Keepsakes
DJ | Producer | Label Manager
If there’s a label that has been consistently churning out playful bangers and willing to explore the depths of the internet to discover atypical artists, it’s HAVEN. The Berlin-based imprint is headed up by James aka Keepsakes and is very much a full-time job for the producer and DJ whose work ethic hasn’t seemed to waver since the pandemic started.
Describing himself as the ‘castaway of the Auckland techno scene’, James’ musical roots lie in the grit of punk and hardcore which he was immersed in throughout his teens. Playing the drums with different bands gave James a taste of both performing and producing live music, before getting kicked out of one band at the age of 18. The group ‘went a bit a straight edge’ which didn’t suit James and was probably a blessing in disguise at the time.
This led to James trying his hand at producing various strings of other genres, starting off with hip-hop and then dubstep before being enticed into the more robust and intoxicating sounds of hard techno. Like a bluebottle falling into a pint of creamy Guinness, the acerbic textures of techno completely consumed James and resulted in a new alias - Keepsakes.
Exploring the genre further and dabbling in electro and breaks along the way, James founded the HAVEN club night in Auckland back in 2015 with fellow DJ, Jaded Nineties Raver. The aim was to showcase a more experimental and industrial side of techno in a city lacking anything of the sort. The club night has since mutated into the HAVEN imprint and is now a fully-fledged and vinyl-focused record label. VTSS, Tommy Holohan, New Frames, Ayarcana, Ansome, Ryan James Ford and more have torn through the label’s discography, with many of Keepsakes’ own productions weaving in and out of the collection.
The below memory goes back to a time when James’ schedule was considerably more chaotic than it is now. Recalling it in more detail, James also shares his thoughts on the false illusions created by social media, the lack of incentive for some artists to create good quality music and more…
Where was this photo taken and why did you choose it?
This photo is New Frames, Draag and I taken at Munich’s amazing Rote Sonne club right after our soundcheck for the Haven showcase back on March 6th. I picked this one as this was the last gig any of us played before the COVID-19 lockdown - literally a few days later we all went into quarantine.
It was really an incredible show - the energy at Rote Sonne is always good, but that night was the craziest I’ve ever seen that place. I did a nice, long closing after New Frames’ live set where I really got to show my full range as a DJ - peppering in some hefty electro and breaks alongside the techno bangers. Really I’m thankful this was my last ‘proper’ club experience as it was a good one that definitely makes me excited to come back when this situation is over!
How have you been over the last couple of months and what's life like in Berlin at the moment?
I’ve actually been doing pretty good over the last couple of months - financial stresses aside. When lockdown hit I really felt a lot of pressure from my touring schedule lift from my shoulders and it gave me the mental space to hit the studio hard and finish a lot of music. Already I’ve got my next two EPs sorted, one of the tracks also made it onto the last Perc Trax VA, and I’ve got a couple of new projects in the works - so this whole situation had a pretty big silver lining for me.
Life in Berlin has certainly been a bit quieter with the clubs closed and barely any tourists visiting the city. Obviously the financial difficulties for everyone involved in music and clubbing right now are being felt pretty hard, but beyond this it’s definitely been a time for everyone to reflect and make plans for when some kind of normality returns. I do think in a way this break is good for a lot of people to reassess their lives beyond partying and hedonism, and for the scene in general to take a look at a lot of its flaws.
Have you found yourself listening to a lot of non-techno tracks or other genres outside of electronic/dance music since the pandemic started? Or maybe your connection to techno and bangers in general has remained exactly the same?
My listening habits haven’t really changed at all since the beginning of the pandemic - if anything I’ve probably been listening to techno bangers more than usual at home because I’ve been spending so much time in the studio! Funnily enough everything I’ve been making in lockdown has been pretty banging and dance-floor focused.
Fortunately my wife has a pretty amazing and broad music taste and is always playing a wide range of stuff at home - from punk and hardcore, to new wave and industrial, to noise and experimental music. So really I always have a good connection to music outside of techno, also since I come from a punk/metal background originally.
As an artist, how do you feel about the future at the moment?
While I feel good about where I’m heading on a personal level with all my activity in the studio recently - I do envision some dark times and difficult questions for both techno artists and musicians in general ahead.
This lockdown has shown us just how insecure the work of mid-level professional musicians actually is since 99% of our income is coming directly from gigs and touring and barely anyone wants to spend money on music anymore beyond their $10 a month for a Spotify subscription. Honestly I see this as being a pretty broken system that doesn’t give musicians the time they need to innovate while favouring the major labels and the least creative mood-playlist-chasing artists among us financially.
Beyond this I think it’s really time to examine the distortion that social media creates across the dance music community. We have to start accepting that so often the image people present on social media and online is very much a fake and mediated one - whether this is down to the persona that is presented, or even down to purchased fake likes and followers. At the moment it does often feel like that online personalities and follower-counts are much more important to many promoters and fans than an artist’s musical output and history. How else do you have people with no releases or real and meaningful history in the scene playing far more than legends that have been contributing for decades? The incentives for artists are just all wrong right now and integrity doesn’t seem to mean anything. As Jeff Mills said, we spend a lot of time talking “too much about people who haven’t done too much.”
These points always lead me to think about general income disparity and wealth inequality within music as a whole too. This is unfortunately the one inequality in this scene that is never talked about - perhaps because it would be an inconvenient conversation for a lot of artists and industry people. While many people from wealthy backgrounds have contributed a lot to electronic music, today more than ever it’s possible to have a huge career if you’re rich without having any real notable ability beyond being able to mix on CDJs - it’s very easy to pay a ghost producer and for some good PR. On top of that the fees that some artists get paid are pretty obscene - I really don’t think it’s right that some people are getting paid thousands-and-thousands of euros per show while the artists whose music makes this possible get hardly anything in comparison. There’s clearly a big imbalance here that makes it difficult for people from less-well-off backgrounds to participate on the same level.
What’s next on HAVEN’s agenda?
We have two more releases coming up on the label before the end of 2020 - one EP from an artist that I’m really very excited to be working with that’s already had an amazing history within electronic music. And then we’ll also have another edition of our ‘Sardonic Tonality’ VAs coming at the end of the year.
Beyond this I’m in the planning stages for our 2021 release schedule right now. I’m always trying not to plan too far ahead so we can keep things fresh for both ourselves and the artist.
Also if a vaccine comes around next year I hope we’ll see the Haven showcases starting up through Europe again. We had a lot planned for this year, so I hope we can pick up where we left off with that!
What's the one thing that has remained a constant source of comfort for you over the last few months?
The main thing that keeps me sane is just continuing to push forward with my own music and HAVEN. Being in the studio is a big stress-reliever for me anyway because making music really allows me to shut-out the outside world. But also if I feel like I’m making some kind of progress with what I’m doing, that’s all I really need to be happy!
Listen to Keepsakes’ Rote Sonne mix here and follow him below:
Keepsakes Soundcloud | IG | FB