From the sweat-drenched basements of Berlin to global techno meccas, MCMLXXXV has built Herrensauna into an uncompromising force of queer liberation, raw energy, and relentless sound. In this interview, we dive into his journey from feeling like an outsider in Vienna to shaping one of the world’s most boundary-pushing underground collectives. From club nights to fashion, fine art, and the dream of a Las Vegas residency, Herrensauna isn’t just a party, it’s a movement.
What inspired your move from Vienna to Berlin, and how did the city’s techno scene influence the creation of Herrensauna?
I always felt like an alien living in Vienna, and I still do. Whether it’s the gays or the straights, people are just staring at me and not getting it. It was really hard to find my peers and my place, and it was really hard to date. Moving to Berlin was when I finally started to find myself as a young, little gay boy and started to feel really free and accepted for the first time. I didn’t feel like an outsider anymore. I was introduced to this more hedonistic queer lifestyle and a place that was sexually more open and liberated. And that’s pretty much the spirit of Herrensauna.
Since its inception in 2015, how has Herrensauna transformed, and what have been the most significant milestones in its journey?
It transformed from a small, sweaty, basement party to something that happens all over the world at this point. We have had residencies at Nitsa in Barcelona, Basement in New York City, Bassiani in Tbilisi, and Tresor in Berlin. We do an Asia tour every year. Milestones were bringing the party to places like Kazakhstan, where we did a party with local collective ZVUK, or bringing Herrensauna to New York for the first time. The record label; the fashion collaborations— those were huge milestones. This last tour was a huge success for Cem and me, visiting a bunch of North American cities for the first time, like Toronto, LA, and San Francisco.
Herrensauna has ventured into fashion, collaborating with brands like Carhartt WIP. How do these partnerships align with your vision for the collective?
We’ve always been associated with a strong aesthetic. Herrensauna made its own merch before collaborating with brands, and at some point brands started approaching us. The collaborations are a great opportunity for us to express a different part of our artistic output. For me personally, I’ve always customized my own clothes, and became increasingly obsessed with this during the pandemic.
“People will fuck.”
Herrensauna is celebrated for its inclusive and sex-positive environment. How do you maintain this ethos as the collective grows?
We’re not like other parties that have a sex manifesto in their description, and we never did. Everything you’ve read about us being sex-positive, we have never phrased it that way. That’s always been something that’s been said about us. It’s the music that invites that in. If the quality of the music is on point, it doesn’t matter in which cultural context you are: people will always be drawn to it. To quote Kurt Vonnegut: “People will fuck.”
Operating under the moniker MCMLXXXV, how has your personal artistic style evolved alongside Herrensauna’s development?
It took me a while to feel comfortable as a DJ. I would compare myself to everyone and feel like I wasn’t as good. When the Boiler Rooms came out, it gave me so much confidence. Being this white boy from Austria, I got a lot of confidence playing for the New York crowd. I kind of grew up, and I feel like you can hear that in the progress of my musical development.
When I started out, my music used to be darker, harder, more rigid, and colder. I was really inspired by early-2000s, and late-’90s industrial techno like the Birmingham sound but also what Karenn and AnD were putting out at that time. That’s also what was really popular, and it’s still popular, but it’s become more of a straight people’s techno. Whereas at the parties we throw, our sound is much more driving and popping and bouncing. I gradually grew into that more and more. Over the years, my sets have become warm, funky, and groovy and incorporate a wider range of genres than they used to.
The COVID-19 pandemic halted nightlife globally. How did this period affect Herrensauna, and what creative endeavors emerged during the hiatus?
We were definitely overworked before the pandemic. It was actually a great moment to step back and focus again on what, for me, I really liked. I didn’t have the pressure to listen to music because I knew I needed to focus on preparing for sets. I could really dive into all the things I usually didn’t have time to dive into, which was amazing and inspirational on a musical level. At the same time, I also had more time to customize my own clothes. Painting clothes turned into painting canvases, and I found a whole new artistic practice I hadn’t pursued before as a painter.
As a pioneer in the queer techno scene, where do you envision its progression in the coming years, and what role will Herrensauna play in that evolution?
That’s a tough question. The mainstream techno world is still dominated by straight DJs. Queer DJs are getting more opportunities than ever, but it’s still not enough. I just hope that the culture will become queerer and queerer and you’ll see more things like us, like Whole Festival: queer collectives that act on a global scale. I want to see queer techno collectives on the main stage. Herrensauna should be curating a stage at Coachella 2026. Herrensauna should have its own Las Vegas residency.
You’ve moved from music and events into fashion design and fine art. Are there other mediums you want to explore?
I’ve always loved to act since I was a kid. I was in short films shot by Bruce LaBruce and Matt Lambert and a feature called M/M by Drew Lint. Acting and painting are what I’d love to explore more.