America's West Coast has never really been the hotbed of electronic music that has the East. Until Culprit took control that is. It's a label run by production and DJ trio Droog (aka Andrei Osyka, Brett Griffin & Justin Sloe) that releases music from the likes of M A N I K, Burnski, Lee Foss and Soul Clap. Ahead of them playing Somewhere at Club Warehouse on Saturday April 20th with Richie Ahmed we caught up with them ahead of the show. tickets 

How's your year been?

It's been a good start to the year, busy, at times a bit overwhelming but we're loving it. It's shaping up to be the year with most number of air miles accumulated so far. We kicked it off right with a 9 day-long stint at BPM festival, which is our preferred place to be in early January...since then it's been UK, Germany, Spain, Russia, Australia, Peru, back to UK.

Being in a 'threesome' tell us about your DJ set up, is it any different to a normal set up?

Being in a permanent "threesome" is anything but normal...but, seriously - we actually don't play as a trio that often, but when we do it's a pair of CDJs and all three ways of using those: with Traktor (Brett), hard drives (Andrei) or good ol fashioned CDs (Justin).  We're actively looking for a new as yet-undiscovered way of using CD players for Djing, we'll keep you posted on that

Same for your productions, who does what in the studio or do you all mix it up?

It's usually Andrei on the saxophone, Brett on tubular bells, Justin with a tambourine. Somehow it comes together beautifully  ;)

You will return to London on April 20th for a huge show at Club Warehouse, what have you heard about the club?

It's the first time at Club Warehouse and it sounds wicked - if it combines the best of clubs and warehouses, sign us up!

Is London in general always a place you love to perform?

Yes, we love not just to perform but to hang out with many friends we have there, explore the city, complain about its weather and marvel at the intense number of party options London has on offer every weekend. We never get tired of London, and so far it hasn't gotten tired of us, hope that feeling remains.

With the summer looming, where else can we see you play?

There are some very cool things planned in Ibiza, both for Droog and for our label, Culprit. We shall be gracing the decks at Sankey's on a number of occasions, at Pacha and its new daytime venue Destino and possibly Ushuaia as well. Sonar is on the agenda too, it's our third year of doing a Culprit vs Leftroom showcase there (this year on Thursday, June 13th). There are some very cool festivals that we will be part of, like Eastern Electrics outside of London on August 3rd and the new Vertigo Festival in the Italian Alps, also in August

Back home our notorious Standard Hotel rooftop parties will be in full swing, if you are anywhere in the Western Hemisphere between now and October, you cannot miss those.

Do you prefer playing the festivals or at dark dingy club so to speak?

Are these the only two options? Not sure anyone in our genre prefers to play festivals, though there are some very cool ones about and there is a lot of fun to be had at those and a new audience to play for, potentially. We like clubs, especially medium size ones with great sound and a proper vibe, they don't have to be particularly dark or, especially, dingy. Rooftops and other outdoor places seem to be a good fit for us too. A little bit of everything, we guess, is the answer.

Do you prepare differently?

Definitely, all music has its rightful context. It's good to surprise and make unexpected things work, but most of the time a festival set would be a bit different from a small club one. And that's a good thing. 

You can go deeper and take your time in a club environment, at festivals you have to deliver a quick condensed version of your style and manage to impress at the same time. Festivals are a bit more challenging for DJs in our genre, but it's fun to rise to it

Finally, what else can we see from culprit over the next few months?

Loads of good music and great parties. On the music front there is the new Burnski and M A N I K collab, with great remixes by Laura Jones and Maxxi Soundsystem; a great summer jam by the rising Spanish stars Edu Imbernon and Los Suruba, called "Fayer" - we had that one remixed by Adriatique and Dirty Channels; new EPs from the Culprit main stays Climbers and jozif, fresh US talent like Ataxia and more good shit.