Prok & Fitch: You Czechs are pretty crazy.

 
It's hard to believe it but on 24th November Chris Sadler residency Climax will already celebrate it's 14th birthday. Fourteen years of quality parties, great music and fun fourteen years of oldest regular and still functioning club night in CZ. That means it's time for a big birthday party, time for pumping energic house and also time for foreign headliners. On 24th November we can look forward to performance of british duo Ben Prok & James Fitch who are considered as one the most interesting young names on the house and tech house scene and quite famous for their own label Floorplay Music and regular Floorplay parties. If you want to unveil more about thme continue reading this interview made by Chris Sadler himself….
 
You’re from Brighton – incidentally my favorite town in the UK – have you ever considered moving to London perhaps, or America now the dance scene is really kicking off there?
Hi Hope you'r well, yes we are indeed, great place to live, very laid back, multicultural and a ridiculous amount of quality pubs. Can’t see either of us moving from Brighton, possibly to a warmer country in the future but that would definitely be in Europe.
 
The DJ Mag Top 100 came out recently and again contained no real surprises. What’s your opinion of such polls?
Think it's serve's a purpose, obviously all about the pr team, personally we can’t see how certain DJs who a have a comparatively low ranking, yet hold consistently probably busiest longest standing night in Ibiza, at the end of the day it's all down to votes & honestly can’t see to many clubbers being that bothered to vote.
 
You’ve had a really good year with strong releases on Roger Sanchez’s Stealth, Mark Knight’s Toolroom and your own Floorplay label. Which record are you most proud of?
Thanks it’s been a good year, would have to be the collaboration we've done with Roger Sanchez, a true house legend & has heavily supported us from day one. We went over to his studio in Ibiza with some ideas & were really happy with the end result in particular the Prok & Fitch Floorplay remix. 
 
What’s it like when two lads from Brighton get the word that a legend like Roger Sanchez wants to work with them?
Amazing, I think it's safe to say we owe Roger Sanchez a few beers, still now we can't believe how much he supports our music, both on his radio shows and his live gigs. We’re extremely fortunate & grateful to have such a massive name in the dance industry supporting us.
 
No doubt if you run your own label Floorplay you get sent lots of demo tracks from unknown producers. Do you listen to them all and what’s your criteria for tracks you release?
We listen to every demo we’re sent, some great, some not so great. As for criteria we're pretty open minded, just like fresh sounding new music that always works well on the dancefloor.
 
Any interesting colabs or remixes coming up?
Yeah, we have quite a few underway at the moment, look out for us collaborating with Roger Sanchez, DJ Chus, Alex Kenji, NO ID & Bass Kleph & also a few more on the cards.
 
Is there anyone you haven’t worked with yet that you would like to?
Lots & lots of people, top of the wish list although never going to happen would be Daft Punk.
 
What’s your opinion of the digitalization of DJing – laptop DJing, USB sticks and the much disputed sync button on the new Pioneer Nexus? Good thing? Or do you miss the days of vinyl and analogue sound?
Yeah it’s a tough one really, what we loved about vinyl, apart from the sound, was the tunes that we got so far in advance and a lot of other people hadn’t got. Obviously with the digital age it’s pretty hard to keep tunes under wraps apart from making lots of your own material. A major positive effect for our DJ sets is the ever evolving pioneer range, allowing us to be much more creative behind the decks.
 
What’s your basic studio set-up and do you go more for hardware or plug-ins?
Our Studio is a pretty simple set up: all VST's at the moment:
Custom Built PC, It’s a bit of a Beast!
Mackie HR-824 Monitors
Genelec 8020A Monitors
Evolution MK249c Midi Keyboard
Mackie Big Knob  
Focusrite Trackmaster Pro Preamp
SE Electronics G3500- Mic
On the road we also use our Mac's and often sketch Ideas on ableton 
 
Do you remember what was the very first dance tune you ever bought?
James:  OT Quartette, Hold That Sucker down, bit of a beast!
Ben: Ha ha Yeah very reluctantly the first Record I ever bought was Bablyon Zoo spaceman, shocker!! 
 
You play together and produce together. Do you ever get fed up of each other and do either of you have an annoying habit that the other one can’t stand?
We spend more time together that we do with our partners, we both have pretty different personalities so rarely clash, obviously there’s the odd disagrment, but very lucky to get on so well. There’s no way we could do this job if we couldn’t.
 
You’re going to be playing at the 14th anniversary of my residency Climax, but you also run your own night called Floorplay. How long have you been doing it and which of the guests you had on made the best impression on you?
We started The Floorplay club night 4 year ago, although haven’t had a party in almost a year. Were lucky to have booked many great DJ's, if we have to pick a favorite would have to be between MARTIJN TEN VELDEN & Dirty Vegas.
 
What’s you 3 favourite cities to play in around the world?
Ibiza, Montreal, London
 
Have you ever been to Prague and have you heard anything about the club scene in the Czech Republic?
Yes have been a couple of times before, beautiful city & can't wait to come back, as for the club scene heard you Czech's are pretty crazy, and love a drink. Will be a great night & both very much looking forward to the party.
 
Thanks a lot for your time and I look forward to seeing and hearing you at Climax’s 14th anniversary 24th November.