Dutch Hustle: A Chat With Detroit Swindle

In house music's formative years, it was common for non-American producers to adopt a misnomer that would have them mistaken for natives of Detroit or Chicago. It's an indication of the level of admiration for – and appropriation of – house and techno music produced from these two cities, and for Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets, their chosen name of Detroit Swindle is both playful and self-analysing.

Formed in 2011, the duo's Boxed Out LP and a hefty succession of EPs have established them as high-calibre house producers, drawing heavily on the staples (bustling beats, hi-hat claps, liberal vocal samples) of classic house music. They take time out of a mammoth international tour, which includes an appearance at FLY's Open Air Festival in Edinburgh on 24 September, to chat about paying homage to the genre, clubbing from Beirut to Kyoto, and the pleasures of spinning vinyl.

Your name is a light-hearted nod to your mutual love for Motown – could you tell us a little more about this?

Maarten: My dad is a big Motown fan, and ever since I can remember, he’s played all the records from Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding, so that was my introduction. When we started playing together, and especially when we started doing more diverse sets, I dove deeper into disco, funk and soul from back in the day, and discovered great Northern Soul stuff and more underground artists. Going through all those old 45s in records stores is really fun, especially when you find those hidden gems.

What do you think it is about Motown that holds such a continuing appeal? 

Lars: Motown really is music from the heart and that’s something for all ages. Also, it’s also a really, really sexy genre. Who doesn’t like a song when it’s called Sexual Healing?

You’ve also cited hip-hop and early house music as influences – any particular records or tracks?

Lars: Anything by J Dilla basically (the other reason we chose to pay homage to Detroit). I like to think we put a bit of Dilla into every track we make. As for house, Larry Heard and Carl Craig are big influences, and our good friend Kerri Chandler.

Talk us through the elements of your live show. You have quite an arsenal of digital and analog instruments, including an additional member on the keys, is that right?

Lars: Yes, the live show is a fun beast! We’re taking SO much gear with us, it’s a hefty six metres wide on stage. By adding our keys player Lorenz Rhode to the set-up, we can improvise a lot more. We’ve got a great dynamic amongst the three of us.

You’ve got a date coming up in Liverpool where you’ll be spinning vinyl for three hours – what do you like about playing vinyl-only shows?

Maarten: Playing real records has a certain feel to it you just can’t get with any digital format. Each time you take a record out of its sleeve and play it, you create a moment and take a little bit of that physical thing with you to the next show. It’s something tangible that makes what you do a bit more real, in a way.

These days it’s a bit complicated though, with loads of clubs that don’t have a proper set-up for vinyl. It takes a lot of effort from our side, doing soundchecks, bringing our own mixer and needles, balancing everything... all aimed at making sure that you can really bring your music across the way you want and not be obstructed by technical issues. The fun thing about playing vinyl-only is the limits you impose upon yourself. You’ve brought a set of records and that’s it, there’s no back-up of millions of songs on a USB, just your personal selection for that specific night. 

We’ve got a couple of days planned to go digging so I hope we get to bring a few new (old) records and if we’re lucky, we’ll get our upcoming release just in time for this show. 

You’ve had a busy summer playing festivals across Europe and the UK, and earlier in the year, as far as Australia, Brazil and Japan. Can you name any tour highlights?

Lars: The year isn’t even over yet and we’ve done so much touring already. In general those longer tours in South America, Asia and Australia were very special. We brought our live set with Lorenz to the USA for the first time, which was insanely ambitious, but we pulled it off and it was fantastic to see the response overseas. In particular, Star Festival in Kyoto was an amazing experience, where we had hilarious times with (French tech house trio) dOP.

We were in Kyoto playing the Star Festival this summer, and after our set, we spent some time with the guys from dOP, who are just as cool as they are weird. After a few joints by the campfire, we all ended up joining this guy who was giving djembe lessons (and who was actually really bad at playing) and we took over his class, got some shakers out, and improvised a whole band out of camping material and this dude’s tent. I don’t know if he actually liked it, but we were rolling on floor from laughter. 

You recently played a show at The Garten in Lebanon too – how was that?

Lars: Really great! Beirut’s clubbing scene is quite vibrant, which we didn’t anticipate, but it’s so good. Also the promoter took really great care of us – we had some time to hang out, party and explore the city a bit. 

Can you tell us a career favourite show that you’ve played to date?

Maarten: There are too many, but I guess Dour Festival in Belgium last summer was pretty special. It was our first time ever doing the live show in the new set-up with Lorenz, so as you can imagine, we were pretty nervous.

We found out that Seven Davis Jr. was playing the same stage that day, and since we had just remixed his track Friends, we invited him up on stage with us to do the vocals. It was a non-rehearsed, improvised-on-the-spot moment but it turned out great – so big thanks to him for that. Also the crowd just went nuts over there. To see 3000 people digging your music on that level with inflatable bananas, Christmas lights for clothing decorations, girls in bikinis just vibing out; it was really something else. A memory we will not forget easily!

In September you’ll be playing at the foot of one of Scotland’s most iconic landmarks, Edinburgh Castle – what other things spring to mind when you think of Auld Reekie?

Maarten: The first time ever that we’ve played in Edinburgh was probably our most fun show of the year, playing in a venue that’s closed now. We probably had 40 people in, but everyone went out of their minds. That was a warm welcome, and luckily, coming back to Scotland has been great. Also, haggis. We tried it. Will never order it again, but we tried. Points for that, right?

Could you tell us about your label, Heist Recordings?

Lars: We do our own A&R, so we’re quite involved in it, and it’s a great way to extend the family a bit. We really wanted to give other artists who are just starting out the same chance we got, and we can invite producers we like or look up to, to do an EP or a remix for us. Also fellow Dutchies Nachtbraker and Frits Wentink have got their studios in the same building so we see them a lot and share stories and experiences. Right now, we’re doing more label showcases all over Europe, so we’re getting to hang out more with our friends while playing records at our favourite places. We’re very lucky like that. 

Finally, what’s on the horizon for Detroit Swindle?

Maarten: On the horizon is zero sleep!

We’ve got a new EP on Heist coming out, which we’ve managed to get Matthew Herbert involved in too. He’s made an excellent remix for us. Then we’re doing a Boiler Room vinyl-only set in Madrid for Ray-Ban, and we’re starting our new residency Heist in Amsterdam. We’re gonna be back in the USA for a couple of weekenders and touring a lot til the end of the year, so it’s gonna be busy as hell but super fun.