Berlin Techno Icon
Ellen Allien is an essential icon, capturing the sound and spirit of Berlin. We met her on a hot and sunny Pride day and, a few weeks after that, we talked about returning to raving, how to make music community, and her past, present and future.
Photography Christian Trippe Interview David Saavedra Editor George Calia Fashion & Styling Esther Perbandt
Clubs have opened up again in recent weeks in many countries and open air festivals are starting to happen again. While some of us can’t wait to go out, others are still cautious and not sure if they feel ‘safe’.
Ellen kept busy during the pandemic and worked hard to keep music and the community alive. Her now legendary balcony streaming sessions brought excitement and a sense of hope to our lockdown living rooms. A few months on, she started playing in clubs again and it turned out to be quite an emotional experience.
Has the enforced pause last year created new inspiration and is there something positive we can learn from it?
The first months of 2020 were very hard for me. I didn’t know how long it would last. At the beginning it was to be like… six weeks? Then became two months, three months, six months… I started to play in Berlin again, last year, and I cried, it was very emotional. Then I played in Belgium at a festival and it was insane to face the community again. In Berlin I play as much as a I can and I feel connected to the scene again, now that the clubs are open.
Are you feeling safe to play again?
It doesn’t feel right to me to play in countries where cases are still very high and people are battling with the pandemic. Of course, at some point we will have to move on somehow and that’s why it is important to get vaccinated – I am a vaccinated raver. I play where I feel safe but I noticed that my behaviour has changed. It’s weird if people don’t wear masks and it feels strange to hug people again. It is something we have to get used to. The community has to come back together and experience the music.
Did you enjoy going back to clubs or did it feel weird?
I have to say I had forgotten how much freedom we had in clubs and the open-minded energy. But I met many people I hadn’t seen for a long time and listening to their life stories and what happened with Corona was very emotional for me because I realised how many people I knew for a very long time, just from the club scene, that I hadn’t seen. So it was time to open up again and communicate.
“Music unites people from different walks of life and when you are in the club together, the colour of your skin and or sexual orientation doesn’t matter.”
How important is it that people can visit clubs again?
Clubs are an important meeting point – a very positive experience. It’s a place where you go to have a good time and enjoy yourself and as a result a lot of positive things can start from there. The dance floor today is what a bar used to be – you make new friends there, you talk to people, start collaborations or art projects. Music unites people from different walks of life and when you are in the club together, the colour of your skin and or sexual orientation doesn’t matter. Everyone is there to have a good time.
During your recent trip to Georgia you also visited the Pride headquarters. Why did you decide to visit the place? Do you believe you can use your music and your platform to fight for equality and against injustice?
I played in Tbilisi two weeks after Pride. The Pride office was attacked by far-right protesters. In Georgia, people came from different places, surrounding countries and they had to find a way to live together. They had different religions, upbringings and ideals for living, and for some people it was strange to have a different sex life or a different attitude. It’s a process to grow or to respect other ways of living. In big cities like London, Berlin or Paris, we have been living together a long time with different ideas and a lot of respect, but in Georgia it will take a while, so… freedom for the world! I went to the balcony, to show respect or just to send out good vibes, and somebody from the Pride office came to say hello. It was very touching.
Instagram @ellen.allien
“We Are Not Alone” is the name of your most recent rave parties and a series of compilation albums. Is it a way of defining the sense of community you always liked in techno music?
Yes, I created the title because of our techno community, specially at Griessmuehle, our first location (the club is has now moved to Revier Südost where Ellen will play on 22nd August). It was a space for new energies, for different kinds of techno DJ’s and techno styles. Before Corona times we went on for two days non-stop, but people can come to the party, go home and then come back or they can choose the time they want to come to the club. So techno for me is not a trend, techno for me is a lifestyle. My first record is from 1994 and I produced techno since then so, techno is for me… I am techno! (laughs)
“My first record is from 1994 and I produced techno since then so, techno is for me… I am techno!”
What are the “Vinylism” happenings and why did you start them?
It was started in Reykjavik when I was invited to the Sónar Festival. I said I’d like to play in a record store to meet people from there. So I played some records and I met so many nice people. I felt connected to the record shop owner and his wife and many nice Icelandic bands that I discovered there. It was so emotional that I started this new project, “Vinylism”, in some record stores in other cities, to meet people from there, to talk to them, to exchange music and creativity. We’re waiting for the moment we can do that again.
One of your last hit singles is titled “La música es Dios” (“Music is God”). What is the origin of that track?
I just wanted to say what music is for me. It makes me happy, lets me fly and dream. Dreaming for me has a very important energy in life.
There’s a kind of mysticism in your approach to music as well, but it seems to be a paradox that you could write about mother nature and play that music in urban industrial warehouses. Is there a kind of inner harmony amongst all of that?
Mother Earth is for me the mecca of everything, but I lived in a city divided after the drama of the Second World War. When East and West came together we had to create a new Germany, we wanted to be together again without there being any opinion about us. That’s what I wanted to reflect in my first album as a producer, “Stadtkind” (City Child), in 2001. I started DJing in a very big electricity warehouse with very high ceilings, and also in factories, squats, bunkers… So my music is very related to the location where I grew up. It’s a combination between finding a free space to play and enjoy our music, to meet people, to rave together, and there is of course the energy of nature, woods that are not so far from the city, and the dancefloor. And kissing.
“Harmony for me means to feel respected, to feel my people, my environment, to feel I understand them.”
Harmony for me means to feel respected, to feel my people, my environment, to feel I understand them. It means having no distortion in the emotional sense, having a healthy mindset and body, also a healthy government, a healthy way of thinking, and receiving and giving love, but also not suffering from the darkness.
Before the Wall came down, you lived your childhood and teenage years in West Berlin. How did you experience that post punk scene of the 80’s, the Neue Deutsche Welle?
When I was a kid I grew up with Kraftwerk. I remember when I had “The Model” single in my hand an my sister gave my mother a Nina Hagen Band record. The lyrics in ‘Der Spinner’ talk about a man on the other side of the river and she’s trying to reach him but fails. She is talking about a gay guy (‘from anderen Ufer’) but as a child I didn’t understand what this means. Music was always something I could dream about and that’s the reason I don’t like to put many lyrics in my tracks. I don’t like a strong story, I prefer if you say some words and the person can add their story or their own life. I’m not so much into rock music because it is completely against how I wanna love, with people on stage singing and everybody screaming. Well, I do like some rock bands, I like guitars and I like punk from the perspective of women. In my lyrics I’m talking about Berlin, about my life. My schooling was Neue Deutsche Welle because they had lyrics in German, they sang about Berlin… and people like Nina Hagen and especially Kraftwerk, because it’s something that changed completely my attitude to music and it changed my ears, my way of listening and producing later on.
You created your label, Braincandy, that subsequently became BPitch Control, one of the most influential electronic trademarks of the millennium.
I had to open my own label because I couldn’t really find one that suited my music, I wasn’t so related to Tresor, Detroit or trance music. Braincandy had the same name as my radio show on Kiss FM and I closed it because the distributor was not so cool about us, so after that I opened BPitch. We ran parties in Tacheles and many places, big locations with visuals and big sound systems. We did parties in many places that don’t exist anymore.
“Dreaming for me has a very important energy in life.”
How would you say Berlin sounds now?
There are so many people moving to Berlin and I always say they will bring a new sound to the city, but everybody moves to the same place and is looking for the sound which already exists, looking for the locations and the people because there is a specific feeling in Berlin that comes into your mind. The Berlin sound is fast, sexy, rough, raw…, the bass lines are very strong and low-pitched, so the energy is completely removed from the pop attitude, it is more industrial and techno-based. It also has a strong rave attitude, so there’s also fun in the music. I think we have awesome DJ’s which moved here and found a space in the city to be a part of us, to be a part of Berlin.
What are your plans for 2021, 2022 and beyond?
I want to be here for the community, to play, to spread music, to be connected and I hope everybody stays healthy. I hope each one of us makes the right decisions about where to play and where not to play. Yeah, to stay healthy!
Ellen is going to release a lot of new music over the next few months. She has worked with Lebanon Hanover and will release new remixes for ‘Living On The Edge’ and ‘Invite Me To Your Country’ on 10th September. She also contributed to the ‘Gegen Compilation’ which will be released on 17th November, followed by the Serendipity Compilation on 30th September. We can’t wait!
To hear more of Ellen’s music, follow her Soundcloud on Instagram. For updates on upcoming live gigs, new releases and merch check out her website.
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