Spellband is an Italian trio of DJs and producers that have been making music since 1997: Giuseppe Surace is the “key” composer, musician and arranger; Andrea Drappi is the group co-founder together with Giuseppe Surace and his main role is tracks editing; Vins is the man of sound and is responsible for Spellband’ sound engineering, editing and the final touch.
The first home studio that these guys got to setup was in Giuseppe’s house. There they started playing with drum machines, midi, old samplers and in 2 years their music reached the top and captured the attention of US main labels such as Strictly Rhythm, 4th Floor Rec etc. Nobody at the beginning, judging from their production, would ever thought they were Italians, as they got their influences from different places and times, mixing and stirring them with their unique touch. They became quite popular and cool on the NY scene thanks to their unique style and their capability to remix music and build from RnB songs proper House “anthems”, which, although being very hard to find as they are not for sale, they are played by the most influential DJs in the world, who all give support to Spellband (L. Vega, K. Hedge, T. Humphries etc..).
They have on their history over 150 releases (80% on vinyl) and more than 100 remixes, and during all these years their name appeared on prestigious compilations like Release Yourself vol 9, with their track ‘Isolator’, and, more recently, on Miami Uncut and Tony’s Traxx by Tony Records, remixes on Shelter for Timmy Regisford, and various tracks for the likes of Terry Hunter and ‘We can heal’ for DJ Spen’s Quantize Records.
They are currently working on many new projects such as a few remixes for Tony Records, Double Cheese Records and an upcoming EP on Global Diplomacy, the new N’dinga Gaba’s label.
The trio plays in clubs around Italy and Europe; their set is a six-handed passionate performance, often enriched by live piano sessions, and during which they play their music along with a mix of old and new sounds, all of which make their set vibrant, engaging and fun.
We caught them at the MoBlack Base in Amsterdam during our ADE’s events tour.
Here’s our chat with them:
House of Frankie, Amsterdam, ADE 21st edition we are here together with the Spellband, thank you for being with us.
Thank you!
What do you think about this 21st edition of ADE?
Giuseppe: this edition is really amazing. It’s the perfect place where to meet friends and get new connections. Also listening to some new music is completely inspirational so we can define it as an “emotional tour”, it’s not just music. Amsterdam is magic, we’re really happy to be here and it means a lot to us. It’s amazing playing here and to capture the crowd. So it’s nice to experience all these things together and especially this year is fantastic; a lot of things going on, we’re running all day long.
The MoBlack Base is part of the long schedule of events that are taking place during these days. How is it going tonight?
Tonight, it’s special. MoBlack is a great Italian reality and they’re doing very well. This label is helping a lot of artists growing, it’s a kind of Italian family.
Can you tell us about your next projects?
We have a new project in collaboration with two singers from South Africa. We’re trying to discover the new South African artists. It’s going to be a guitar arrangement but still we don’t which label is going to release it. We are collaborating with Tribe, MoBlack Records, Double Cheese Records, so let’s see.
One last thing: what do you know about House of Frankie? What do you think about it?
It’s a very nice project! Finally a radio is going to talk about house music. Alessandro is doing a great job; we met him a couple of years ago for an interview. He really knows a lot about house music and the real importance of spreading its message to all the people.
Thank you to the Spellband for being with us.
Thank you!
