André Walter also known as Stigmata started his career as a producer in the early eighties. Influenced by artists from that time he pursued electronic music in the search for limitless ways to manipulate sound.
After some time the requests to support various musicians, DJs and artists as a producer became more frequent, and his releases got published on well known labels. In 1994 he ran into Chris Liebing at the popular record store Downtown Records in Giessen, where famous DJ’s and acts had their meeting point. That’s how they started cooperating, which would go on for years.
To create a platform to put out their own tracks and productions, André Walter, Tommy Bingel, Toni Rios and Chris Liebing launched SOAP Records. Besides the well working cooperation with Chris Liebing, André also produced tracks with Monika Kruse, Thomas Krome, Moguai, Umek, Marshall Jefferson, Massimo, Gayle San, Al Faris, Marco Cannata and Frank Lorber.
In 1998 André began to intensify the coproduction with Chris Liebing besides the SOAP project, new labels AUDIO, CLR and CLAU were born. André’s disposition for the deep and gloomy and his passion for horror movies had a deep impact on the AUDIO follow-up-project STIGMATA, which has played a major role in the development of modern techno. With STIGMATA André could not only show his almost endless pool of creativity, but also his passion for myths.
In Belgrade, on April 28th Stigmata will play for the first time in his long-lasting carrier. Catch him in Drugstore club, on Modular Journey party, alongside Keith Carnal, Miles Nitch and TKNO.
First off, thanks for your time! Tell us something about your beginnings in the early eighties, what attracted you about electronic music?
In the early eighties, I´ve been a fan of Hard Rock Music and the first Electronic Sound I got in touch with was from the Japanese artist Isao Tomita. Rock Music, made with instruments like guitars, bass and drums, had a certain creativity limit at that time. In Electronic Music, it was completely different. Creativity had no limits anymore. The synthetic sounds and the ability to manipulate sounds in an endless way fascinated me to the max. Besides Tomita, bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Skinny Puppy and The Klinik were my favs at that time.
Since you’re here for a long time now, try to share your perspective with us. What are the things that changed the most in electronic music scene?
First: Of course, the impact of social media. Sometimes it seems like virtual action and likes on social media are more important than the music itself. Second: In digital life, it´s much easier to release music, but at the expense of quality. For a classic release on vinyl it is necessary to have the permission of different instances. Today it´s too easy to start a digital label and release whatever you want.
What’s the main difference between André Walter and Stigmata?
I use my real name mostly for collaborations, while Stigmata productions were and are always based on my very own input.
What road does one need to go through to become a real artist like you?
Hard work. Discipline. And, most important thing: never give up!
What is your favorite peace of gear in the studio, the one you can’t imagine making music without?
To be honest: There is no favorite gear for me. Every peace is at equal importance. The most important thing for me is the results.
How about inspiration sources? Tell us something about your muses and are they different for different projects you’re working on?
It´s not easy to define a certain inspiration source. And yes, they are different and change every moment. Lot of different things inspires me: Pictures, nature, movies, dreams and extraordinary experiences.
As we’re all very excited to hear your set in Belgrade, tell us what can we expect?
I´m looking forward to playing in Belgrade for the first time. I heard a lot of good things about the Underground Techno Scene in your city and can´t wait to experience this energy on my own! As always, I will perform the tracks I like the most at the moment. It´s going to be a proper selection of yet released and unreleased stuff. See you at Drugstore!
