Despite sounding like a troupe of sword-wielding, armour-clad Arthurian warriors, Round Table Knights are in fact a pair of bearded house producers from the wilds of Bern, Switzerland. After a year that saw them impress in both the underground and in slightly more ‘commercial’ waters (their remix of Coma Cat was awarded the ‘Essential New Tune of the Year’ by veteran tastemaker Pete Tong), they are set to release their debut artist album ‘Say What!?’ on Made to Play in February, and have a string of remixes lined up in the months that follow.
Destined to be busier than hyperactive bee in spring for the rest of the year, we’re extremely privileged to have pinned them down long enough to provide the mix and interview for the February edition of In Their House.
In Their House #04 - Round Table Knights by Defected Records
So …how’s the year been for you so far?
The new year started really good. We played our Club in Bern at NYE after our first Australia / Asia Tour in December which was amazing. In January we had a USA / Canada Tour with Igloo Fest in Montreal as the highlight this winter so far. 8500 people outside with minus 20 degrees! That was just amazing. From there we went to Berlin, Tel Aviv and Essen where it was also the first show of our Say What?! album tour. So yeah, perfect start to the new year.
You guys are based in Switzerland…what’s the scene like over there at the moment?
The scene in Switzerland is not big but there are some great things going on right now. We have our monthly night at Club Bonsoir in Bern where Biru Bee is also doing all of the programming. There is Zurich which is a great city for clubbing, and as far as acts go there are people like our buddies Mercury. They just had a great EP on Gomma and they did an amazing remix for our Single ‘Say What’. There is also Jagged, Wildlife which is more tropical, Deetron and Dimlite. There is Kalabrese from Zurich and of course Michel Cleis from Lausanne. Lots of good music.
In terms of well know clubs/festivals etc… Switzerland isn’t as well know on the global scene as say Germany, Spain or the UK…do you think that’s set to change?
There is one simple fact that makes it very hard for Switzerland to compete against the global scene; everything is very expensive over here. There are some very nice festivals for electronic music like Electrosanne in Lausanne or Electron in Geneva, also Streetparade in Zurich is well known, but it’s just really expensive for someone from abroad to come here and spend a few days and go clubbing. But the scene is growing and there are lots of motivated people starting new things. That’s really exciting.
How and where was the mix recorded?
The mix was recorded on our US Tour on Ableton. It features some of our favourite tracks at the moment.
Can you tell us a little more about some of the tracks you included? There are a few from your new album right?
Yes, Cat Power will be on our album which is gonna be out on Feb 28th on Made To Play. There is a Track from Fritz Zander on the mix called ‘For Your Love’. It’s from the label Suol, who had so many good releases last year. The first two songs are from Switzerland-based labels Morris audio and Drumpoet Community and there is the new single from Black Rose (Henrik Schwarz and Jesse Rose) called ‘Anthem which is going to be huge.
What have you got planned for the rest of the year?
We are really happy about our first Album "Say What?!" coming out and we also have remixes coming for Jesse Rose, Beni (Modular Recordings) and Art Bleek and we are working already on new original material of course. There is also some stuff which it is too early to talk about. All in all we gonna be very busy.
You were awarded the accolade of Essential New Tune of the Year with your Coma Cat remix…do you think you’ll be able to top that this year?
Wow, we were so happy when we heard about this! Yes that’s gonna be a hard one to top, but we don’t care. For us it’s about doing the music we like, we never did a track because we wanted to top another one. As long as we still have fun its all good.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about…?
If you like the mix please feel free to come to our shows and we do our best to make you dance all night long. And of course please have a listen to our album. You will love it.
Tracklist
1. Lump - Feeling [Morris Audio]
2. AFMB - Backup Days [Drumpoet Community]
3. Fritz Zander - For Your Love [Suol]
4. Dom - Beat Brulee [Remote Records]
5. Round Table Knights - Cat Power [Made To Play]
6. Stuffa - Proof (Wolf + Lamb Remix) [Trunkfunk]
7. Quentin Harris & Ultra Nate - Give It 2 U (Azari & III Remix) [Strictly Rhythm]
8. Loletta Holloway – Dreamin’ (Pol_On Edit)
9. SLG & Smolny - Turnaround [Play It Down]
10. Round Table Knights - Stomper [Made To Play]
11. Black Rose - Anthem [Made To Play]
12. Catz 'n Dogz - Im Free feat. Paul Randolph [Mothership]
