unity, and vibe at Love Parade in Berlin. It was like pride but with techno music, and a mixture of people from all over the world, it somehow felt so peaceful even with one million people.
Finally, one other female artist you can’t stop listening to right now?
There are so many good female artists right now and I am happy about that. Some women feel music different. So, this is going to be good for our music for sure. I don’t really have a favourite one but was very happy to see Paula Temple lately in Colombia. I enjoyed her set very much.
You can see Klaudia playing in Egg London on the 25th of June. For more info and new music visit Klaudia Gawlas’ official web site and follow her on Instagram, Facebook and SoundCloud.
