DT:Interview | Petter B

The Swedish techno powerhouse, Petter B, has released music on Adam Beyer’s Drumcode LTD, Developer’s Modularz, and Cari Lekebusch’s H-Productions. Known for his ability to craft timeless, dance floor weaponry, he continues to flaunt his exquisite production skills, creating raw, throbbing, analogue tracks destined for discerning DJ boxes.

In 2024, he has relaunched his much loved Bond label after seeming dormant for several years, and the selective output this year has already signified a need of his to shake up the usual routine. The inclusion of abstract, quirky, and alternative ideas has widened the scope of club-fuelled techno and its contemporary possibilities.

> Hi Petter, it’s wonderful to catch up with you as we have long been supporters of your music. We know you had a recent break from music making due to the worldwide pandemic, and we wanted to know how you were affected by this disruption?
Yes, as for everyone else, the pandemic was not very well timed. I pretty much had a liveset rigged up and ready with dates and plans but all that came to bits. The other thing was my realisation that making dance music when there were no dance floors in the world did not work out for me, at all. I always had this design brief in my head, “make it work on the dance floor, nothing else matters.” and I always tried and tested everything before finalising and releasing, that was of course off the table.

Music is in a way my longest relationship in life. I have notes from when I was around 4 years old, scribbling down “patches” on my family’s electric organ. To lose control of my music’s context and reasons left me unable to create anything. It didn’t help with the whole scene shifting tempo, sound and ideals overnight either. It took me quite some time to find my ways again, coming back to my core ideas of just doing music for me rather than fitting into a made up context.
 

> Has your approach to music production changed in any way in the few years time out?
I’d say it’s a constant evolution but some parameters change very slowly and some quite fast. My fascination for sounds and the feeling when they hit me is pretty much the same now as when I was 4. My first stab at “proper production” was in Fast Tracker II on an ancient PC system (an inherited 286 upgraded to 486). Then it was all samples. I always loved samples since once you get them down, they are permanent, compared to moody hardware synths or VSTs that can act up. You can also manipulate the sound further than you can while generating them from a synth. I kind of came back to that approach lately. Recording my own samples and loops has been a great starting place for me and my creativity.
 

> What do you feel is essential for you now to grow as a DJ and producer in the current climate?
In confusing times, which I find ourselves in right now, I tend to lean against old truths. That quality and relevance to the audience is the key to make your participation in culture standout. There are for certain shortcuts, paid entrances, golden tickets, and ways around the business to become famous overnight. These days we might see those more clearly than before, that a smart marketing plan can have more to do with success than the actual art. I think the right way is to prove your relevance and build relationships. Real ones, not just names added to a long list. Put in work to your local scene. Go out to clubs and parties and get inspired. Social media is a great tool to stay connected and reach out but you have to decide how real or fake it is to you. How much time and influence should it have over your work? Make social media work for you, don’t work for social media, in a way. Decide on what metrics you measure your own growth and don’t get tempted to do what everyone else does, just because everyone else did it.
 

> A recent Bond release from June, included a creative and abstract track called “Coming Back” we wondered how exactly that took shape from a production stand point?
Yes, it was actually a last minute decision of mine that made that track part of the release. I had a different track planned but just felt the release was too “safe” and not “punk” enough. So in it went and off it went sort of thing. Many people have reached out to me about hearing it on several occasions in Berghain and big festivals this summer.

The track was very unintended if that makes sense. I just plugged in my MC-303, not synced or anything, and only had patience to program a kick drum, which in parallel, went into some old reverb box. Since the MC-303 really doesn’t have much going for it I maxed out everything (not much) I could and started playing the filter and resonance on the kick drum in a way it sounded like a melody to me. I then occasionally shortened the decay of it and that became the small breakdowns. I started laughing when I mixed it and compressed the living light out of the two channels of sound I had recorded. Next thing I’m holding a mic recording that laughter and me reassuring everyone listening to it that the kick is indeed coming back, it’s coming back.

 

> Can you give us some insight into your studio setup and what hardware/software you are fond of using?
During Covid, as procrastination to not being able to make anything inspiring in the studio, I custom built a giant studio desk. I now have a good selection of all my effects and compressors right in front of me and it’s a joy to patch together a weird signal chain and then start sending various bits through it. Having those available in the sweet spot of the studio is huge compared to having them in a rack stacked up in a corner somewhere. To name drop a few nice bits of kit in the FX department: Yamaha A3000, Roland SP-404, the OTO-boxes, a few old Alesis reverbs, a Fatso, and two Distressors from Empirical Labs. I also took away half of my synth stands and decided on having fewer hooked up, and the rest ready on the shelves. Some go to bits for me are the Yamaha DX200, Hydrasynth, Prologue, Roland Alpha Juno and Juno 106 to name a few. The Digitakt and Digitone are also working hard alongside the 909 and 808.

I generally start off with hardware, finding a sound that inspires me and then crafting it further in the box. Chopping, mixing and arranging as I go. Cubase is my main DAW together with a plethora of VST effects. I use the APIs, SSLs for EQ in general and all kinds of weird things for sound design. The GRM-pack is an old one I treasure that I rarely see anyone using these days (probably for good reasons since it’s software that dates back to the ’90s).
 

> We heard you had a track selected for the runway of none other than Italian luxury fashion house, Prada, and their showcase in Milan, how did that come about?
It’s kind of funny looking back at it. I was one second away from deleting the message I got on WhatsApp where someone random (to me) asked if I was the owner of the track “”Shut Your Eyes.” Fortunately I have a friend that is extremely knowledgeable about licensing music for huge artists and brands, Carl Blom is the guy. He helped me through all the bureaucracy and off the bat told me “it looked legit” and “what did I have to lose?” Said and done, three days later me and my family sat down and watched the Prada fashion show and heard my track play out on the runway. It came after Bernard Herrmann’s score to Vertigo, the 1958 Hitchcock thriller, and to me it was a perfect fit. An honour to be part of that thing since I know how meticulous the big fashion houses are with their music selection.

This track was not served to them by me, has never been a hit, never been charted (to my knowledge) so they really had to dig to find it. It’s also a track I decided to put out for me rather than it being the obvious track on that release. In that way it felt extra special that it made it that far. I tend to see my tracks as my kids, they go off into the world after I’m done with them. Some of them send me postcards every once in a while of where they went, what parties they attended and what artist they tour with. It’s a great feeling seeing your kids/tracks grow up and go places I’ve never been myself.

 

> Can you name a favourite track that follows you everywhere for DJ sets, that you love to play, and please let us know what draws you to it?
My latest one always feels like that but not all stand the test of time. Some that stuck with me for a very long time are my Roots series. Pt. 1, 2, and 3, always have a special place in my crate. But two that tend to always do the right thing for me are Pär Grindvik & Billie (SE) Hold Doubt Back and Marcel Dettmann “Rush (Deep Release Remix)”. They are guaranteed to send me off into good vibes.

> We have been uploading selected new and forgotten albums to our YouTube channel in recent years to preserve some techno history, which one or two long players have inspired you over the years?

Henrik B - Kryonics [Truesoul] (2003)

Hardcell & Grindvik - Gainlane: Live Techniques [Drumcode] (2005)

 

> Have you been DJing again too? Where have you been recently and have you any cool places or clubs lined up?
I haven’t got back on the road again after Covid. That might be the next thing to pick up. It’s my first and pretty much only pause of playing since ’96 when I started. And I don’t blame Covid for all of it. Kids, family and life come first, but I do feel a pull to get back at it again, experiencing music is a crucial part of my creative process.
 

> What can we expect from you in 2024 and beyond? Are there any special plans you are yet to announce?
Getting my label Bond up and running and slowly but surely putting out all the material I have laying around, mixed up with new tracks, is my main aim at the moment. I´ve taken a different approach than before, trying to make it more personal. Being in front of the camera for starters, not just behind it. Also providing more of a world around the music with animated artworks that go on youtube for example.
 

> We wish you all the best in your future endeavours, is there anything you would like to mention or champion before we bring this chat to a close?
Three new Bond releases have seen the light of day this year and there’s more to come. Check out my recently updated Bandcamp page where you can find all the music plus some back stock of old vinyl (BOND001-BOND011). Some releases only have a few copies in stock so be quick if you want to grab a special one!