Ever since Animal Trainer launched their global party campaign, the Swiss duo’s unique brand of ‘slow rave’ has captured the imaginations of countless electronic music lovers all over the world and spread their gospel to thousands, if not millions, of music lovers. Adrian Flavor and Samy Jackson are the two men behind Animal Trainer, a dynamic duo which grew up on a diet of the world’s very best electronic music artists in their hometown, Zurich. Driven by passion for the music and an insatiable appetite for the party, Adrian and Samy have become two of the hottest properties on the international circuit and represent the epitome of what Switzerland’s new generation of artists has to offer.

We caught up with Animal Trainer to celebrate their latest release, the ‘Euphorie’ EP on Katermukke.

Electronic Groove: Hi Samy & Adrian, thanks for your time today. You are from Zurich, can you tell us how this has shaped you as an artist?

Animal Trainer: Thanks to you for inviting us. Zürich has a long history with electronic music and techno is a world-renowned cultural heritage here. From 1992, this music was around and we had a lot of really good clubs and raves, so we grew up with this.

EG: You run your own events, ‘Rakete’. Can you tell us about your early experiences of going to parties?

Animal Trainer: The first parties were always a secret, a mystical thing where you get goosebumps standing in the line to get in. You hear the bass through the door every time someone went into the club. It was a brand-new world to discover. It’s still the same today for us and we hope it is forever.

EG: How did ‘Rakete’ at Hive begin? What inspired you to start the party?

Animal Trainer: In the end we just wanted to create a perfect party for us. As we are pro ravers we knew from the beginning what we wanted. Rakete has been sold out every month for 12 years and we are super happy with our crowd and the DJ’s we can book.

EG: Can you tell us a little bit about your philosophy with Rakete and why you chose to host it at Hive?

Animal Trainer: As we own a part of Hive we had our own perfect playground where we could discover the borders of what was possible and what not. Our club’s partners Nicola, Anatol and Lars supported us a lot from the beginning and there were almost no borders about what we could do. If we wanted to rent a rollercoaster for 8000 euros for all of our guests to go through when they enter, they say, ‘sure guys, let’s try this’.

 “We have a long story with Katermukke”

EG: What is the most bizarre story from your career so far?

Animal Trainer: Well, Adrian was once kidnapped in Shanghai and Samy had a bizarre three-hour taxi ride in Bogota. A family story is that we once took the wrong Dj from the airport to our party, that was funny 🙂

EG: You have a new EP coming out on Katermukke. Can you tell us what inspired you to make this EP?

Animal Trainer: We have a long story with Katermukke and we didn’t release there for a long time because we were never really happy with our songs. The track ‘Euphorie’ was made with a lot of feelings behind it; like if you close your eyes on a festival with the hands up in the air. ‘Karuna’ is more from the shamanic side in us. We thought those two tracks fit perfectly together and was a perfect match for the German label.

EG: What do you use to make music? Software, hardware, a mixture of both?

Animal Trainer: We use both hard and software. Sometimes we are too lazy and use one plug in too much. But the Moog Voyager is in most of the tracks at least once.

EG: Where does it begin for you when making music? What is your process?

Animal Trainer: No strict process. You can’t control creativity… Sometimes it’s in the middle of the night, we have a great idea. We get up and try to put the idea into Ableton live and go back to bed to sleep. Sometimes it’s a beat, sometimes a small sample, sometimes it’s another Dj playing a track you never heard which gives you inspiration. It’s different each time.

“Rakete has been sold out every month for 12 years and
we are super happy with our crowd”

EG: Where do you see Animal Trainer in ten years?

Animal Trainer: World domination, or just the hero in the street where we live.

EG: What are your plans for the rest of 2018?

Animal Trainer: Having fun with what we do.

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