One of the most incendiary DJ/producers in the world has emerged from his smoldering techno dungeon long enough to shed some hotly anticipated insight on his dastardly hopes, dreams, and shocking genesis. Beginning in the German club scene around 30 years ago, Hanzel has recently made waves in the American dance music scene. However, his plot for total dance music domination has been hard-fought, as he regularly comes to spoken blows with Dillon Francis. “My relationship with Dillon Francis is like Yin and Yang. I am Yin and he is Yang,” Hanzel says. “If Yang slept on Yin’s couch and ate all of his wienerschnitzel in his mini-fridge, that would be the extent of our relationship.” An alleged thief of his own handicraft (Hanzel is both Francis’ nemesis and alter ego—a proper EDM Jekyll and Hyde.), Hanzel holds firm that in fact, Dillon Francis is not a friend.
Supposedly born on Christmas day, DJ Hanzel grew up in the outskirts of southern Germany before making his way to Dusseldorf. Resenting his birthday’s coinciding with such a prominent holiday, Hanzel would have much preferred to been born on a boring day—or not at all. Toiling to avoid the eternal spotlight at his back, Hanzel spent his teenage years in Dusseldorf meandering the back alleys of the underground. On the final night of Dusseldorf’s Oktoberfest celebration one year, Hanzel wandered into a dark and hazy bar. Manning the decks at this late hour was none other than techno greats Kraftwerk, or in Hanzel’s eyes, not so great. From Hanzel himself, “The flagrant showmanship and swagger from Kraftwerk just turned my stomach and made me want to throw up. So I began finding ways to perform, being completely motionless and to avoid the vulgar displays [from] Kraftwerk.” His own DJ sets began to incorporate their own set of nuances, like being “wrapped like a mummy, or even put on a block of ice, like a little otter pop.” Abhorred with Kraftwerk’s theatrics, Hanzel wrote to the German government asking for the arrest of such a group.
With little success or help from the government, Hanzel set in search of his life’s purpose. He cursed that his contemporaries “would not go one deeper” dubbing them far too “mainstream.” Out of spite and distaste, Hanzel became a producer and DJ, ravaging the underground club circuit in Germany for years before he was finally found. In a Stuttgart club, Hanzel was attacked on stage by a Rottweiler, which propelled his name throughout Deutschland. One of the biggest music executives in Germany even offered Hanzel a multi-million dollar record deal, but Hanzel refused, stating that his music was designed to be heard by three people: “That is my left ear, my right ear, and the floppy lobes that are connected to them, which I guess I would make that four people.” Turning this offer down, Hanzel’s infamy caught on like disco, and he now alleges he has to fight off the corporate interests of his American arch-nemesis Dillon Francis.
In January, DJ Hanzel released his first-ever album on his very own One Deeper Records. Against his own wishes, Francis forced Hanzel to release his own music. A few months ago, Hanzel was fed up, and took Francis to court. The judge ruled that Hanzel stole Francis’s resounding bassline from their joint effort, “Make Me Feel.”
Bound to Francis as a collaborator by law, Hanzel had no choice but to sit idly by as the collaborative effort kept flowing. Hanzel’s debut single dropped in 2020. Still green to the blistering spotlight he claims to loathe, Hanzel can’t seem to escape fame, especially amid his recent LP release, anti everything. Already garnering over 200,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, Hanzel says he would have preferred 0 listeners (besides himself).
With Francis as his only painstaking collaborator thus far, Hanzel has yet to branch out and work with other artists (to no one’s surprise). Comparing himself to the great Beethoven, Hanzel notes, “The only person I have ever considered even remotely in my sphere is Stephen Hawking.” With such lofty expectations for a musical partner, Hanzel is still looking for the next great artist to allow a hand in his work. He is currently on the hunt for “the next great Astrophysicist” since he says he “would very much like to create a song in a black hole one day and have it destroy him instantaneously.” Undoubtedly his most cogent goal in music, Hanzel urges anyone listening or reading to reach out to him through Pigeon Mobile if they have whereabouts of a willing Astrophysicist. A project of this magnitude has never been accomplished and Hanzel would love to be the first producer to create music in outer space.
Hanzel has only played a handful of performances in the United States over the last few years, with recent sets coming at Exchange LA, Nocturnal Wonderland, and Coachella. As his corporate presence continues to grow (against his wishes), it only makes sense that we will continue to see Hanzel pop up in American clubs and festivals. Unable to confirm on his future plans, the only thing he could announce right now is that he will “continue to perform in the greatest show of all which is life.”
The real question we should be asking according to Hanzel is do we get an encore… Answer unknown. From Hanzel himself, “If there is indeed an encore you must choose the right last song.” What is the correct final song?
“That’s a question for you.”
Featured image: DJ Hanzel/Instagram
