23 Feb ARTBAT Introduces New Label UPPERGROUND
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ARTBAT Introduces New Label UPPERGROUND
By Lizzy Wiegers
*This interview is older and was in our Issue 67 magazine.
Ukrainian techno duo ARTBAT brings their new label UPPERGROUND to the electronic music world. With a tour of the United States already completed and a tour of South America on the way, this label is a perfect way to bring even more of their internationally known emotive sound to their fans. For ARTBAT, the pandemic gave them the time and space to focus on their music. You can expect any future tracks from them will be filled with life.
The name UPPERGROUND comes from how the artists want to be viewed. Neither underground nor commercial, they consistently put out high-quality tracks that can resonate with a wide audience. Their first single under the new label is called “Flame,” a part trance part techno track that is sure to light up the audience.
What has the journey been like for you both as you’ve grown in popularity touring internationally?
It’s been a very exciting path, full of surprises, amazing shows, and amazing people. We couldn’t be more thankful for this. A wild ride you can say.
How has the club culture in Ukraine made an impact on your music?
Club culture in Ukraine really is something special, particularly in Kiev. You can say the clubs seem a bit more dirty and underground, but when you enter it’s full of amazing, well-dressed people. For us it resembles our music, keeping an “underground” exterior, and a clean well-defined core.
How does your music represent who you are as a duo specifically?
Our music presents our love of music and passion for dance. It also conveys our togetherness and our emotions.
What plugins do you use the most to help you bring your unique sound to life?
The plugins we use include Arturia, u-he, diva, FabFiler, Waves, and many others.
What are each other’s biggest strengths when it comes to working in the studio?
To be honest it’s from day to day different. What is important for us is to have a natural and honest understanding. One day one of us is coming up with the idea and the other one is creating something around it. The next day it can be exactly the other way around. For sure, it’s important to openly discuss everything with each other. That’s the way forward and it’s pure fun.
What would be a dream come true opportunity for you when it comes to brands you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
One of our favorite brands is Off White, so it would be amazing to collaborate with them. Virgil Abloh is absolutely outstanding. We love his work.
Have you tried pitching or been successful with landed any sync licensing placements for your music in any of your favorite video games like FIFA or Call of Duty: Warzone? If not, what video game, movie, or TV show do you think would fit best to your music?
We are big fans of FIFA. We are actually very passionate about it so it would be a dream to create our team there and for our music to be played in the background. Our dream would become reality. But of course, it would be amazing as well to be synced for a movie or other video games. We keep on pitching and who knows, maybe FIFA will take it on.
What is the best part about being able to tour together as a duo?
The best part about being able to tour as a duo is that you always have your best friend, you’re not on your own, and you’re in good company. For us, we always have fun discussing ideas, helping each other to be in a good mood (in general), and we also have many more ideas that can be created and tried out instantly.
How did working with a variety of different labels prepare you to start your own?
Working with a variety of different labels allowed us to create the vision for our own label. It allowed us to see how we want to do ours by seeing how others run theirs.
Why did you decide to go with the name UPPERGROUND for your new label which was also the same name as your track “Upperground” released in 2019?
Our record “Upperground” (Diynamic) was really the breakthrough for us, so we thought that since it marked a very important point in our career, it should mark the next one too. We couldn’t have found a better name to kick off this new chapter.
How does UPPERGROUND speak to your mission as musicians with wanting the label to be neither underground nor commercial?
We definitely don’t define music like that. Our label is a place for good music from good artists. It’s a platform rather than a label that you can put in a drawer.
What are the major benefits of launching UPPERGROUND that allow you to achieve your musical goals compared to when you were reliant upon releasing music on other people’s labels?
Well, not only can we release our own music, market it, and present it exactly the way we want to, but it also gives us the opportunity to release other artists and present those artists to our fans.
Why did you pick the track “Flame” which mixes techno and trance as the first track to represent UPPERGROUND?
We picked “Flames” as the first track to represent UPPERGROUND because it’s the idea of being reborn. It’s a dramatic track with a lot of emotions resembling freedom and lifting off to the next stage.
Which artists are you most excited to sign to UPPERGROUND? If you can’t say who yet, what are the criteria you’ll be looking at to consider who you sign?
You’ll have to wait for further announcements. But we can tell you there are some real undiscovered talents. There are no criteria really. The artist just has to convince us with their strengths.
What are three tips you can give to someone considering launching their own record label based on what you’ve learned with the launch of your label?
We are just about to launch the label so we don’t think that we can give experienced advice just yet, however, we can say that there is no need to rush things. Check out everything in a deep, detailed, and critical way (the same goes with your emotional experience).
Who are a few vocalists you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
We would 100% love to collaborate with Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) and The Weeknd.
What marketing strategy has helped you continue to grow your fan base outside of touring over the past year?
It’s all about the music and loyalty of our fans. We don’t really have a specific marketing strategy for the pandemic.
What are a few reasons why every music listener should add you to their must-see list?
That’s a very difficult question to answer. It’s asking why would you go and see yourself, and that can only bring a very self-centered answer. We would invite anyone to come and watch us play and hope to bring good energy to them.
What risks with your sound would you like to test out in the future?
You won’t have to wait long for that. Let’s see if we can surprise one or another.
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