Henning Baer has been a direct tributary to Berlin techno culture via his various production’s (both solo and duo), and more so through Grounded Theory. Founded in 2009, Grounded Theory has been putting on techno events in Germany and around the European continent bringing a high quality of techno to audiences. This August marks Henning’s first time down under to play his blend of techno. Ahead of his gig in Melbourne (on Friday 26th), we shot Henning some questions.

A lot of artists have various methods of naming conventions for their tracks. Is there one that you follow?

I also have a certain method when it comes to naming my tracks. Some have a deeper meaning and I want to “communicate” something with them. My thoughts, emotions or view on things. Track naming is somehow important to me but I don’t make a mystery out of it.

You’re in Australia for the first time for two gigs, one in Sydney at Zoo Project and in Melbourne at Brown Alley. What was your thoughts coming into your shows down under? Have you heard much about the local electronic music scenes in each city?

As I am involved in a booking agency I have my eyes and ears everywhere so I have heard about the Australian scene for sure. I was aware of names and clubs but coming here and experiencing it in reality, meeting the people makes the picture complete. I was very excited to make my way here. It feels great to be here.

What was your experience like in Sydney? Was anything hindered due to the lock out laws that Sydney currently have in place?

Well, I don’t know how it was before the lock out law. The club was full when I played and stayed full until the end. Which was pretty cool. Those who were there were there but I can imagine that the limitation of “moving from club to club” has also a negative effect on the scene. People might just stay in. The party itself was really great. I am never really exposed to the stop of serving alcohol so this was kind of different to me. I in general don’t really get all those laws. What are “they” trying to achieve with that? From what I experience in Berlin for example is that everything goes a bit smoother if there is no rush of getting to the club, the availability of drinks, closing hours and such. I think those who are making those laws are unfortunately not really familiar with nightlife. 

You’ve been involved with Grounded Theory (GT) for many years now. Talk us through how GT came about and what its initial concept was. Has it turned out like you expected? What is something you’ve learned from being involved with GT? Was the initial idea to become a booking agency or did this come later?

I started Grounded Theory in September 2009 with my friend Micha as an event series at Arena Club in Berlin. Since then we’ve invited a large number of international artists. We are one of the very few parties in Berlin Ostgut Ton artists like Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann or Answer Code Request played for. We’ve also had artists like Surgeon, Nina Kraviz, Chris Liebing, Steve Rachmad, Function, Redshape, Kangding Ray, Shifted, Helena Hauff, DJ Skirt, Monolake, Blawan, Untold and many more.

The initial plan was to run GT as an event series but after a while an agency has been born. Somehow as a logical consequence of things. We didn’t expect it to become anything. It just happened that it became a well know “brand”. We never forced anything. We’ve stayed independent throughout and worked on our ideas.

What is one of the most memorable experience while being involved with Grounded Theory?

Seeing that the stuff we are doing is right. That people appreciate our work and follow us.There were many great moments at our parties. Those rave memories that obviously stay for ever! 😉

This year you launched your own imprint called MANHIGH. What drove you to start your own label and what is your concept behind it? What can we expect from it in the future?

I needed to be even more independent. With my own imprint I can release music I like and feel it’s important to put it out. Nobody else is involved in that as a label owner. I have a clear idea of what I like and this might differ from what other people like. This limits you. With MANHIGH I have control over the whole label. I’ll will release music from artist I like. Work with together. Create stuff. Move things forward and be an even more active part of the Techno scene. Head down and get things going.

Different style of techno come about quite quickly as producers are always innovating and finding new sounds. What kind of sounds are you hearing with new music that’s coming out of Berlin? (Hypnotic sounds, special sounds etc)

Well I think there’s not so many new sounds coming as it maybe could be. That’s maybe something I’d like to tackle with MANHIGH. In general I find it difficult to distinguish a, or THE new sound but right now I feel that things are getting a bit trancy and dreamy with a lot of pads and strings and emotional breakdowns as well as harsh and hard percussions with “Downwards-like” synth sequences.

Henning’s Melbourne show: 

Friday 26th August: stranger with Henning Baer @ Brown Alley, Melbourne