INTERVIEW || FUR COAT

Currently based in Barcelona, hailing from Venezuela, DJ/production duo Sergio Muñoz and Israel Sunshine have toured consistently for six years, bringing Fur Coat’s dark, deep, layered sound to dozens of countries and thousands of fans. With critically-acclaimed releases, collaborations with artists including Sasha, Slam, Tale of Us, Nicole Moudaber and most recently Radio Slave, the pair have been a consistent fixture on the techno circuit and continue to grow as they focus on their label, Oddity, more releases and have an eye towards label showcases.

I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with the pair recently. We talked about an upcoming EP on their label, their connection to Radio Slave (who provides a remix), habits and mindsets that have helped them to evolve as artists and find balance on the road, what always makes them happy and advice they’d offer someone wanting to pursue a career in this field.

Enjoy getting to know Fur Coat!

Hi Sergio and Israel, thank you for taking the time to speak with us here at MJD!

Thank you for having us!

You have a new EP coming out on your label Oddity, which includes a Radio Slave remix - congratulations! Can you tell us a bit about how that came about? Your production process as a duo and connecting with Radio Slave?

Yes! This is the last EP from us this year and we wanted to put it out on our label. We’ve known Matt for a while as some years ago we toured Australia together. We had a nice vibe going on from that day, so we connected and kept in touch. We have connected in several parts of the world and also we always talk about art, shop recommendations around the world, food and some other topics that we share in common. So aside from the good relationship, Radio Slave has always been an artist we admire and love his music. I think every time he releases new music, it’s probably in our sets. So finally after talking a while about it we found a track he liked from us, and the time was right to have him on board on the label.

You’ve been touring steadily for many years now - how do you maintain your balance on the road, and with the lifestyle in general?

Yeah, it’s been six years non-stop and we feel fortunate we have the opportunity to do this. Regarding the balance on the road I think you get it with the experience over the years. It’s just trying to eat clean, sleep well when you can, not over party when it’s not necessary and when we are at home during the week or during a tour try to do as much normal life as possible. Normal things like going to the studio, exercising and the other side of the business that no one sees from meetings to organizing a lot of things we aim to do over the year. Aside from that we always try to disconnect and do our hobbies or spend time with our wives, family and friends. Balance is the key to hold it together in this career, especially when you are flying so often and having constant changing patterns all the time.

Is there anything that would make your life easier when it comes to building your career or life on the road?

One thing we don’t do while being on tour outside of Europe, is being able to produce. We are fairly comfortable when creating music in our studios and we haven’t been able to transfer this to on the road. Of course being able to travel with your loved one’s such as your wife, is also good, as we spend so much time on the road. You want the most comfort as possible and the most similar environment as being at home, as in between airplanes and hotels you end up spending more time there than at your own home.

How have you both changed over the course of your career? Any thoughts or habits that have helped you to evolve?

Definitely! The road makes you mature. It’s a constant learning of not only music but life itself. You get to experience so many things and meet so many people who are also part of this evolution. You always have to have habits to keep it healthy. At first you probably say yes to all parties and don’t care about trying to drink less on a night or eat healthier or even exercise on the road. All these habits as well as sleeping the most you can even before a gig really help us on doing it more consciously and also feeling better in our minds, body and spirit.

What always makes you happy?

A good gig! A good reaction of the crowd to a new track from us. Good food from the places we visit, as this is something that when time passes by you can connect your memories to a certain place. Definitely our families makes us happy as well as seeing good friends you make on the road. You build up so many relationships through touring, that when you go to cities you always have a bunch of good friends - it feels like meeting up with friends from school, or that you grew up with almost.

What advice would you give someone who wants to pursue DJing and production? 

It’s a difficult and competitive career, but you have to pursue your dreams. So if you believe in what you do and stay true to yourself, there is nothing impossible to achieve. One thing is that once you get into this for a career, it becomes a lifestyle that you really have to give your everything to. It has a lot of sacrifices, but at the same time all the rewards and, at least for us, it’s just priceless.

What are you looking forward to next?

We are always working on new music. For next year we have in the pipeline three remixes. One for Oliver Huntemann, one for Sasha and one for some new artists on Family Name Label. So now when we are back from the tour we are going to continue working on new music, aside from planning new stuff for Oddity music-wise, and hopefully trying to start showcasing shows!

Thanks so much again for the awesome insight and taking the time to chat with us here!