Our infrequent mix series passed the 20th edition milestone with that fella from the Foals so we decided it was time for a change – out go the cosmic prisms and animals floating in space and in comes a new clean design which will look equally stush on your iPhone. We also noted that it’s been a decidedly male affair to date with only one half of Lovers & Gamblers repping the fairer sex to date.

The balance eeks towards a state of redress with London and Berlin dwelling DJ duo the Moustache Mamas taking care of duties for the 21st edition. Those who reside in either city and attend club nights on the reg will no doubt have shaken booty to a Moo Mamas set at some point over the past few years. I vaguely recall having a very enjoyable evening soundtracked by them in Bardens Boudoir circa 2008, and more recently they’ve been tearing a new hole in the Berlin nightlife with their Hott Boxx night.

With the growing success of that still ringing in their ears like an evening spent too close to a monitor speaker and the news that they are about to launch a new record label, now seemed the perfect time to call on them to drop a mix as welll as conducting an interview that stretched from London to Berlin via California.

Hi Tam & Helen, thanks for doing the mix I guess we should start with the name– what’s the story behind it?

Do you mean our DJ name or the name of the mix?

Well the DJ name but there’s clearly a story behind the mix too!

Can’t really remember how the Moustache Mamas name came about to be honest. It was a friend of ours, Melisa that came up with it. Us girls always refer to each other as ‘mama’ and I think the ‘moustache’ part was a silly suggestion at first but know I think it’s a good reflection of our tops-off party style in a male dominated industry.

The name of the mix was conceived while Helen was watching all of the Nathan Barley series back to back. It was taken from one of many of Nathan’s outstanding quotes!

So you currently reside in Berlin and London respectively, has that always been the case as I remember you guys being on London bills for parties like Friends & Family…. and then you guys sort of disappeared for a while but more recently  I’ve seen you play alongside Mighty Mouse in Hoxton etc So what’s the deal?

London was where we both met and where it all started, Helen still lives here but Tam moved to Berlin about 2 and a half years ago. We set up our party, Hot Boxx in Berlin 17 months ago and have been playing the Berlin circuit pretty hardcore ever since. It’s been great!

London is a tough place to host a party, fees are low & almost no one wants to pay a cover charge, so we’ve sort of hollowed out our own niche in Berlin as it’s been a lot more receptive & easier to host events. We’ve had our venue close on us last minute only a few hours to go and have managed to shift the party and still have a great night. That’s the beauty of being in Berlin and knowing the right people; it’d be a lot harder to pull that off in London.

We’d still love to be playing more frequently in London though; it’s definitely something we would like to do. We’re here in London in October playing at Electric Minds and Slowpoke.

Speaking of Hot Boxx, it seems quite fun, and a world away from the gritty, throbbing, dark recesses of Berghain et al – with two years behind are there any risqué tales you can share from your monthly residency?

Hot Boxx takes place in a very special little gritty basement called Kleine Reise. In Berlin the crowds are always fun and massively up for a party. Initially we were a little apprehensive as to how the party would go down in Berlin as a lot of nights were predominantly techno lead. The first Hotboxx was rammed and has been the same for a year and a half now, the crowd is always so much fun. One of the best nights was with the Crystal Mafia girls hosting a photo booth in the back room with fancy dress alongside cakes, icing, waffles & sugary treats, by the end of the night everyone including the DJ’s were covered in icing and flour. Everyone was pretty crazy that night and the pictures taken by the girls captured it all.

The mix you’ve done seeps effortlessly from disco into raw and jacking house – would you say it’s fully indicative of a Hott Boxx night?

It’s basically a 5 hour set condensed into an hour. These are the types of genres we’d typically cover in a longer set but we love music that has a bit of grit in it too so whether that be a classic rock tune, or an old school hip hop track that finds its way mingled into our disco or house staples, then so be it!

You’re about to launch Hissy Fit – a new label – what’s the ethos behind it, will it be vinyl only and who is involved?

The label is just us girls, it’s is a long time in the making as we wanna make sure it’s right and truly representative of what we are about. We’ve both worked in & around music for years. Tamara has already managed 7 labels & it just feels like its time to do our own thing. We’ll both be A&R’ing, releasing music from our many talented friends, and eventually some of our own productions. Tracks will be released on vinyl.

From buffing up on your bio I see that you’ve had the honour of playing alongside my personal hero Maurice Fulton. Aside from submitting a mix to Slutty Fringe what’s been your greatest achievement to date?

Its been a serious achievement to have been living in separate countries for more than 2 years now but continuing to work together & grow stronger (and closer) as friends & DJ partners.

We’ve played alongside some great DJ’s in the past and DJed across Europe, including spending a lush weekend in Turkey last year and DJing on the beach. One of our greatest achievements though is pulling off a pretty special party every month in Berlin.

Are you familiar with this tumblr? Risible name aside its quite an interesting insight into the constant requests DJs face – do you have any particularly memorably bad requests you could submit yourselves?

Helen: I’ve seen this and I’m sure one of those pics was taken at a one of my mates’ party!

(Tam) I love it. Funny, my homies Anthony Mansfield & Q-Burns are on their with their ‘No Fucking Requests Ever’ T-shirts… I used to have a pair of panties they made with the same logo back when I lived in San Francisco.

We were playing at KR once, and this guy who was absolutely wasted kept repeatedly trying to lean over the decks whilst we we’re playing and give us money. He thought he was at the bar!

Aha excellent, to round things off could you vive me three reasons why a moustache is better than a fringe?

1. You can ride a ‘tache!
2. A tache never get’s in your eyes.
3. There are more great ‘tache heroes in history (Magnum PI, Clint Eastwood) than the fringe-society.

The Moustace Mama’s elected not to provide a tracklist for this mix – if you require an ID for a certain track please leave a comment and we will attempt to satisfy your curiosity.

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Photography by Paul Dugdale