Do you like being naked?
Not our request… But the opening invite of emerging Austrian duo when asked how they’d sell themselves to the music loving public.
Of course the answer is an emphatic yes.
But who are the guys behind the boundary-smelting sounds on labels such as Mainframe, Audioporn and Kannibalen? What makes them tick? More importantly: what’s with the name?
“We were sick of standard names!” says Sebastian, one half of the Vienna-based duo. “When we came together dubstep was big and everyone had these hard mechanic names so we wanted to do something different with a funny touch. It came up in conversation and just stuck.”
Funny and true… Ever seen a fish in clothing?
Back to the introduction: Naked Fish comprises Seb and Phil, two young Austrian artists who met at a local music production course. United by a shared love for ignoring rigid genre formulas, and the realisation that the lessons were actually pretty lame, they decided to make a go of it on their own.
Armed with Sebastian’s 15-year musical experience on the piano and guitar (both of which he picked up because his vocal qualities denied him his dream of becoming a singer) and Phil’s seven year tenure as a drum & bass DJ and nerdy passion for all things tech, the pair found a complementary skill between them that works well. A complementary skill that fuses all the best elements of bass, electro, house and dubstep. They call it Fishstep.
“We just want to have fun,” grins Phil, a keen sportsman who rarely visits the studio without sharpening his focus beforehand with a run or gym session. “We’re not based in a specific genre. We’re mixing up all styles of music we like. We don’t want to be tied down. Do what you like: that’s our thing. We don’t want rules.”
“We don’t want music to be too serious,” adds Seb who’s currently studying physics. “It’s okay to have serious parts in the music but most of all it should be a pleasure to listen to.”
Speaking of listening pleasures, here’s their latest track Fall, exclusive to UKF:
Keep your eye on their socials for plenty more in the near future.
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