When did the label start, where are you based and who are the people behind it?

We had our first release in June 2006 during the tropical summer of the soccer Championship in Germany. Permanent Vacation is based in Munich and is run by Tom Bioly and Benjamin Fröhlich. The first time Tom and I were in contact was when Tom was working for Compost Records and I was compiling a compilation for them, which Tom was taking care of. After that Tom became a regular customer at my record shop, I used to run back then. Soon we realized we have the complete same taste in music and since we both had individually the idea of starting a label of our own it felt natural to do it together. So, a classic love story , I guess.

In the beginning the sound of Permanent Vacation was much more Balearic, Cosmic Disco and Krautrock, but today it feel like you are going more and more in the direction of house.  Do you feel this is the progression of dance music or more your personal taste?

Well a little bit of both I believe. I was never a house or techno kid. I used to listen to hip hop, dub and jungle. The clubs in Munich where  'House ' was played didn’t appeal to me and the new boyfriend of my ex girlfriend was a house dj so I always thought it was kind of silly ;). Later on I bought occasionally some house records (really liked the Yoruba soul stuff and the early Ame releases were of course an eye opener too), but it really caught my attention when I bought an old record collection which was filled with all that old Chicago house stuff. I was really drawn to the roughness of these records and this was the first time I realized how Disco became House. And that what's happening again these days. House is getting a lot more attention now in the press, so it's also an outside perspective on the label. 5 or 4 years ago it was all about Cosmic or Balearic so everything we did was Cosmic or Balearic , no matter if a Bostro Pesopeo or a John Talabot release had much to do with it or not, but that is alright with me and also understandable that people concentrate more on one aspect of the label. And I think I prefer it when you can't really categorize the music and it has elements of different genres.  We like to keep things diverse and try not to bore ourselves.

You guys are known for your A&R work, which comes into attention with the label's compilations and of course the varied signing to the label. Do you feel that the art of A&R is dying out in today's digital label era?

I don't know if spending night after night in front of the World Wide Web can be called art, no seriously I think the work of an A&R probably has stayed the same, but the tools have changed. Back then you had to go to a lot of concerts, pilgrimage to the record shop or read lot's of magazines instead of browsing MySpace, Soundcloud or blogs.  I have to admit I kind of miss MySpace. It was perfect for A&Ring.  We signed a lot of people via MySpace.  Sometimes we imagine how it would be running the label without the internet.  In the record collection, I mentioned above, was an info sheet from one of the first Eye Q records, it says:  'for feedback please call on Wednesdays from 15:00 to 17:00 or leave a number and an exact time where and when we can reach you'. It's so amazing and hard to believe nowadays. So I guess lot has changed indeed, but mostly the means of communication not the core work.

When is the next compilation out and what surprises are planed for it?

Our next compilation will be the Selected Label Works 3, which will be out this week.  The idea behind the compilation is to collect the 12"s from the past year and to present them on a double CD.  It's always fun to work on that and a good way to reminisce over the last one year or one and a half years of the label, and to give  tracks that did not get the attention they deserved in our opinion a second chance.  For surprises we have always a couple of exclusive tracks on the comp. This time an unreleased Bostro Pesopeo remix of a band from Munich called High Voltage Humans, and a little sneak preview on a band called Candyblaster , which will release their debut album next year.

What future releases are planed on Permanent Vacation in the near future?

Album wise we will release the John Talabot album in January, which is really great and for me one of the best albums we ever did. Then there will be this band called Candyblaster (see above). They will add a new flavor to our roster with their leftfield pop music. A new Woolfy vs. Projections album, which we are very happy with plus some more surprises I don’t want to spoil yet.  

You also dj and produce under the name Permanent Vacation. How does that work? Do you release on other labels as well and where can we hear you play next?

We are very slow on original music, but we do remixes for other labels. We did one for International Feel recently and one for Joe Worricker, and there are two about to come out for Henry Saiz & Pional and one for Pollyester.  We are playing in Zurich, Leipzig, our Munich label residency at Bob Beamen, and a fun little NYE party  then a little Holiday break before Panorambar in January . Hope to see you somewhere.

Panorama Bar - January 14th with John Talabot, Pional and Permanent Vacation Dj’s.

www.perm-vac.com

Taken from SLIM Mag December Issue

Label Focus will air Thursday December 15th at 18:00, Friday at 12:00, and Saturday at 11:00.