On the Bismarkstrasse with Customized Culture

2023 was a sad year for Hamburg's club culture. With the PAL and Waagenbau, two nightlife institutions disappeared forever. The Molotow is still fighting for survival. Nothing new followed. But there is also good news. Because although the clubs are disappearing, some acts from Hamburg are growing into international stars. The DJ duo ANDATA, for example.

Behind the act are Maximilian Schladitz and Dennis Trastovskiy. The two are 27 years old, have been making music together since they were 14 and are currently travelling through the clubs of Europe. With their fashion, music and event brand Customized Culture, they regularly launch collections, often in collaboration with well-known DJs from the techno scene such as Funk Tribu or Victor Ruiz. The pair also bring international artists to Hamburg for their events, including Amelie Lens, I Hate Models and Sara Landry.

We meet them at one of our hvv switch points in Bismarckstraße in pouring rain and gloomy skies.

Why are we meeting here?

Dennis: Because we weren't allowed to take our actual favourite spot. It turned out that it's not an hvv switch point, but a Croque shop with a Charging station in front of it...

Maxi: I've told you ten times that it's not one.

Dennis: I think you took the sign down.

Do you live round the corner?

Dennis: We don't live far, Hoheluft. We just start from this point very often: the flower shop we trust is opposite and our best friend lives here. We usually car-share from here to the office in the Schanze.

How else do you get around the city?

Maxi: A lot on foot or with sharing services. In summer, often on an e-scooter. And if public transport, then with the U3. When we have international acts here for events at the Bunker, we usually hire a car for the whole day. Then we pick the artists up from the airport, take them out to eat and maybe collect some equipment. That's becoming more and more worthwhile for us, so we don't need our own car.

Dennis: The most important route with Car-Sharing is to the airport.

How often do you fly?

Dennis: On a regular base - recently we've been to London, Munich, Oslo and Cyprus.

Are you actually from Hamburg?

Maxi: Yes, we grew up in Rahlstedt.

Dennis: ...you can see either way whether that's still Hamburg.

Maxi: A colleague said: Rahlstedt? That's somewhere between Hamburg and Berlin...

How did you come together as DJs?

Maxi: We knew each other from tennis and didn't like each other at all. At some point when we were 14, we got talking at a party at the tennis club and Dennis said that he wanted to try producing music. I said that I played music. So we sat down in the studio together. Well... in our children's rooms. That's how it started.

Dennis: At some point, we were approached by the music label Ultra Records from the USA. They wanted to make us really big and we toured properly for the first time, playing in Las Vegas. But we quickly realised that that wasn't our thing...

Why?

Maxi: They wanted to decide everything: What music we make, what the videos look like. We could no longer be creative at all.

Dennis: And overall, the direction was very commercial. At some point, we only sent techno tracks and were able to get out of the contract.

You are sitting here in this interview because you are relatively successful as a design and DJ duo under the name Customized Culture. How did you get into fashion? You studied business psychology and media studies.

Dennis: During Corona, we couldn't DJ and producing techno didn't make much sense. For many people, it's not music you listen to at home. You listen to techno in the club. So we looked at what else we wanted to do. The first thing we did was to teach ourselves how to sew. Maxi then worked on designs in Photoshop. That's how it started.

Maxi: We already knew quite a few DJs at the time, they were all sitting at home. So we sent designs back and forth and asked for feedback. And when the clubs opened again, suddenly everyone was wearing our shirts. At Tomorrowland, four DJs had the same Customized Culture shirt on one stage in a row! That was really crazy.

Who wears it like that?

Maxi: There really are a lot of people in the techno scene now. Well-known artists include Amelie Lens, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Basswell and even Robin Schulz. Hollywood actor Idris Elba also wore it.

Dennis: We get messages every weekend from all over the world, even from Japan: 'I was wearing the Customized Culture shirt and I met someone who was wearing it'. We've also made connections ourselves through the shirts and put ourselves on the map with our music.

You've just organised an event at the Kulturkirche Altona. When are you playing in Hamburg again?

Maxi: In June. We're travelling a lot in May and are often in Berlin.

And what events does Hamburg have to offer in the coming weeks that you're looking forward to?

Dennis: Ver: Open Air.

Maxi: The guys always get really good people into the city, in my opinion they organise by far the best events at the moment.

What are your favourite places in the city?

Dennis: Eppendorfer Weg, just walk along there, have a coffee, then I'm happy.

Maxi: A Sunday stroll along Eppendorfer Weg is definitely chilled.

Dennis: Or from here to the Alster via Mühlenkamp. There used to be sea buckthorn ice cream on the way, the best ice cream in the world. Unfortunately, that's no longer available. So, if anyone is reading this: Please someone make sea buckthorn ice cream again, it was the ice cream of my life!

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