David Labeij discusses his career to date and new single 'Flying Rhino' on his own Deep Logics imprint

Your new single Flying Rhino was partly born out of being asked to play vinyl-only sets and subsequently digging back through a collection you’ve been building since 1996. What was that experience like, and were there particular records, labels or sounds you rediscovered that directly changed the direction of the track?

The experience was amazing and nostalgic. I literally listened to every track on every record I own—a process that took me about two months, whenever I could find the time between work, family, and making music. The sounds that inspired me the most for this track came from my old progressive and psytrance records from the mid-’90s.

You’ve been involved in Amsterdam’s electronic music scene for close to three decades now. You were there before minimal became a defined movement, through the period of places like Club 11 and Studio 80 and into the city as it exists today. How has Amsterdam changed for you musically, and do you still feel the same sense of community and experimentation around the city?

It has completely changed for me. Back then, it was my full-time career. I played shows every weekend and was deeply involved in that community for many, many years. Now I’m much older, I run a small company doing something completely different, and I’m no longer active in the scene. I’m still just as passionate about making music, of course, but I honestly couldn’t tell you what’s really happening in Amsterdam’s electronic music scene these days.

Going back even further, before house and techno you played in a hardcore punk band and then spent a period immersed in psychedelic music. It’s quite a journey from there to the hypnotic house and techno you became known for. Do you think any of that early musical DNA still survives in the way you approach making records today?

It 100% does. Not so much from being in a hardcore punk band, although that might have helped a little later on when I started forming duos with Lauhaus and Julien Chaptal, for instance. But my early psytrance days definitely still influence the way I make music today. Especially with deep minimal house, I love experimenting with little psychedelic sounds and FX in the background. :)

In the early 2000s you were involved with the Berlin Underground nights in Amsterdam, bringing artists such as Ricardo Villalobos, Zip, Magda, Richie Hawtin and Sammy Dee to the city at a point when that sound was still relatively underground. Looking back, did it feel at the time like something genuinely new was developing, and what do you remember about Amsterdam during that period?

It was an amazing period in my life and in Amsterdam. Before 2003, we had to travel to Berlin to experience the kind of clubs where we could dance to our favorite DJs and producers. From 2003 onwards, that sound slowly started making its way into Amsterdam. Like in many cities at the time, there were still plenty of places and areas where underground parties could happen. At the same time, I was making my own breakthrough into the scene as an artist. Looking back, it all feels almost unreal—a special period that still puts a big smile on my face every time I think about it. So much stuff going on!

Polder with Lauhaus became an important part of that next chapter, alongside projects such as the Amsterdam 661 collective. You were surrounded by a particularly strong generation of Amsterdam producers who were developing their own interpretation of house and techno. Was there a sense of friendly competition between you all, and how important was exchanging ideas and working together to the sound that emerged from the city?

It was incredibly friendly and competitive at the same time, and we definitely fed off each other’s creativity, energy, and skills. We also supported and helped each other in so many different ways. Just think about Bart Skils, who gave so many of us amazing DJ opportunities at the different parties he was organizing, or 2000 and One, who gave us a platform to release our music. And working alongside artists like Lauhaus, Julien Chaptal, Boris Werner, Quazar!!, Kabale Und Liebe, Anton Pieete, Daniel Sanchez and so many others made it such a creative melting pot. It was a special time.

There’s an interesting detail in your early biography about spending time in Junkie XL’s studio around 2003 to develop your production skills. What did you take away from that experience? And after another twenty-plus years of making music, has your relationship with studio technology become simpler or more complicated?

Besides being one of the first big breaks I had in my music career, it was also the first time I got to spend time in a professional studio with the craziest collection of hardware I had ever seen—and honestly, probably still have to this day. Whaha! They taught me how to produce with Cubase and, more importantly, how important sound design is to developing an original sound and identity in your music.I think technology has become increasingly simpler and more user-friendly over the years, which is a good thing for me because I’m not the most technical person and have mostly made music in the box. But funny enough, lately I’ve become more interested in hardware than ever before.

After stepping away from music for a period, you returned during the Covid years and eventually started Deep Logics in 2023. What did the time away change about your relationship with music, and what are you trying to create with the label that perhaps you couldn’t have done earlier in your career?

Good question! I experienced a DJ career that was amazing for many years, and then rather quickly came to an end. But making music had always been my biggest passion. Even before I became a successful DJ, I had been making music for years, mainly just for myself. Once I found success as a DJ, and especially towards the end of my DJ career, I sometimes felt the pressure to make tracks that other people would like, mainly because I hoped it would help my career as a DJ. That really didn’t work too well for me.Afterwards, I didn’t seriously produce music for several years. When I started making tracks again during COVID, it felt like going back to those early days, when I was simply making music for myself and creating exactly what I wanted to create. And honestly, that’s all that matters to me now.That’s the gift of all those years away from music. And Deep Logics is my way of sharing it with the world.

There’s something nicely circular about Flying Rhino: new music emerging from physically reconnecting with records you bought across almost thirty years of DJing. Has the experience made you reconsider what you want from electronic music at this point in your life, and does it give us any clues about where David Labeij and Deep Logics are heading next?

I touched on this a little bit in my previous answer, but I simply love making music. I don’t expect anything else from it. For me, it’s just one of the coolest things I get to do in life, for myself. I’d like to think that my tracks are good enough for some other people to enjoy them too, and that’s why I created Deep Logics—to have a place where I can release my music. I don’t have any specific plans or goals with it. I just enjoy making tunes and putting them out into the world whenever I can!

https://www.beatport.com/release/flying-rhino/7171985

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