Despite buying his first set of turntables in 1982 when he was aged seventeen, it would be some years before Hanover-born Timo Maas would earn his reputation as one of Germany’s finest DJs. His initial gigs consisted largely of him playing top 40 hits, but with the 90s increase in German rave culture, he began to slip in the odd techno track.
Booked to play Circus this Saturday, Maas has DJ’d in Liverpool many times in the past, and, having been initially seduced into techno by the British rave explosion, he’s acutely aware of the city’s role in dance music history:
“When I come to Liverpool, I’m proud of being even just a little part of proper English dance music history, with fantastic crowds and you can’t delete this from your memory.”
Maas cemented his reputation with a residency from 1994 to 1996 at Hamburg’s The Tunnel, then one of the biggest rave clubs in Germany, and it was there that he would produce his breakthrough hit ‘Die Herdplatte’. Maas has since been booked everywhere from Berlin’s Love Parade to the new Pacha in New York, and, having had a few weeks off in January, he’s looking forward to the return at Circus:
“Oh yeah man, when I get chance to be with together Yousef and the boys, I just like it. It’s a really nice feeling coming back to Circus.”
It’s been a few years since Maas released a record. His last was the 2005 album ‘Pictures’, featuring Kelis, Neneh Cherry and Placebo’s Brian Molko. But he reveals he his currently working on a big, new, as yet mystery, project:
“It’s one of Mr Maas’s big secrets. I’ve been working the last twelve months with Martin Buttrich and an anonymous person on a complete new project basically. No Timo Maas, no obvious club thing, electronic music but something really, really different. I consider myself pretty revolutionary,” he says with a wry laugh.
But, despite our pressing, he refuses to reveal anything more: “Not many people know about it, but everyone who knows a little bit about it are freaking out, so that’s good. Let us just say, the needle is in the ream.”
Before he goes, Maas reiterates. He likes playing Liverpool. He really likes playing Liverpool:
“Liverpool is like a stand alone city really, the people up there have their own mentality, I mean they’ve even got their own language. I dig it man, I know many people, all those crazy guys who have got Cream tattoos. Yeah, I like going there, there’s really good vibes and I always have fantastic times in Liverpool. I repeat myself, but I’m looking forward to kicking people’s ass.”
By Kenn Taylor
Saturday 23rd February,
Circus,
Barfly,
90 Seel Street,
Liverpool,
10pm-3am,
£15 adv, £13 NUS
Tel: 0151 708 5051
Kenn Taylor 