Packo Gualandris is one of the Luxembourg’s most successful electronic artists, spinning since 1999 and now running his own studio, he is renowned for his high energy progressive house & techno sets

Hey Packo, where are you based and how did you first get hooked on dance music?

Hi 🙂 Since my childhood I am living in Oberkorn in the south of Luxembourg. I loved the 90s rave movement and I was really impressed by the PLUR (peace, love, unity, respect) feeling of it. When I first saw videos of events like Mayday and the Love Parade, I got completely hooked by the electronic scene.

Who are the people that most inspire you right now in dance music?

Since a few years I am a big fan of Eric Prydz or Pryda. His music is melodic and energetic and his visual show is just phenomenal. But for sure he’s by far not the only artist that inspires me as a DJ and/or producer. When I’m only listening music I love very relaxed stuff like for example “Haelos” which sound really amazing when playing live.

How would you describe the style of music you’re making and is there any philosophy behind it?

Often people say that I play the typical “Packo style” haha. My sets and productions are very melodic and progressive, I love to bring that certain energy into my sets but without going too far. On the production side for me it’s not easy to produce tracks that are mostly rythmic, I love melodies. Maybe that’s the result of playing several instruments since my childhood, mostly piano and keyboards. I do the music mostly for myself, it’s my drug that kind of transports me into another world. On the other hand I am very happy that so many people love my music. There’s nothing more fulfilling then people who dance and jump and are just happy during my gigs.

What have been some of the biggest highlights from your career to date? This can be tracks? Gigs?

It’s so difficult to say which are the biggest or best gigs. I played some bigger clubs or festival stages which were just amazing, to see so many people in front of you is quite impressive. On the other hand I love playing small clubs and to be so close to the crowd, giving high-fives and enjoy a drink together. It’s so familiar. Then I absolutely love travelling to other countries and play there, meet new people, new cultures and last but not least: new food 🙂

Talk to us about your latest release on Lauter Unfug and who’s been supporting it?

My latest release on Lauter Unfug is at once my first release on this excellent label. It’s a remix for Ausilio Jó’s “Yellow Trombs”. I got a lot of positive comments about it and the original artist loves it too, which makes me even more happy. In December 2018 I’ll have my first EP called “Completly Dangerous” released on Lauter Unfug as well which includes fantastic remixes by Betoko and Lily Pita.

https://soundcloud.com/lauter-unfug/sets/lum058-packo-gualandris

The label is really popular in Luxembourg, how did you get introduced to the guys?

I know Pierre from Lauter Unfug since long years and he asked if I want to do the remix. I just couldn’t resist as Lauter Unfug is definitely the most popular and successful label in and from Luxembourg! Those guys know exatly what they are doing, they do an amazing job.

Tell us about your DJ setup when you’re performing. Any plans to perform live?

For a long time I was playing strictly vinyl sets but lately I’m switching between vinyl and CDs, more and more often only CDs. Unfortunately turntables in clubs are quite uncommon nowadays so it’s time to adapt to the actual circumstances I guess 🙂 Often I was thinking of doing live performances too, but I don’t find the time to really get into it and honestly with all the possibilities we have today I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Do you have any other releases planned for the future that you want to share?

As mentioned before there’s the Completly Dangerous EP which includes 3 tracks named “Freeze”, “Ding Dong” and of course “Completly Dangerous” and 2 remixes by Betoko and Lily Pity.

Then on 1st of January 2019 I’ll have another EP called “Oh look a Penny” released on Ipsographic Records which is the label of my very good friend Marco Rota.