A new label called Bamboleo, in which house, tech, groove and funk are conquered by ambient atmospheres and pop origins. An Italian duo formed by Tommy and Marco, known in the tech scene as Neverdogs, which honours the nice electronic scene of Catanzaro. Two guys who became big in Florence, but who now are based between London and Ibiza. Two DJs who have developed their skills as producers (and who have managed to be surrounded by good mentors) to face 2019 with Details, their debut album. It all started almost 20 years ago, so it will be better to rewind and start the story from the very beginning.
Tommy Paone & Marco de Gregorio. Together, you are Neverdogs, a story that started almost 20 years ago…
Time flies, my friend… Yes, in 2020, we’ll celebrate 20 years of Neverdogs. It was in the late 90s when we began to play separately, as solo DJs, in our hometown Catanzaro. In 2000, we met each other in Florence, and then our story started. We are planning to host a big party to celebrate our 20 anniversary.
In Florence?
Uhm… That could be a super idea, yeah!!
What can you tell us about the scenes there in Catanzaro and Florence?
Catanzaro becomes big in summer. It also has the town of Soverato 30km away. You can find super parties there. But, of course, Florence is much bigger in the industry. You can find proper parties for the whole year, and you have Tenax, which is one of the most important clubs in Italy.
Where you were resident DJs…
Indeed! There is where we started to build a name in the DJing scene.
It’s also where you started to work with Davide Roberto, aka Fortyseven…
Yes! He’s a proper musician and a very nice sound engineer. Everything started with us two, but he helped us to learn how to play keyboards and similar stuff. He’s an excellent drummer and keyboard player.
Do you still work together?
Yes, we do. He’s now 55 years old, and he keeps playing music as if it was his first year. We do everything together. He’s a big part of Neverdogs.
We were talking about Florence. A thing of the past for you guys, nowadays…
That’s true. We are living between London and Ibiza now, and, in the last 15 years, we haven’t played very often there, neither visited the city too much.
Well, London and Ibiza don’t look like a bad place for a DJ to live.
It’s not! (laughs) We have been resident artists for MusicOn in Amnesia for 10 years and we have played a lot also in Privilege, Ushuaïa, Space, Destino… It’s all about underground stuff in Ibiza. And don’t forget the villa parties!! In London, we’ve played almost everywhere, especially since last October. On next July 21, we are playing all night long at Fabric’s Room 1, so big things are coming.
I cannot avoid this question, guys. In 2017, you finished The BPM Festival playing 25 hours non-stop. How the hell?
(laughs) It was the official afterparty in Portimão. We wanted to do a 12h party, but it all happened in a super-natural way. We were with all our friends and family, so we got the perfect combo, the ideal atmosphere, a proper sound system, and the right vibe. And, yes, we played for 25 hours.
And we arrive to 2018, a year that has changed your career. A debut album, your new record label Bamboleo, collabs with Spencer Kennedy, Andrea Giungato, Phil Pulitano…
This was our most important year. Super busy, but super exciting at the same time. We had to find artists for the label, to define the genre and the sound we wanted to create, to work on the album, to close dates and venues for the showcases…
But it all started well! In 2019, Bamboleo has started a series of monthly showcases at 93 Feet East, in London. I saw you hosted people like Oxia, Stacey Pullen, Nathan Barato…
We launched the Bamboleo parties in Portimão during The BPM Festival last September. One month later, we hosted the first one in London, and then we did several there. We organized an official one also in the Miami Music Week last March, and another one during the OFF Week in Barcelona.
And, finally, your debut album, called Details and released last June 7.
We’re super excited about this. Personally, it’s what we’ve been waiting for. This is the next step in an artist’s career. The biggest step.
Big names like Nic Fanciulli, Oxia and Davide Squillace already gave good feedback on its 13 tracks. What can we expect from this album?
We wanted to express all our knowledge and background in music. We didn’t think just on the dancefloor, but also on a music you can listen to from the sofa or while driving, like chilling music. The first track is an intro, kind of a DJ tool. Then, the journey starts. It grows and becomes more and more intense. Then it goes down again, gaining atmospheric sounds. And it ends with the last track based on the big pop music of the ’80s.
I’m sure you have already tested most of the tracks in your DJ sets…
We tried to play them several times but avoiding people to get bored. Last week, we launched it officially on Ibiza Global Radio.
Are we going to enjoy a Bamboleo party in Ibiza this season?
We’d like to grow abroad and, once we become big, we want to do it in Ibiza. We don’t want to burn this card too early. Let’s grow properly with the label, and, then, let’s come back to the island. Hopefully, next year we’ll have a night there.
Talking about Ibiza… Your thoughts on the island’s current scene?
We have to say it: it has changed a lot since its golden days. It’s become too expensive, and, yeah, we miss Space, we miss those late mornings in Amnesia, we miss the madness of Platja d’en Bossa… But, in the end, if you know how to party and how to have fun, you still have a lot of cool places. And the north of the island isn’t expensive. It’s calm and it keeps its hippy style. You should check it out!
Neverdogs and their new record label Bamboleo. What are your plans?
We’ve been working on our showcase for Barcelona’s OFF Week at Casa Gracia, a cosy but super elegant venue under a hotel in the centre of the city. We put some extra sound-system, and we hosted 350 people. We didn’t want a massive event with big names, but a hot party with all our friends and artists from the label.
Just to be clear: we’re talking about the OFF Week of June.
Yes!! We had already booked some gigs for July when we saw the date change of Sónar, so we kept our party in June.
New music from your side?
Absolutely. We’ve planned to release some music on Moan Recordings on July, and on Decay Records on September. And we’re also planning to start working on a new album during the winter.
What about Bamboleo?
After our album, a new EP by Manuel de Lorenzi and Calvin Clarke will be released in July. You should pay attention to this one!!
Guys, looking forward to all your gigs and to hearing all your new sounds. Thanks for your time!!
It was a pleasure!! Find us always on Xceed around the world!!
(Cover Image: © Neverdogs)