Seizun provide mix from Renate

Seizun is a creative collaboration between Christian Henshaw (t.na) and Benjamin Joseph, which began in Ibiza during a transformative 2008 season working at The Zoo Project. Their name, a play on the word ‘season’, reflects their shared origins and the summers that shaped their musical journey.

Their label, Taste The Rainbow Records, was created as a space for artistic freedom, showcasing their unique sound alongside collaborations with friends. By embracing both vinyl and digital formats, they ensure their music reaches a global audience.

Renowned for their seamless back-to-back sets, Seizun’s performances, including a recent recording at Berlin’s Renate, highlight their synergy and ability to take audiences on a journey. As key members of the Moving People collective, they’ve contributed to its identity through music and events.

With new releases, live shows, and fresh projects on the horizon, Seizun continues to blend passion and creativity, shaping their future in the electronic music scene. They also delivered a great mix for us, recorded from a recent Moving People party at Renate in Berlin. We caught up with them recently to learn more…

Great chatting with both of you today! Let’s start by talking about your Seizun alias. Can you tell us the story behind this collaboration and what the moniker represents for you artistically?

Well we originally met in Ibiza 2008, working for The Zoo Project. Our friendship has been strong ever since and musically things really got moving when Christian came back into the scene full time a couple of years ago. He started producing under the alias t.na (which is pronounced Tina) and I had already dropped some nice bits for Daydream and Constant as Benjamin Joseph, we wanted to do something together and came up with the name Seizun for our collaborative work. The name is simply a variation of the word season which was the term coined for working a summer in Ibiza. That was where it all kicked off for us so it felt right and the name is a little different to anything out there, we think!

As Seizun you set up an independent label for your music, Taste The Rainbow Records. We believe you are about to launch a digital series before the second vinyl release drops. Can you give us some insight into the label and why you are moving into digital?

We originally set the label up as a home for our own sound. The reality is getting your music signed somewhere can feel very frustrating as you try to shoehorn your tracks into the style of another label. We often feel like we’re making the music for the label rather than for ourselves and we wanted to avoid that with this alias. Taste The Rainbow Records provides us an opportunity to put the music out as we want it to be heard. We also get the opportunity to work with artists that we admire and who are often friends on remixes. With the digital series we wanted to share our music more widely than what vinyl can reach. One challenge with vinyl only labels is you can exclude so many from enjoying what you have created. Music is meant for sharing and although we love to mix on vinyl wherever we can we use a lot of digital so there is a place for both and we want to ensure all our music in the future is on both mediums. We also expect digital will open up our music to a wider audience for sure.

We have just dropped your Seizun mix recorded live from Renate for Moving People. How was that to play as we know the venue will be closing its doors next year? What makes a good partnership being the decks and as this alias continues to grow, what are your long-term goals?

Renate is such a wicked venue and we feel humbled to have had the chance to perform there. This is our second live recording from Berlin and we have always found it easier to express our sound when playing these clubs. The no phone culture of the venue keeps everyone focussed on the music so you don’t need all these highs and lows in the set (the phone out moments) to keep people engaged, you can just build and evolve things naturally which is how we like to play, taking the crowd on a journey. As a partnership we have both played endless amounts of back to back sets with so many artists over the years, I think sometimes it just works and sometimes it doesn’t but whenever we got time together it always clicked. After parties were always good to see how things flowed, we both have a broad taste in music but when we play together the tracks seem to compliment each other, it always feels like we set each up for the next mix and there is a trust in each other's ability and music selection. As an alias for production it has been difficult this last year given everything else going on in both of our lives, finding the time to get together and to create music is a battle but we finally have the tracks ready for our second vinyl release and are just deciding on the remixers for this as we expect to drop the record around the spring.

You’re both a pivotal part of the Moving People collective with Michael James. How did you first get involved with the project, and what have been your roles in shaping its identity?

So coincidentally we met Michael in 2008 as part of the same Ibzia season and that was the starting point for another lasting friendship! Michael has since gone on to have his own individual success in the industry but when he started to toy with the idea of an in house label he was keen for the music to come from a small community of artists/friends which is how we got involved. In tandem with the creation of Moving People, I (Christian) had recently started up the agency Out Of The Woods Artists, an offshoot from Into The Woods London. Moving People was brought onboard and since then I have been growing the event side of the brand across the last 12 months. We launched in Berlin with Hoppetosse and CDV and then more recently Renate but have also held events in the UK in Leeds at Distrikt Bar and next up is The Loft in Manchester which is where the brand calls home. We are incredibly excited about the relationship with The Loft as we look to form a residency with the venue. We kick things off with Sonja Moonear, Michael James b2b Nolga on Friday 28th November.

‍

Christian you mentioned Out Of The Woods Artists, so you’re actually managing multiple roles as a DJ, producer, promoter and booking agent which is no small feat. How do you juggle these responsibilities without one negatively influencing the other?

It's not easy for sure. The agency requires a huge amount of work, as we look after a full roster of underground artists and producers worldwide. It was my business partner from Into The Woods, Nick Petrou, that helped set up the agency with an aim to provide a platform for artists we knew alongside some up and coming talent to manage their bookings and promote their profiles more widely using our reach. Although the roster is full of some wicked talent, the scene post lockdown was hit pretty hard so the last year or so has been a real challenge. We will continue to champion these artists as the underground world replants its footing in the industry but it requires a huge amount of networking and outreach to work with the best venues and promoters. With that in mind we have recently expanded the in-house team adding Calvin Sytsleter who also runs Motus in Dundee. 

Calvin has a similar passion for this sound and he will be crucial in helping me find a balance with time as, in all honesty, the first thing to always get dropped is my own music. That being said I made the jump into music full time because I wanted a stable career in this industry. I never wanted to put myself in a situation where I was chasing the touring life or overly reliant on income from gigs that can become a stress, so making music and getting booked as t.na or Siezun for gigs is very much a bonus on top of everything else for me.  

So was there a particular moment or event in your life when you realised that electronic music was the career path you wanted to pursue full-time?

Well I wanted a career in music for maybe 20 years but never had the confidence to throw everything into it. I have no regrets, I had a professional job in the background for almost 14 years and I only stepped away from this fairly recently. Importantly the skills I obtained in that career have only helped me to succeed in what I do now, everything translated seamlessly and even though it took me till I was 37 to take the full plunge it was worth the wait. 

The transition happened fairly naturally, I just reached a stage in my life where I knew my passion for music will always be more important to me than any money I could earn so I needed to switch things up. I’ve never looked back and I’m now working from home and managing my own time and hours. Don’t get me wrong, anything worth doing is never easy and it has been challenging at times but 100% worth the investment. I would encourage any creative to never lose sight of what is important to them and it is also never too late to change things up.

You’re also involved with Pickled Music. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

So this is an important project for me. Long term it will kind of tie everything together as Pickled Music will be a home for the labels. Whether it is Into The Woods which I curate with Nick, or Taste The Rainbow Records that I work on with Ben, all the labels that I directly run will sit under Pickled Music. There are plans for even more imprints covering evenmore styles of the electronic world with the likes of Occult Vision an LP based label or Afterwoods aimed at the Electro and Electro-Breaks sound, both coming early next year with some seriously talented producers involved. 

I also have a side project called Pickled Live which is an ongoing series of live recordings. It is new so we are yet to invest in heavy promo for it but I love the project. Instead of a live mix recording being super clean cut with just the artist with a trendy backdrop or maybe it's recorded at a rave Boiler Room style, our concept is to pop up in random locations in random cities and to focus on a local brand with local artists playing for us. We launched with Into The Woods in London and then followed up recently with Motus in Dundee, there are also plans for Moving People in Manchester and then we will be back to London with Colour Codes all next year. The streams will land on our YouTube page. For me I love the rawness of our recordings as you have ordinary people popping in and out, its something a little different in a fairly saturated market.

What advice would you give to up-and-coming DJs and producers trying to make a name for themselves in both music and event promotion? What are the key things they should focus on?

The best advice I could give echoes a comment I made earlier. Make music for you! Don’t set out to be an influencer, it is not about fame and should not be about money, you do it because you have a passion for it and it feels good. With social media the perception of what it means to be a DJ has changed dramatically and not always for the better. I think it has bred a greater need for acceptance which I see hindering the creativity in sound so It feels like we are seeing less evolution than what we have done across the last few decades. Some of the best music and scenes in electronic music across the last 30 years were born out of rebellion, so aim to be different and to stand out instead of just fitting in.

Finally, what can your fans expect from t.na in the near future? Are there any upcoming releases, live sets, or projects that you’re particularly excited about?

I have some music dropping on Pickled Music next week under my peoples project. Then following that in early 2025 you’ll see an EP on Ben Jones latest imprint Parallel Circuit and the Taste The Rainbow digital series will also kick off. Lots more to come beyond that too!  

Listen to Seizun's mix below

Pickled Music on Instagram 

Seizen on Instagram

Benjamin Joseph on Instagram

t.na on Instagram

Taste the Rainbow on Instagram   

Moving People on Instagram

Pickled Music on Instagram

Out of the Woods on Instagram 

Into the Woods on Instagram