With foundations in house and techno, Polish duo Catz & Dogz have been creating spaces and sounds of magic for the past two decades, mixing bright disco and deep house elements, sexy vocals and bold, spoken phrases. This stylish aesthetic has landed them in lineups in the best spots worldwide, from Miami to Ibiza to Berlin. They’ve caught the ears of top artists in the industry, remixing and working with names like Shakira, Rufus Du Sol, and Roisin Murphy. The two gifted men behind the name Catz ‘n Dogz, Grzegorz and Wojciech (AKA Greg and Voitek), both have an insatiable appetite for new sounds and mixing music. This developed organically, through a unique origin story. The two best friends, obsessed with music, started playing for a small, but enthusiastic fanbase in a pizza restaurant turned nightclub with a 300-person capacity dancefloor in their hometown Szczecin, Poland, back in 2003. It only makes sense that they should headline Concrete Lates x Rave: Recharge, a unique event that forms part of Southbank London’s screening evening of unique films that explore the links between rave culture and contemporary art in Poland in the 1990s. Ahead of the gig this Friday, we caught up with the iconic duo to find out how they’ve stayed inspired by the past, and what’s ahead for the future.
Set the tone for us. Where is Catz & Dogz currently at, creatively speaking?
For a few months, we were touring nonstop. Collecting ideas, working on new music in the planes and the hotels. The tours were amazing, with lots of great parties and people. I think that was one of our best years but also very exhausting. We are really happy to take a small break and come back to the studio now. Concrete Lates x Rave: Recharge is going to be our first party after the short studio break, we will test a lot of new tracks there for sure.
You guys have a long history together, and by all accounts have achieved somewhat of an icon status in house music. How do you stay inspired and keep moving forward?
I don’t think we have the icon status but for sure we are one of the few artists from Poland who achieved so much. It wasn’t easy at the beginning but we were motivated because we loved what we were doing and it was all for the love of music. We were just celebrating 20 years of working together. We had a lot of thoughts about that and definitely, things that keep us going and motivate us are of course music, friendship, and touring. We see each other all the time and trust is the key here. We are totally different people but together we inspire each other and create something that fits together right. Traveling is always inspiring us and we stay open to new music, production tools and people.
Later this month, you will be playing at Concrete Lates x Rave: Recharge, part of Southbank London’s screening evening of unique films that explore the links between rave culture and contemporary art in Poland in the 1990s. This is a very cool perspective – what can you tell us about your personal experiences of this time?
For each generation, the time when they grew up and discover new passions is usually the best. Everything is new, fresh and you feel special. The 90’s were really special for us. Communism was over, before there was nothing and in 1 day there was everything. We were living in Szczecin, a city 5 min from the German border and really close to Berlin. We were lucky that we had much easier access to electronic music and artists were visiting our city pretty often. When we heard this music for the first time we knew we wanted to produce it, mix it and dance to it. There were a lot of underground warehouse parties, with people dressed up. The community was very important, you felt really good in the group, everybody was friendly, and focused on the music.
Why is it important to reflect on and honour history in electronic music, and do you find yourselves ever inspired by the past to create what you’re making in the present?
It’s important because some people can discover how it was back then, get inspired, create something new out of it. When we were starting we were sure techno and house was just discovered in the 90’s and then we were going deeper, exploring 70-80’s electronic music, disco, dub. It’s a never ending adventure and you will always find something that you didn’t know or will get you inspired. I think not many people know what was going on in Eastern Europe in the 90’s and it’s worth mentioning that the scene here was very unique.
How does this mix speak toward the past and present of Catz & Dogz? Or perhaps the future?
You will find in here our new tracks and some tracks from our record label, Pets. There’s some edits of old school tunes and new modern electronic tracks. We love to mix tracks from different years, and genres.
Are there any other projects coming up that you’re excited to share with us this year?
We are working right now on a compilation supporting Polish LGBTQ+ scene rights, in the meantime we are working on new original tracks, remixes and curating our record labels Pets and Step. This year looks also very busy with touring. We are really happy that things are getting back to normal after the Covid break and people still love music and dancing.
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