We got on the phone with the international "hippie dancers," Pachanga Boys, a.k.a Mauricio Rebolledo and Aksel Schaufler (Superpitcher), before they return to New York to play Le Bain on Friday, August 5th.
LE BAIN: Allo? Pachanga Boys? We’re super happy to have you at Le Bain! What are the first things that come to your mind when you hear "summer in New York"?
PACHANGA BOYS: The heat, Lou Reed, Roberta’s, Coney Island, the Warriors, and of course, shopping with Tim Sweeney!
"We Can Rhyme" by Pachanga Boys(Hippie Dance 2011)
Aksel, are you still based in Cologne? Did you two meet there?
AKSEL: I was based in Cologne for more than 15 years before moving to Paris 4 years ago. We did spend a lot of time in Cologne together and the one of a kind duo of Pachanga Boys was born right there with the blessing of the Pope and Wolfgang Voigt. But we have met years earlier in Playa del Carmen where Mauricio used to live and I was invited to play. And somehow that was the beginning of the story. We even came up with the idea of a song on this very first day…
Mauricio, can you tell us what you like about Cologne?
Mauricio, can you tell us what you like about Cologne?
MAURICIO: Cologne became a very important city for me. I always felt welcome there. Aksel had a cool little room for me in his apartment where I would spend basically half a year back in the day. We would ride our bikes all over town doing all kinds of relaxed, cool activities, work at the Kompakt studios, and were always laughing, brainstorming, and rhyming, which lead to the accidental creation of Pachanga Boys and later Hippie Dance. It was a great time in history.
"A happy-sweaty-go-lucky dance with a Charleston touch.”
Your first album was recorded half in Cologne and half in Mauricio's hometown of La Pitaya, Mexico. Aksel, what's your favorite thing about La Pitaya?
AKSEL: La Pitaya is a place of love, happiness, beauty, family, la sopa famosa, great cars, and Cuco, one of our mentors. We would spend many winters there kicking back and getting inspired by our favorite towns and our favorite tacos. We paid tribute to all of this on our first album.
"Hippie Dance" is your moto and the name of your label. In what way is your definition of hippie different from the ’60s?
Did you know that as a dance, Pachanga has been described as a "happy-go-lucky dance of Cuban origin with a Charleston flavor”? How would you describe your own way of dancing?
That’s pretty much how we would like to describe it: "a happy-sweaty-go-lucky dance with a Charleston touch.”
"Hippie Dance" is your moto and the name of your label. In what way is your definition of hippie different from the ’60s?
Less ideologic, less patchouli, sadly less naked people…here and now, with Hippie Dance, we’d like to celebrate a modern definition of freedom in general and especially in musical expression.
"Cosmic Day" by Sebastien Bouchet (Hippie Dance 2016)
Due to a lot of reasons, including your solo careers, you’re never at the same spot together for too long. Is that a good or bad thing?
It is so nice and wonderful to travel all over the place, and indeed, sometimes it's super hard to never stand still and basically always miss somebody. Too many "goodbyes," but also many "great to see you agains." It’s about finding the balance. We are getting better at it after 20 years of trying. [Laughs.]
You two are one of the best things happening in the scene. What’s your plan to spread your good influence worldwide?
On Friday, August 5th, Le Bain presents Pachanga Boys
The Standard, High Line | 10pm
