Max Durante

Max Durante began his professional DJ career in 1987 in Rome. As one of the hinges of the 90's rave generation,
his sound and his presence have been fundamental for the early Italian Techno scene.
He has been a regular on the best Italian Raves and played at the best European clubs and festivals of it's time since 1991. Well respected as a DJ, thanks to his great mixing abilities, as well as a producer for his precious creativity in his recording productions.

In 1988 he went for the first time in London and he was seriously attracted and seduced by acid house music and acid parties. In 1990 he returned to London but acid parties were over, because of a prohibition pronounced by the queen of England in 1989. Meanwhile Max was discovering the rave party phenomena and the first American techno productions.
Totally fascinated by raves, he went back to Rome more than motivated: inspired.

October 1991 Max and the twins D'Arcangelo organized one of the biggest Italian Rave, the PLUS 8 RAVE. They led for the First time in Italy, the Plus 8 Records with Richie Hatwin, Speedy J, Daniel Bell, Cybersonic ...

In the same period in 1991 along with the twins D' Arcangelo he create the first Italian experimental techno band called ''Automatic Sound Unlimited''. They create in the 90's the dark side of techno !

Together, they founded in 1991 one of the major realities of the electronic sound from Rome: the automatic sound unlimited. This sound changed the vision of techno, opening new ways, reaching a new style, mixing techno with electro using industrial tones. This dark sound was different from the well-known techno, as it was based on a perpetual and continuous research .

Therefore, the automatic sound unlimited was at the forefront. They were precursors of a sound projected to the future: The experimental techno, that nowadays we call it industrial techno !

Sonic Groove label boss Adam X named Max Durante a true legend and innovator of 'Industrial Techno' in the early 90's.

His shows are famous in Europe and thanks to his technique and to his performances, the press has named him: ''THE WIZARD OF THE DECKS'' the magician of the console.

He started his dj profession after his radio experience in 1986 in a private local radio in Rome. From 1987 he began to work in clubs, mixing electro and underground music, in the 88/89's, especially acid house and electro/ freestyle of Brooklyn. From 1987 to 1990, he worked in particular in clubs in Rome: Histerya, Mithos, Bolido' ( Black Out ), Luxuria, Nisida (this was his first club, he was the resident DJ in 1987). From 1991 he dedicated himself completely to big parties (RAVE).

In 1991, together with the D'arcangelo brothers, he produced his first record projects released one year later on Hot Trax (acv sub-label), the first Italian techno label.

Switzerland was attracted by Italian rave and by the DJs that were involve on it. Swiss organizations since 1992 invited more times Max Durante to perform in their rave parties, Max was one of the creators of the Italian techno movement and he has also contributed to the growth of the Swiss rave generation, and he performed in the early Swiss rave like for example the ENERGY 92, ENERGY 93, CUBIC 94, CUBIC 95, etc.

From 1994 to 1998 he moved to live in Zurich and he begins to perform assiduously in the RAVE, in the Festival, clubs.
From Zurich he start to move in Europe. Performing everywhere from the mountains at the early ''Swiss Snow Rave'' to the Austrian caves in Salzburg at the Cave Club, on the ships like the MS Stubnitz Rockstock in Germany, at the legendary German club the Ultraschall in Munich, to the famous Fabrik London, the Melkweg Club Amsterdam, the Kozzmozz Event Bruxelles, Le Triptyque Club and Le Nouveau Casino Paris, the Nitsa Club Barcelona…
He was crossing the Europe performing in the best club of the European capitals

Besides being a great DJ has been also a visionary, bringing innovations in Rave and then in the Festival:

In 1998 in Zurich he organize an important international electronic festival '' The Grey Planet '',
the concept was 120 years of electronic music, with multimedia installation, vintage synth exhibition, workshop, symposium, dj set, live act, ect… During the four days of the festival he hosting 50 artists from all over the world ; This festival was a true vision of our present, was a unique festival of its kind as the ADE in Amsterdam.

Max that period was very active and was in great demand all over Europe.

In 1998 in the daily newspaper '' NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG '' of Zurich, The Swiss journalist LILIAN FELLMANN wrote an article on MAX DURANTE: ''His hands are so fast that it is difficult to follow his movements, his scratches are balm for the eyes and for the ears''...

In 2001 With Anthony Rother he has co-produced a electro record (NETZWERK EUROPA) on the PSI49NET that has become a cult record of this label.

In 2002 THE WIRE ''the English magazine of avant-garde'' named him the most interesting DJ in Europe and the best artist during the BIOS festival in Athens (Greece).

In 2002 he co-produced with Dj Hell some new tracks of the Legendary 80's group ''Tuxedomoon '', one called '' Lether Bliss'' was released on ''Gigolo Compilation 6'' and on the SonarFestival compilation.

In 2002 under the nickname SIRIAD he co-produce with Alexander Robotnick 5 tracks for the Lp OH NO ROBOTNICK…

Summer 2003 he remixed an old track ( 1980 ) '' Mosku Esta Helado '' of legendary Industrial spanish band Esplendor Geometrico, released in the 2004 on Spanish labels Geometric rec. the cd and on Starwhores rec. the vinyl.

In 2003 he co-produced a great electro record with KEITH TUCKER (AUX88) on the English label the ELECTRIX RECORDS. This record has been named the best electro record of the year 2000 and it will remain an electro hit.

International DJ's, such as LAURENT GARNIER, ROLANDO, TIGA, THE HACKER, have simply defined this record as a marvelous record to have. With this record he has obtained such a great success that he was invited to play in the legendary FABRIC club in London, and in cool events like in Paris.

In 2006 with the alias Meka he produce an lp for the record label SOME BIZZARE ( depeche mode, soft cell, einstürzende neubauten)

In 2007, his techno record (human turntable 2) on the TRUCKSTOP76th, was well received. Dave CLARKE played this record several times and has named it one of his favorite techno records of the year, inviting all those who make techno to take it as an example.

In 2008 Dave Clarke invites Max Durante to perform at the ADE: AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT, he was really attracted by the sound of Max.

In the Last 20 years Max has toured Europe non-stop and co-produced electro bombs with artists like Anthony Rother, Keith Tucker and Aux 88 to name a few.

Over the years he has built and developed his own personal show, showing off his true character and charisma together with his superb technical mixing skills, creating sounds ranging between hypnotic, dark, industrial, acid, electro and techno in it's purest form.

After his long and worthy contribution to the electro and techno scene, he returned to experiment with a sound back to the roots, which gained a strong interest, and is therefore now part of the legendary Sonic Groove family.


His first EP called "Metastability" on Sonic Groove was released in May 2015, and the track "Kreuzberg" extracted from the ep being one of Berlin 'best techno club hits of 2015'.


In November 2015 he has released an Ep on the newborn Kynant Records with a remix of Donato Dozzy. This EP was named 'out of stock' at record shops after just a couple of days!

His EP called 'Insurrection of Inequity' on Sonic Groove was released in june 2016 and with this Ep he has received many positive consents and many DJs have played the record: on podcasts and in clubs. In February 2018 he released his first ambient techno LP "The Experiment" on Kynant Records.

In September 2018 he had released his third EP for Sonic Groove and in 2019 he will release two new 12" for Aufnahme + Wiedergabe. At the moment he is very busy in the studio to finish several remixes.

His several closing set at Tresor are receiving great success, the Rebel without a pause is burning the dancefloor!!!