"I was thinking 'this is great — I think I need a year,' so I took a fuckin’ year …"
After taking some time away from a hectic touring schedule, veteran DJ/Producer Wolfgang Gartner made his raucous return to the electro world with the release of 10 Ways to Steal Home Plate in late January, and a shorter addendum to the album More Ways this past March. Known for his club-ready electro bangers, Gartner took some time to chat with us about the rigors of touring and some of the crazy shit he’s dealt with over his years in the business before he returns to Denver to celebrate Beta Nightclub’s 8-year anniversary.
You’re pretty renowned for your intense work ethic, don’t you ever get burnt out?
Completely — all the time. Almost every single song that I’m working on, there comes a point when I’m not having a good time, but then something happens and it turns around and I’m having fun again.
How do you recharge when you do get burnt out?
I really haven’t found a good way to do that yet, except to give it time. Essentially, you’re asking for the cure to a creative block, and I’ve been looking for that for 8 years. The only thing that works is narcotics, which is not a long term solution, so a long time ago, I decided to not use narcotics for my creative block. Now, I just have to sit and wait until I feel like I’m ready to go back into the studio. I used to force myself back into it, but I stopped doing that because that’s not how I run my career that’s based around a passion.
You took a pretty long break from touring recently; are you feeling better after that break?
Yeah, I mean, I was actually feeling better like two months into the break, but I chose to keep going. I haven’t taken more than 6 months off of touring since like 2003. I didn’t really make an immediate decisions to take a year off the road, but a couple months into it I was thinking “this is great — I think I need a year,” so I took a fuckin’ year, and now I’m back and everything is rosier and better. My biology and physiology is just better when I play shows. I’m healthier. Everything is just a little better than it was before the break.
So does that mean you’re going to keep the touring pretty light from now on?
Definitely for the foreseeable future. I was averaging about 150 shows up until about 2014, but this year I’m not going to play any more than about 30 or 40. So that’s me taking it down it a notch, and it’s way more comfortable this way.
Do you have a favorite song that you made? One that’s particularly special to you?
It’s probably 'Space Junk.' I don’t want to say that it haunts me, but I don’t know how the fuck I did it. It’s like the song that I can’t outdo.
Do you have any songs that you’re just tired of?
There’s a few that I’ve gotten tired of. The big ones were 'Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony' and 'Illmerica.' I got really tired of those and I don’t play them out anymore.
If your house is burning down and you only have time to grab and save three things, what do you save?
My cat. My studio computer that has all my files on it. And probably my laptop too, because that has all my other important files on it. I’m assuming my girlfriend will be able to get out on her own. [laughs]
Can you recall the worst show you’ve ever played?
I can clearly remember a show that I played in Pomona (east of Los Angeles). The turntables were so low to the ground, and I’m kind of tall, so I need the table a little higher than most DJs, so I had to play the set on my knees on a wood floor. By the end of it, my knees were all bruised and I could hardly walk. It was ghetto!
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen while you’re on stage?
On the Seattle stop of my very first bus tour, I was playing the show and everything was going along fine. I looked up and saw this kid running on stage. Then he jumps up on top of the decks and starts throwing punches at me while I’m trying to dodge them and keep the music playing. Turned out he had taken bath salts or something like that. So yeah, that was weird.
Do you have a musical guilty pleasure you like to indulge in when no one is around?
I love bubble gum pop music. I love Taylor Swift. I like the Weeknd. Pretty much anything produced by Max Martin.
What are three things that your fans probably don’t know about you?
Uhhh, I haven’t left the house in 11 days. I haven’t worked on music in 11 days either. Really I haven’t done shit but sit on the couch. Other than that, I have a 17-year-old cat. But I’m pretty open on the Internet, so people probably know plenty about me.
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