Producer, DJ, & Entrepreneur: Rampa – Berlin, Building in the Background, & Loving the Process More Than the Product

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Blessed up into a few of your shows, and I always have the best time. The phone kills, the vibe, 100%, it's super awkward. One day you wake up and you're like, "Okay, wait." And you, Andre and Adam also follow me on Instagram because you started agreeing with my criticisms of some of your fans. Yeah. It feels like you create something, and then one day this thing is kind of like bigger than yourself. I'd love to go back in time. Me too. To be honest, we didn't make really money, and I know that's something that you've actively struggled with. Some people will love it, some people will hate it no matter what you do. Around the world with your host, the Start Guy, who welcome you back to the Start Guy podcast, sharing stories of excellence with those in the know for those who just know. A lot of the listeners today are audio only, maybe commuting, maybe on a walk. I urge them to go video to see the room that we're in. Yeah. It's very cool. It's really cool to be here with you in Berlin, in this studio, and to also see this side of you. I know the side of you very well. Yeah, we went skiing a few times, we had some good time in the sauna. That's some great times in sauna and ski resorts around the world, and I knew you as ramp of first as a fan, and attending your shows. First time we met properly, I think, was at a friend's wedding where you were actually playing. When I first realized how tall you are, make me look so short always. Yeah. You're so different from your characters. I didn't see the same thing to you, but I thought the same thing as well because ramp and Greg, I would say is nearly as much of a stark difference in character to constance the start guy and me off camera, and even one of your friends next door has the same thing with his online character at Home Persona, and I'm realizing more and more that it's a thing many artists share and feel, like a lot of artists have a public facing version of themselves, could be branded as a rampa, as a start guy, as anything public, or there's a real name, and then they have a very different side that defends in the people rarely see. Yeah, in fact, switch the character up on stage. I love it though, but in a decent amount, I feel like I'm shivering. I'm lifting slowly but surely more towards getting a little bit out of the spotlight, funny saying this in a podcast. You know what I mean? Focusing really more on the engineering parts of that whole world, and getting a little bit out of the spotlight, I'm gravitating a lot to developing, engineering, being in the background, having a rhythm, like, you know, when we're on vacation, like getting up, having a healthy life, a little sound, a little sport, you know what I mean? Which is almost impossible during the 12 life. There are some DJs and people that can do it. I never could, like I switch into that character, and then in that, for the summer, and then I feel like for me now, it's time to slowly turn towards how I picture my future more in the office and the studio and less on airplanes and stages and stuff. I love that today you have the network resources and excitement to work on all these different projects. You know, there are a few years ago, one of your big missions and big focuses was building up Rampa, but also building up kind of music with just your friends doing a good time with the boys. Me too. So that's me too. I love to understand, like, basically you're working to get back a lot of those old feelings you had, of course with new wisdom, new life experience, new resources to work on these new projects. But a reoccurring story I hear with people that achieve incredible success, like you, has worked so hard to get into the game, only to work even harder to get out again. Yeah. We started 2009, so it's been like 16, 17 years now, time flies. And the name for me started to become a household name, like six years ago, five years ago. Is that accurate? For us, it felt probably more linear because you know, it was like step by step by step. And then I would say outside of like a more close scene, it started maybe like six, six years ago, five, six years ago with like GTA and like these type of projects that opened obviously doors into a whole different, like outside of our little world. And then in general, like this type of music, you can see, it became much bigger and more seen. And yeah, so I would say we had a pretty linear process, but then also the world around us had a process and it met somewhere six years ago where it became more visible and more commercial in a way, of course. How did you start hanging with the guys and start kind of, you know, it was always the same. We like, we met, we all met in Berlin. We all met in Berlin. I met André in the studio, Tricks studio, called basement studio in Berlin, back in the days as interns, you know, and we used to spend, because we had the key to the studio. So we spent the nights there playing with all the fancy gear we couldn't afford and then slept two hours and then went back to intern the day. And Adam, I met him on parties with mutual friends and actually the whole team was formed by going out, making music. So the first time I met Adam, our first date, let's say, was he brought his mixer and we were scratching for, I don't know, a few hours, two, three hours, and I will place it back then. It was funny. And yeah, and then it's slowly formed and why did it slowly form? Like why did you decide to be like a trio and actually we haven't been a trio. The music was much bigger in the beginning. So there were a lot more people involved, Claremont's, Ignand, he has also nice design block and production company. It was maybe like ten people or something like this. And then slowly, slowly, you know, some of us wanted to do something different. It was just like more like a hobby and this and that. This was kind of like at the end, the left overs from the ones that didn't want to do anything else, you know. One of our first members became a painter also, quite successful now too. And yeah, so I don't know, it happened pretty naturally. There was no real plan or anything to it. And then with the label, it came because, I don't know, we didn't know where to release or to send it to, Yareyara, so we were like, okay, let's, you know, do our own label. And yeah, in the beginning, I think André was more in charge of the vinyl I was doing the digital distributions because we didn't have distribution or whatever, nothing. And yeah, step by step, slow progress, found that thing a few people left, a few new people came. So there was a lot of. movement but also consistency in the growth, or in the development or however you want to call it. When you guys were starting, what was the dream? Like what was the vision you guys had for kind of music? My dream was that I can make a living out of it and don't have to go back in a car wash or whatever I was doing before. Is that what you were doing before you were working on it? Yeah. Partly, yeah. In some other days. I was washing, washed and selling the cars, so there was my fun summer job with a guy called Overschtreel, legend, Overschtreel, shout-outs, stuff like this, so always, I mean, engineering, music, electronics, all this stuff, always was my happy place and my interest was there, my passion, so, yeah, there was no other options. I wanted to do space take engineering, but then to be honest, I was really bad in school, like I can't focus and stuff like this, so I got kicked off multiple schools, I was never good in this stuff, so I had to make it find a different form of living that passion. I remember you told me a lot about your love for skateboarding and the culture that exists and existed in a different way around that, like pre-crazy social media hype, and I see a lot of that DNA in you and even in kind of music of like that belonging, that coolness of like embracing what is. I'd like to understand more about how skate culture influenced you and what it means to you. Let's say I spend probably 90% of my youth in skateboarding and turntableism, so it is where the two main things, and especially like in the 90s, obviously it was a very different situation, there was no YouTube or, you know, to get like a skate video, like a 4-1-1 like a new skate video came out on a VHS and all, then, you know, we spent like the whole afternoon like rewinding and watching those skate videos, because it was such a holy grail, it also applies on music, there was no Spotify or like easy accessible stuff you wanna want it to dig deeper, you really had to, you know, do the work, like go in there, go to the record stores, go to the skate shop, get that access, especially for me, because I grew up kind of like in a farm situation, a house in a forest next to a little village, next to a tiny town, I mean, Fryberg is 200,000 citizens, so it's, there's not like a cool skate shop and a cool crazy record store and stuff, so the hunt for it was, there was much, you know, more intense and more strongly, really had to commit to this. I remember you told me that when you'd go to a new city, oh yeah, back in the days it was, I felt like it was a very like way smaller, obviously, community or circle, so when, you know, go on vacation and you see someone wearing like, at that time, I don't know, DC shoes or, you know, and then it was like, okay cool, you know, we're in the same team and you bonded super, super naturally, because there was no social media, things like this, or you bonded over belonging, be it, whatever got punk rock, skate boarding, that's the important thing to me, different things, so I mean, I think this is the same, still the same, you know, people gravitate towards scenes, music style, fashion style, or whatever, to form, I think skate boarding is quite unique though, as a sport, because it's like, I think the culture is stronger than the sport itself, whereas like, if two guys probably still, yeah, probably still, I mean, still, especially in Berlin, most of my close friends they're all like, you know, from the, from the skate scene, shout out to Sivilest, Brunstrasse 13, I'm trying to like, I personally see similarities between skate culture and even like your office culture, rampa, Tyler, kind of music, I'm trying to dissect what that culture is for people who come from a different world, because it's not a bonding over a sport, like, I like tennis, if I see a guy with a tennis racket in the street, I'm not like, oh my god, I don't care about the guy, you know, but with, with skateboarding it's different, I see this, like, I get you, we understand each other, it's so much deeper than a love for skateboarding. Yeah, true. I mean, especially I feel like, back in the days, it was, let's say, less of an industry, yeah. So I was not about like, making money of it, you know, it was just like, getting high and hanging with, you know, your friends and have like a, a purpose and, and something that's just, you know, fun and, do you like consciously try to, when you build up kind of music and you build up your personal brand of like, rampa, are you trying to still build the same connection with your younger self, like, would you want skater rampa, skater Greg as a kid to be a fan of you today? Of course, of course, of course, I mean, especially in the beginning, it was always like this. And then to be fair, on a certain level, you realize, okay, wait, what's happening here? You know, it's like, if it's planned or not planned, you wake up in a situation where you sell a certain amount of tickets and you have a certain visibility in the, in the public and, and then, yeah, whoa, what's, you know, what's going on after adjust to this? I have to be that character now even more. It's funny also when I speak to other people that are very much in the spotlight, even way more than me, about this, about how they receive themselves in, you know, you know, being that person that, you know, everybody sees from outside because there are certain people who I would be like, yeah, but you should know what's going on because you are person X, you know, and then you're like, no, bro, I was playing guitar and a pump and a knife person, you know, this and that, you know, because most of the people think, you know what you're doing and you're comfortable in every situation, but it was like, no, I'm like, I have no idea, you know, how to handle this spotlight or this, you know, pressure and these, on these scales and, yeah, that's for sure a thing that I didn't calculate in back in the days because it was just about, you know, excitement, growing, experimenting, trying, following whatever feels right and stuff and, and then like, yeah, one day you wake up and be like, okay, wait, what if it just happened, you know, I remember you were talking about how you service and make the early fans and early listeners happy, but also give access and give new people the chance to join the party. And I've spoken about this with a few other guests on the show. It's like the coolness rule. Oh, yeah. And, you know, it's like the rule of coolness is when the happy few are no longer few, they're no longer happy. It's such a big part of loving something is that my neighbors don't know about that thing yet. And once the neighbor knows the early guy, no matter how much they love it, they're like, ah, the neighbor knows now, you know, and it's a tough balance across all industries. And I know that's something that you've actively struggled with because you love your early fans, but you love your new fans. How do you, how do you work with that? I mean, we're working on a new, um, pretty actively now because like I said before, one day you wake up in a situation, um, and that might have taken two years, you know, but too inconsistently, like it's so much going on that there's not much time to really process and reflect on this and that. And you wake up and be like, okay, wait, do I want to be this guy? Do I want to please play this in that shows? And, you know, so it feels like you create something. And then one day this thing is kind of like bigger than yourself and you work for it. And it'll be like, okay, we have to deliver now to keep this thing alive or, you know, and also a lot of people are pending on us being in a spotlight, like the team is big production, yeah, like so many people are living, living off the us being, you know, that thing. And, um, do you feel like you are the that thing, or that you're at service to that thing. - Mixed. - Actually mixed. In some parts, I still feel like I can do it, especially when I do the engineering part, like the preparing for the shows, the set up, like these things, and preparing the music, making the music, then I feel like this, but then when it comes to like it being public, and out there and being judged and all that stuff, then I'm like, okay, I work for this now, I have to swallow whatever the feedback is, you know, and then the bigger gets, at some point, you can't make it right for everyone. So ideally, you just make it right for yourself and for your team, and then some people will love it, some people will hate it, no matter what you do. But like I said before, you wake up and I was like, okay, oh, we all, you know, wake up, do we love this? Like, is this still like the sound and like the thing we aimed for in the beginning, or did we, you know, because of no time, no energy to process, to review, and then it's everything is so fast. So we took time to step back, we talk a lot about these things, like musically and the shows should we go smaller, because then the demand gets high. They're like, okay, you can sell this and that amount of tickets, now you can sell twice, triple whatever time, okay, then we do it, and if you don't do the big shows, then people are complaining because there's not enough tickets. If you do the big shows, and it's a problem that it's a big show, and it feels obviously different to a small show, and the goal was always to keep a certain intimate feeling with like a low stage, this and that, but then there's this idea in your head, and then there's the regulations. So then there's a fire marshal that takes your idea and throws it in the trash, because you have to have five meter barriers, you have to have the stage, whatever in a certain height or lower. So all these parameters that come on top of your vision, which, you know, just it's not possible to fulfill everything you wish for. 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I remember you told me that you enjoy the preparation of the show, even though the show itself. - Yeah, much more. - You love this. - Because in a preparation, let's say more me, and then on stage, obviously, I'm rampant, I'm more the character, which, it's not that I don't enjoy it at all, but I gravitate much more to this freedom, because then it's out of judgment, it's out of, it's just pure like, you know, creating and building, like, and this is, I come in such a different world, but I really get what you're saying. Like, when I'm preparing a "Stod Guys" skit or this podcast or whatever it is, so much of the prep work is so exciting and great, because also it's not open to scrutiny. It's so deeply personal and so siloed into my own universe, but then a "Stod Guys" is public facing. There's thousands of people involved who can criticize that, and maybe sometimes I'm with them, maybe I'm with the audience in a criticizing way, my online persona. - Hey, I feel that now, like I get like some, whatever sh*tting on Instagram, I'm like, yeah, man. I totally agree, but now, probably in my shoes, what are we supposed to do? You know, like, sometimes you can't handle this, out of your control, there's so many factors to it, and I can't even hate on it. I have something to get ahead of me, like, yo, I would be the first one. I wouldn't do it publicly, because I feel this is a little, I don't know, I would never go to something that I don't like, I don't like it. I would rather go to things I like and be like, okay, that's cool. Because, yeah, if I don't like it, I look somewhere, that's whatever. But to be fair, it's also sometimes nice. We got our critics, and it's also good, because, yeah, we sit together and we were like, yeah, actually, that's right, some of that stuff sucks, it's not where we want to go, it's not, it hasn't been our attention. And if you follow us, if you really do look deeper when we did the past 20 years, it's not what you see on Instagram in the past two years. - You know, it's funny about your shows. Blessed have been to a few of your shows, and I always have the best time. The first of all, I just want to say, it's always just this really happy feeling. If it's just usolo, you, the one of the boys, or full kind of music, I feel good. It feels like a sunny day, even if it's raining. Peace and love, good vibes. But I must say, it's probably one of the shows, or one of the moments I've been to, with the most contrasting audiences in the same room. Like the people in the crowd, they seem so happy to be there for like shared love, shared fun, they love the music. And then people behind the DJ booth are like on tables. There's a lot of status involved. Of course, like it's so high status to be at a kind of music show and post the story of you. - Of course, of course. It became very much, it became a big, big part of it, and this is a long, deep conversation and a complicated topic, we talk a lot about it, I think a lot about it. 'Cause yeah, it's two sides of a medal, you know? Sometimes, obviously, a certain level of production is cost a lot of money. So there needs to be money made to deliver a certain thing. The first time I realized that was actually in Touloum about 10 years ago, where there were tables sold for a crazy amount of money. I wasn't playing, you know? But I was always interested in how is it possible to finance such a production? And it's not financed with $20 ticket from the GA, because, and that's the thing, the GA benefits from it, because the tables pay for that level of production. So you can have a crazy party in the jungle, but therefore, you know? So that's the two sides of the medal. So you have tables, yes? But also on the other hand, you have crazy, you know, speakers and yada yada and toilets, and like all these productions and toilets. No, I mean-- It's true, you need the proper ones and stuff. And people, if you look closer into that whole production topic, it's very, very complex, you know, with local laws and transportation and safety and all these things. And it's way more expensive than you might think, like even if there's the ticket prices are higher, so that it's not that promoter, the artist at the end, makes crazy money, you know? Especially with like off locations and cool places, we had that show in Paris. On that hill, it took seven years to get the permission. And it was very difficult to get, you know, all the permissions in for a stage and, you know, where we could put the stage and all these things. And, yeah, obviously it could have been nicer if we could have done whatever we wanted. But you have to stick to regulations, this and that. And we always, yeah, we try to aim also to come up with new venues and, you know, make it exciting except instead of being in the same venue every time. And it takes a lot of effort and also a lot of money to do these things, you know? And at the end, to be honest, we didn't make really money or much money with that show at the end. But it was nice. I mean, for me, it's nice to look at it now and be like, okay, we did it on that, you know, unique place, with that view on the Eiffel Tower and had a simple production. And that was also something like people were like, oh, the production was so cheap, you know? And that was totally on purpose because I felt like that venue itself and that view on the Eiffel Tower. Why would I, you know, it's like making a crazy production in front of the Mona Lisa forward. Like, you know, you don't want to block that. It's almost offensive too. Like when you did the pyramids in Egypt. The pyramids in Egypt, they're exactly weird stuff. You know, all these lights, I thought it's nicer to keep it low and keep the view open and also with the lights, keep it very decent and just like the drone show, which was a crazy story to make that happen. I remember before we became friends, where I was of course a kind of music fan, and you Andrei and Adam also followed me on Instagram. Yeah. Because you started agreeing with my criticisms of some of your fans. Yeah. Because totally attending kind of music shows became such an absurd status element to some people. And I, of course, was criticizing doing things like that for status versus for enjoying the moment. And my particular focus was people who would go post the stories and not care about anything else. Yeah, just get the stories. It's totally fine. I think it's funny and it's true. And that's why it's funny. At the same time, obviously, I can take that easy because if you with us and your tend to shows, you know, like there are certain moments. That's the moments that are viral. And that's irony because let's say we play a seven hour set. There's a lot of new music. There's a lot of just partying, you know. And then of course, when we played a four or five hits, it turns from a party into a concert moment. All the phones go up, which whatever I like it, don't like it. It is how it is, you know. And that's obviously a lot of phones up. That's a lot of content. And this is what's viral. So this is what you see. Because the other thing when there's no phone up is what you don't see. So obviously, you know, it technically doesn't exist in the in the in the web. And yeah, this is a funny thing. And in the discussion about phone, no phone. Obviously, I see old footage from back in the days and yeah, the phone kills the vibe 100%. It's super awkward also for us. It helped us also a lot. So it's it's hard to take a position. And also it's like, do I want to tell someone what to do? You know, the dance floor for me is like a, it's freedom. You know, you can do whatever you want. I will not tell you what to do. Adam might. I know he takes Adam might. Yeah, I know. And me also sometimes because it's frustrating. And it's like, yo, come on, let's have a good time. When did you come up with the ramp signature sound? The who? Am I doing it right? Yeah. Um, I think the first time we used it was in a, in that moderate remix more love with Ant Me. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, yeah. Actually, Ant Me came up with that, really, with that sound. Yeah. That's the whole thing. And he hopped on and we, um, shout out to microtonic, best plug in ever. Yeah. And then we were like, okay, it's two, we sit down and was like, okay, it's a little bit too pop. Hmm. How can we balance it into like add something more disturbing to it almost, you know, uh, to, to kind of balance the, yeah, like the, the poppiness, you know, um, and then that sound, sound came up and then, yeah, the, uh, the arrangement and like the little effects on it and stuff and then, yeah, and then we, we used it, but it's, it's so hard to come up with something, something new at some point, like a new signature or a new sound. And then I feel also things get boring so fast, like, you know, like the sound, I really try to, to keep myself entertained, but it's not so easy. It's not so easy because even though you have a lot of funky tools and it's not so easy to find that, that new thing anymore. I think every creative listening will agree with the creative block first and foremost, but I think more importantly, I forgot who it was, someone in the comments will know better, but a very iconic creative from generations long before us said the second the artist starts loving their own work. Yes. Yeah, I can, I can relate to that it's usually most of the, the, the, the nice songs are done super fast. So this process is easy. And then there is like a month or two of critical trying to solve the puzzle, uh, 52 versions, whatever. And then like, okay, we have to, you know, go to the release and then you go back to version one or two, like, actually, that was the, you know, that was the best. But sometimes maybe it needs all those other versions to prove that it was actually already good, you know? Earlier in the episode, when we were talking about being at service to the greater thing, being at service to Rampa and even kind of music as Greg. And sometimes loving that, sometimes resenting that, something I completely see eye to eye with is like, do I work for Stad guy? Am I Stad guy? What is, what is Stad guy, you know? And as I look back, I realized that the thing that has always made me feel a lot more confident about whatever it is I'm working on is collaboration and the beauty of collaboration. Yeah. I loved it. People come to the best. You redefine what it is. It's the best. You know, it's the best. It was always. Yeah. That's, I could never do something really like on my own, oh, I could maybe, but it feels so much nicer to, yeah, to collaborate, to share to, especially in different, different feels like now working on that boat, for example. It's so exciting because I went to, to, to, to, to visit the factory and there's a stuff that really gets me excited and like, okay, how do they, you know, do it and it's so cool that you see whatever that raw material and then it, in the next haul, you see a polished, crazy speedboat and stuff, it's so cool and also with, yeah, furniture, banjo, and, yeah, fashion or whatever it is. Um, even like the, the more, beaker, stuff behind the scenes, you're always collaborating and, yeah, picking people's brains. I think something I realized about your character, actually, when we were in Andromat a few weeks ago, with one of our dear friends who lives there. And you guys both have this in common, which I really like. It's this value of abundance of treating every resource, like it's for everyone versus scarce and protective. Which, some creative feel, some creative feel like, okay, this is my idea. No one can have it. I need to protect this idea. And it's just for me before anyone gets there before me, whereas you actually have this completely inverse stance of like, hey, this is for anyone, anyone can help on this idea with me, anyone can add value and you have this view of abundance and like shared growth with your teams, with your friends. I'd love to understand more about that mindset, that like abundance first creative. Have you always been abundance first, were you ever more scarcity first, the different phases of your career? Probably it, you know, I'm a, I'm the full scale, yeah, full, scared, full, full open, and everything between it depends on the, but overall, now also for example, I, um, talk to a teenage engineering for, for some things or some, some other brands I really look up to and, and I love this. What they do, and I think it's so cool, like I don't see it as a competition at all. And I don't want to, you know, like, I think it's just so cool to kind of ping pong and, you know what I mean, like if you have the best soccer team, it makes, it's completely boring if there's not another team that it can, you know, create a game with, or whatever. So I think it's, it's so important to always appreciate what, you know, other people invent beat in music or fashion or technology or whatever. And, yeah, and then play with it, collaborate, spin ideas and, yeah, it feels much nicer because the same with kind of music, I could never have like a, a solo career. People kind of go from niche to more commercial and test their dream to grow and expand and build, only to basically desire to go back to niche again. I think with you, it's actually quite different where you don't want to go back to anything. You actually want to go to something new. And that's the founder, creative that I see you really light up about. Like when you talk about your shows and your productions, you're excited, but when you, and when you talk about your music, you're excited. But when you talk about Taylor and your behind the scenes, businesses and projects, like the boats and the furniture that you're working on, you'd like light up, it's a whole different thing. I'd love to know more about these projects and how Taylor was born. So yeah, I'm happy you asked it because it's a cute little passive love story. So I had a roommate, maybe 12 years ago, my roommate had a tender date. And his tender date didn't work. to show up alone for the date. So he asked me like, "Yo, it's a little awkward because she's bringing a friend and I don't know, can you come with me?" So I don't want to sit with, you know, two strangers at the table and it's weird, and I was like, "Okay, I'm off, I come, I come having a beer." So we walk in, obviously kind of awkward situation. And then Benjamin, my partner and Tyler was the guy, like, the friend of his date. And then we were like, "Okay, what are you doing?" And he was like, "Oh, I'm an analog, amplifiers." And so I was like, "Hmm, interesting." So we had a little, like, a nerdy geeky for our beautiful date. Last week, a friend of mine invited me to something called a taco night at their home. And as they walked me into their dining room, I noticed a bag of chips on their dining room table. I embraced myself because we all know what's in the usual chip. Seed oils, preservatives, and a long list of ingredients that belong at the bill. But as I got closer, I realized these were no ordinary chips. They were masa chips. The sponsor of today's podcast episode. My favorite flavor is Cabinero, but I urge you to try them all and figure out which one is yours. Ready to give masa a try? Go to masachips.com/kstarad and use code "kstarad" that is GSTAD for 25% off your order. Because masa uses real ingredients made in small batches, flavors sell out regularly. In February, the Cabinero flavor was sold out for weeks, yes weeks, and not even my own plane could help me deliver my own stash to stutt. I do not wish to speak of it. So again, that's masachips.com/kstarad. Use code stutt for 25% off or the link in the description or even the QR code on screen if it is not beneath you. Thank you so much and now back to the podcast. The Tyler, the factory, so the second part now is is the speaker factory, the carpentry. We just got this new place and got a lot of cool new machines, which is, you know, it's so fun, it's so exciting to see. And yeah, my friend Philip, who I've been building speakers with, already like 30 years ago, as his dad had the carpentry and we were able to use the left-over wood, you know, to build stuff. And obviously at that time, there was no calculations or there was just like fantasy speakers and whatever cool or not cool shapes. And yeah, and then maybe five years ago, six years ago when we moved the studio, I wanted to change the monitors. I wasn't the big fan of the monitors we had at that time. And I was like, hmm, should I spend now whatever, 15k or like if you want to buy some proper, proper monitors, 1520k or new speakers, or I use that money to develop my own speaker. I have to say it was very naive to think that the development of the speaker costs only 20k. That was a little like more at the end. But it was worth it, it was super fun. And yeah, my friend Philip, one of my best friends, childhood friends, so happy that we at the end ended up doing that company together and that path, that project. And he's insanely good at what he does. I feel really confident now about this path of Tyler and it's so fun to do these projects. A lot of these, the new projects are based on speakers and headphones and stuff like this or it's super, super satisfying to do that, especially with Philip, we built the first peak like 30 years ago, whatever. And now we have just our own factory and like, I think it's now 20, maybe 22 people working there. I love when founders build products for themselves first, like products they want, they want to use, they need. And then you just realize, oh, other people want this too. Yeah, I think it's very rare for such a technical product and technical business to be strong on brand and on culture. Like usually things that are very technical, they don't really have a strong desire ability and brand around that belonging. Like if, like, I don't even know this machine does. I don't, I know nothing about sound engineering, but I know that having a daily logo on a piece of clothing or on your, on your decks, like it's, it's cool. It's like, it's, it's pro, you get it, but also it has this culture around it. Did you always want that to have this music culture with it? I wanted to have a possibility to create things, you know? So for me, it was already happy when Benjamin had the, the bathroom desk and we could, could work on things. And obviously now it's more fun because we have more, a bigger team. We can do more things. It's growing. It's, it's, it's super fun. I didn't really think about that before. Obviously I put some thought in the name. And like a certain look and feel when we started it. But overall, it's, it's more of a really product focus. So like really what do I need or how should it feel? You know, how should it look? And then solve some, some riddles, some puzzles in the engineering part is super fun. And some things are new with some things we didn't invent a new thing or something just maybe gave it a different look. And yeah, and I really like the idea of doing these crossovers between, you know, furniture and sound or whatever, design and sound and both and sound and how all these worlds can, can co-lep. I know that over the next 12 months you want to do less performing and more building. I think this year I still will perform quite a good amount of shows. And I don't have set like a date or something, you know, just I feel I'm gravitating towards the engineering and like building these things, products and platforms and more than me being in the spotlight and on stage. Let's see, you know, it comes how it comes. But for now, I feel I have a certain amount of time and energy. And this is growing strongly inside of me to, yeah, to focus more on this and I feel it's like a new chapter where I'm gravitating to. It doesn't mean that I stop us and something with DJing, not at all. But maybe shifting a little bit, you know, a little less here, a little more there, see how it feels, adapt to whatever comes. Maybe next year, don't want to do this anymore, just DJ or whatever, you know, it comes how it comes. Maybe I started podcast. Maybe. Oh, no. I know that the creative process is chaotic in so many ways for many people for most. And you spoke about creative block briefly, like sometimes you you go through it. Yeah, I'd love to know about the inverse about your creative flow state. When do you feel like or what do weeks look like? Where you're just full of ideas and just churning out creatives, could be in music, could be in collaborations, could be in engineering versus weeks where you feel flat because I can relate. I'm just curious to know how it looks to you. It's hard to say because I feel like everything is somehow blurry. Like I couldn't really tell what it did last month to be 100% honest. So I really don't would categorize it in a week or a day, maybe in a minute or two hours or, you know, sometimes it's, I wake up like, I don't want to do anything. And then I get some news or, you know, it shifts so fast, the vibe and the motivation. But overall, I love to have multiple things going on at the same time and kind of like jump from, from run project to the other. I don't know if it's a skill or the opposite. I can't really focus long on one thing, but I can focus on multiple things and then jump. And then okay, now I want to, you know, go here again. So it makes it a little messy for my team, sorry, but this is how I function the best, like being like super focused on only one thing. Gives me, I don't know, maybe I can't. And, um, and what's, yeah, a little bit, Not a little bit of a challenge now is back in the days, I was very limited within opportunities and and financially also I could think oh, let's build this but it wasn't possible because you know I couldn't afford it And now the I wasn't this little You know protect like protected me somehow and now it's so many opportunities so many possibilities things to do and Yeah, sometimes I have to I'm scared I get a little lost and like too many things then So finding a good middle way of doing enough but not too much as my personal Challenge at the moment if your younger self was listening to this podcast Yeah, early days Rampa. Yeah early days Greg And if you think about all the emotions you felt back then which probably were like hunger You just wanted it all so bad, you know, what would you tell your younger self? I would hope I wouldn't listen to this because I feel then the the excitement would be kind of gone You know because you know the the end of the on at the end, but like you know, you know the result already so I feel like the uncertain and like being curious and like whatever trying things is the best part of it I mean, it's a little bit like Playing a video game if you you know if you start the game and there's no weapons and no whatever Whatever like all these riddles are still there. That's that's the best part now. I mean once you solved it as a little I hope there's more riddles to solve. I wouldn't like myself to my younger self to listen to this I would like to stay a little also like, you know How you say like in like Careers and like oh my god. Is it working out? Is it not? Mm-hmm. You know a little like the challenge or the in the uncertain Sounds like you Like the process a lot more than the product 100 present And you've always been there always I feel like also like releasing a song like the best part is the You know creating that stuff is the where it's all possible. There's all free. There's no judgment. There's no Nothing. Mm-hmm. It's just fun and then with the release date. I mean at least for me is always a little like it goes from private to public and And then the varying starts with the product. I mean, I love the products But then you're very like okay, is it good does it sell the numbers can I play can I pay the The the staff is this, you know Is it working or God or God or God and before it's just like okay cool and we do this and we do that and um So the feeling of creating something and the feeling of having created something if it can be sometimes almost the the opposite depends on On what it is but Also if it's successful then what's next? Oh God, I have to you know, you have a big a big a big hit Then what it's maybe satisfying for a second and then The you know the fear comes like oh no, I have to keep up with this like the expectation so high and how can I Do it is again or can it do it better or like I don't know how you how you program but and in me it's for sure always a little Yeah, feel much safer in the process than in the product and then yeah, I think what one of my favorite feelings is the feeling of like introspection and like self-reflection like I love Challenging hypocrisy and Realizing like wait, I'm saying something that I'm not practicing and that's the emotion I try to create the most through all my content of make people Go through a moment of introspection even if it's light doesn't have to be that deep could be humorous But I love people realizing like oh wait. Is this how I sound and I love feeling that myself Mm. That's like the driving outcome and my mission and most of my storytelling Do you have a driving Emotion that you want people to feel when they listen to your music or when they interact with one of your projects or creations? Yeah, of course I want them to feel you know comfortable and Happy and satisfied and like all these um It's also two different things if I do a production or if I do Develop a certain product or if I if I perform, you know, also then it depends where it is and with your music, I always feel happy Yeah, dopamine. Yeah, I think that's Yeah, like a good time, you know, I also I love like Like techno techno and stuff like this too Um, I listen technically I listen to everything besides like the sound I play or we play Uh, it's like On on the parties it makes sense to me, but yeah, I I never listened to it privately, you know, actually I also love silence a lot like you know when we're In the mountains and then there's no music. No, nothing. It's just It's my favorite song. There are certain cities. Mm-hmm that are so meaningful To music and even to your career. Yeah, they come to mind I think one of them is a city that we're in today Berlin. Yes, Berlin 100% you always say how much you owe to Berlin. Yes, can you help me? Understand why Berlin is so significant to music and to you I met like my Technically all my close friends my life my career my Yeah, my circle. It's all you know built in Berlin and we met here and It was let's say it was cheap. It was free. It was so inspiring um Yeah, I mean without being in Berlin. I don't know. I would probably still working. I don't know Car wash or something. Yeah, whatever um, so Having the freedom back in the days that the rents were cheap. You had a 99 cent kebap Um, there was you know the cool studios. It was easy access. There was a big um Community and a big creative freedom and and it felt so easy to connect. I mean I came from From a small village a small town and then coming here and having these record stores and these clubs and these Like-minded people and the yeah, like the cheap rent and a lot of partying and Whatever skateboarding and everything was wasn't a different level and Yeah, I feel Berlin was played and probably still plays a big role in amplifying Artists and all kind of way maybe not only music. Also another city you've mentioned to me is Ibiza I mean come on Ibiza is you never been there, right? I have I have some of the best times in my life there As a sober man who doesn't party so much but there's something about that island. There's just this yeah It's amazing energy that Everyone's just Ibiza live. I'm super What's real thankful that I had to the chance to you know Play at circle logo and become you know part of the of that family and close friends and and um, yeah, I still remember when Gabriela picked me up from the airport the first time really yeah Shall I tell you really? Yeah, yeah, I used to sweet it uh, I mean they all added the team is amazing and um Yeah, I was staying in that In a small hotel there at the it was fun. I was so nervous You need to tell us more about The coming of passage this circle logo is like it's such a Institution. Yeah, it's music. It's amazing and Antonio does a really great job always and still in finding new talent I would say maybe all or most of the big You know DJs and names went through The circle logo amplifier like a lot of new talent got discovered there. He always brought um Like the new new things and always stayed true to Uh, you know to the to the culture and how he Also protects it over that long time. It's not so easy, you know and I really look up to to the whole team for how they manage, you know, I mean keeping a good balance, great lineups. I think there's nothing comparable of having that range of sound, range of artists. Also, yeah, there's no place where that would work. Like you have two hours of that kind of sound and two hours of, you know, and how it's curated to that place. And I think it's my, I think I'm 11 years now playing with Circo. And I still love it. It's still like the place where I play most of the shows per year. Yeah. And, yeah, Monday is special night. So if you say it's amazing, yeah. How do you feel about daytime versus nighttime playing? I wouldn't put a verses. Ideally, it's day and night or even night and day. Depends how long you play. Yeah. Yeah. Both has its charm, different one. I mean, that's, it's beautiful sunrise or, you know, the light comes up and you have this, you can play more trippy stuff. And it's amazing, but also like dark, hard nights are, you know, have a, have a very strong emotional aspect to it. So also here, I wouldn't, I think we are all happy that we don't have to choose. You know, we can have both. And at this point in time, I like daytime or like, you know, sundown or something like this, just because of, yeah, the sleeping rhythm and the like health reasons. As obviously if you tour a lot and fly a lot and be up all night and it's, it's physically challenging. So from a physical, physical aspect, maybe I would choose daytime, but besides that, I think it's both. I loved your daytime show on Lake Lucerne with AP. Yeah, it was fun. Bergenstock was amazing. That was fun. I was so lucky with the weather. Incredible. Yeah, it was fun, a fun thing. The people you work with day to day sounds like many of the more friends first or most of the more friends first at a foundation level. Like the people you ended up starting brands or businesses with. Yeah. And I'm curious about one friendship in particular with kind of music with you and the guys. What's it like to work with friends for so many years? And what are things people can, can learn from that, you think? I mean, I would say 90% of the time it's super chill. It's super fun. It feels very safe. You know, obviously here and there is like, you know, it's like in every relationship, friendship, partner, whatever it is. Things to, you know, to figure out, to work out. And, yeah, like actually most of my work, if you want to call it work, relationships are kind of friendships because otherwise if there's a weird vibe to it, I don't want to spend time in that, you know, no matter how tempting the, I don't know, the outcome might be. But I think like we said before that the progress is much more process, add up, sorry, the process is much more interesting to me than the potential maybe outcome or something. So if that's not a vibe and fun, then I feel it's kind of waste of time. And also I feel that the outcome might not be as good because you lose fun and then what's the point? So yeah, most of them are good friends. And yeah, to be honest, we do a therapy, we have a coach, you know, we do some stuff which opens a room to talk about things that are not so easy to communicate sometimes. And then that room, it's very emotional also and like, yeah, this helped us a lot, especially like in the last three years where there's so much, you know, noises from outside and people and like everything becomes so surreal at some point, and I kind of like work again on the core, like friendship where it's all based on and it kind of got lost a little bit in all these noise and on that scale and that super cool like for one or two years now. And I would say, yeah, it helped a lot. I can, this I can recommend to everyone to, yeah, make that step in open that space even though it feels a little awkward in the beginning. No, like, but then it was so, it's so good to, you know, get a little guidance there or something because it's, yeah, it's not so easy to open certain topics and stuff and also within that speed you are, you have that little room where we, we went, we go usually like we meet in person, we go somewhere and get a hotel or something. And it's like, yeah, and it's like two days of like just us, you know, there's no travel or tour management, you know, all these these things and it's really like two days just for us. And already that feels so, so nice to, you know, protect that little that room without any noise and hectic around us. And then yeah, we talk stuff that we, back in the days, did much more because there was less work, less pressure, less, what everything. So we had lunch, we all live in the same block. So we were hanging out and like, like more like a private shared more of the private life. Now with like all the touring, we all live in different cities. So you, most of the time you meet you in like a more like a stressful or hectic environment and stuff. So making space for that was, was super, was, yeah, was very positive on, you know, our friendship again and on the, in general, on the vibe also on the, on the vision, like, what do we want? You know, it was the first thing we did. Meeting was like, okay, like, what do you want? And what do you want for the group? What does the group want? Yeah. So I think for me, it's, it's kind of, it was a kind of like an inverse introduction to it because I was corporate first and then I was creative second. Like of my working years of my life, still the majority has been in a more corporate environment. And then I became a creative kind of as an accident. So like what you were saying about you and, and the, and Andre and Adam with kind of music, having to understand each other ahead of aligning with each other is something like, quite alien to me because, to me, alignment is first understanding a second. It like, from the corporate world, like basically everyone has to align on the mission. And then you can understand why people feel different ways second, but the mission has to be the same. But in more creative fields, I think understanding is more important than alignment, where you actually hear the other person first because there's more beauty and process that are outcomes. But in corporate environments, people are just trying to make money out of something. And that's the, that's the headline of our podcast. The whole podcast. Yeah. It's so true. I mean, at least for me, there's one part of your job that we didn't discuss that I think is such a huge part of your job. And it's the team building element. Yeah. Like on every project that you start, yes, you start with like a personal relationship. But then you end up building these teams of people that all come from so many different walks of life. Like everyone and all your on tour with you and your shows, a Tyler kind of music, eccentric people from so many different parts of the world. But they have a very similar vibe. Yeah, even though they're so different. Yeah, you're just met Jason. He's so funny, you know, like he's so different. Everyone. But he's, I love him in the team. It's so cool. And he, I don't know what like, I feel like, what do you think that most of the people, because I get this a lot about about my team that, you know, when we go somewhere and like, oh, they're also nice and sweet and, you know, nobody is like being an, you know, unpolite of, you know, and I don't know. I feel I'm, this is super lucky with this. Or, you know, to, I don't know, find these, you know, people that then stay and same with Jason. He is also, I met him and I think in Miami the first time and also kind of through Virgil. And then, I don't know, one thing came to another now. He's touring with us and shooting and most of all entertaining us. And, yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, I don't really know. I think we did, I think you say that you're lucky with it, but it's also a conscious choice. I think there's certain things that attract you to people. I think you love kind people. You love thoughtful people. Of course. And then also, I mean, the team itself grows somehow, you know, so, yeah. People attract people at some point, it's not me anymore. Like, they, you know, it kind of grows by itself. But yeah, going, going into the workshop and in Freiburg now, in the Carpentry. And I see these young, motivated, super-excited kids, I mean, from my perspective, like, early 20s to anyone. And working when it's staff, and then the other guy just broke his arm and couldn't work in the Carpentry, where I was like, I don't want to stay home, can I work in the office? And they stay sometimes till, whatever, like, 11 p.m. or something, because they feel like being part of something that's fun, and like, they can express in a go-der, and I see this, and like, so this is so satisfying. I mean, at the moment, more than, yeah, making a song or something like this, maybe also because I did it for such a long time, and still love it, but realizing that I can create these jobs and these things, and they get so excited when Thomas came to the factory. Obviously, I see them, I think I can take a picture of them again. I think it's not a problem. And, yeah, that's really nice. And this is where I see my, more or less, my future. We always play a game of Aleppo Bell versus Fantastic on this podcast. I know, I know. I'd love for you to help me with a couple of things from the world that surrounds you. You'd like to throw and change by throwing them Aleppo Bell. And a couple of things you'd like to celebrate and call Fantastic. In terms of your environment and the people you work with, being too bossy Aleppo Bell, which also I sometimes struggle with, but-- And then I would say a lot of things don't go as you wish, or like could be better and could be improved, or this can be better, and this can sound better, or this can-- whatever. So kind of like accepting the fact that things aren't perfect. And you know, you can't make it right for everyone, accepting that I would say Fantastic, especially for yourself, because it makes your life much easier. Give me something for the probell. Bad sound system, Aleppo Bell. Polite, bounces, Fantastic. I feel this is sometimes something that really changed my mood so much. If they're like sweet and funny and inviting, and not kind of like in a bite mode, it depends sometimes you're there and you're like, OK, wait, are we on a party? Oh, what are you doing? So, moody bounces, Aleppo Bell, sweet and funny bounces, Fantastic. I mean, actually that applies to everyone. Also to myself, if I'm moody, put me in the pooh bell. And yeah, when we go ski, Fantastic. I have one specific to being a guest at your show, but people who are present and enjoying the moment, Fantastic. Fantastic. People who are always trying to find holes in things, you know, this could have been better, that could have been better, and just complaining, more than they are celebrating. Yeah. Aleppo Bell. Yeah. I mean, that applies to everything on this. But you were saying that people do that a lot, you're showing Paris. I think it's just because they're French. I don't think it's English. I would say probably because they didn't know the background of things, you know? So it's not always in our hands, the regulations and all these things, to, you know, make everything perfect. It's as good as it can get with these circumstances. And then maybe explaining it in a, you know, in a post in a statement would change some people's opinion or make them realize, oh, okay, yeah, make sense. But in general, I would say hating on social media, Big Puber, and maybe saying nothing fantastic. I like, I like, I like it much. Yeah, not even spread love, maybe just switch the channel. Like, I don't know if you don't like that movie, but you're not a movie, like, that's the point. You know, make this fair. So yeah, maybe focus on the things you like and makes everything better for you for yourself. Well, Greg, Rampa, DJ, producer, founder of Tyler, creative to many cool industries and projects. I'm really excited to see what you continue to innovate and produce. And it's always cool to be your friend and see all the cool stuff you're working on. So thank you so much for having me in your home in your creative space. I think what you were saying about circle local being a platform for creativity, I feel it here. I think your Tyler and kind of music and label office that we're in right now feels in some beautiful ways academic feels like a platform for creativity. We have some new creatives next door, but also some seasoned veterans of the music world next door. Yeah, have a nice week ahead of creating with one of my idols. Yeah, he's just hanging out next door. I share the Uber with him this morning. So now that's amazing. Thank you for coming also. I'm so happy you came here and check out the plays. And thank you and we do it here and that I don't have to travel and do the traveling. That's an honor to be here because I'm also learning so much about you and how you create. So it's great to be here and thank you so much for taking the time. I think this was a very, very fun episode. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Starter Guy podcast. If you're keen to learn more, please follow along by engaging with our social channels on Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple podcasts. And we look forward to seeing you next week. Thank you very much. And a big hug from the Starter Guy.