Ending a two year hiatus, across two consecutive days, within two massive warehouses. You guessed it: Time Warp US. Reprising their rep as the ultimate destination for underground raving and debauchery with a fresh new partnership with Teksupport, the festival are taking over east side of Brooklyn with a 48 hour audio visual immersion..

Delivering the peak energy cultivated by a 27 year history of techno-infused tribulations, Time Warp gives the people exactly what they want. Showcasing a plethora of the underground heroes who helped shape the soundtracks which reverberate off every surface, Time Warp brings back Richie Hawtin, loyal headliner and recent Prada collaborator. Breathing fresh air into its 2021 revival, Adriatique set to bring expertise to the decks, fans are promised a pitch-perfect performance from the likes of Paula Temple, Kobosil and a live showing by Reinier Zonneveld.

Raver-turned-founder of the Time Warp US franchise, Robin Ebinger talks about the mind-bending production which promises to set the dance floor alight. Conquering the debilitation of lockdowns and restrictions, there’s no time to party quite like the present.

Check out the interview below…

Hey Robin, how are you! How has this past year been for you?
I am fine thanks. Well, it was the second year in the pandemic, so we managed to get used to it somehow. We were fortunate enough to promote some smaller open air events in the summer and luckily we also  promoted a special Time Warp show which we called “Two Days | One Stage” on 29th and 30th October 2021 in Mannheim Germany. Usually we produce Time Warp in April and present 19 hours of music across 7 floors. So it was a “small” edition, with 8,000 max per day. But at least we were finally able to produce a show again and get back to some sort of routine. 

Loads of people picked up new skills during lockdown last year, did you try anything new?
We also thought about various possible new ventures and business fields. However, there wasn’t that much time to test new things. Pretty much our entire team was  working part-time, so we had a lot to do to keep the business running. As a result, we decided not to start any new projects. We concentrated on our structure and internal processes, started to optimize things and literally decluttered. 

Talk to us about Time Warp and those first years in Mannheim in the early 90s. How was the event first conceived and what were the goals?
To be honest for the first few years I attended Time Warp as a raver and friend of Steffen [Charles] with whom I have been a partner in Time Warp since 2003. Back then we had been competitors as I was running my own business with other events but our goals hadn’t been the same. We both drew from our experiences on the dancefloor and we wanted to build events that we would love to go as a guest ourselves, with the sound we loved. Back in the early 1990s, the music, the scene, and the locations were pretty underground. Imagine there was no such thing as Instagram nor were people using the internet that intensely. It was quite difficult in the beginning to get information about artists and events.  

It has such an extensive history, what has been a stand out moment for you?
There are many mind-blowing moments. Time Warp is so multifaceted especially with all the editions we have been presenting abroad in the past 15 years. My all time favorite would be the “Guude Laune” phenomena of Sven Väth in 2006. He went to the mic during his set in 2006 and presented his motto of the evening, which was “Guude Laune”— which translates to being in a cheerful mood and having a good time. Sven enriched this motto with various other sentences and exclamations. Some were a mixture of German and English such as “The message is Feierei” which means, “the message is to party.” What he probably didn’t realize was that the set was streamed on public radio. I believe that was the first real “viral” thing that went up on the internet around Time Warp. A few days after the set there were interactive websites set up, where people could pick different buttons that each played a different sentence from that infamous night. Then the weekend after Time Warp, Sven played somewhere abroad and lots of fans on the dance floor brought flags with “Guude Laune.”  Over the following summer, the phrase was eventually picked up as a mantra by festival goers of all types, including at rock festivals. “Guude Laune” was all over the news and featured in articles in the culture section of huge German daily papers. Time Warp is really a place where weird and special, unique things like that can unfold. Magic is always bound to happen.

With COVID affecting so many festivals, how do you think it’s changed the industry? Have you faced any challenges?
That is a good question and we could probably endlessly talk about the effects on the industry. One thing is pretty clear though, our industry represents quite the opposite of what you would do in a pandemic. It’s about getting together, having a common experience, meeting people from all over the world in one place, enjoying the energy of the crowd and so on. This is hardly something that can be reproduced by technology or streaming. It’s needless to say that the entertainment industry is heavily affected by the pandemic. People have been quite creative and pushed forward through the boundaries of technology. To me, however, there is no alternative to the live moment, to be on a real dance floor and feel the music. 

But now you’re back! And in partnership with Teksupport, how did this collaboration come about?
My partner Steffen met Rob Toma many years ago and he suggested to produce a show in NYC. This was shortly before our 20th Time Warp anniversary in 2014. So we thought it was a very good opportunity to have our first TW US in our anniversary year.

What can we expect from Time Warp US’ return to NYC? Any talent highlights or new production elements of note?
The highlight will be to be back on the dance floor with our fans and to have many artists play. We are more than happy about that. 

What are you most excited for?
I am very much looking forward to the new location in Brooklyn as this has already been the location for many impressive events recently. For Time Warp we are excited to grant our guests access to a second large warehouse, which has never been used for events before. This new warehouse will be the home of Floor 2. These two imposing buildings will be directly connected with one another, providing us with the ideal venue for techno and house all night long. See you on the dance floor!