Apollonia
Dan Ghenacia, Dyed Soundorom and Shonky: three Paris DJs, one label named after Prince’s Purple Rain era, and a strict back-to-back rule.
- Paris DJ trio and record label: Dan Ghenacia, Dyed Soundorom and Shonky.
- Launched in 2012, after the end of Ghenacia’s previous label, Freak n’ Chic.
- Debut album Tour à Tour released on Apollonia in November 2014.
Apollonia is a record label and a way of DJing. Since 2012, Dan Ghenacia, Dyed Soundorom and Shonky have played back-to-back-to-back as one act, with a fixed order for who plays first.
Three DJs, one friendship
All three came out of the Paris underground house scene. Dan Ghenacia had run the label Freak n’ Chic. When it closed, the timing suited everyone: Shonky has said that he and Dyed Soundorom had wanted to start a label together for some time, and the end of Freak n’ Chic gave the three of them a reason to do it. fabric noted that the new label took about a year to set up and that the three run it together, rather than Ghenacia alone.
“More than anything, Apollonia is the result of a long friendship,” Shonky told XLR8R.
A name from Prince
The name points to Prince. Attack Magazine connected it to Apollonia, the character who hands Prince his white guitar in Purple Rain; fabric cited Apollonia 6, the group Prince formed, and the Minneapolis sound. The first release kept the theme: Shonky’s The Minneapolis Touch EP in 2012. The second EP, Close to the Edge, was started in Berlin and finished in Ibiza. In the studio they worked with an Akai MPC3000 and a Roland SH-101.
The back-to-back rule
In 2012 the trio played back-to-back sets at Sónar, during the Winter Music Conference in Miami, at label launch parties in Paris and at DC10 in Ibiza, and made their debut in Room One at fabric in London. Their sets follow a fixed order: Ghenacia opens, then Shonky, then Dyed Soundorom. Ghenacia told XLR8R the rule is “very important”.
Tour à Tour and after
The trio’s debut album, Tour à Tour, came out on Apollonia in November 2014. It was conceived and produced in Berlin and mixed with help from Philippe Zdar and Alexkid. Remixes by Charles Webster, The Martinez Brothers, Mike Shannon, Thomas Melchior and others were planned across three EPs. In 2016 Ghenacia was based in Paris, while Shonky and Dyed Soundorom worked mainly from Berlin.
After the November 2015 attacks in Paris, Ghenacia told XLR8R the trio would “stand up and do what we do, which is playing music.” Shonky later started his own label, Stoned Pilot, while still playing as part of Apollonia.
For more from the same Paris circle, read our profiles of Dan Ghenacia and Ivan Smagghe.
FAQ
Who is in Apollonia?
Dan Ghenacia, Dyed Soundorom and Shonky, three DJs from the Paris underground house scene.
Why are they called Apollonia?
It is a nod to Prince: Attack Magazine linked it to Apollonia, the character in Purple Rain, and fabric to Apollonia 6, the group Prince put together.
What was the first release on Apollonia?
Shonky’s The Minneapolis Touch EP, in 2012. The trio’s debut album, Tour à Tour, followed on the label in November 2014.
