photo: Greg Gorman
DJ HELL TALKS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL DEEJAY GIGOLO LATEST RELEASES, SHARES MEMORIES ABOUT THE EARLY DAYS OF TECHNO IN BERLIN, HIS TRIAL WITH ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND GIVES AN UPDATE ABOUT HIS PROJECTS IN THE FASHION WORLD
Helmut Geier, mostly known as DJ Hell, is one of the most influential figures in the electronic music scene. Right from the start of his career, he stood out from the mainstream tendencies, always looking for a unique style and approach towards making and presenting music. Being a DJ from his teenage years during the late 70’s, by the end of 80’s he was one of the starters of a cultural explosion of techno revolution in Berlin. His passion for moving forward and creating new musical forms and genres made DJ Hell responsible for the birth of electroclash, a new musical style that changed things on electronic music scene during the 90s and into the beginning of the 21st century.
Playing on contradictions was always one of the underlying methods of creating the vibe behind his label, International Deejay Gigolo, which in Hell’s words is more than an ordinary record label and is also a way of thinking and a lifestyle. This well-thought use of contradictions started from his alias, Hell, which can sound demonic for most of the world but means “light” in his native German language.
DJ Hell is also known as one of the first artists that brought humor and pop-art aesthetics into the tough world of techno and got techno connected with the fashion scene. This approach was much reflected in his personal style, which stands far away from a regular picture of a DJ dressed simply in black colors – DJ Hell is famous for his dandy outfits and has done a lot of collaborations with top fashion brands like Hugo Boss and Agent Provocateur in the past. Recently his interest in the fashion industry led him to create his own line of perfume and scarfs.
In his interview for All Andorra DJ Hell talks about International Deejay Gigolo records latest releases and the label’s history, shares memories about the early days of techno in Berlin and his trial with Arnold Schwarzenegger, gives an update about his projects in the fashion world, as well as talking about his favourite collaborations and many other interesting things.
Interview: Dmitry Tolkunov
Hi Helmut! How are you and what is going in your musical world right now? Are there any interesting releases from International DeeJay Gigolo records that we should be listening to?
Right now the main thing that I’m working on is a special box with many things inside like a vinyl with my latest single, posters, branded Gigolo t-shirts, magnets, a sample of my perfume “Techno” and a CD with 40 songs on it that mostly are unreleased and remastered material from the beginning of the 90’s or the ones that have been released very long ago only on vinyl – pure analog techno. It’s not a regular album release; to have the music that will be included, you will have to buy the whole box. Maybe later I will put it on digital platforms, but the box will come first. It will be a limited edition thing – 500 pieces only and will be released before or after the summer. I still don’t have a name for it, but think a good definition could be – The Past, The Present and The Future. I am working on it every day, editing music and graphics.
Also, we have a CD compilation coming out on Gigolo in a couple of months. It will be called CD 14 and there will be a lot of new artists from the label, like for example Joyce Muniz from Brazil, and some old artists from the 90’s that are not known well now – like Johnny Dangerous.
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