The author Malcolm Gladwell posited the idea that in order to become a master or expert at something, one needs to log in 10,000 hours of performing that task. But how many releases does an artist need to put out before he or she is considered a legend? 100? 200? Is there such a number? We could argue for days about the implications of this theory or we could just look at the long and illustrious career of Chocolate Puma. The Dutch producers and DJs are at the top of their game and the game, in general, working on what they love, Dance music, for over 20 years and a catalog that runs at least 200 songs deep. And that's just the official, recorded number. They've gone by various aliases such as Zki and Dobre, Klatsch!, Jark Prongo, Rhythm Killaz, Tomba Vira, Riva, F-Action, and The Good Men. Who's to say that they don't have a vault of unreleased or released material under a different, top secret name? We're gonna have to hear those records at some point, guys…
Chocolate Puma (real names: René and Gaston) came together in the early 90's in Holland when Dance music, as a whole, was underground and not just an umbrella term that had its own subgenres. Zki related that the early, small scene had "some clubs, maybe 2, in Amsterdam that played House music and we had some secret underground house parties. And there weren't too many DJs because the way it worked then was one DJ would pretty much play the whole night." Dobre described that:
"There wasn't really a DJ community to speak of; DJs were those nerds playing records at a party and cleaning the toilets afterwards!"
But if anything, the soil was ripe for the two, passionate DJs to start what would become a whirlwind of hits and world tours. Zki started producing his own House tracks as a result of already DJing and falling in love with the music. He bought a Roland W-30 workstation and started to sample various songs to eventually make what would become his first tracks, which he deems "all sounded like crap, by the way." Dobre had a more classical training in music with the piano and drums. But one of his high school friends had a synthesizer early on, giving him the "production bug." Dobre realized that the new technology was not just an instrument but a tool that could replicate "all the noises that [were] also in my favorite records, so I was naturally drawn to it." They also drew inspiration from songs like "Acid Tracks" by Phuture, "Love Can’t Turn Around" by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, and "Trapped" by Colonel Abrams. When Zki and Dobre finally become a duo, first as The Good Men, they describe the synergy as such: "It was like two became one, and it still is." And nothing confirms that more than their first hit, "Give It Up," which was born from a small mixer and mixed on broken speakers in Gaston's bedroom and earned them the #1 spot on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Not intimidated or full of themselves from their early success, and on their own label Fresh Fruit at that, Zki and Dobre went on to experiment with various sounds which would also give way to their various monikers. When asked about all of the unique names they've assumed, they replied that "every name had it's own style of music. For example Klatsch! was a Disco kind of sound, René et Gaston was more of a fairytale. The Good Men had a more Brazilian feel to it, but we liked Jark Prongo the most because with Jark Prongo there were no musical or creative limits. We could do anything." This creative freedom allowed them to materialize their insight into, unbeknownst to them, the future of German Techno as many DJs in that scene have recently discovered and supported Jark Prongo's older records. As a live act, they were strong champions of playing their own songs and if they did play other artists' music they would come up with their own edit or remix to add their personal touch to it. They tweak those tracks further live since they are diligent in reading the crowd and "adapt to the vibe that's going on. We like to do that with live mixing because no crowd is the same and we can play the tracks in different sequences when we mix live."
The dawning of the 21st century saw the rise of their latest project as what they primarily go by today, Chocolate Puma. Their most recent release, which features Junior Sanchez, Arama, and Todd Terry came out on Dim Mak, one of many they've decided to put out on a label other than their own. At first, they chose to release tracks on their own labels because at the time, "we felt there weren't any labels to release our music, or the ones that were around weren't right for us. That's changed. The focus is more on us as artist and we're happy to let the labels handle all the "labely" stuff [laughs]."
Listening to snippets of their catalog is like taking a crash course on the history of House music. Their sound can be playful, soulful, or just downright hard hitting. They're able to seamlessly go from a more classic feeling groove to remixing some of the more modern songs that would have you believe that they grew up in the 90's instead of dominating it as established artists. What may be most surprising about their music is the spartan setup they use when putting it all together. If you want to work with the duo, you'd be doing too much if you had anything more than just a synthesizer, laptop, speakers, and a few plug ins. As for their mentality in the studio:
To us, It doesn't matter where or when or even how one likes to dance, just so long as they do because, after all, we make dance music! But sometimes we like to envision a drummer to be a dancer, playing a rhythm with his body and making his own choreography that way. It's a strange little visual, we know, but it helps us make the music more tangible.
They compare themselves to master sushi chefs. Instead of the perfect presentation of sashimi, they aim to get you moving on all levels. And they've been blessed with what could be called a short attention span to their own music, which forces them to push the boundaries on their music: "The reason we experiment so much is that we find it difficult to recreate a sound from a tracks once we've finished. It's a good problem to have because, as a result we are forced to experiment. Ultimately that makes us better artists."
René and Gaston have carried an attitude of leaning forward and not being deterred by the status quo. For them, it was the rule and not the exception to their work ethic. It's helped blaze a path for House artists after them, directly* and indirectly. They've also re-launched one of their labels, Pssst Music, as an outlet for their Techno music. We recently read that in another interview, Chocolate Puma expressed that they wanted to create more weird music again. When asked what that next wave of music might sound like, they affirmed, "Weird!"
*They are attributed with discovering and helping jump start the career of the Filipino-Dutch DJ, Laidback Luke.
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?Eagle vs. Shark
2. As young DJs, who was the one DJ you looked up to?Eddy De Clercq (one of the founders of the famous club RoXY in Amsterdam)
3. As DJs, what's your biggest pet peeve?A warm up DJ playing one of our tracks.
4. What is your current DJ set up at home?2x Pioneer CDJ 2000s and a Nexus DJM-900 mixer
5. What's your favorite record of all time?Impossible to answer
Keep up with Chocolate Puma on their Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. You can catch them at Veld and Tomorrowland this summer. Check out their other upcoming shows on their website.
Bryan Hahn wants to see a chocolate puma eat a chocolate bunny. He's on Twitter: @notupstate.