“We Met on Tinder”: From Berlin to Brooklyn with Electronic Duo Brutalismus 3000

Last Thursday night, I was waiting to get into the Brooklyn Mirage when three girls ahead of me insisted they were on the guest list. They weren’t. After a public freakout—yelling, crying, bargaining—they left. It was probably for the best because the Mirage couldn’t have fit three more people. It was totally at capacity. Inside the warehouse, I accidentally bumped into a pregnant woman who, despite being in at least her second trimester, head-banged along to the music. Thousands of people filled every dark crevice, all of them sweaty and most on molly, hiding behind a pair of sunglasses. The Berlinification of New York City’s nightlife has been gestating for a while, and here it was finally realized thanks to the Berlin-based “nu-gabber, post punk techno” duo: Theo Zeitner and Victoria Vassiliki Daldas of Brutalismus 3000. Vassiliki Daldas, or “Vicky,” as her partner calls her, floated around the stage like an angel in an all-white Willy Chavaria tracksuit while Zeitner stayed put behind the booth. That’s how they play off each other’s energy, even in conversation—Vassiliki Daldas constantly giggling, and Zeitner her more stoic, less spacey counterpart. Just after a night out with The Dare at Baby’s All Right, followed by their soundcheck in the still-empty warehouse, Brutalismus 3000 were nursing a hangover as we sat down to chat about soulmates, aliens, CEO killers, and “techno snobs.”

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EMMA STOUT: How are you guys feeling?

THEO ZEITNER: Good.

STOUT: Other than—

ZEITNER: The little hangover. But last year, New York was our favorite show ever.

STOUT: At the Knockdown Center?

ZEITNER: Yeah. We had a moment where we had goosebumps on stage, and we don’t usually have that. Especially because we’re touring a lot. I hope they can deliver that energy—well, us and the audience.

VICTORIA VASSILIKI DALDAS: Yeah.

STOUT: When one of you gets goosebumps, does the other get goosebumps?

ZEITNER: Probably, yeah. One moment we looked at each other, and I think we both knew exactly what the fuck happened. It was really crazy.

STOUT: That’s sweet. What’s up with the pickles? This is your hangover cure?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Mm-hmm.

ZEITNER: Actually, drinking it is really good.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: My Polish best friend said it’s like drinking electrolytes. Special sugars, salt and everything. I just drank a shot before.

STOUT: Oh, a pickle juice shot. I want to talk about you guys as a couple because you are so cute—

ZEITNER: Thanks.

STOUT: Do you believe in soulmates?

ZEITNER: Yeah, I guess I do now. Sure.

STOUT: Now? That’s sweet.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I almost cried with emotions.

ZEITNER: It’s the hangover.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: [Laughs] Yeah.

STOUT: I saw the Tinder billboard outside and I thought about you guys.

ZEITNER: Tinder billboard? Was it here?

STOUT: It’s literally across the street. They should sponsor you.

ZEITNER: They did. We said in interviews very early on that we met on Tinder, and then in one interview we made a threat that if they don’t pay us, we’re going to say we met on Bumble.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: [Laughs] Bumble.

ZEITNER: It’s obviously perfect, especially in Berlin. To Tinder, we’re like the cool underground couple. If you go on Tinder, that’s kind of the dream. So we made this really cool commercial, and we also made a billboard in Berlin. It was like 30 meters… You do meters, right?

STOUT: No.

ZEITNER: No, you do feet. True?

STOUT: Yeah.

ZEITNER: It’s insane. The billboard was huge with our faces on them. We drove past that all the time.

STOUT: What about you, Victoria? Thoughts on soulmates?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Yeah. I definitely believe as well.

STOUT: Yes, yes, yes. Wait, I was thinking about this. When you guys have sex, do you ever listen to your own music?

ZEITNER: No. That would be silly.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: [Laughs] No.

ZEITNER: That would be insane. I know people who do that. I’m not going to say a name, but I had a friend who’s also a musician say that they sometimes do this during hookups, which is even weirder.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: That’s too narcissistic.

STOUT: Theo, I want to ask about your quote that the techno scene is really “unstylish.” Were you talking about the fashion elements of techno?

ZEITNER: It was kind of a mean comment, but it was fashion and generally, you know, the artwork and everything. Especially hard techno now, I find it so incredibly ugly. I’m not going to drop names again, but the whole AI cyborg fucking aesthetic—we really hate it. We don’t really feel at home in the techno scene. Also, they don’t really see us—like, techno snobs, you know?

STOUT: Yeah. So if you don’t feel at home in the techno world, whose approval are you guys looking for, if anyone?

ZEITNER: I mean, we worked with Dylan Brady from 100 gecs for the new record, which is a pretty big deal. I think we’re getting there slowly. And we have high-tech fans, of course. They’re cool as well. I don’t hate the fans at all.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: No.

ZEITNER: Not even the fans of the artists I find cringey, you know? I love hard techno. It’s fun to dance to, for sure. But we are trying to branch out a little bit. It worked last year—playing Primavera Festival in Europe and crossover festivals. We were the only act that was kind of hard techno style, so it works really well for us. We play with the genre. [But] we’re not going to make a full hard techno thing.

STOUT: Can you guys gabber dance? Hakken?

ZEITNER: A little bit. Before we started our band, we went to Thunderdome, which is the biggest gabber festival in the world. It’s where gabber actually originated. 

VASSILIKI DALDAS: They have this roller coaster.

ZEITNER: Yeah, they have a Thunderdome themed rollercoaster.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: People were on ecstasy on the rollercoaster. No one wanted to ride with me.

ZEITNER: Not in the state we were in. Then we danced a little bit, but people looked at us weird. It was so fun.

STOUT: Gabber hasn’t really caught on in the US like it has in Europe.

ZEITNER: It’s not even listening to gabber anymore, but the kids like to gabber dance. It changed like two years ago. We always made fun of the old dance they used to do, and now they gabber dance.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: True. Especially in Berlin.

ZEITNER: They do the leg work, but they have different arm works.

STOUT: And different facial expressions, too.

ZEITNER: It’s a cool dance, actually. I wouldn’t want to dance like that, but it’s not the worst.

STOUT: Who’s your dream B2B?

ZEITNER: B2B as a DJ would be Skrillex, I think. I love Skrillex, and I think it could happen one day. But it’s hard for me because I’m not the biggest fan of DJ-ing in general. The production is where I’m creative. DJ-ing is just kind of a machine’s work. 

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Deathgrips or something would be nice. But unfortunately—

ZEITNER: No, I heard they got back together, apparently. It was just two weeks of a gap.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: That was quick.

ZEITNER: Yeah. But Skrillex is my favorite.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: That would be insane.

STOUT: I read that you thought techno was kind of stupid, right? Before you started making it. Has your opinion changed now?

ZEITNER: My opinion changed on a lot of things since we started. When we started, I was a little bit more angry and fresh into the scene, and we tried to defend ourselves.

STOUT: How old were you guys when you started?

ZEITNER: I was 24? Yeah.

STOUT: Okay.

ZEITNER: Vicky said it is a secret.

STOUT: A lot of your music is obliquely political in a way, especially early on. What would the name of your manifesto be?

ZEITNER: “Fuck shit up.”

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I don’t know. It would be something more positive now.

ZEITNER: But like—

VASSILIKI DALDAS: The text would be angry.

ZEITNER: And “We’ll kill a CEO.” I think that’s what I would do.

STOUT: Bonnie and Clyde shit. Wait, have you guys seen the Luigi posters around New York?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: No, but—

ZEITNER: We were in town when it happened.

STOUT: Oh, shit.

ZEITNER: I didn’t see it, but we were close. We were on Broadway. It was like, I don’t know, 10 minutes away.

STOUT: What was the energy like afterward? I wasn’t around.

ZEITNER: It was crazy. It felt kind of exciting as well, because usually you’re far away. Suddenly everyone was learning what happened. Seeing that unfold in real time was really nice. 

VASSILIKI DALDAS: It changed something in the people, I think.

ZEITNER: I hope it changed something in the rich people that were actually targeted—that they’re more afraid.

STOUT: But Victoria, what was the change you saw?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I think people saw the public response, and the public response was not what they expected. I mean, it’s still a murder, but people were actually really supportive.

STOUT: Do you guys think he’s going to be found guilty?

ZEITNER: It’s not a good thing that they seized the manifesto and the murder weapon. But they’re pretty sure that he did it, so I don’t know.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I think they want him, though. They want to make a point.

ZEITNER: They will make a point, for sure. 

STOUT: I read that he was planted in that McDonald’s, and it wasn’t actually him.

ZEITNER: Also, fuck that McDonald’s worker.

STOUT: But there’s so many conspiracy theories, you know?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I love conspiracy theories.

ZEITNER: You love conspiracy theories.

STOUT: What’s the conspiracy theory you find most believable?

ZEITNER: We just started watching Ancient Aliens again. That’s an American show, right?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Yeah.

ZEITNER: It’s so chill. Actually I’m very wary about conspiracy theories because it often leads into fascist ideologies. But aliens, they don’t really hurt. And I believe it. A lot of times I think, “This makes no sense—it has to be aliens.”

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Yeah, this is our favorite. We watch it every evening and fall asleep.

ZEITNER: Yeah, we have the TV on the whole night.

STOUT: Do you have crazy dreams after?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Yeah, I do.

STOUT: I’m a lucid dreamer.

ZEITNER: I am too.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Me too.

ZEITNER: But I have sleep paralysis. I trained it as a teenager because I really wanted to learn how to lucid dream. Most of my dreams I know that I’m dreaming, but I just cannot control it. Unless it’s like the moment my brain gets too awake, everything is fading and then I go into a state of sleep paralysis, which is annoying.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I have to wake him up sometimes.

ZEITNER: But sometimes you don’t hear. In my mind, I’m screaming.

STOUT: What’s on your tour rider? What do you guys have over there?

ZEITNER: We’ve got water. We’ve got some chilled beer.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Takis. Pickles.

ZEITNER: Tequila. Right before we go on stage, we always drink a shot of tequila with everyone who drinks on our team. Not everyone drinks, apparently.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: We have magic cards, but we never get them so we are all sad.

STOUT: What are the magic cards?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: It’s like a card game. A little nerdy one.

ZEITNER: Yes.

STOUT: Like Dungeons and Dragons type shit?

ZEITNER: It’s that vibe. It’s like a competitive card game that is super nerdy and super fun. We started playing last year.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: It’s just nice to open a booster, you know?

ZEITNER: But they never buy it. Never. We had it once in L.A. They got it for us.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Really unprofessional—

ZEITNER: We’re not going to go on stage.

STOUT: Let’s do a quick round of questions: Sunglasses inside, yes or no?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Yes.

ZEITNER: Yeah, it’s pretty cool.

STOUT: Bra, on or off?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I never wear a bra, but on stage I wear a sports bra.

STOUT: Do you guys fuck with skinny jeans?

THEO ZEITNER: It’s coming back, right?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: I’m too short for skinny jeans.

ZEITNER: I wore the original style. It’s the first time in my life that a style is coming back that I wore when I was a teenager. It’s what I unironically wore, and it’s coming back already. But we are so into baggy that it’s kind of hard. Also, I don’t like the look of it at all right now.

STOUT: If the world was ending, what would you guys wear?

VASSILIKI DALDAS: A track suit.

ZEITNER: A track suit? Yeah.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Matching track suits, yeah.

STOUT: Are you excited for Vegas next? Is it like, confetti cannons and pyro shit?

ZEITNER: The stage looks insane. It’s not our style, but our light designer already bought and put out all the colors. We’ll make it our style. But we’re really, really excited for this one. I think this is our biggest show so far.

STOUT: Yeah?

ZEITNER: If the people show up, it’s something like 60K capacity. It’s insane. We plan to premiere a bunch of the songs off our new record. We’ll also have some surprises.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: But no confetti.

ZEITNER: Not even pyro. We’re going to do a minimal set with a million strobes.

STOUT: Nice. Last question: where are the afters tonight?

ZEITNER: Actually, we don’t know. We’re not going out for once, I think.

VASSILIKI DALDAS: Maybe in our hotel room.

ZEITNER: We’re fucking shit up either way. 100 emoji.