MAZE Announce 2025 Summer Season

Bologna based MAZE dive into the summer season with an enormous selection of artists including Junki Inoue, Rasho, DJ Senc, Alien Communications and many more throughout the warmer months. They will return to their beautiful rooftop location looking over the historic Italian city. With a curation like this, and recent features on Berlin streaming platform The Mudd Show, the MAZE collective are one to watch out for, and a hot tip for a summer getaway with some stellar soundtracking. The season kicks off with Junki Inoue and residents on the 12th April before their jam-packed schedule takes them through till October. Ahead of the open air marathon beginning we caught up with MAZE founder, Gregorio. Dive in to discover more about the brand…

Hi guys, welcome to Nightclubber. How has the start of 2025 been for you? 

Hi all! Glad we’re here, finally, I’m Gregorio, nice to meet you.

It’s been a first quarter of the year full of new things, mostly all about records hunting and programming for our summer open-air. I was in NYC for twelve days, where I found a lot of amazing records at decent prices. For the type of music I am into right now, I feel like the US has a bit more to offer compared to Europe, and it seems to me like most sellers and record stores in NYC I stumble into have super interesting late 90s - early 2000s deep house, or old school hip-hop sections. I can’t wait to be back! But not too soon, as for the first time in a while I ran out of money because of excessive record shopping…You need to watch your budget while in NYC, or you’ll end up broke like me.

If you can tell our readers about the birth of MAZE, it would be great. Where did it all begin for you as a collective and events?

Sure, so we’ve been throwing parties for over 10 years. Before Maze, I had another crew called Planctoon where I cut my teeth in DJing. It was a crucial time for me – my learning curve. I met loads of people, collaborated with different scenes and artists, and started getting into bookings and club relations. The scene was buzzing in Bologna back then: those were the days of Touch Party, Homequest, WHP and We Love Echoes, a bunch of skilled local DJs and promoters who had very deep knowledge and love for house music. That kind of vibe isn’t coming back. I remember certain weekends where in Bologna you could hop from a free party with DJ Deep in a modern art museum to listening to Onur Ozer in an ancient waterfront building in the city centre, passing through a “reclaim the streets” hip house, breaks and deep rave in the university area. I especially have to say that what the WHP crew did back in the day was something pure and unfiltered that gave me the inspiration to put the needle on the record and create my own thing. Still today those parties are something we crave about with nostalgia, as their quality hasn’t been matched ever since, in Bologna at least. My goal with Maze is to get closer and closer to that, even though the premises and conditions are different.

Who are the residents of the party? Is there a big crew of you working within MAZE?

I (Grem) am the resident DJ and founder of Maze, and I often share the decks with Giovanni (Bazar). Then we have Jacopo Latini, who is more like a resident/guest DJ.

Giovanni and I met at a private party at my place during the pandemic: he was playing at a graduation party in a park where I was having an aperitivo with my friends. After one or two joints (...) the party finished and I had the brilliant idea of inviting all the attendants to my place. I called my mum to outline the plan and she seemed very eager: “Sure honey, there’s some cake for dessert if you and your friends are up for it”. I don’t think I was transparent with her in the first place about what was going to happen… Then around 100 people started flowing in, and among those was Giovanni, who basically, not knowing me yet, showed up at my house with a bag of records and audaciously stated: I’ll spin with you now. We started playing until my mum, exhausted after hours of sound, cut the power from the electrical panel to get us to stop and let her sleep. Epic, genius move!

With Jacopo, we first met in 2018 when I was living in Copenhagen as I booked him. Over the years I learned quite a bit from him, from mixing to digging and producing, touching upon topics such as DJ mindset, events production, and art direction. It’s great to have the feedback and guidance of such an experienced artist, who later became a friend too as we started to help each other, me through Maze and him through his experience.

On the organizational side, it’s a big team because the work is intense. Four of us are the core: Francesco (Gheghe), the architect, who first came up with the idea to work at the Nuovo Parcheggio Stazione; Pietro, who co-founded Maze with me and manages the bar and food; and Carlo, who coordinates the event production and helps with loads of other crucial stuff. Besides them, around 30 people work with us at each event, paid or volunteering – graphic designers, security, bartenders, box office staff, photographers, videographers, PR, drivers, press office, permit technicians, suppliers, and more.

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What have been some recent highlights of the MAZE camp?

I would say the programming for our 2025 open-air, which features great DJs from all over the world, both at established and up-and-coming levels. Then I am super happy that me and Giovanni are both going to play Dias De Campo in May. Last but not least our Sunday showcase at the mighty Lion & Lamb in London back in October ‘24.

Your summer season is about to begin using the fantastic rooftop location in Bologna. Is it hard to secure a venue like this in Italy? Or specifically Bologna?

It’s insanely difficult! Italian bureaucracy is a nightmare, making everything heavy and hard to understand. Urban development and gentrification in Bologna don’t help either, making it tough to create or keep spaces for live entertainment. We’re lucky to work at Parcheggio but also aware of its temporary nature. Each season could be our last, with no planning horizon beyond 12 months due to the required bureaucracy. That’s why it’s so challenging, actually the main reason.

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Throughout summer you have a stacked bill every month, when it comes to programming, what is it you are looking for? Can you tell our audience a bit about your collaborations and artists for the year? 

For the lineup, I look for artists with whom there’s a human and musical connection – that’s key. I try to mix Italian and international artists: we’ve got Junki Inoue and DJ Senc, then Rasho, Tommy Pickles, Alien Communications, and O’ Mato DJs, Simm from Slovenia (for the second time) as well as Tarde Loco’s live set and more international guests still to be confirmed. Then Italian DJs: Gabro, Ferrari, and Sarah with Bonza and Vicky, as well as local legends DJ Rou and DJ Cream, plus a collab with Central America’s 4 AM crew.

On the label side of things, how is it looking for MAZE? Do you have much in the pipeline?

Yes, of course, we have our second record coming out over the next months, it’s a four-tracker that features four artists, including Ilija Rudman, the author of our first EP. We’re very happy about it! Records are being pressed as we speak.

Once the summer season is done are you also planning something fresh for autumn/winter?

Our Maze activities are mostly centered around spring and summer because that’s when we can start our open airs. During winter we focus more on music and gigs where we’re being invited. In this way, we save the cold times of the year to nerd without feeling the FOMO of the beautiful weather outside! I can’t deny we’re looking for a winter venue too but we haven’t found what we need yet. We’ll focus on our own DJ paths during that time : )

Can you leave us with one track that reminds you of a MAZE rooftop sunset?

Of course! Here’s a classy, pretty well-known French late 90’s deep track called De Pompidou - Musik is Musik. It captures the vibe of a sunset turning into evening up there on the 5th floor, overlooking the whole city and the hills around it.

Find MAZE over on Instagram here...

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