“I see the club as more than just a place for a party. I want the music to stimulate discussion and new ideas.” Such a convergence of community and forward thinking music lies at the heart of Tresor Records, the iconic and pioneering Berlin label and club founded by Dimitri Hegemann. Born in 1991 mere months after the demolishing of the Berlin Wall, and months before the reunification of Germany, Tresor has always operated with a revolutionary spirit. The label’s uniting sound of techno has brought together East and West, Detroit and Berlin, and stands as one of the global capitals of electronic music.
“Tresor” means “safe” or “vault” in German, in other languages “treasure”. Dimitri Hegemann, Achim Kohlberger, and Johnnie Stieler were the original treasure hunters over 30 years ago, digging through the sand-buried buildings of East Berlin in search of a venue that could hold space for their future-facing club ideas. They renovated a bank vault lying in the abandoned Wertheim department store in Potsdamer Platz, giving Tresor its name and historic space.
Naturally, Tresor's history goes much further back than its fledgling moments, with Dimitri Hegemann being instrumental not only as the label’s founder, but as a central figure in Berlin music scenes. From founding the Berlin Atonal festival in 1982 with the likes of Psychic TV, Einstürzende Neubauten and 808 State in the lineup, to initiatives revitalising the nightlife and empty buildings of Detroit, Hegemann is something of a ferryman connecting artists and communities across the Atlantic and beyond.
The Fisch collective that preceded Tresor was founded by Hegemann and Kohlberger out of a desire for community. “I was tired of standing in line at the live venues,” Hegemann said, “paying 10 Deutschmarks and going home again alone.” They formed a sprawling network across Berlin: the Fischbüro DIY lecture hall, the Fischlabor pub, the UFO acid house club accessed via trapdoor, and the zine turned label Interfisch Records. Interfisch formed in 1988, signing Sheffield’s Clock DVA with the album Buried Dreams, a move that would lead to hundreds of records from artists pioneering music scenes all over the world.