For fans of harder edged music, Hennes & Cold and Derb are 2 familiar names. Here we speak with Kai Winter who is half of both acts about a range of subjects, read on for the full Interview...

[i:Vibes] First of All Kai, Could you tell us a couple of things about yourself,
just the basic introduction stuff please - Name/Age Etc :)

Kai Winter My real Name is Kai Winter, so i call myself Kan Cold because
the Winter is Cold!!! My Age? sometimes too young, sometimes too old,
But the most time too young!! I live near to Frankfurt in a town called Offenbach, a nice town, with some very crazy people there!!
I have been a producer since 1992 , Dj since 1990, so a long time !!!!!!


[i:Vibes] As like many other people in the music business today, you are not just involved in one project. Why exactly do you have different Aliases to work under, Is each one for a specific style, or do you just have so much creativity that one isn't enough ?

Kai Winter At the moment my Projects are DERB and Hennes & Cold. I started with Hennes & Cold in 1998, and the second Project DERB started in 2000. In the beginning (1992-97) i had a lot of Projects, Global Cee - Interstate - Hypnosis - etc..
Hennes & Cold's style is hardtrance, Derbs style, really I don't know what it is. It's only fun, easy beats, simply melodies, crazy produced, but i dont know the name for style!

Maybe the reason at the moment why I have 2 projects is due to a lot of ideas that I have. Also its very easy to produce, cause the DERB project i produced together with my friend Boris Hafner, and he makes a lot of funny things with Voices.
My next plan to do, is starting my own project, KAN COLD, because this year I created a new Label together with Scot Project and we need new stuff to play and release on it, by the way the name of the label is "DRUCK" !!!!


[i:Vibes] Derb are highly popular at the moment, with people loving the really
hard beats and basslines you incorporate, almost gabber like at times in the sound and for example the Trance & Acid remix was 'evil' sounding. How exactly do you come up with such ideas ?

Kai Winter The Remix productions are mostly very easy. We start with the Voice, and try to get some crazy elements with it. Boris sits in studio at first, and puts some elements like Bassdrums beats and the programmed Voices into his Computer.
The day after we meet in there and I listen what he's doing. Most of the time i played the melodies, or the gimmicks parts with the sounds Boris created and do in the same moment the arrangement !
It`s very simple, cause we know each other very well, and when i go to smoke a
Cigarrette, he's doing my ideas and so on.

Mostly we need only 3 days to make a track. Its very good, because you will hear it on most Tracks which sound like they've taken more than a week to make.
Some Sounds, by the way, will come out about from the Voices. We take some plug's and create sounds from Voices. CRAZY !!!

[i:Vibes] What equipment do you use for producing ?

Kai Winter Samplers (Akai) some synths (Novation, Virus, Korg, Nord lead, Roland, etc.)
Analog and digital Mixers, i think all machines they imported will be in our studios !!!

[i:Vibes] You also DJ sets, do you plan on doing that on a more widespread basis like in the UK etc, or is it just a sideshow from the producing ?

Kai Winter You remember, i started by playing in Clubs. At the beginning i played some Crossover style, very helpful for producing, but i can't say what i prefer. Sometimes to stay in the Club, sometimes stay in studio !!! I love it all !!!

[i:Vibes] Your attention this year has obviously been focused on your derb
remixes as opposed to your 'hennes and cold' productions/remixes, will there
be a grand return of 'hennes and cold' sumtime in the near future?

Kai Winter The last release of Hennes & Cold i think was in the middle of 2002. We done also i think 4 or five remixes after our release.
The last was for Paffendorf, a brilliant mix. A lot of Dj's play the Track. It was also playing at Television in Germany, so i can't say that really the focus was on DERB tunes ! Maybe we get some better stuff for doing a Remix.

Stuff like Spacefrog - Follow me, Warmduscher - Hardcore will never die..
Kai Tracid Trance & Acid, etc are what the Dj's play, so maybe it's only a feeling that I do more for DERB.


[i:Vibes] Derb's success this year has been rather impressive, but your most memorable track in my opinion has to be Derb - Derb, would you consider remixing this classic track, or would you rather leave it with the credibility that it has already earned?


Kai Winter I think you have answered the Question! It was a unbelievable success with the first Track "DERB". We stayed for 5 weeks in the Dance Charts of the USA, i think in a completely dance chart. As for charts in europe, many Dj's play the song and It was a production of one day!! Boris programmed the groove, and i had the melody in my brain for 2 weeks beforehand. We met on a monday morning, and the track we recorded at Monday night... ONLY ONE DAY !!!

Maybe we think about it, because at the moment we plan an LP with DERB !!

[i:Vibes] Derb - Derb, was released on tracid beta filez.... why was this released on this label... what is the difference between tracid traxx, and tracid beta filez ...... and more importantly.... when will there be another tracid beta filez release, i believe it has been about 2 years now ?

Kai Winter It was the choice of Kai Tracid. In front, when he listened to the track, he's meaning "the track is more commercial then the other tracks of Tracid
Traxxx" and he don't want to put it of his Label. I talked with Armin Johnert, the partner of Tracid Traxxx and said to him, that I had played the song in the club and it would be great.
He also liked the tune, but its hard to convince Mr. Tracid.
He said that we could put the Track on Beta-filez.
At this moment Beta-filez was only a whitelabel, they don't make any Covers.

I said to Armin, "that's no problem to release it on Beta-filez, because i believe
in the Track, and it will do fine, but we have to do a good Cover with Beta-filez".
Now i think the Track was one of the biggest Hits of Tracid Traxxx, because we
released it worldwide, Nobody on Tracid Traxxx or Beta-filez have any success
like this!!


[i:Vibes] What does 2003 hold for your fans ?

Kai Winter DERB,DERB,DERB !!!
Hennes & Cold, Hennes & Cold, Hennes & Cold !!!
And the new Kan Cold tune on DRUCK !!!
The new DERB single, called Underground / This is DERB will be out
in February 2003.
We plan the next Hennes & Cold release for the middle of 2003.

[i:Vibes] You have now remixed a couple of tracks for Kai Tracid, Trance and Acid now being considered a classic amongst fans, and the new remix of '4 just 1 day'. Have you recieved feedback or advice before remixing these tunes or when you've given them the finished product ?

Kai Winter Yes, a lot of fans sent me e-mails with congratulations for the good tunes, I can't believe that so many people listen the tunes of DERB!

It is important that you do your own style when you doing a remix, I never make what other people say to, but it was really good to hear when we got positive feedback.


[i:Vibes] Who would you produce a tune with if you could choose anyone in the world ?

Kai Winter To be produced in two hours ? I dont know !!!

[i:Vibes] What advice would you give to someone to make a tune as twisted
> sounding as some Derb Productions ?

Kai Winter Its funny to hear some tracks, they try to copy our sound. Especially i remember a tune of Prezioso. Its an italian production and he's taken the original line of DERB-DERB. He's only change one Note of the line, but i have no problem with that, only when they make it better then DERB!


[i:Vibes] Any ambitions to release albums from your aliases in the near future,
and if so any idea of a release date ?

Kai WinterThe DERB LP will comming i think in April or May 2003.
We are planning a Hennes & Cold LP for the End of 2003!!


[i:Vibes] Also popular in the Hard Dance style are people like Scot Project & Yoji Biomehanika to name a couple, what do you think of these guys, and would you like to produce a song with them one day ?

Kai Winter That's funny as Scot Project is my Partner, We have the same studios together in Offenbach and built the DRUCK label in 2002, and have a lot of fun together!

Yoji is a good friend of mine, I played with him in Japan twice. He is an unbelievable DJ, and a very friendly, lovely person. We signed him on our Label for the first release called DING-a-LING which Scot Project remixed.


[i:Vibes] Anything to say to the [i:Vibes] readers ?


Kai Winter Lets Rock !!!!!

[i:Vibes] Finally, Your opinions on mp3s and their domination across the internet please ? Have they helped you, held you back etc ?

Kai Winter I dont like the downloads of music on internet. I prefer the original Copy on Vinyl !!

Many thanks to Kai for taking the time out to speak with us and to Nuk|euZ for a couple of the questions!! We wish the Derb & Hennes & Cold Projects the best of luck in 2003.