Bio in ten chapters
No résumé. Ten chapters, each one shareable.
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Chapter 01 · 1993
The Night the Band Canceled
1993, Chemnitz, Germany. A guitar rock and hardcore kid on his way to see Dog Eat Dog. The show got canceled. Someone knew about a techno party in an old ammunition depot at the Hermsdorf interchange. Nobody really knew what techno was. But there was nothing else going on.
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Chapter 02
Black Paint
The entry stamp: one fingernail painted with real black lacquer. It never dried. Inside, people danced with black-smeared faces like coal miners. That was the night he fell in love with electronic dance music.
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Chapter 03
The Cow Record
His first record came from the record section of a store called Underground Wear: “Fuck That House,” with a cow on the cover. Problem: he didn’t own a turntable yet.
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Chapter 04
The Turntable in the Bushes
In the ’90s you knew guys who could get anything. 300 Deutschmarks paid up front, and then, in pouring rain, under a bush in Gera’s Knochenpark: a silver Technics, wrapped in a garbage bag.
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Chapter 05
Biox Ultra and the Army
With friends he started the club Biox Ultra in Gera. But the German army in Berchtesgaden didn’t allow turntables in the barracks. Records and a mixer came from Munich, practice happened every other weekend. The other weekends he worked as a farmer on his aunt’s farm near Siegsdorf, Bavaria.
Biox Ultra: flyer for the 2003 revival party. Share
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Chapter 06
Farming and Dance Floors
Karl, Bavaria’s first organic farmer and a close friend, taught him farming. For DJ Donatamerika the two belong together: agriculture and dance culture.
Farming: with the scythe in the meadow. Share
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Chapter 07 · 1995
The Donut on the Roof
1995. A friend of Karl’s invited him to San Francisco. Layover in New York. On the ride into the city, the first thing he saw was a small building with a giant donut on the roof. It read “Donut America.” That’s how he became DJ Donatamerika.
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Chapter 08
DJ Sneak
San Francisco: record stores full of American house and a club where the roof opened up. DJ Sneak was playing. He never touched the records, never pushed, never braked, just rode the pitch fader. Every transition perfect. A hero for life, and a bag full of Strictly Rhythm records flew back to Germany.
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Chapter 09
400 Marks for Nobody
Not every gig was a hit. Kantine, Erfurt, an afternoon after-hour, 400 Deutschmarks, huge money back then. Dancers: zero. Paid anyway. That was the ’90s.
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Chapter 10
Six A.M.
At the Muna, his buddy Günni in blue Pash overalls shouted across the main room every morning: “Hey, everybody over here, Haushorst is on!” It was six a.m. Haushorst quit DJing long ago and now drills for gas on an offshore rig. That’s why DJ Donatamerika would rather play from six in the morning. Respect to the Haushorst.
Günni in his blue Pash overalls. Share
Flyers and photos from back then
From the record bag: flyers and photos of DJ Donatamerika.
