In 2003 Italian house DJ/producer Vito Lucente (a.k.a Junior Jack) unleashed “E Samba.” The track bubbled up from the underground to become a bonafide global dance floor smash. The cut’s success helped pave the way for many more big productions from the Belgium-based Lucente.

Fifteen years later “E Samba” has been reimagined by Lucente and German house duo Tube & Berger (a.k.a. Arndt Rörig and Marco Vidoviz). Released in July on Rörig and Vidoviz’s Kittball Records as “E Samba 2018,” the banger has been is in heavy rotation with all of the tastemakers that matter since the start of the summer.

Curious to know more about how their musical modus operandi, we asked the guys to interview each other. The conversation touched on everything from their dream b2b DJ sets to artists they’d love to remix.

Junior Jack Interviews Tube & Berger

Junior Jack: You run the successful Kittball label as well as tour the world as DJs. How do you manage to run both sides of the business?

Tube & Berger: The answer is we don’t. Without the help of Juliet Sikora, and a few other great human beings, nothing would work.

If you could have signed anyone to Kittball from when you first started the label, who would it have been and why?

There have been a few great acts since we started Kittball, but the funniest guy around seems to be Fisher Oz. His tunes are so groovy and ironic but absolute bangers and his Instagram is hilarious.

If you could curate a Kittball stage at a major electronic music festival and could book any artists, who would end up playing?

Ouff! The stage would probably look like a fantasy movie and be at Burning Man with a very mixed lineup. We are both big fans of a guy called Felix Laband, and he would be a great opener. JJ, would you be up for a b2b with Kid Creme to bring back the good old days maybe? Or a b2b2b with DJ Falcon, Thomas Bangaltar and maybe … Jess & Crabbe?

Our friend Paji performing his outstanding live set is a must as well and, of course, Mike Skinner from The Streets is on board, randomly rapping some deep shit who gets joined by Aphex Twin. Getting a little darker toward the end with a band called Lorn. The closing shall be done the one and only Clint Mansell.

As remixers yourselves, who would you most like to remix if the opportunity arose and why?

It would probably be Daft Punk or The Chemical Brothers because it would take forever to finish this.

Growing up as aspiring DJs, who were your earliest influences?

Beside Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers, it was the French house stuff that was released on Roulé and music from an Italian guy called Junior Jack.

Best record shop in the world for vinyl?

Flipside in Düsseldorf. It closed a few years ago and that made us very sad.

Tube & Berger Interview Junior Jack

Tube & Berger: What is your favorite record of all-time?

Junior Jack: Too many to choose from … I’ll give you the first three in mind:

• Harry Romero – “Night @ The Black”
• Kings Of Tomorrow – “Finally”
• Junior Jack – “Thrill Me”

If you were sent to a lonely island what three things would you take with you?

Laptop, solar battery and a porn movie.

Beside music, what drives you and what’s your hobby?

I have few: 3-D virtual worlds, interior design and architecture.

Everyone talks about techno nowadays, and many DJs and producers turned from house and tech-house to “techno only.” Thoughts?

Nowadays all the “names” for genres are mixed. Personally, I don’t choose by labels or “genres.” If I like it, I like it.

It seems to us that in the good old days when you released some of the biggest house music records of all time people were much more positive. We remember that we thought world peace is very close. Now, with Brexit, Trump, a Cold War and a planet full of plastic trash things look different. What can we do to save the world?

I never answer a question with a question. Do you really think that DJs/music producers have the power to change the world? [laughs]

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