Shining Bright - Booka Shade

If you’ve lived in Macao for the past three years or you’ve got to the age whereby your choosing your holiday destination is based on the food available rather than the dance floors, then you can be forgiven for not having heard of Booka Shade. Otherwise there is very little excuse. To be fair if you don’t know the name, then you’d definitely know the German electro outfit’s sound. Their track ‘Body Language’ has transcended genres and clubs alike, putting it on a par with Claude Von Stroke’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Detroit?’ as one of the biggest crossover tracks of the last few years.

Since the release of ‘Movements,’ their previous LP in 2006, Booka Shade have completed one mammoth world tour (taking in nearly 150 shows in 20 months) and are about to embark on another. In the interim they have released the 12”s Tickle / Karma Car and Numbers, both international radio and club hits in their own right and the latest in the DJ Kicks series. So, with the imminent release of album number three, ‘The Sun and The Neon Light,’ you’d think Booka Shade could afford themselves a holiday?

“We have just had a break for only a couple of weeks but already I have started to feel uncomfortable being at home all the time,” Arno Kammermeier (one half the duo) tells me, his workaholic nature evident from the start of our conversation. ‘My wife always says I’d rather have you play at the weekend because I can’t stand you on a Saturday night when you’re at home. “I get nervous,” he explains, “because I think I have to go on stage.” Well, as anyone with a missus can tell you, keeping ‘er’indoors happy is half the battle won, cue yet another world tour for the Berlin masters with even bigger dates this time around.

“Last summer was fantastic, we played some very very nice shows but this summer is gonna be even more amazing.” As well as some of the mainstays in the dance calendar such as Wild In The Country and the Glastonbury Dance Village, 2008 sees Booka Shade’s appearance at some of the world’s biggest rock festivals, a fact that is still surprising to themselves especially. In August they travel to the States for Lollapalooza but before that there’s the small matter of Germany’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, where they line-up alongside the likes of Motorhead, Incubus and The Streets.

“I remember clearly looking at the line ups of those festivals for the last 20 years and I never imagined we would play there as an electronic band. It’s really funny how things develop and sometimes quite unrealistic really. Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘what strange movie is this?’ But then on the other hand, it is good to watch your movie, and go long with it and not try to read the script,” comments Arno.

Reading the script is definitely not what Booka Shade are about because they haven’t taken the easy route with their latest release. After producing records like ‘Mandarin Girl,’ ‘In White Rooms’ and the colossal ‘Body Language,’ any major record label would’ve told them to produce a ‘Movements II’ album. “You think that this would be the easy way but it’s not,” Arno assures me. “I think people always appreciate if you try a little bit harder.”