Monkey Business

Sven Fröhlich and Lars Rühlemann are animals. The duo from have been up to some serious monkey business over the last seven years, running two record labels and a nightclub as well as creating catchy dance beats influenced by their diverse musical tastes. “We listen to a lot of different kinds of music,” say the duo, via email correspondence from their home in Halle, Germany. “That's guys like Fatboy Slim, The Doors, Gang Starr, Funkmaster Flex… We just love music and want to produce and play music we're interested at the moment. That's the reason why our productions are not straight techno or electro or house, it's a little bit of this and that.”

2012 saw Monkey Safari release their first LP after a string of successful singles and EPs. Happy Body Music is one of the rare full-length albums in the dance music scene right now, but Fröhlich and Rühlemann say they enjoy the LP format and will use it again in the future. “It was very important for us to release an album which represents our whole musical mind, [it] is interesting for listeners and also works on the dancefloor. We love the album format but it's not interesting for people who only release dance tracks or club burners. We want to produce different kinds of music and like to spread our mind in the form of a musical journey and for this way, the album format is perfect… It should be like a good mix tape but only with your own music.”

They may sound like easygoing dudes, but Monkey Safari are indeed very serious about keeping things fun. When asked about the recent cohort of dance musicians who seem to take themselves very seriously, the brothers suddenly got solemn. “That's the point we hate on the scene. Sometimes we feel they have lost their fun and curiosity to try out new stuff. Doing the business and that's all. A lot of artists are not free. They are slaves of drugs, their management or their ego. Big on the flyer, but small in their mind.”

But Monkey Business is never short on fun, with Fröhlich and Rühlemann finding many creative avenues to keep things pumping. They co-founded What!What! Records (along with studio partner Mike Okay) in 2008 and Mambo Records in 2011. They also own and run the famous East German Charles Bronson Nightclub, named after the 1960s action film star. “Our grandpa was a huge Charles Bronson fan. While we searched for the club name we talked about him and felt the sound of Charles Bronson is great! It's a bit rough and dirty, and that's how the Bronson is.”

These party animals sure know how to have (and host) a good time and believe that being an active part of the nightlife scene allows them to produce unique, on-the-pulse tracks. “It's important to be a part of the crowd and the nightlife for getting the feeling in your sets what's the right track for exactly this moment. We think that's the interesting stuff, the art of DJing; be one with the crowd and read the people for what would fit perfect,” they explain.

“The club runs super. Halle is a big student city, so in summer when the students are at home we take a one-month summer break; from August we're back. Our guidelines or facts for good parties are very easy; a Funktion One sound system, artists who play groovy music and happy, peaceful people… You need no more!”

On their way out to Australia for a quick five show visit, Monkey Safari say Aussie fans can expect a high-energy set. “We play back-to-back, searching for the right track in the right moment. Of course we are working with effects and all this stuff but for us it's more important to play interesting music with ups and downs during the whole set.”

Monkey Safari will be playing the following shows:

Saturday 6 October - World Bar, Sydney NSW
Friday 12 October - White Rabbit, Adelaide SA
Saturday 13 October - Fake Chow, Geelong VIC (10.30pm-12am)
Saturday 13 October - The Prince, Melborune VIC (1.30am-3am)