Lukas Kranzelbinder, native from Austria, started to play keyboard in a school band at 13 years old in 2002. Then he fell in love with bass. He made is own projects right away while studying jazz at the University. In 2008, he launched is first CD. In 2015, first vinyl came out with Shake Stew, a band with 7 musicians. The project's unique feature lies in its dual drum and bass section. Nowadays, for 10 years anniversary of the ensemble, still with the same members, he’s producing "TEN ONE TWO", an jazz album to be released by Traumton Records, who owns a magic recording studio in Berlin since 1989. As Danyèl Waro, Naissam Jalal and Prince lovers, this interview is bound to have a great time.

Welcome Lukas, a glass of?
Whiskey Sour please.

How was your childhood environment, where it was, did you have vinyl… 
I spent the first seven years of my life in Vienna before moving to Klagenfurt (where I was also born) in the south of Austria with my mother. Although she’s never been a musician herself my mother is very passionate about music. I think I got a lot of that from her. She had a vinyl collection at home, and we regularly went to see live concerts – I still remember when she took me to see Ibrahim Ferrer for example. One time she was working in Vienna and found out that Elton John and Billy Joel were playing a show there, so she somehow arranged for me to come to Vienna (I was still 10 I think) and we went to see the concert together. I am very thankful for that early “music education” as I always felt that music education has a lot to do with emotional education as well. 

Your first approach to music production? 
I stumbled into our school band as a keyboard player when I was 13 (in 2002), but as there was no bass player they asked me if I could imagine playing bass. This kind of changed everything and I never looked back. I started to do my own projects right away while studying Jazz at the University and made my first own CD when I was 19 I think (in 2008). First vinyl came with 26 I think (2015).

How many vinyls do you have in your private collection and when you are digging what obsesse you? 
Puh hard to say, I think I have around 200-300 in my home at the moment. I live with my wife and my two kids (12 and 9) so the space is limited. But I started to involve them into putting on a vinyl from the very beginning, so nowadays when I am at a record store I search for stuff I like as much as stuff they like. My son recently got into Michael Jackson, so I finally got Thriller and Bad and all of those on vinyl. Personally, I am a bit obsessed with Italian Songwriters of the 70s like Lucio Battisti. But I am also always on the hunt for jazz stuff: Last week I found a great copy of African Marketplace (Dollar Brand) as well one of my favourite Don Cherry records (Om Shanti Om). My deep love for Maloya is difficult to fulfil in terms of vinyl as most of the records are not available in our vinyl stores. But I once found Alain Péters « Vavanguèr » – which is one of my favourite albums of all time – at Groove City in Hamburg so this was one of the highlights of my hunt for vinyl. 

Can you explain us the story behind your band, from your early days and how has your music evolved?
I started the band when I got a commission from Jazzfestival Saalfelden, which gave me the perfect starting ramp to set up a project as big as Shake Stew. Initially I only planned to keep it for 1 year, as I did not think it was possible to keep up a band of 7 people for much longer. Little did I know (laugh). The premiere went through the roof - at least in jazz terms - and we were able to gather a lot of people at our concerts pretty fast. For me its always been the perfect medium to fulfil my musical visions. There are not many bands that play and work constantly over such a long period. And I think you can hear that in our sound and interplay. While I feel like we found a way to include way more of all the different styles we love into our music, there is also a clearer path on how we want to channel our energy at live shows in the most ecstatic way. If you have 7 people on stage you need everyone to go all in, but at the same time keep their full attention at any moment, have a lot of discipline, humbleness and always try to add to the energetic development. I think we gathered a lot of experience over the year in perfecting this kind of process.

Can you explain the story-concept behind « Ten one Two » LP, how you compose, record the song, mastering, etc?
For our anniversary I wanted to record an album that brings together all the different aspects of the band. Our focus for live shows has become the switch between composed material and lengthy jams with part composed and part improvised passages. It’s been tricky to capture these two worlds on albums in recent years, so I am very happy we found a way to do it on TEN ONE TWO. My initial plan was to split the album in three parts: One containing mostly composed material and with pretty much the same approach as recent albums, the second one focussing on jams and improvised sessions and the third one capturing more of a song/club-aspect of the band with vocals features and stuff like that. 
During the studio sessions for TEN ONE TWO we worked with our longtime studio engineer Werner Angerer who is a master of recording acoustic instruments in the absolute highest way possible. He is also super fast which is necessary in a setup like ours: In order to achieve this idea of Ten One and Ten Two I created a workflow where we recorded in separate rooms during the day (f.e. Wood », « Bakunawa », « Ascendance »..) and then all in the same room for the jams during the evenings (Everything on Side D and some of Side C) – so we basically needed two different studio line ups in one studio. That was crazy. In addition to Werner we had Pablo Herrasti-Fajardo with us who set up a third (!) mini-studio in an old hallway and recorded separately (f.e. Tristan Junk, Cabanes/Castellon, The Green Beauty of the Broken World). Pablo also did some production work meaning he would take a recording made on the day before and build a new track-foundation out of it. In the post-production we involved our live-technician Markus Wallner to mix Side D (because these tracks are closer to our live sound) and for the first time Lukas Klement, who is mainly a indie-producer/mixing engineer. Lukas gave Bakunawa, Searching, Garage and Café San Marco the sound I was longing for.

« Tiger » and « The Green Beauty of the Broken World » song without drum sound different. Why, can you explain? 
Actually, there are drums/percussion on both songs but its very little and probably hard to identify as drums. In our band I always try to make everyone aware that the collective sound is more important than the individual one. So if it’s a song, that feels not like a groove, our drummers will either pause or add whatever texture they feel. In the case of “Tiger” its mainly gongs and cymbals, with “The Green Beauty of the Broken world” mostly a snare drum and cymbals, but very closely recorded and played super soft, so you can get a very “not-drumset-like” sound.

Your best song or top 3 song of « Ten one Two » LP?
That’s hard, I love the journey of this album so much that I feel it more as a whole piece than separate songs. I guess Wood is one of my favorites because it has such a big musical arc and I really love the changing interplay between everyone. I also like « Bakunawa » a lot, but it really depends on what my heart is longing for, as something like cabanes/castellon is a completely different kine of approach. I also consider the full D Side as kind of 1 track to be honest (on the vinyl and CD there are no breaks between the songs).

Can you explain the artwork of the LP design by Schorsch Feierfeil?
Schorsch is amazing! I told him about the concept for the album, with the two parts and that there are compositions but also more open sessions and improvised songs on it. So he took several watercolour paintings he did and placed them above each other to create this visual world where many influences float together as one.

Your maximum BPM?
(Laugh) The best question I ever got at an interview. Hard to say, depends on how you count it, but the fastest song for our drummers is “Dancing in the Cage of a Soul” (original version is at 172bpm) and there were times on tour where we had this at 192bpm I think….which is insanely fast to play the 16th note snare drum pattern.

In your live performances, how much of it is improvisation?  

You also use a modular synthesizer. All your concerts must be different;  how long do they last?
If we can play as long as we want we would probably never stop because its so much fun – but normally a show is around 100 – 120 Minutes. We play a lot of festival slots though, which are always restricted to 1 hour or sometimes even less. If we have the time, then we open up some of the songs for very long improvisations and connect several pieces with each other. I just always try to immerse the audience in a different world while they are at our shows and this way it works best.

Have you ever had tracks from your catalogues remixed,  and do you draw inspiration from electronic music?
« TEN THREE » will have quite a bit of that. When I listen to electronic music, I always feel inspired by those beats and structures that break up norms.

Your best memory on stage?
I fondly remember our shows with Shabaka Hutchings and how much energy he brought with his playing, loved that a lot. Also performing at North Sea Jazz Festival was an amazing experience that made me very proud. Playing the Guembri at Jazz au Chellah in Morocco was also amazing. Musically I think our performance of the song I can feel the heat closing in from a show in Vienna (video) was one of the highest level we ever reached as a band on stage, as this song is so incredibly hard to play and we worked for months to keep disciplined and not “overplay” too early in order for the energy to build up until the very end.

You worst memory on stage?
With Shake Stew I never really had a bad experience to be honest. There were really tricky concerts because of technical difficulties, but the band always found a way to cook. 

If you could have a short conversation with an artist…
Prince. Saw him in 2010 and to this day I’ve never seen anything like it.

Your favorite instrument and hardware?
I do not really have a favorite instrument, but I really love the tenor sax, double bass as well as the Guembri of course. And drum, but everyone loves drums. (Laugh)

What memory do you have of winning the AAMA prize in 2023 and is it an advantage in the continuation of your musical journey?
I remember feeling really proud at the ceremony, because so many people gave us the feeling that they are happy for us and that it was super special, that an instrumental band won this award - which apparently nearly ever happens. I think it was an advantage yes.

Your favorite record label?
I’ve listened a lot to Analog Africa over the years, always great stuff. But I also love labels like Nonesuch Records or International Anthem, who are releasing a lot of great stuff at the moment.

Your top 5 venues in Vienna?
Porgy & Bess is our home-base, so I gotta name that on 1. There used to be a place called Blue Tomato but unfortunately it had to close. Wiener Konzerthaus is one of my favorite venues to play in as it has such a long history and is such an epic place. There is an Open Air venue called Arena which I am working hard on finally playing there – this would be a dream. 

What comes to your mind if I mention AI?
I strong desire to go even more analogue and get back together with everyone to create music together as soon as possible.

Do you have other passions? Are you interested in graffiti, painting...
Unfortunately, I am a nearly lifelong Manchester United fan – and pulled my son into it, so now we are suffering together. But I went to Old Trafford with my family for the first time in my life in April and we experienced one of the most incredible games of all time; 5-4 againt Lyon city. The emotion inside this stadium when they scored 3 goals in the last 8 minutes is hard to describe. Absolutely overwhelming. And it reminded me of “emotional education” my mother and taking me to live shows as a kid.

Your favorite adage?
The sky is the limit.

Your top 5 new releases?
- Jeff Parker « The Way Out of Easy »
- Little Simz « Lotus »
- Sirom « The liquified Throne of Simplicity  ». Not totally new, but amazing.
- Carlos Bica « 11:11 »

Your top 5 oldies? 
- Danyèl Waro « Kabar »
- Alain Péters « Vavanguèr »
- Blake Mills « Heigh Ho »
- Don Cherry « Om Shanti Om »
- Lucio Batisti « Emozioni or Il mio canto libero or Il nostro caro angelo » (impossible to choose)

What makes you proud of yourself today? 
Being able to speak about my own band with my own music and how we’ve been able to do what we do for a decade now – I do not take any of this for granted. 

Your favorite video link of Shake Two?
In terms of music videos its “Lila”, for live videos probably the one I mentioned above - I can feel the heat closing in - video stream below.

If you weren't a musician, you would be?
Hard to imagine something outside of the music industry. I could imagine myself as a promoter or Networker for international cooperations between festivals or something like that.

Your projects in 2026?
This anniversary takes up most of my focus for the year. Apart from the release tour we’ll also have some special shows over the summer (f.e. with Naissam Jalal as a special guest) and of course finish our work for the release of Ten Three. In March I am involved in the premiere of the final episode of a 5-part Opera I wrote for the Grazer Oper. This has been going on over the course of nearly 2 years and will find its big conclusion. I also have a trio called Interzone since 15 years and we recorded a live album with Danyèl Waro - who is my biggest musical hero. We should have played some shows last year again, but they got cancelled due to illness, so I hope to find a new possibility this year.

Interviewed by Dj coshmar / Photo by Victoria Nazarova.