Fauna Flash are Munich duo Christian Prommer and Roland Appel who have been dubbed 'the German Reprazent' in Drum 'n' Bass circles. Their productions span hip-hop, jazz, latin and soul music, but they remain die-hard D 'n' B affiliates. 'The Truby Trio' unites them with Rainer Truby, a hugely influential German DJ purveyor of Latin house and man behind the Glücklich and Talkin' Jazz III compilations. Ahead of their Dublin gig this weekend, Christian Prommer talks to Sinéad Gleeson about Compost Records, working with Peter Kruder and the resurrection of a certain genre…
Sinéad Gleeson: How did the Fauna Flash project come about?Christian Prommer: Roland (Appel) and I actually went to the same school and played drums in the same high school band. After school we sort of lost touch but as it happens we were both working on various projects involving funk, soul, hip-hop and jazz. I had always been interested in drum machines and then started collecting records, DJing and sampling. I met up with Roland again in 1994 and we started making electronic music together.
SG: How did you get signed to Compost?CP: Compost was the only choice we had in Munich. Michael (Reinboth, Compost founder) was the person who was interested to be honest! Having said that, we didn't really mind about having a label, we just didn't care about getting signed because we were happy to fool around with samples and ideas.
SG: Germany is known for its hard techno. Doing what you do musically, was it more difficult to get people to take notice of what you were doing?CP: Sure it was. It was different and it wasn't aimed at a market but the techno people were the first people to give us a chance and let us play their venues.
SG: A lot of Drum 'n' Bass emanates from the UK, is there any artist in particular who influences your work? CP: The first Roni Size album really impressed us. When we heard it we thought, 'Wow this is really something special', it really caught our attention. One of the reasons we're so interested in Drum 'n' Bass is because we're both drummers and we just make the kind of music we want to make.
SG: Do you think D 'n' B is a much-maligned genre and that its popularity is on the wane? CP: I think it was hyped up a lot in the past, and media interest has dropped off but I think the interest in it is coming back. Fauna Flash and other Drum 'n' Bass producers have been looking for a new edge to it to try and expand the possibilities. It's important not to stick with the same formula. I think though, that it was getting a harder time two years ago, and that's why we took our time releasing our record.
SG: Was it through Compost that you met Rainer Truby?CP: He's been with Compost Records from day one, and we toured together in 1994/5 on the Future Sound of Jazz tour. Roland and Rainer knew each other from their record collecting days and after touring we decided that the three of us would try and do something new. We started off with a track for a FSOJ compilation and from there did various remixes and we've been working together ever since.
SG: Could you tell me about Fauna Flash project 'Voom Voom' with Peter Kruder?CP: Myself, Roland and Peter have known each other a long time and are actually friends. But, we were at Michael Reinboth's wedding and had a chat about the possibility of us all working on something together. The whole idea was to do something that was fun, music-wise so we get together two or three times a year. We're based in Munich and Peter's in Vienna and as we don't work on the project on a continuous basis, we divide it between the two cities. So far, it seems as if it's been really successful.
SG: You get asked to do a lot of remixes, what makes you actually want to take on a track?CP: We try to limit our time to things that make sense to us or else to artists that we'd really like to work with. If something inspires us, or it's something that sounds new, we'll give it a shot, but money helps of course! I really like the remix we did of a Digest track and also one for Hidden Agenda. If we could remix any track, it'd be something with strong vocals, perhaps someone like D'Angelo or Mos Def.
SG: What does your live show involve? CP: We play a full spectrum of music from hip-hop to jazz to techno to jazz to Latin to Drum 'n' Bass. Roland and I will kick off the night and then Rainer will join us so the three of us will be DJing together.
Fauna Flash play with Rainer Truby as part of the Truby Trio in the Temple Bar Music Centre, Friday 7 September.
