Spartaque is an Ukranian DJ/Producer who kick started his career especially in 2007 with Ukraine’s Global Gathering festival and continued to make the crowd go wild at Love Parade, Kazantip, Mayday. Spartaque debuted in 2005 releasing his track from Virus Music and recently reached over 300 releases and continues to travel the world for his shows. He is supported big  names such as Adam Beyer, UMEK, Hollen and is evolving rapidly stepping his game in the scene. 

Q1. You have had a lot of releases out at the minute, is that something you planned or has it just turned out that way? 

Thats right, i had so many cool releases this February and honestly I didn't expect to have them all during the same week. I signed the Phobiq release about 2 or 3 month ago. The remix for Hollen was made way later, but the guys told me the release date I think about 2 weeks before, so there was nothing I could change. 

Pretty much the same happened with the Codex release. My vinyl distributor informed me that the official release date was 20 Feb and that the wax would be in the stores by the end of the week.
So this is how that happened - three very big very important releases for me were out almost at the same time. But I don't feel stressed honestly - all of them are strongly supported by colleagues, reaching the charts in the biggest stores and I am working hard on the upcoming beats. 

Q2. Your next release will be the first vinyl release on your label Codex, what is the reason behind wanting to release on vinyl? 

The decision to release vinyl exclusively was motivated by the fact that I need to make the brand new imprint more attractive to good techno artists. The competition on the techno market is very big nowadays, too many great imprints and you need to have the card, that special thing which makes your label interesting for the great producers. 

Also hard to ignore the fact that vinyl wins back the lost positions and more and more DJs are thinking about returning to the wax. Me too actually, I am going to play my studio sets at Radio Intense on vinyl only.
Also to press the records you must invest your own money, and of course you will do everything possible to get the investment back... I don’t think that I have promoted my digital releases with the same passion, love and motivation like with this vinyl release. I am really happy with this decision and believe that this will bring a very good buzz for my career. 

Q3. You have just released a remix for Hollen, how did the remix happen? Have you known Hollen for a while or did he approach you to remix his track ‘Acidizer? 

We didn't know each other personally before that remix, but of course I knew Hollen as an artist for many years and frequently played and supported his tracks. We have already been negotiating with Matteo, his manager, that I would send my demos to Hollen’s label - Prospect.
Also we are good friends with Frankyeffe, an amazing artist and owner of Riot and he’s accelerated our collaboration with Hollen asking me to make the remix for Acidizer, which was supposed to be released on Riot. Of course I said yes with a big pleasure, and I really love the result, remix works amazing on the floor and already has a great support from my colleagues. 

Q4. How has your 2017 been so far? 

The year has started really amazing! I celebrated the NYE in Graz, Austria where we had a really cool party and I’ve played alongside my friends Spektre from UK and Matt Massari from France. Performed at more than 10 parties in Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Ukraine, Moldova, hired an amazing PR agency, enlisted the support of my Live streams by the biggest techno groups on Facebook, successfully started the vinyl story of Codex and it's not even half of all the new things I would like to tell you. More great news I will share soon on my social network profiles. 

Q5. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing music? 

The best place for inspiration for me is my gym. Definitely gym, this is the place where I can listen to the freshest podcasts from artists i follow trying to track and define trends in techno. Nobody disturbs me, just music, headphones and workout. No emails, friends, tickets, messages. 

I am getting inspired listening to fresh and some classic techno stuff, and I believe that if you want to make techno you have to listen to techno. Everything is clear, there is no secret. 

Q6. What do you personally consider to be the most important moment you have had so far in your career? 

I think that the most important moment in my career was the decision to stop making and play commercial techno sound with elements of minimal and progressive, which i have produced and played for 9 years and become really famous in my root countries such as Ukraine and Russia, and turn myself to the proper techno side. I think that with this decision I have lost about 80% of my fans in Russia and Ukraine. 

Also it took about 2 years to form the proper vision of my new sound and the name here in Europe and worldwide, but the results exceeded all my expectations. I’ve got not only very tight gig schedule, but also opportunity for the artist growth and development, it is very important for any artist. 

Q7. Do you have any routines before you perform? 

Of course! I have a special procedure, and I think that it seems to look strange or even funny to other DJs. I try to make a weekly video podcast, as usual its the first hour of my latest DJ performance from the past weekend. And when i come to the venue the first thing i do - I try to define the best spots for my 4 GoPro cameras. When I do my setup I spend 90% of time working with my video gear and then just 5-10% of time to insert the USB drive into the CDJs. Thanks Pioneer DJ for the Rekordbox software, this made my DJ life way easy. That is my very special and pretty regular routine before the performance. 

Q8. What stand out shows do you have coming up in the next couple of months that people should know about? 

One of the most biggest party which i really can't wait for is the outstanding Code event. It will be in the biggest club of Spain - Fabric in Madrid. Hard to describe this venue - its incredibly big! I will play on the main stage alongside with The Advent, Slam, Jonas Kopp vs Pfirter, Keith Carnal, A.Paul and another killer techno artists! Very big party and it should bring another good kick for my career! Basically my touring life will be packed with plenty of festivals mainly in Europe and North America from April to September. Each of them is pretty cool but the one i expect more then others - It’s Dreambeach in Villaricos, Spain. Its the best Spanish festival of 2016 and this year line up is really sick! I expect really amazing experience! 

Q9. What is DJ Mag to you as a DJ and producer? 

For me first of all its a magazine with a flawless reputation, it unites artists and fans, and highlights the most important news in the world of electronic music. Unfortunately we have no local Ukrainian version in my country so i frequently issue myself the English one, to keep myself updated with fresh look on the modern electronic music scene.

Q10. Please leave a message for your fans in Japan. 

I know that Japan is an incredible country with rich history and inimitable culture.
It is an unique world and I would love to learn it, sharing my music, energy, and of course to getting inspired by it. I am sure that the visit to your country can provide me the massive baggage of unforgettable emotions and impressions and this will effect on my upcoming productions for sure. I would love to wish you more good music, outstanding events and great artists! Hope to see you very soon. 

Spartaque has reached to become a world wide artist in 10 years travelling all over for his shows now. In the past few years, he has accomplished many achievements and he has become one of the greatest figures in the techno scene influencing many new comers. He mentioned his excitement for couple of big shows upcoming in his busy schedule and will continue to evolve and spread his brand to the world.