In conversation with .. 3!

After catching eyes across a crowded nightclub dancefloor Deniz Çiçek
and Robert Heitmann finally plucked up the courage to speak to each
other. Turns out their killer taste in music wasn’t the only thing they had
in common, as the pair were quick to combine Deniz’s songwriting and
vocals with Robert’s piano and guitar skills. It wasn’t long before they began
producing guitar-driven electronic ballads with a dreamy melancholic edge
under the monika Kraków Loves Adana. Fast-forward 14 years and the
band have since joined the Italians Do It Better family – Johnny Jewel and
Mike Simonetti’s notorious Italo-disco label formed in 2006. Infused with
pulsating synthesizers and sparkling guitars their latest track is a homage
to the bygone days of their youth, and those important lessons they learned
along the way. What better time to catch up with the duo on what’s coming
up next with Jewel and the gang.
How did Kraków Loves
Adana get started?
Deniz: We met in 2006
in our hometown in a
nightclub. Rob and I had
been eyeing each other for
months and then finally we
both had the courage to talk
to each other. It’s not the
typical kind of discotheque
where you would go, but
those were the kinds of
clubs in our hometown;
where you would go to
explore bands and music
or see touring bands come
to town. So that’s how we
met. We were both in other
bands and decided to try
things out with just the two
of us.
Were you studying music
at this time as well?
Rob: Deniz played the
guitar for years but besides
that no, not really, no
musical education just an
interest in music to form a
band since a teenager, stuff
like that. And um, yeah, just
exploring things.
Deniz: It definitely shaped
our identity. Our taste in
music and going to concerts
and stuff like that. Listening
to a lot of independent rock,
a lot of the lesser-known
bands from the UK or US.
What was it like growing
up in your hometown?
Deniz: Bielefeld was a
great town growing up in
because you’ve got all these
bands coming into town
and playing. I mean, now
everything has definitely
changed a lot. A lot of clubs
have closed. But, otherwise, when I was a
teenager it was great. We always used to
go out on the weekends sometimes even
on a school night, but that was the thing
you would do back then when there was no
social media.
Rob: Yeah, and Iike getting the free music
magazines, watching who’s coming to town
and then seeing, okay, can I go? Combined
with going to record stores, listening to
music...
Deniz: Also checking out what the artists
would wear and how they cut their hair
and stuff like that. Definitely had a huge
influence on us and our approach of how
we do things now.
Rob: You really often found yourself
discovering things without being able to
look up the band because there was no
social media. It was like, okay, I’m going
to the concert and I see what happens.
Something that’s maybe not so possible
today.
What made you head over and settle in
Hamburg?
Deniz: Our first label was in Hamburg and
we always went there to record stuff in
the studio so that’s when we took the first
serious steps of being a band and making
a record and putting it out. Rob was also
working at a record label there.
How did you find working with your first
label?
Rob: I mean the first experiences were
a bit mixed. I wouldn’t say it was really a
label back then. It was maybe like people
who wanted to start a label and we were
there like one of the first bands and it was
all developing so, at some point we knew
that we were developing in a different
direction and wanted to take things into
our own hands for some time. That was
when we decided to put out two records on
our own, number three and number four
[laughs]. But yeah, it was really a studying
experience, To see how things are, how
they work or how they might work.
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