Name: Wareika
Members: Florian Haik Schirmacher (DJ, producer, vocalist), Henrik Raabe (DJ, producer, multi-instrumentalist), Jakob Seidensticker (DJ, producer, instrumentalist)
Interviewee: Jakob Seidensticker
Nationality: German
Current release: Wareika's Tizinabi LP is out via ORNAMENTS.  

If you enjoyed this Wareika interview and would like to find out more about the band and their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud. To dive even deeper, read our Wareika interviews about improvisation, and their creative process.



For many artists, a solitary phase of creative development precedes collaborative work. What was this like for you: How would you describe your own development as an artist and the transition towards your first collaborations?

When we started Wareika, Florian, Henrik and myself met in the studio and on stage … this fact itself was kind of collaboration towards the three of us, as we have been creating music before more individually and in different band formations.

We musically melted together from the very first moment. Later we started lots of remixes and exchanges with other musicians which led into several cooperations and lots of releases.

Some of them will be out soon, these new projects combine shared work with e.g. Sonja Moonear, Ryan Crosson, Ada Kaleh, Seth Troxler, Vlad Caia, Hear, Boronas, Snad, Brandt Brauer Frick and many more. Stay tuned.

Tell me a bit, about your current instruments and tools, please. In which way do they support creative exchange and collaborations with others? Are there obstacles and what are potential solutions towards making collaborations easier?

As we are living in three different cities now we need to meet from time to time to record loooong sessions which are often the base for our new tracks.

But sending music to each other and continuing these is a nice and creative way of working together as well.

Mostly we jam on synths, modular synths, drum machines and all kind of other instruments like percussions, guitar, piano and more.

Besides the aforementioned early collaborations, can you talk about one particular collaboration that was important for you? Why did it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

We did the track “play, play, play” together with our friends from Paris dOP which was released on Watergate Rec. It was created when we played in Paris back in 2010, so we met in their studio grabbed lots of instruments and knobs and started to record. Back in Hamburg we finalized these pretty precise ideas and mixed them down.



In the next years we also remixed each other and played lots of gigs with dOP together, this was pretty much an intense exchange. This friendship still stays on and will reveal its connection again in another remix which we did for them and which will be out soon on their label dOP only soon.
 
What are some of the things you learned from your collaborations over the years?

I learned for myself that collaborating and doing music with other human beeings is completely different from doing music alone.

When you playing with other people in a room you have to listen and to feel what and how they tell you. You have communicate and to react and not just to act by yourself.

I guess we all love this situation this is one of the reason why and how Wareika was created ... in our case it was also a long session that we recorded while our very first meeting in 2008, in Hamburg. This session was released on Connaisseur Recordings and called “Men Village.”

There are many potential models for collaboration, from live performances and jamming via producing in the same room together up to file sharing. Which of these do you prefer – and why?

In short words, we love both!
 
Is there typically a planning phase for your collaborations? If so, what happens in this phase and how does it contribute to the results?

We are pretty spontanious when it comes to collaboration with other musicians and I have the feelings that all our music partners see this very similar.

E.g. Ada Kaleh, when we send him ideas he is always very motivated and starts right away. I find this mind set and musical vision of him very inspiring.
 
What tend to be the best collaborations in your opinion – those with artists you have a lot in common with or those where you have more differences? What happens when another musician take you outside of your comfort zone?

I guess with those that we have a lot in common, because in most ways it will match and the result is fullfilling.

Don't get us wrong, we love all kinds of music beside electronic music from classic music via jazz to Ragas from India and we also worked in these styles.

Having something in common is not a limitation while doing music. It's a feeling and a state of mind.
 
Do you need to have a good relationship with your collaborator? Or can there be a benefit to working with someone you may not get along with on a personal level?

It's nice to have but not a must. Even assholes can make brilliant music … hahahaha. But we prefer to collaborate with friends.

But to get back to the topic … lots of times we did remixes for projects where had never before even heard their names - and the result was pretty intimate and we were very happy with it.
 
Some artists feel as though the creative process should not be a democratic one. What are your thoughts on the interaction with other musicians, the need for compromise and the decision making process?

Good question and its hard to say as it's a very personal thing ... playing music with others in a session should be very equal to include all ideas and emotions.

Later, in the arrangement and sounddesign phase of the track (if this is necessary sometimes it's about recording a onetake), I don't think that 5 people need to argue about a particular tape effect or the envelop of a hi hat. If needed you can always adjust this later but it needs the self-motivation of one person to finalize a track.
 
There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you as part of a collaboration? In which way is it different between your solo work and collaborations?

I like it when I am really balanced and peaceful in this particular situation. When I am experiencing this state of mind I can express myself in the most honest and personal way and it gives me the possibility to play the best music, ideas, frequencies plus mixing and knob adjustments moves at the same time.
 
Collaborating with one's heroes can be a thrill or a cause for panic. Do you have any practical experience with this and what was it like?

We played with many very good musicians and “big names” in the studio but also on stage. In the end I have to say that the majority of these people beeing in our business are really nice and supportive people, this is for me also the explaination why these could be in the scene for so many years, e.g. people like Zip or Ricardo Villalobos.

All these things just need to match: personality, empathy, professionalism creativity … and beeing young at heart!