The Brvtalist: Tell us a little about your background and how you got into DJing and booking/programming as well.
Hank Aoki: Growing up in Cologne, I initially stranded in 'Pudelcity' Hamburg which is where I discovered my love for electronic music. My sympathy for the unusual and remote accompanied me through long Sunday nights of dancing in Golden Pudel Club as well as rambling through the small and fine record stores of Hamburg. Besides a steadily growing vinyl collection, I also developed an interest in musical arrangements and DJ-sets. After moving to Berlin, I immediately landed at ://about blank. Since then, I curate events with professional passion and excellent intuition, such as the monthly club night Blank Generation, the annual club birthday, the roaring New Years events or the afterhour format Prozac. My debut on the decks of ://about blank took place at Decoded for Confused in June 2016. Since then I've been playing my diverse sets in established clubs just as much as temporary off-locations.
TB: How has the pandemic period been for you? With no clubs open have you started anything new?
HO: I wish I could say I finally had time to start some new exciting art project, but the last 6 months were rather busy for me with starting another job and working full time and renovating my new flat from the ground and planning everything which comes with it. When the shutdown was announced, it hit me really hard and I was really lethargic that day. Being busy didn't allow me to feel lost because of the situation and the uncertainty, what will happen to club culture and everyone working in this field.
TB: Do you think club culture will go back to how it was or will we start a new era of something ELSE?
HO: I think the worst thing would be if club culture went back to how it was before. There were a lot of things which needed to be fixed and I hope after our collective sabbatical we'll course correct these issues.
TB: Any silver linings to what is happening now? There seems to be a lot of talk about a return to local scenes, the end of huge fees, etc. Do you think some of that is possible? I am worried it will default to the old ways.
HO: Most clubs, when they have survived the shutdown, won't have money to pay high fees or travel costs, so I think this what's going to happen. Probably we will also see a lot of newcomers, bedroom producers and DJs who all finally had time to sharpen their skills.
TB: What’s coming next for you?
HO: I will play for the first time an ambient set in September, which I'm very much looking forward to. It's for the event series Ambientgarden, which is hosted by Intergalactic Research Institute for Sound, Unrush and Staub. I'll play with Rabih Beaini, one of my favorite DJs and producers. His vision for music composition is just another level.
Also I'm looking forward to work again with Lunchmeat Festival in Prague. I love the guys and their very honest and real intention to put up this festival since more than 10 years. They do it out of passion and idealism, unfortunately this became kinda rare in the music industry before Covid hit us. Hopefully a lot of people will come back to this and remember why they wanted to work in music.
Thanks to Hang for speaking with us.
-JRS
