Funk D'Void, aka Lars Sandberg, may not have received the biggest attention from Lithuanian clubbers last weekend, but those who did see him all say we'd have to wait a long time for another DJ set like that. A master in his profession, having left Glasgow for Barcelona ten years ago, is going to stay there for some more time. His family and his new club are the main topics there, so they are in our chat.

I hope you still have some power for another night with Lithuanians after yesterday...

Yesterday was good, not the usual crowd I'm used to, but they enjoyed it, so it was good. Probably the best "Pacha" I've played in, great place, great sound, it's just that the whole building looks more like an apartment block when you're walking down. I like smaller clubs better. I've heard the "Exit" club is pretty crazy, isn't it?

Definitely more crazy than "Pacha". Sorry to see you freezing here in Lithuania, I know Barcelona is definitely better - it's still summer, right?

You can say so, yeah. Have you been there lately?

Yes, just got back from the "Red Bull Music Academy" a few weeks ago.

Oh, I was there too. I was doing one of the gigs, it was 12 DJs for 20 minutes each. It was dead, completely empty, and my friend got really drunk and he couldn't play. He was so drunk he couldn't plug his laptop in, there was complete silence with him on stage, and when he finally managed to do it, he was into 10 minutes of his gig, so it was already time to pass the decks on to another DJ. It was complete disaster, but fun. It was great seeing the actual academy. It's beautiful! That's like my ideal way of life - free food and drink, free studio, nice colleagues, just making music all the time. The participants are really nice, a lot of new friendships are made and contacts found. It's good to see the big company of "Red Bull" to give something back to the scene.

How was your summer?

Summer was okay, too short. Basically just the four weeks of July, nevertheless it lasts six months in Barcelona. The older I get, the shorter the summer gets! This year was really really short, I don't know why. You have certain summers that you remember more because of certain things that have happened or whatever, but this year was just superquick. But it beats the Glasgow summer, that's for sure. I moved away from there 10 years ago and haven't looked back since.

So you are planning to stay in Barcelona for a lot longer?

Well, I just bought a new club there!

Yeah, you've told about having this idea in a few other interviews I've read.

I think I've been telling people I want to open a club for like five years now, and mentioning it in every interview, and finally I'm actually doing it! It's gonna be open April next year. It's near the Forum, it's a beach club, 3000 capacity. It's a big project, but we are gonna try and do it. We have a great team, my business partners are really really cool, I have all the contacts I need, we've got the financing, so... It's the next stage in my career.

Do you have a name already?

We have a few options, but right now are thinking of calling it "Air", since it's quite an international name and it's an open-air club. We're lucky with the sound restrictions, as we are in the outskirts of town. I's gonna be open April till October and work seven days a week! Me doing one Saturday a month...

So you'll be there for "Sonar", right?

We'll definitely be the hottest place in "Sonar"! Everyone's been asking me to put parties up for "Sonar", but we have to be careful with that. And we can make a beach festival four times a year as well.

Music?

Everything. Variety is the keyword. We are gonna go for the "Fabric" vibe and have thematic nights every night of the week, so that people could know what to expect. But I'm not gonna give away too much information now, otherwise it wouldn't be a surprise! Just to say that we are really happy and this is gonna be good for Barcelona, if anything else.

I have read that you're not a big fan of Barcelona clubbing?

Well, "Moog" is okay, I do the residency there, also "Loft"... "Loft" is so so, the whole "Razzmatazz" thing is just too huge to get a vibe there. It's big spacious rooms, no specific detail, and more for youngsters. We want to offer something more sophisticated for real music lovers, not to someone who just shows up for the place. Actually, originally I wanted to open a place for 300 people. So now we are working on scale 1:10!

To say the truth, I'm not looking forward to having no days off for the rest of my life, but it's okay. I'm working now 16 hours a day for the club, so sometimes I feel like I'm making a movie or something!

That is never gonna be shot...

Exactly. There's no deadline - we'll just have to continue making it forever. It's hard now to discover life as a promoter or a booker or whatever, because now we have to get the right names... I hope all my friends in Barcelona are gonna be supportive, and the clubs I've worked with, I'm sure they are gonna be okay. It's gonna be a big shock for Spain. And we're aiming to reach the top 10 clubs in the world in two years. We're quite ambitious, haha!

You work for the club 16 hours a day and you still have time for everything else?

Yep. I'm a father, a DJ, a producer and run a clothing company... I think I do most of my work when I'm traveling. I need internet 24 hours a day, I can do tracks in the hotel room, I can do conference calls with the same laptop... It's a very portable job in the end. And it's easily done, though, you just have to sacrifice all your free time. But there's a clock ticking, and it's a logical step for me to open my own club, I think.

So how's your family?

They're great! We just had a nice naming ceremony two days ago for my kids. The party finished at midnight, but I was exhausted, so was my daughter - she cried lots. It was a nice night. My kids are getting older, they're 3 and 5 now, but they're still babies to me.

Do they understand what you do?

Yeah, definitely. They're into music, they love DJing, they like deep house, they know all my tracks. They have a very good musical sense, as their mother, my ex wife, is Brazilian. It's true that it's sometimes hard to find the balance between family and nightlife, but I'm with my kids three days a week, and they have my complete attention when I'm with them. When it comes to weekends, it's like I'm a different person. I turn into this machine, ha ha. But I'm meant to DJ and that's what I've been meaning to do since I was younger. So it's natural to me, there's no forcefulness, I love doing it.

How did your own parents find your choice of career?

My father understands what I do, but he always thinks I should be more like Fatboy Slim or something, a bit more commercial, but I'm not into that, ha ha! He does understand I'm succesful, though. My mother is really supportive, as she is a pianist herself. They totally understand that their son is doing okay and are being supportive. I am sure I will be supportive to whatever my kids decide to do. The family thing is important to me. You really can do both. There's a lot of daddy DJs out there - I call them "Acid dads"!

Will you be cool when your daughter turns 15 and decides to go clubbing?

I don't want to think about it! It's gonna be tough. I feel sorry for the boyfriends that are going to meet me as her father. A pretty scary 45-year old tattooed club owner, huh... We'll see in the end. I won't be forcing my kids into the music business if they won't want to, I'll be happy to support whatever they do, as I have said, and I hope to educate them the right way.

Music! Which part of you has more time in the studio now - Funk D'Void or Francois Du Bois?

Oh, the deep part. Everything is deep now. Everything I do is deep. It speaks to my soul more than the hard stuff. I mean, I still play club music, but I think the deeper musical stuff always seems to touch me more. And it does get a better reaction on the dancefloor! I saw a few faces last night when I was playing, probably more used to the minimal and techno stuff, the white noise, lots of tpshh, harder tracks, and then I come in and play some deep musical house, and I get some real reactions, you know! First record I played yesterday was a remix by "Lovebirds" for Ian Pooley, and it's the first track of my new mix CD, and it really really works. You can see a definite change in the vibe of the club. I hope this opens up some ears.

I've always been a fan of deep music since I was younger. Saturdays in my club are gonna be devoted to deep house and tech house, because I think Saturdays will be busy anyway. More commercial stuff is gonna be on Wednesdays. Oh, back to the club again, ha ha... But yeah, it has always been deep for me. I started the Francois Du Bois thing like seven years ago as a joke though. I don't know what I have with these names! It's such a cheesy name! Francois is the cheesiest French name you can find! I think I got it from an old sitcom from the 80s, it was a name of the boss of the butler... I think it just stuck with me, ha ha! I have to come up with a new name now, with a German name. Maybe for some deep minimal stuff? But no, no, minimal is over... hahaha!

Come on!

It's over in Spain, the hype is definitely over. Maybe Hans Gruber is gonna be the next name. Hans Gruber, I like that. Das ist genau, no?

Ja, das ist sehr gut.

Sprechen sie Deutsch?

Ein bischen!

Cool! So yeah, the Spanish are reacting better to more emotional music than minimal though, a bit more dancey. They also like techno as well. But the club will have a broad spectrum of music, I'm not gonna just play deep house and "educate" people. I'm not into musical snobbery, I want people to enjoy themselves. And I think music should be fun.

Getting back to Francois, who wrote the hilarious fake Wikipedia entry on him?

I wrote that. I'm quite good at writing stories! I should do it more often. Yeah, Francois is an artist...

Big in Japan, huh?

Yeah, he is huge there. A huge artist. I am not sure how he feels about me, though... But I have to kill him. I think he's gonna die in an accident, or maybe from a sushi overdose. Because I feel the German thing coming next! A feeling for the change, you know. Like Madonna, she changes her image all the time, doesn't she? And she gets tougher every time!

OK, let's skip Madonna and talk about electronics... You've been with "Soma Recordings" for ages...

Yeah, too long, huh?

No, I didn't mean that!

Haha... I'm not sure I'd agree on everything they are doing now, but it's a great electronic music label basically. I like their stuff - I'm not into the easy listening electro stuff maybe, but I like what The Black Dog do, they're classic. As far as dancefloor stuff, they haven't had many bighitters out recently, but they're friends of mine, and they are going through a lot of changes these times, so.

I guess as many other labels, right?

Yeah, well, it's not that relevant these days, but it's great that they keep it going. Hats off! They also run "Pressure" nights in Glasgow, and a big festival, "T in the Park". But yeah, ever since my best friend left the company, I have kind of drifted away as well. He decided to do something else, he was nearly 36 and he was like "I wanna change".

So I'm still with "Soma", but I can work for other labels now. This is very good, because the whole exclusivity and the current climate of the music business is quite dangerous. You have to really spread your stuff around, because people have short memories, and technologies are changing, so you have to keep on top of the things. It's more like a marathon than a sprint, you know. It's always been an uphill struggle for electronic music, hasn't it. To maintain a career or a career where you're still relevant. But it's my passion, that's why I'm holding to it with my hands and I'd never let go, I'll always do this job.

What are your tools for the job today? I mean DJing.

I'm using "Tractor Scratch" and gonna switch to "Pro" when it's out in November. I'm a big "Tractor Scratch" fan, like Richie Hawtin. He likes using the "Allen&Heath", I like the old "DX2s". I still use "Tractor" with the turntable vinyls and my midi effects. The thing with the "Tractor" is great, because you can DJ like an oldschool DJ and switch to the new laptop style, you can do your loops - it's just the creative freedom. I've never been a CD kind of DJ, I'm and oldschool vinyl die-hard fan. That's the way I was brought up, the way I learnt, the way I've taught my five year old son to DJ! I think it's the best to teach kids the original way first, and then they can set off to anything they find interesting.

Kids are like a sponge at that age, they can learn anything! I mean, my kids can speak four languages! They pick up things really easily. Once my son showed my friend how to use my new keyboard and they started putting up a track together... He remembers where all the buttons are! Maybe he's gonna end up in music anyway... He's in kung-fu at the moment! It's nice.

Having kids really changed me, though. I just think I'd probably be a cynical guy if I didn't have kids, you know. It's a big change in people's lives. Sometimes the change is too big, like, some of my friends, even DJs, decide to stop the clubbing thing ... studying to be lawyers or something. I think people just get scared. They're in their mid thirties and they can't envision themselves doing the same in ten years.

Maybe because not many DJs have reached such a stage yet?

Well, look at Sven Vath! He's gonna be doing it for many more years! There's no age limit in DJing. And if there is, we've all made such big careers that the age limit has to be extended because of the whole industry itself. Look at Francois K - okay, he looks like a history teacher when he's DJing, but it doesn't matter because it's all about the music, right? Laurent Garnier is also in his fourties now... It's true, there are a few DJs who can keep up the vibe and I hope I'll be one of them. People look and me and say "Yeah, you'll always be a DJ". And that's a good thing!

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Lithuanian version.