The 2 Bears Interview With Raf Rundell

Raf Rundell is one half of The 2 Bears, the house music duo from London. On 1st August, he’ll be going solo for Eastern Electrics, where he’ll be DJing to a lucky crowd at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. Looking forward to the set, we had a chat with the man himself to find out more about what he has in store, his favourite venues around the world, and where he likes to go on holiday.
Hi Raf, where are you speaking to us from?
I’m just walking through Brixton Market, I’m working in the studio down the road and my wife has a café in the market so we just went for a bit of free lunch! I’ve just working on a tune at my mate’s studio and stepped out into the sunshine for a couple of hours and to get a bit of perspective.
You’re playing at Eastern Electrics on 1st August; amongst an array of dance music names, what with The 2 Bears be bringing to the festival?
Hot and heavy vibes for the dance floor, a lot of love and unity for all the ravers.
How much of your set is your own material?
It changes all the time, we don’t have one that we do everywhere. This one’s just me, actually, Joe’s away with Hot Chip so I’m going to be representing on my own. But it depends what fits really, sometimes the job is better done with other people’s records but we always play a few of our own.
Do you wing it?
Yeah, I suppose so. We DJ so much that it’s ever evolving, you get into something and you play it for six months to a year and then you need to put it down for a while because you’re getting a bit tired of it, and then you might find it a couple of years later.
What about material from ‘The Night Is Young’?
I have been playing some bits and pieces in our DJ sets. We do a live show where we play all of The 2 Bears stuff, but DJing at a festival late on a Saturday night, you need to give the people something lively for them to party to, and the music that we make as The 2 Bears might be a bit too mellow. I’ll play some remixes from the record probably, we’ve had some great ones, but I play a lot of old Chicago house and techno, so, whatever feels right at that particular moment.

Do you have a particularly favourite slot?
My favourite time is when it’s just starting to get dark, and you’re getting into the evening. That’s what ‘The Night Is Young’ is all about really. It’s that moment where you’re done with the day, you come out of the heat and everybody’s cooling off. Dusk is an amazing time at a festival because people are still fresh from the day but excited about the night.
How does the dancefloor at a festival compare to one at a club for you guys?
It depends where you’re playing. If you’re in a big tent, you might have to keep it quite simple and straightforward because on that sort of scale, it’s hard to be heard sometimes if you’re playing music that’s a bit complicated. If it’s a smaller arena, then you can get away with playing more songs. I like doing both, though – there’s an art in both of them.
Do you have a favourite event or venue in London?
Canavan in Peckham is great. I live in the neighbourhood so I can stagger home from that one!
What about going global? Where have been some of the most memorable gigs you’ve played?
We love the Sub Club in Glasgow, The Lux in Lisbon, and the Tunnel Club in Milan.
Where was the last place you went to where you got to have some time off and just enjoy the location?
Luckily, I managed to get a day off just the other day in Corsica, we were playing at a festival on Sunday night and I didn’t have to fly home until Tuesday so I had time to put my feet in the sea and eat a bit of calamari, so that was nice.
Is that what you like to do when you get time off?
Who doesn’t! Everybody likes that.
Where do you go for an actual holiday?
Somewhere exotic like the south of India or the Caribbean. I had an amazing holiday in Mexico, that was really beautiful.
Is there anywhere you’ve yet to play that you’d like to?
We’d like to go to China and India, they’re both places that have got a club scene. I know people that have played in China but not too many in India. We played in South Africa last year, which was really amazing, and I’d like to go back there.
Do you wear the costumes at all now?
Not anymore, not for a long time. They got a bit too disgusting – they could stand up on their own in the end!
But you’re still The 2 Bears at heart…
Yeah, and in our faces and physique, you know. We were bears before we put the suits on.
Catch Raf from The 2 Bears at Eastern Electrics on 1st August. For more info and tickets, visit easternelectrics.com