‘5 Questions With’: Township Rebellion
“Everyone is handling difficult situations differently but we are aware that it’s a real gift to do all of this within a group of friends.”
If you are a lover of techno music, then you might already be familiar with German duo Township Rebellion. From performing memorable sets while touring the world and being a firm favourite on techno legend Oliver Koletzki’s label Stil Vor Talent, the pair have had an exciting journey so far already. At last year’s Burning Man, they caught the attention of Australian dance music collective RÜFÜS DU SOL and ultimately got signed for their brand new EP release ‘2020’ by their label Rose Avenue. The project consists of two songs, ‘Plastic World’ and ‘Definition of Mimosa’, both which brilliantly capture their signature sound – prominent basslines, compelling synths and fickle melodies. We’ve had a chat with Township Rebellion and talked about how 2020 impacted them, Germany’s techno scene and more.
Read the feature below…
Words and interview by Antonia Kuenzel
EQ: Hey guys, first of all, how did you meet and decide to form Township Rebellion?
TSR: We live in a small city in the South of Germany and we were already friends before we started the project. Both of us were always involved in some kind of music – back then we hosted a lot of small parties for our circle of friends and things started to grow from there.
EQ: You are from Germany which obviously has a big techno and electronic scene. Did you find it hard to break out into the scene over there at first and build a name for yourself?
TSR: Its a privilege to be here in Germany with such an established & diverse scene. Citys like Berlin have Clubs & Labels that are known all over the World. But the thing is that we are basically living exactly on the opposite side of the Country… So it was always a dream for us to play in places like Watergate, Ritter Butzke or Kater Blau or even anywhere in Berlin to be honest. Even being there as a guest was kind of a big thing for us. Not even thinking of having a chance to release on the label of one of our Heroes. Looking back we see it as a good thing that we live so far away from the ‘Technocenters’ of Germany. At some of our first gigs, we even rented a big bus with a driver to bring sometimes more than 40 of our friends with us to our gigs. That way the club was already going crazy right from the start. We have a lot of beautiful memories from around that time. It was a lot of fun, we started releasing music, played various gigs here and there and at some point, we realised it has potential for more. Now its 2020, crazy to think that our Journey is already 8+ years long.
“…it doesn’t matter to us if it’s a big artist or someone unknown, if we feel the music and we have the time, we go for it.”
– TOWNSHIP REBELLION
EQ: In the past, you have collaborated with RUFUS DU SOL as well as with Oliver Koletzki, among others. Is there anyone else on your list who you’d love to work with in the future, and why?
TSR: Both of us probably have different answers to that. Most of our collaborations are based on relationships we have developed over long periods of time. Like everyone else we also have a long list of artists in music, we adore as fans and of course, sometimes decisions have to be made based on the business perspective of certain things. But whenever possible we try to approach collaborations from the musical side first. It doesn’t matter to us if it’s a big artist or someone unknown, if we feel the music and we have the time, we go for it. We haven’t done many features with vocalists yet, that’s something we are definitely open for! There will also be some collaborations next year we are very excited about, but we can’t talk about those yet.
EQ: You recently released your EP 2020. How has 2020 impacted you?
TSR: 2020 started amazing for us, we had a lot of great things coming up for us, especially the gigs. Around the end of March, we were super excited for our first US Tour. And then the pandemic started…it was a really bad emotional rollercoaster, and sometimes it still is. Everyone is handling difficult situations differently but we are aware that it’s a real gift to do all of this within a group of friends. We try to support each other as best as we can. It makes us really happy to release new music with our recent EP. Of course, it makes us sad to not celebrate this by dancing with everyone but especially now we are thankful to share something, that might help to escape all of this for a moment.
EQ: You’ve had an inspiring journey ever since you formed in 2012. What are your plans for the upcoming months/year?
TSR: We got another very special release coming up in early December. Stay tuned! For next year we would love to be able to dance together and start touring again. But first of all, we wish for nothing more that we can get through all of this together. And we would also like to encourage everyone to take care of each other. There’s is always a reason for hope & love!
YouTube/TOWNSHIP REBELLION – TOPIC
Stream Township Rebellion’s ‘2020’ EP HERE
Keep up with Township Rebellion on socials
Instagram:@township_rebellion