On a beautiful autumn day in 1985 Kalle Liefferink was born and heard sounds for the first time. After some years, and still ignorant of the fact that his Specker partner had beaten him to the punch, Max Coppens was born in the same Dutch town. Both Kalle en Max grew up in Amersfoort, but they remained unaware of each other’s existence. During their childhood both loved the sounds they heard around them, and were both fascinated by the possibilities they offered. It didn’t take very long for Max to realize that sounds can be rhythmically reproduced, and that the result of this rhythmic reproduction is called music. This young knowledge inspired Max to start drumming. He played the drums until he had to sell his drum kit at the age of sixteen. The young boy was devastated, but it didn’t stop the musician inside of him. He may have subdued his muse for a while, but when he was seventeen he went to a Freshtechno party at the Amsterdam Dance Event. The uplifting, groovy, sounds of Italian Techno he heard there made sure Max could no longer resist the urge to fill his life with music. So he went out, bought his first decks and started mixing Techno. Kalle also found his muse, or she found him, at an early age. His first steps into the world of music were somewhat different from Max’s. He started a drive in show, at the age of 14. The drive in show style of mixing did not quite satisfy his musical ambitions, but it did enable him to develop himself and get a feel for the turntables. Soon he’d earned enough to buy a third deck and started mixing in the funky, up-tempo, style of his favorite, Neapolitan, techno artists. The work of, among others Marco Carola, Rino Cerrone, Danilo Vigorito, and Markantonio, was of great influence to the young Kalle and it was this musical preference which led to meeting Max.Max, who had now been practicing his mixing every single day for over a year, had in his record collection a specific release by Alejandro Vivanco. And it was this particular record Kalle was looking for at the time. This was the moment when their muses decided to bring him and Max together. A mutual friend heard the release in one of Max’s sets and he immediately phoned Kalle to tell of his discovery. Max was of course more than happy to meet Kalle and share the record, because he recognized a kindred spirit in Kalle. Listening to the record together both Max and Kalle felt the Click so they decided to start DJ’ing together. After some time playing together, there was a DJ contest in Amersfoort, Kalle en Max’s hometown. The first prize was a gig on square in the centre of Amersfoort, on the night before Queensday. Their plan was to play minimal during the contest, and if they won they would shock everybody with a killer techno set on the square. They entered as a duo, played as a duo, and won as a duo. And then of course, they kept their promise to each other and successfully shocked and rocked Amersfoort with a mind blowing Techno set. For both of them it was a as if the muse had spoken to them directly and the duo Specker was born. Since then they played at a number of great parties, among those are the main stage of Source Festival, Source On Ice, Fonk, Escape Venue, Club Poema in Utrecht and of course Studio80 with Carnivale.Because talent is contagious, and two talented people together are contagious even more so, it must come as no surprise that Specker is a highly creative duet. Their shared love for the Neapolitan techno scene but also other influences such as Richie Hawtin, Paco Osuna, The Advent and Dutch heroes like Bart Skills, Polder and Anton Pieëte, resulted in a characteristic sound of high energy and catchy tunes. It was a matter of time before their talent and passion needed a new vent, so Specker decided to learn how to produce tracks of their own. They enrolled in the School of Audio Engineering together in 2007 and within two years, in April 2009, they released their first record on Outland Records. Their second release ‘Bommen’ came out last October, on the Italian Plastic Rules label. So Specker is, slowly but surely, making a name for itself. ..