The Brvtalist is pleased to premiere a new remix from End Train. The London-based producer returns to Metempsychosis for a fantastic RMXD Vol. 1 EP where the artist puts his dance floor oriented sound to different bands and projects from the across the spectrum. The tracks are remixes by Ninos Du Brasil, Elektro Guzzi and S.A.D., which is our premiere today. “She’s Gone” is a killer post-punk piece originally released on Oraculo Records and is now reborn for any club setting. To mark the release, we also present a nice Q&A with End Train where we discuss the EP, merging sounds and new hobbies. (see below)

RMXD Vol. 1 is out March 26th and you can get yours now on BANDCAMP.

The Brvtalist: For this release you reached out to bands to remix. How did you decide who to reach out to?

End Train: Before the pandemic started I kind of had a lot of projects planned out and I realized I was leaning toward more traditional high energy club stuff. When the clubs shut down all the releases, gigs and plans went sideways. I took the opportunity to go for something completely different. I picked a few bands who inspired me:

Ninos Du Brasil - these guys are pure energy and carefreeness. I found them because of their Boiler Room few years ago. if you have seen any of their lives, you will get what I mean.

Elektro Guzzi - I found them somewhat like 9 years ago when digging for inspiration for a live set I did in the contemporary museum of modern arts. They are a live band who make this groovy, hypnotic, psychedelic music. Love their stuff.

S.A.D. (Sudden Axis Disorder) - have been close friends for some years now. We met in sweaty, restless underground parties in London and we partied, partied and partied together and sometimes played at the same events - in particular htbx. When I heard the original She's Gone for the first time, its energy really got me.

I reached out and ... they said yes.

All their music isn't necessarily club music, but they all have something inspiring for me: strong energy and they all come from live performances. I could imagine performing with them in a club and bringing the energy up and up and up...

TB: I like the post-punk meets dance floor energy of the S.A.D. remix. Are you always looking to merge genres and sounds in different ways?

ET: I like the combination of dance floor and punk reckless energetic music. It's something I've always been keen to explore. I’ve been lucky to be able to express this over the years in the London underground events I played such as Kaos and The Judgement Hall where this combination of energy, roughness and club music is highly appreciated.

With my production and live sets, I have the freedom to bring other genres into the dancefloor realm and see the combined energy of both materialize. I like the way the crowd usually reacts, especially if they didn't expect it...

The cool thing about my remix of “She’s Gone” is that we actually worked with Gabriele - the bassist - who remade the guitar leads live and re-recorded the voice together with me.

We are considering bringing this to a live performance - when the world returns us the dancefloors...

TB: Have the collaborations helped you get through the pandemic period?

ET: 100% The first months of lockdown were tough: I didn't leave my flat for almost 12 weeks in total and only saw my flatmate and maybe the shop owner of the grocery next to my flat. Coincidentally I broke up with my girlfriend the week before we went into lockdown. I am an extremely social person and not seeing anyone eventually took the toll. I have been in clubs pretty much every weekend since I was 12 years old (we had afternoon clubs in Rome, where I am from!) and not being on the dancefloor for so long really adversely affected me.

Toward the end of May I had an emotional, psychological and physical breakdown. I would wake up in the middle of the night multiple times and then feel extremely tired and depressed the entire day.

Collaborations are among the few things that saved me from a very dark place: first, I launched producer masterclasses with my label Metempsychosis cofounder Flaminia, Alessandro (Tapefeed) and my team at Home of Sound that kept me going by making me virtually hangout with the electronic music community that I have been missing. Second, I decided to approach my music in a different way and produce for myself instead of for targeting a release schedule. In hindsight, I think me reaching out to these bands, was a subconscious rope to prevent me from drowning into loneliness and depression.

Generally, I felt more than ever the importance of being close to your loved ones. I would have not made it sane if it weren’t for the hundreds of video calls with my teammates, my close friends, my family and my girlfriend.

TB: Have you picked up any new or expected routines, hobbies or activities?

ET: Yes - drinking wine. LOL!

Jokes aside, I have been doing a lot of sport and consistently. And because lately I moved to Berlin I have formed some kind of outdoor gym club (it’s all outdoor and social distancing compliant!) with… you can guess… other djs / producers. Berlin has such a high concentration of DJs / producers that it’s practically impossible to do anything without bumping into one. I am happy that I get the chance to do sport with old and new friends such as Lorenzo Raganzini, Tapefeed, Jean-Philippe, Paàl, Dennis, Paddy, Hurtado and VSK.

...and I actually do drink more wine now - probably because of my girlfriend (we are back together) who converted me into this little shared pleasure.

TB: What's coming up next?

ET: With Home of Sound we just launched a mixing/mastering series, a programme to help artists financially affected by covid 19, and a female led program (more info on this very soon).

With my music, I have few more releases coming out that I can’t yet announce, including a first collaboration with another dancefloor oriented producer (if you know, you know!). I will continue preparing my new live set as I have a lot of fresh material that I want to bring to the dancefloor. And who knows… maybe I will continue with the RMXD project with more interesting artists.

Thank you Jeremy and The Brvtalist for the questions!