Grounded Theory foreman Henning Baer on techno and ADE

Oct 16, 2014 | by Anne Britt | Event

For a lot of people techno stole their heart at a young age. The raw rapid beats played in dark dusky venues did the same with a young Henning Baer once. Now he successfully runs his own booking and event agency called Grounded Theory and shows us how it’s done this Friday, during his own party at ADE. Time to get to know this techno specialist from Berlin.

The grounded theory method is a reversed research method in social science. What does that have to do with the name of your agency?
“I studied communication science and came across this research approach, which is based on empiricism. This is exactly how we work at Grounded Theory. all we do and everything we’re trying to realize is based on empiricism. The Grounded Theory is our approach, it fits perfectly.”

You started out throwing parties in Berlin back in 2009. Have the scene and your crowd changed since then?
“Of course the scene has changed. This is normal and good, we need changes. It’s what makes us feel alive. From the beginning our idea was to always have one eye into the past and one into the future. We celebrated five years of Grounded Theory last month and we’re very proud of the success we’re having. It gives us a good and satisfying feeling and keeps us going on.”

Henning Baer, Esther Suave

I remember meeting you one night at Studio 80. When did you start spinning in Amsterdam and why did you come back?
“Amsterdam is amazing! All the events I have played at were just great. I remember my first time playing here very well, for the Compound guys alongside their residents and Dimi Angelis at Studio 80. Since then I was always hyped when a new Amsterdam gig was confirmed. The best moments I had so far were at Trouw. It was my first time their playing for Sandrien and her Imprint night. I played along Milton Bradley and Sandrien while Heleen Blanken did the visuals. The whole night from the dinner onwards was perfect. Too bad Trouw is going to close.”

It’s a pretty exciting experience as there are so many parties just a few days. A lot of competition of course but we’re trying to present our idea of techno with a line-up we would present in Berlin as well.

What was your personal highlight of 2014?
“That would be my first North America tour. I spent two very inspiring weeks there and came back to Berlin fully loaded with ideas and new thoughts about music. Being on the road is not just going somewhere to play, for me it’s the whole experience itself; meeting people, all these new and different places, the conversations and the ‘difficult’ situations while being on the road. When I think about it: my highlight of 2014 is the year itself!”

Your upcoming party Grounded Theory x Raven Is Leven at Friday the 17^th of October is your first ADE party, isn’t it? What do you want to offer the crowd that is different from all the other parties during ADE?
“Correct, our night in cooperation with Raven Is Leven our first ADE party ever. It’s a pretty exciting experience as there are so many parties just a few days. A lot of competition of course but we’re trying to present our idea of techno with a line-up we would present in Berlin as well. We’ve been doing events outside of Berlin since a while, we visited cities like Stockholm, Milan and Vienna. Presenting our concept during ADE was an idea we were really interested in and we are very much looking forward to the night!”

You and Milton Bradley started producing together as K209 back in 2011. Is there any Dutch artist you’d like to collaborate with in the future and why?
“There are so many good talents living in or operating out of the Netherlands but currently there are no plans to work with a Dutch artist. Maybe this will change soon… Let’s see!”