Lula is back, and the dancefloors of the world will burn!

Lula is back, and the dancefloors of the world will burn!

12 September, 2007 | 11.00AM

• Section: Music News
• Written by: nuyorcuban

You never forget the songs you hear on the truly earthshaking nights you have at the club.

Those are the records that even one hook from can trigger a whole host of visceral, physical responses: your heart beats faster, syncing upward to match BPMs, remembering the press of flesh and the ritualized exertion of the whole experience, you can even find yourself caught up in the sweaty, sexy mesh of memory, lit by strobe light and the wistful eye of the mind.

Johnny Vicious’ track ‘Ecstasy’ was like that for me.

That remarkable, analog-squelchy sweeping synth hook, the pounding drums, and the voice… Claudia Radbauer, an Austrian woman living in New York who went from being a dance music fan to being a dance music star.

Now, as Lula, she had sprung from the speakers and decks of Danny Tenaglia-era Twilo to grace records from all over the world with her marvelous voice - from the X-Beat mid-’90s through the glory days of the circuit, Lula’s voice was the martial call to dance.

Foreign, female, and expressive with the absolute liberation of the club, the singles and tracks kept coming, with help from Tenaglia, Vicious, Creamer and K, DJ Wout, Friburn and Urik, Peter Rauhofer, and many others.

But no mere discography can express the power that Lula held over late-’90s dancefloors.

When she broke into that countdown in the middle of ‘Ecstasy’, it didn’t matter where it was playing, because everywhere became Chelsea, and when she reached “one” and proclaimed that shirts needed to come off, by God, they did. All over the world.

Lula currently has a track on Kult Records called ‘Fire and Burn’, so we gladly leapt at the chance to talk at one of the most distinctive and beloved voices in the past decade and a half of dance music.

So how does it feel to be the most famous Austrian voice in American clubs since Falco?

I got goosebumps just reading this question… What an honor!

I really don´t feel famous or special or anything.

Actually, I´m still surprised that people want to hear my voice with this hard accent on a track.

It´s still unbelievable for me.

I´m very proud and appreciate everybody who likes to hear my lyrics and my voice, but I really don´t feel like I´m somebody famous or special.

I don´t even tell people here in Austria that I do this.

They don´t know me as Lula, they don´t know my songs.

Anyway, Austrians are famous for being jealous, so I just stay away from the Austrian music scene.

My heart and mind is in America, and hopefully my body will be back in New York soon, too.

What was the record that made you fall in love with house music?

Well, up until that time I had only liked rap and hip hop, and new wave and other stuff.

But the record that made me fall in love with house music was the original version of Yohan Square’s ‘Love of Life’, and all the Todd Terry productions, like Swan Lake and Royal House; those were my New York House Music beginning.

I always loved dark, deep, painful, heartbreaking, uncommercial music.

I fell in love with the speakers and nightclubs at the legendary U4 in Vienna in the ‘80s.

Prince, Falco, Sade, they were all there.

Peter Rauhofer and Marcus Wagner-LaPierre (aka Makossa) were DJing there.

Very dark, a great sound system, underground import music.

I was there all the time, I even slept next to the speaker, and of course I fell asleep the next day at school.

But I was addicted from my first night on, I became friends with the two DJs and they both worked at this great record store, and I started buying all these tracks.

Axel Bauer´s ‘Cargo,’ Dead or Alive, Depeche Mode, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash… and I haven’t stopped buying records since - only vinyl for the longest time; I really tried to fight CDs but I did not win - I had to give in.

And I never liked pop music, or this happy “loveboat” music, as Danny (Tenaglia) and I used to call it.

The happy tracks were always my bathroom break records at Twilo.

Let’s say you had to put together a collection of your house favorites, though…

The Original Mix of ‘So Get Up’ by The Underground Sound of Lisbon, Cevin Fisher’s ‘TT Lover,’ Danny’s Mix of ‘Sunday Afternoon’ by The Daou, Ralph Falcon’s ‘Every Now and Then’, ‘Silicon Rain’ by Lords of the Underground, Aphrohead’s ‘Life’s in the Sky’, and ‘Share My Life’ by The Reese Project.

What about from your own tracks? Which one is your favorite?

‘Goosebumps,’ because it was totally unplanned.

Danny and I had never talked about anything like that.

All I did was visit him in the studio in the middle of the night to meet The Underground Sound of Lisbon guys, who were so cute, both of them.

All of a sudden, Danny tells me to get behind the microphone and just talk.

He asked me some stuff, and I just answered and talked and talked.

That was the birth of that track.

And when I heard that Johnny Vicious was interested in remixing it, I totally went crazy.

What an honor… One of my heroes!

And no way would I have ever thought that I would hear my own voice coming out of the speaker at Twilo with people dancing to it… it was crazy!

My wildest dreams came true with that track.

Produced by Danny Tenaglia and The Underground Sound of Lisbon and remixed by Johnny Vicious!?!

With just that lineup, I could have been satisfied and happy for the rest of my life.

But now, even more of my heroes are offering to work with me, like the Kult of Krameria, Midnight Society, DJ Jiggy, and Pete Tha Zouk… these people are dream producers, anyway.

But I would love, and honestly, I don´t think it will ever happen, to work with Felix Da Housecat.

I loooooooooove all his tracks from the ‘90s.

His mind and emotions… to make those sad, crazy, insane tracks like ‘Alone in the Dark’ or ‘Life’s in the Sky’.

There’s so much pain and sadness.

My heart hurts when I think of them.

I love it.

I met him many years ago and he was really, really nice, too.

And of course Ralph Falcon; same story.

I love all his productions - so deep and warm and dark. And DJ Vibe. He will always be one of my favorites.

Always, always, always - I would do anything for him.

How exactly did you meet Danny Tenaglia?

I was living in New York back then, fourteen years ago, and I just loved this promo tape that Danny mixed for Sexy Records.

‘March’ was the first track, and there were many tribal tracks on it as well.

I don´t even remember who gave me this tape, but I didn´t know anybody in the industry back then… I just loved the music and going to the clubs, and I was a big Danny fan, after this tape.

He was DJing sometimes at the Sound Factory, and I was always there. Just dancing.

But then he started DJing at Twilo, and I was always there, too, when he played.

Sometimes he was at the Roxy, too.

I guess he saw me next to the speaker all the time, always the speaker the closest to the DJ.

I just needed, and still need, to be as close to the DJ as possible.

And then one day he was standing in front of me.

I said, “What are you doing here?” And he said,"I want to dance with you!” And from that night on we became friends… the best of friends, for a long time.

Oh my God, I could just cry when I think of all the memories with Danny, in his new car, listening to brand new tracks, when he had just come from the studio, like the Janet Jackson ‘Pleasure Principle’ remix, or his Pet Shop Boys ‘Before’ remix.

It was heaven.

He called me his “wife”.

We had so much fun all the time, day and night, in New York or in Miami, and he was the one who always let me come to the studio, who let me experience the process of making a track.

We had so much fun at Axis… He was the one who told me to get behind the microphone, and who introduced me to all my heroes.

I owe him everything.

If it weren´t for him, there wouldn´t be Lula.

How do you feel now about the ‘90s New York club scene?

I used to go to the Sound Factory Bar all the time, whenever I visited New York as a tourist, and also when I was living there between 1993 and 2000.

I think the first time that I ever went, Frankie Knuckles was DJing.

And the Soundfactory nights, for a 22 year-old girl from Austria… unbelievable!

How people dressed, how high they were, and how friendly, and then breakfast in the morning… Just going through the front door and feeling and hearing the bass pumping already.

I will never forget the entrance and the dark path to get to the dancefloor, and the bass and the muffled sounds… I still get the goosebumps when I think of those nights, and of course I continued going when the Soundfactory became Twilo.

And then I became friends with Danny shortly after he started DJing there, and Twilo became my second home.

I knew all the people who worked there and I made so many friends there.

We all knew that we would see each other every Saturday and that we would have a beautiful night and a lot of fun.

Already on Wednesday we were thinking what clothes to wear next Saturday night, which was actually Sunday morning already, and the best times were when the most people had already gone, at 7 a.m. or so, and only the hardcore music and dance lovers, my best friends, stayed and Danny played just for us.

Or at least every single one of us felt this way.

We could cry, we could laugh, we could use as much dancefloor as we needed.

No idiots asking me to dance with them, no bimbos with their cigarettes and a drink in their hands being in my way, no chatting and talking people next to me.

This was truly heaven.

I remember one night with a white Christmas tree as a decoration and Danny playing The Beloved´s ‘Crystal Wave,’ and some minimal tracks, and Robert Owens, and I feel like crying now.

I stopped going when Danny left to DJ at The Tunnel, and I can´t even believe I have the Sizequeen record covers with Twilo behind me.

Twenty years ago I would have never have thought that that place would feel so much like home to me.

So sad, those times are gone. And so many of my friends from back then; somewhere on this planet - God knows where…

You have such a rich body of work, and you’ve got two big records already on deck for the world.

Have you thought about compiling your previous tracks together, or working toward an artist album of new material?

I’m working on a full-length album that will come out in March.

I´m producing many different tracks with many different producers, and some of them will come out on Kult Records.

I really don´t care so much about the business part, about the selling.

I just love the whole process of making a track, no matter if the producers are famous already or if they’ve never released a track.

It´s really interesting and fulfilling to see what people come up with and how they use my vocals and my words.

I like when I can hear and feel the producers’ taste and mindset.

I don´t like the same old beat and sounds all the time, just because they might sell well.

I want to release the originality and personality of the producers mixed together with a part of me inside it.

I love the process of having an idea, writing the lyrics, and then watching the birth and development of a track.

And then to work with some of my all-time heroes - that one of these guys is laying their hands on my vocals, and bringing their mind together with a part of mine is so beautiful.

I also enjoy finding unknown producers who have never released anything and making a track with them.

I like the freshness and their creativity and enthusiasm.

That´s my joy, my love…

And then, to hear how people react to the finished tracks - what an experience!

There’s such fulfillment when they write me, that the music and lyrics touched their hearts, that they feel the same way… it makes me cry and smile at the same time.

Nothing could be more satisfying for me.

You’ve been away for awhile, but now you’ve got a new track, called ‘Fire and Burn’ that’s coming out on Kult Records.

How did you get involved with the people at Kult?

Lula: Eddie Cumana (from Dynamix) contacted me to tell me how much he loved my stuff and asked if I wanted to make a track with him.

So I asked my secret spy in New York ‘“Who is Kult Records?” and if they were honest, and I only heard good things about the label.

And now, after my first track with them, I can say I feel really good with them, like I´ve known them forever.

Whatever I need or don´t understand, they are always there for me.

They care about their artists, they work really hard, they promote a lot, and I got my contracts right away, which is very rare in this business.

I love Kult; it´s a decent, honest label who appreciates the artists and their creativity.

I´m happy they found me.

Apparently it’s a fruitful relationship, since I heard you’ve already got your next track after ‘Fire and Burn’ lined up. Is this the Alan T collaboration?

Lilla (at Kult) asked me if I was interested in doing a track with Alan, and of course I was.

Many people had asked me if I would ever do a track with him, especially since he occupied my place in front of the speaker.

I take it you mean his lyrics “I am here in spirit, coming directly from the speaker!”

He is a really nice guy.

I love him, but he cannot just take over my space, just because I wasn´t around for a while.

And of course he had to agree that my name was first on the title. (slight pause) I´m joking… But not really…

Where do you see house music headed in the future?

I don’t know… Where is the real ‘house music’ anyway?

It´s all electro, electronica, tribal, tribal house, progressive, techno, tech-house, minimal techno, minimal… What is what anyway?

It goes in so many different directions.

It evolves.

It changes, thank God.

People will always want to dance.

New people will always come and produce new styles.

What do you think about dance music in general these days?

I think the soul is missing in dance music nowadays.

In the real house music that Little Louie Vega, David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, or Danny produced, back then, there was so much soul.

Now it´s all electro, which I love, too, but it doesn´t have the soul anymore.

Also, the music gets more and more instrumental.

There aren´t too many people singing anymore, right?

It gets more and more artificial - is that the right word?

And there is no more vinyl, sometimes even no more CDs.

I hate that.

All these files, with nothing in my hand to look at or to read from…

What music do you listen to when just driving around, or listening on an iPod or other portable music player?

Everything on Kompakt and Pokerflat and from the guys who are on those labels, music like that.

My favorites right now are the Luciano ‘Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi’ mix CD, Sven Väth ‘In The Mix’ and Anja Schneider´s ‘Mobilee’ mix CD.

Sometimes I feel like they made these CDs just for me.

We’ve always wanted to know how exactly you got the stage name Lula?

I think it was Danny who chose that name.

Actually, it was ‘Lula Grelhada,’ which means ‘fried shrimp’ in Portuguese.

I don´t know whose idea that was, but it was when Danny and the USL made ‘Goosebumps’.

In your decade-plus as a performer, what’s the funniest or wildest thing that’s ever happened to you in the making of dance music?

When I recorded ‘Ecstasy (Take Your Shirts Off)’, I was sitting in Johnny Vicious’ walk-in closet, where all his clothes were hanging, to record the vocals.

The sound was just perfect in there, sitting between his shiny, purple shirts.

Lula is interviewed by Jason Shawhan.

Lula’s new single ‘Fire & Burn’ will be released on September 20th on Kult Records. Look for her debut artist album to come in March 2008.

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