Interview: Jan Blomqvist. From Berlin to NY debut

Pay attention to this name: Jan Blomqvist. He left the north of Germany to fall in love with Berlin – not a difficult thing to feel – where he is based now, and is conquering passionate ears around the world with his organic, warm and melodic electronic sound. If he doesn`t like to categorize his style – as well as most of the artists – we can still say he created his own way of doing music, based on melancholic atmosphere and beats of techno, minimal, deep, pop, electro and his peculiar vocal that came from the background in grunge-rock bands (“a mixture of Radiohead, Muse, Bodi Bill, Stephan Bodzin and James Holden”, he would describe). From the “Big Jet Plane” (mix to Angus and Julia that played in radios across Europe last year) to his absolutely appealing  “Something Says” (watch the live video at Weekend in Berlin here), Jan Blomqvist, who is releasing tracks on the Stil vor Talent label, is someone to watch, listen and feel. And New York is lucky enough to receive him for his debut gig tomorrow, April 27, in the prominent Zero Party. Go ahead and grab your tickets. It will be historical :) Ok, we talked to him via email, and he showed his very interesting thoughts. Get to know him better – and don`t miss the statement by Lorin Lvn, Zero organizer, on the end of the interview!

DEEP IN NY – Hey Jan! We are so happy to receive you in NY for your debut gig! Have you visited the city before?


JAN BLOMQVIST – Hey I am even more happy I guess, because it will be my first time in New York.

DEEP – What is the first thing you want to do when you arrive here?

JAN – I never make certain plans when i arrive somewhere for the first time. I wanna see it with fresh eyes

DEEP – Which artists from NY do you admire?

JAN – The Velvet Underground, LCD Soundsystem, Antony and the Johnsons, The Strokes, is Bob Dylan from New York?? Maybe Bob Dylan is from everywhere on this planet. These artists came in my mind automatically when I think of New York. But I don’t care that much about where musicians come from. For me it’s more important how their music sounds and what I can learn from them. When I will meet Mick Jagger some day personally then maybe I will ask him for his birth place. No, seriously for me it’s not important. I even don’t understand the hype about Berlin artists. Most of them are not from Berlin. Most of the good Berlin musicians only came to Berlin because they wanna live in the most peaceful and tolerant city on earth to concentrate 100% on their music and not on money or any other stupid time wasting things. Then they start partying 24 hours every day and their idea of Berlin also became a stupid one. So it doesn’t matter where you live or where you come from. It’s all about how you use your chance to be happy I think.

Otherwise, if I wouldn’t live in Berlin I would live in New York I guess. This was not the question, right?

DEEP – We love Berlin as well! The best city for electronic music, in my opinion. What do you most like about the German capital? Where do you go out there and what are your favorite spots?


JAN – It doesn’t feel like the german capital. It feel’s like an island somewhere in Europe with a unique ugly landscape. The electronic music scene in Berlin is inimitable. Sometimes I think Berlin was only made to give People a home where they don’t panic when they came back to reality after 5 days partying. Berlin is for kids. Maybe that’s why the adults always are in a bad mood. I am living in Berlin since 11 years now, but I still have no idea why the Berlin people never smile in public. I always feel ashamed when I think of something funny and then laugh on my own in the metro. So maybe it’s even more fascinating why I am still here. There must be something special what keeps me staying in this grey, ugly place. I better keep some secrets.

I like it that you never get any trouble with police or other idiots. Nobody tells you when you have to arrive at a party or when you have to go to sleep. Maybe it’s the same feeling in New York but in Europe only in Berlin you can feel this freedom to do whatever you wanna do whenever you want to do it. This can be very important if you have to be creative but you have absolutely no motivation to start working sometimes.

My favourite place was the Bar25 for sure. I will never forget it. Feel’s like I wasted my whole youth between this wall and the dirty river, but I don’t regret it.

DEEP – You have productions with Britta Arnold, the guys from Stil Vor Talent, people who work for Berlin party scene for a long time. Have you been working in some parties / clubs as well?


JAN – Yes I did. 8 years ago I decided to quit everything and also get rid of all that stuff that nobody needs to have more space and time do my music only. This was a very good idea but then I needed a job to pay my rent. The solution was to work 2 days a week as a barkeeper in a techno club. So I had 5 days left to work on my music. This was pretty good. For about five years I had a lot of fun and I had enough to eat and I could pay my rent and I could follow my mission. I was a super happy guy. And I also felt a little bit smart because my plan to be happy worked out that easily. I am still super thankful for this time. And a job where you can learn something new all the time can be a good job even if it’s not part of your mission.

DEEP – When did you start to produce?

JAN – 10 years ago.

DEEP – When did you first feel you were having success?

JAN – When I was 7 years old I realized that I don’t have to go to school as long as I pretend to have a bad stomach ache and probably need to puke the whole day. This was the first time I felt something like success. But after a while being ill in the morning and playing soccer in the afternoon, my mum did not believe me anymore. It was more disappointing that my mum did not believe me than being bored in school. So my first success was a bad experience.

Somehow it’s still the same. Whenever I am successful in finishing a track super early then during this process I have already created three news song ideas. Usually the new ideas I like much better so it’s a shame that I finished the old one first.. It’s a never ending story. I could never be successful in finishing all my ideas. The only way to keep cool in this disaster is to not think about having success and just work on the best stuff. The really good ideas usually help me themselves to get finished. I hope I can feel a bit more relaxed when my album is finished.

DEEP – What did you use to do before?

JAN – Before I became a musician I was studying mathematics. At the university there were no windows. I felt like in prison and I did not like the other prisoners. I was super sad and I started drinking and provoking a lot. What a waste of time. The provocation and the unhappiness I mean were waste of time. Studying usually is not a waste of time of course.

DEEP – Your live concerts are so original! Who / where / what influences you?

JAN – My live-drummer. He is always telling me what I could do better. This can be really annoying sometimes, but I have learned to understand his critiques as a compliment. I guess he thinks that I am a music machine.

DEEP – Are you going to use the whole live concert in NY gig?

JAN – I am playing live only. I am not a dj. I feel more like a band.

DEEP – How did you manage to travel with all this stuffs?

JAN – That’s super annoying, but it’s part of my life. I always feel even more uncomfortable if somebody else carries my equipment. Not because I feel sorry for the guy, who really wants to carry my heavy bag by choice, but I always feel sorry for my equipment.
It’s a strange game at the airports. In the beginning it took me 20 minutes to pack everything back into the case after the controls.

DEEP – Your remix of “Dancing People are never Wrong” is one of my favorites music ever. I keep listening to it on the repeat for hours and hours… How did this music happen? Tell me a little bit about the history, how did you meet them, etc.


JAN – Oh nice. It makes me happy. But honestly there is no certain story behind the track. I got the lines and started working. I had ten days to finish. I would have loved to work for years on this track, but maybe it’s better that I had ten days only. ‘Something Says’ for example took me two years.

DEEP – You created a personality with your voice and beats, we soon recognize when we listen a “Jan Blomqvist” song. How would you describe your style?


JAN – I know that many people need a certain drawer for everything. One for forks, one for knifes and one for spoons. I can differentiate between spoons and knifes without a drawer. So why should I put my music into a certain one? especially I think my music is not a knife. I mean where should this end? Finally people putting other people into drawers to make it easier to distinguish themselves. I don’t like that. If you ask me then my music is mostly a spoon.

DEEP – What kind of things do you still want to do?

JAN – I still wanna reinvent myself again all the time. But I think I will keep doing music for some years. Maybe for the rest of my life, maybe not. We’ll see. I also wanna live in the mountains some day. I also wanna live in Paris, Istanbul, London, Rome, New York, Buenos Aires and Madrid. But Paris first.

DEEP – The show at Fusion was historical! What did it represent in your career? Would you say it was your turning point?


JAN – Fusion in 2011 was crazy. After our gig it started raining for four days. That was luck that we finished our show exactly before the rain. 80.000 people were hiding in their tents but somehow I met a friend from switzerland. I kissed her in the rain. This was amazing.

DEEP – What are you pursuing, as a musician?

JAN – To find melodies that make me smile or cry. And then try to make them being alive and make me dance. When I don’t feel anything in the track anymore then I stop working on it. Every tracks has a certain concept. I could never start a track without having a certain idea or a certain concept. When I start a track then the whole track is already done in my mind. Sometimes it’s very frustrating when it’s not possible to create the sounds exactly like I have them in my mind

DEEP – If you could change something in the electronic scene, what would it that be?

JAN – I would make myself being less addicted to this scene.

DEEP – You used to play in rock bands before and you said Berlin influenced you to swift to electronic music. But you also created a new and organic style. Tell us a little bit about this transition and this influences.


JAN – For me there is not really a difference between the styles. We have 12 tones to create music, that’s all. In the bands I sang, played guitar and bass. And then suddenly it was possible to produce music on a computer. I was fascinated by all these new sounds that I could use suddenly. My music became electronic automatically. I am still super happy about these technique. I wonder what Beethoven would have produced if he would have been part of our generation. Or Jimmy Hendrix. So it was more the time and its possibilities that made my music transform into this electronic development. The Berlin club scene was more responsible for the change of my mind. In Berlin I realized that it is possible to do whatever you want as long as you do it with a lot of passion.

DEEP – Where are you trying to go?

JAN – Tomorrow I try to go to New York. I hope they let me in.

DEEP – Thanks Jan. Watch now one of our favorite videos and read the statement by Lorin Lvn above:

“We’re bringing Jan Blomqvist because we feel that this type of music is underserved right now in NYC. Melodic, soulful deephouse, with a party experience akin to Bar 25 of Katerholzig. We’re not people that think that everything is better in Berlin, but we were kind of missing a party with a crazy theme and a happy family atmosphere… a playground for adults. There are lots of amazing things happening in NYC, and we all respect them, but we just like to things a bit different…”, Lorin Lvn, one of the Zero Party organizers.

See you all there tomorrow :)

By Gabriela Loschi