Name: Booka Shade
Members: Arno Kammermeier, Walter Merziger
Interviewee: Walter Merziger
Nationality: German
Recent release: Booka Shade's new album Link To The Invisible is out now via Blaufield. Catch them live here:

Jun 08 / LULA CLUB / MADRID, ES
Jun 14 / SAINTWHOO MUSIC & ART FESTIVAL / ST. GALLEN, CH
Jun 21 / SOUTHSIDE FESTIVAL / NEUHAUSEN OB ECK, DE
Jun 22 / DIEP OPEN AIR / EEKLO, BE
Jun 23 / HURRICANE FESTIVAL / SCHEESSEL, DE
Jun 29 / WAPELBEATS FESTIVAL / GÜTERSLOH, DE
Jul 11 / 808 / EL PASO, US
Jul 12 / THE CHURCH / DENVER, US
Jul 13 / HARBOUR THEATRE / VANCOUVER, CA
Jul 19 / SUNRISE FESTIVAL / KOLOBZEG, PL
Jul 20 / KLEIN PHOENIX / ISTANBUL, TR
Jul 24 / TBA / MADRID, ES

If you enjoyed this Booka Shade interview and would like to stay up to date with the duo and their music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.

Over the course of their career, Booka Shade have collaborated with, remixed and been remixed by a wide range of artist, including French 79, Nils Hoffmann, Patrice Bäumel, Moby, andhim, JOPLYN, Qrion, Joachim Pastor, and Claude VonStroke.

[Read our French 79 interview]
[Read our Nils Hoffmann interview]
[Read our Patrice Bäumel interview]
[Read our Moby interview]
[Read our andhim interview]
[Read our JOPLYN interview]
[Read our Qrion interview]
[Read our Joachim Pastor interview]
[Read our Claude VonStroke interview]



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you’re listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I’m not one of those guys who sees colours or shapes when they listen to music.

I always try to avoid being too analytical when I listen to music. When something touches me deeply, I have the typical body signs, like goosebumps or tears in the eyes.

The latter is a good sign that I’m on the right track with the song I’m working on.

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

I mainly work with headphones because I feel I can dive deeper into the sounds, and I get in the ‘state of trance’ faster, which happens when you’re in the zone and your antennas are ready to collect the ideas that are flying around.

The moment everything comes together, and you find the right sounds and melodies/chords, is still an inexplicable affair … It’s not coming from you; you’re just the medium that transforms the idea into a concrete piece of art.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

At the moment, I think acts like Fred Again or Barry Can’t Swim are quite interesting. I particularly like the way Fred Again works with vocals, chords, and melodies.



He presents his music on stage in a very personal and emotional way and combines all kinds of genres to create an interesting and engaging new music cocktail.

Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

We are kids of the 80s. So many of this era’s sounds trigger emotions and bring back feelings from our teenage years. Old-school synth sounds and drum machines, for instance.

But also the techno sounds from the early 90s, when we would drive 200km to Frankfurt and experience exceptionally intense moments in clubs such as Omen or Dorian Gray, are still in our music DNA.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

Of course, you could kill me with death metal or hardcore techno. But the sound of a mosquito in a silent room can drive me crazy, too.

In general, I feel better when I listen to music from the 70s or early 80s because, in my opinion, the digital age and the crazy mastering war that is still going on didn’t make music sound better. Modern music is often very tiring for my ears nowadays.

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

I bought a vacation house close to the sea in Portugal, and one of the reasons for that move was that the sound of the sea calms me down in seconds. I feel inner peace immediately.

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

Sometimes, there are interesting sonic phenomena at airports. You can stand on one side of the room and hear somebody talking on the other side of the room as if they were standing next to you. You can have the same experience in caves sometimes.

I’ve never experienced a completely dead room, but I’ve heard that it drives you crazy without any noise around you after a while.

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

We love proper live venues with a solid sound system and good lights.

In many nightclubs nowadays, the sound systems are too extreme and designed for bouncy minimal bass techno, which is not perfect for the nuances and second layers in our music.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you’re sculpting or shaping something?

Since we work with digital machines like computers, we build our music like a puzzle. We try things out, throw them away, and start again until we reach the moment when, as we say, it sounds like a record.

So, we are indeed sculpting the sound to the point that all elements have the right frequency and the right volume level. It’s really about the detail to bring everything together so that it sounds natural and balanced wherever you play the music.

It can sometimes be a very long process.

How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the “acoustic health” of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

It is essential to relax your ears. We’re surrounded by sound and noise more than ever and are constantly occupied by our phones and computers.

That’s why it is important to relax your mind and ears and search for a quiet place every now and then.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you’ve had with these non-human-made sounds?

It may sound slightly weird, but I really like the noise when I feed our five dogs, and they all eat their crunchy food at the same time.

It is soothing in a way, and it is lovely to see them happy and fully focused on their meal.

Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?  

It is a fact that animals’ antennas are much more sensitive than ours. They are not distracted by all the non-natural stuff we humans have to handle every day. They can focus on the essential things and be much more connected with our mother earth and the sounds that surround them.

We could be capable of doing things like transponding our energies and hearing nuances in tone and sound, but we completely lost it. It’s very sad.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you’re suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

Arno and I are happy that we don’t have these problems yet. But I must admit that my hearing suffered from 20 years of touring.

I always try to give my ears enough time to rest. Also, the endless studio hours we had in the past are now history.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

There is always sound around you, but I think it is important to surround yourself with natural sounds more. Playing video games with headphones for 12 hours can’t be healthy in the long term.

Nothing beats the natural aspect of life. It is important for your health, your mind and your soul.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

In my opinion, hearing is the most important sense because when you lose it, you’re completely isolated from the world. That’s why it is so vital that you take care of your hearing as much as you can.

I wouldn’t say that our hearing capability is more important than the visual one. But as a musician and music lover, a life without hearing music and sound is a terrifying idea.