We caught up with the 2 Belgians DkA & Parsifal who form the great combo called Brussels Pony Club. They recently released, in our humble opinion, an undeniable hot EP. Their EP Nightland sounds damn right & groovy. As they call it: for “night dwellers”. We couldn’t agree more.
Nightland is an ode to those who find refuge in the arms of the city when they are sleepless.
Hey guys, how are things going these days?
Good thanks.
Let’s cut down to the bone. You guys recently released an ‘Nightland’ on the Berlin based imprint ‘Amselcom’. It’s a four-track release tailored for night dwellers. Want to tell us about it? What’s the story?
Well basically DkA has been working for a while now with Amselcom and when they decided to do a Brussels pony club release, we really wanted to showcase the spectrum of our sound. So the story is four different impressions of darkness and how to find the silverlining within dark days or situations.
We all have dark moments in our life and we are particularly interested in what feelings go thru our heads when going thru these moments. Every song is a different take on this theme.
It’s an ode to those who find refuge in the arms of the city when they are sleepless.
All four tracks seem to tell a story. What’s behind it?
well the title track was not supposed to be a Brussels Pony club track but a DkA featuring Parsifal.
When I (Parsifal) first heard the track I fell in love with it. Dka asked me for lyrics and vocals on the track and the track was already called Nightland.
The insomnia theme seemed to very naturally fit the track.
We can’t pick a track that’s better than the other. All four contain a warm deep and hevay bass.
It feels like you wanted to create a setting resembling a dark smokey underground scene. People raving till the morning dawn. Real nice groove. Tell us how you come to create this great sound.
Well the sound is really the sum of both our influences and backgrounds. Influences going from jazz and blues over new wave to italo disco, techno, house etc… . Basically all styles with very firm roots in the underground. well the styles have become more mainstream now but their essence will always be in the underground.
Unconsiously I think we feel a responsabillity to respect that. You know that idea of we know you like it because you are here and we will not judge you for anything that happened before you walked in. I think our personal relationship is a good example of that. We are so different from one another but yet we always end up drawing the same conclusions. The same is true for our music. I think that process makes our sound.
Let’s talk about Brussels Pony Club. Your Facebook about section reads like a mysterie.
What’s your background and how did you two guys get to meet?
Well we honestly didn’t know what to write for the background on our page, that’s why Parsifal wrote it like a short mystery. We didn’t want it to be about the style we wanted it to be about the idea.
With the name we wanted to remind people where we were from but also make it not too serious either. It sounds like a gentlemen club but for ponies.We thought it was funny. A private club for anybody/nobody.
DkA had been making beats and music for a very long time while I was in a garage band and performing with punk bands. One day he came up to me and told me he wanted to start working with vocals. So we made a song. That was five years ago.
We already know Antoine (DkA) as he played at our 3y aniversary party. Doing fantastic, with some nice attention lately and playing in the US for the first time, on a damn nice line-up for Labirynth OPEN Croatia. How do you manage all this?
Well a good time managment and a whole lot of work and discipline. There is no secret. Work, work, work!
Parsifal, you have been working closely with Mobilee head honcho Anja Schneider quite some time ago.
What’s new for you lately besides this really great BPC release?
Well musically for me Brussels pony club is my main project. We have more releases in the works with that so for the moment it takes all my attention. I loved working with Anja and if she’ll have me I would love to do something else with her.
I have some other collaborations in the works that span beyond electronic music, but I am the kind of artist who needs several outlets. I am working on a theater production now and am building up a socio-cultural project in Sofia where I live.
When can we get you guys to see on a stage?
When you invite us for a gig 😉
Cheers and thanks for this chat!
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