Oliver Koletzki

Oliver Koletzki You are producing music since you are 12 years old, first on C64, then an Amiga and you started DJing when you were 18 years old. Looking back at your extensive musical history and taking your great talent in account, why did the world actually have to wait until 2005 to really hear about Oliver Koletzki?
I never was confident enough to let anyone hear my productions and I would have never thought of presenting my music to record labels. The first 10 years of my music-producing-career only my closest friends were allowed to hear my songs. This changed in 2005 and I pressed 500 vinylcopies of “Mückenschwarm” and delivered it to several record-stores in Germany.

You had your breakthrough with the hit ‘Mückenschwarm’ which got pushed by Sven Väth. I heard this song was more a crazy idea after a long night at Berlin’s Watergate. What is the truth behind this story?
That´s actually true! Back then I used to live very close to the Watergate – and it was (and still is) one of my favourite clubs.

After a long night full of inspiration, I walked home and started producing music – I was more playing around than focussing. … but within a few hours the track was nearly finished.

Stil Vor Talent – For our English speaking readers I would translate it with ‘Style Over
Talent’. The name says a lot. But what’s the philosophy of your label?
When I was young, people often told me that I am musically not talented because I couldn´t sing. but still I felt that music is the way to express myself. So talent is what is “given to you” by nature. In contrary, style is something that you have to develop yourself -and that´s what I did over the years. Also, it is important to me that all Stil vor Talent artists do have their own style.

Your label Stil Vor Talent is dedicated to push new artists. How are you doing this? Also Australian DJ Murat Kilic signed at Stil Vor Talent. How did you meet him and how does it work cross-continental?
Yes, it´s close to my heart to give young artists a platform.

I met Murat on my first Autralia Tour three years ago and he offered me some tracks that I really liked. Since then we see each other twice a year – I visit to Australia, he visits Berlin. The rest happens online.

Since 2010 you are touring with The Koletzkis. Are you performing the two latest
albums ‘Großstadtmärchen’ and ‘Lovestoned’ on stage?
How is it when you do live gigs with The Koletzkis – instead of just you, how many are you on stage and what are the instruments you are using?
I toured Germany twice with The Koletzkis and it was a great success – sold out! I wanted to perform Großstadtmärchen and Lovestoned live, so I had to start a bandproject – and I simply asked my best friends. Chris van Liebling plays the bass, Björn Störig plays the drums, I play the E-Piano and Fran is on the microphone. Djing can make you feel quite lonely, so I love to go touring with my band!

In 2000 you moved from Braunschweig, a medium sized city in the middle of Germany, to Berlin. 9 years later you produce the album ‘Großstadtmärchen’ which sounds like a homage to Berlin. What inspired you to produce this album and how do you feel about Berlin after travelling the whole world?
Berlin is a melting pot of so many different styles of music, arts, creativity, cultures and lifestyles. It’s a very tolerant city and people are open-minded.

The nightlife in Berlin is very unique. After I travelled the world, it’s still my favourite city and it became my home.

A transition from Techno and House towards more pop-influenced sounds can be
noticed when listening to your 3 albums ‘Get Wasted (2007)’, ‘Großstadtmärchen (2009)’ and ‘Lovestoned (2010)’ in a chronological order. Does your musical focus shift away from Techno towards Pop and what does it mean for Oliver Koletzki as DJ?

I wrote Großstadtmärchen because I became a little bit bored by minimal Techno and I wanted to set myself a new goal and produce an other kind of music. Lovestoned sounds even more pop-influenced because it was written and recorded in this special mood beeing lovestoned. Now I feel I want to go back to more housy productions.The DJ Oliver Koletzki is still playing pumping house and techno music – of corse..

Last year you released the album ‘Lovestoned’ together with your partner Fran. You met her online, when you were looking for a singer for ‘Großstadtmärchen’. What induced you to produce this album ‘Lovestoned’ and does it connect to your life?
Fran and I fell in love and it felt like the most natural thing to produce an album together. It was fun for us and we captured the first year of our relationship in this music.

Interview by Kerstin Keimling