We are Laurent and Kevin and have been DJ-ing together as Disco Sour for three years – in clubs but also with our mobile Cargo Bike disco. Our day jobs are in the hospitality sector, where Laurent works as a chef in Darmstadt and Kevin works as a barista in the Riese & Müller Corner Café. Music is more than just our hobby – it’s our passion. Disco Sour is known for its house tunes, including selected disco edits and Italian Eurodance hits: in short funky, Euro-NRG music.

We’ve been friends for almost ten years and have always “fed” each other music. When we’re DJ-ing together, it’s rather like a good conversation – or an extended game of ping pong: you always want to play one last track and surprise the other person. We don’t discuss our sets in advance, but just try to let things happen.

It’s so cool when we combine new music with old, creating a totally unique sound for the moment. Originally, we never planned to play club music. In the early days, we used to play world music, among other things in a Peruvian restaurant – that’s actually where the name Disco Sour originated, from the Pisco Sour cocktail. But then after a few evenings the penny dropped: we wanted to do more than just be background noise – we wanted to get people up dancing. And then the COVID pandemic happened.

All the clubs and bars literally closed their doors overnight. Back then, we temporarily totally lost our passion for electronic music. Luckily, Laurent arrived home one day with a few disco records and suggested that we should still play our music here and there. And so at some point we came up with the idea of a mobile Cargo Bike disco. If the clubs are staying shut, then we need to take the music to the people!

Kevin already had his Load 60 back then, but it took some time to convert a trailer and get hold of a battery for the record player and speakers. We launched our Load disco in May 2021. Over the summer, we DJ-ed all over Darmstadt in beautiful places where people get together: in front of the State Theatre, in loads of parks, on the Drachenberg Hill, along the Forest Art Trail and at the skate park.

It meant that we rushed home after work, grabbed something to eat and packed up the Load. We had to dismantle the record player and speakers every time and carry them down from the 3rd floor – not to mention our box of records that weighs 40 to 50 kg. Of course, we could also have loaded everything into a car, but a Cargo Bike has a very different vibe.

We’ve always said: the mobile Load disco is not an official event. People spontaneously get together – socially distanced, of course – dance and enjoy the moment. For us, it was about the art, the music, the performance and sharing. And the people really needed it! More and more people came along, although we promoted our gigs relatively late, and we got incredibly positive feedback.

The Cargo Bike disco showed that it is immaterial where and how – the main thing is that you get out there and do it. It led to many, many bookings. Recently we also played for the Darmstadt Regional Authority and even played a set at the Mathildenhöhe artists’ colony. Of course, you start to notice the lack of sleep after numerous gigs, but it’s simply so much fun. The Disco Sour sound is universal: Kevin’s granny was even up on the stage shaking her stuff at a recent festival. We look on ourselves as “vibe generators” – ideally taking things from chill to hype.

Follow Disco Sour on Instagram, listen to their “Favourites” on Spotify, or check out their set at the Forest Art Trail on YouTube.