DJ Hell – or to give him a more accurate description, 46-year-old Helmut Geier: DJ, musician, label boss, dedicated follower of fashion, occasional product designer, erotica enthusiast and (why not?) budding filmmaker - has, until now, suffered from what you might call Garnier-syndrome: a person who made the occasional good 12” a long time ago, and spent the intervening years playing good DJ sets, giving good interviews and never quite getting it right in the studio.

So the two-CD ‘Teufelswerk’ set has – for the most part – cured Hell of this embarrassing affliction. And he knows it. There’s a confidence in his voice as he hops in and out of a car on busy press day in London. Bodytonic might be just one of long line of interviews, but Hell is confident about this album. And therefore happy to talk. “It is strange – it has never happened this way before,” he booms. “Everybody likes this album, especially the second CD, ‘Day’. This is the one for everybody.”

The record is split into ‘Night’ and ‘Day’ (“I knew one album would not tell the whole story of Hell.”) Fittingly, it opens with the former. “I only realised that afterwards!” Hell laughs. “It made sense I think, that I start with the night, and end with day, because that is the way I have been living for so long.” Also fitting is the fact that ‘Night’ – a series of studio collaborations with long-time producer Anthony Rother, Steffan ‘Terrace’ Roberrs and former trance pioneer Mijk Van Dijk - is the quicker hit, the easier option. More interesting is ‘Day’, which sees Hell move into unfamiliar territory, both technically and sonically.

“I worked with Peter Kruder (of Kruder and Dorfmeister), who is an old friend and a master of what he does. And then there were other musicians, like Christian Prommer, who is a very good percussionist. It ended up being quite like a band thing, which was a really great process for me – it ended up being what I call Kosmiche ambient, a lot of experimenting, a lot of chiming.” The majority of ‘Day’ was made with the same personnel, and it shows. “It was the first time I had worked like this, and next I would like to find a band to produce. I have not had any offers, but we will see what comes from this album.”

Often accused of being a 1980s revivalist with his Gigolos label (a charge he refutes with admirable sternness: “With Gigolos, there was a focus on the 1980s. But it was not just about covering the 1980s – we worked with original artists from the era, releasing records or making new versions…”) Hell found inspiration in a different decade for ‘Day’.

“The 1970s is where I come from. I grew up with Kraftwerk, Neu, Can – these are the influences on ‘Day’. And then there is other music like Pink Floyd, Brian Eno… more a sound from these. The thing about this record is that it is very personal to me – and that is dangerous. There is nothing left anymore – this is all my knowledge, taken from all the stuff I loved as a kid. With this, I have said a lot. And this can be mistaken by people – you can be hurt (by releasing such a personal record). But I am ready for that.

What do you mean? In what way can people hurt you?

“Because they misunderstand it. They might say I am just copying things – but that is not the case with this.”

You can see why they might suggest that though – a lot of people feel that Gigolos was just a throwback label…

“Gigolos re-released music! It never copied music. Shari Vari, Bobby Konders… and Tuxedomoon, we put their music with Detroit musicians (Adult., Ectomorph and Heinrich Mueller). I never tried to be somebody else with my music or the label. This is who I am, this is my language.”

You could argue the toss over this with Hell – and a quick flick back through the label’s back catalogue means you’d likely win – but what’s the point? The thing about Gigolos is that it’s always stood for whatever it wanted to at the time. That is why it remains. Hell is not the type of chap to make apologies for this either. Take, for example, the much written about/blogged about/debated about ‘electroclash’ period…

“Yes, by the time that everybody started talking about electroclash, I was in a different period – I had moved on to disco punk: Atomizer, Psychonauts… a new flavour. Maybe in 2002, it was not what people wanted to hear, it was too early for the new flavour. It was misunderstood in Germany.” He defiantly goes on to suggest he will re-release Psychonaut’s ‘Songs For Creatures’ album – admittedly an under-appreciated record – and insists everything he’s done with the label has been relevant.

“It was important time to learn things. I learned how to manipulate things, how to deal with a record that is No 2 in the charts. And who to deal with people who say, ‘Oh we are not sure we want to be on a label like this’. And what I learned I can now use for the new Gigolos releases, which is now more old school, jacking Chicago.”

Time for another change. And the more you think about Hell and all the different people he’s been; the make-up, the confusion in the changing room, the shock of red hair, the more you think of that other great pretender, David Bowie. It’s a comparison Hell is happy to explore.

“With Bowie, it was more than just music – there was art, fashion, everything else too. He is a main influence to what I am doing. He was sometimes releasing three albums a year, and all were genius. He was so far ahead – I am behind him of course, but I can learn.

“I watch many movies from that era, and read a lot books – Andy Warhol and his Factory are a big influence too. Recently, I was asked to design a CD case cover, and I thought to myself, ‘What would Andy do?’”

It would sound preposterous coming from anybody else… actually, it sounds preposterous full-stop. But this is another part of Hell’s persona, the mischief-maker, the antagonist - this is the same man who covered Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’, remember? And the man who released the (terrible) P Diddy/Felix Da Housecat collab, ‘Jack U’, causing much confusion among the impressionable. Hell does not care. His new album features a guest spot from a refreshed Diddy, this time jabbering (some sense) over a so-so electro/tech stomp. But if he’s doing this for just for kicks, he certainly won’t admit it.

“It was funny – when I released ‘Jack U’, I had some artists coming to me saying, ‘I don’t want to be on the same label as this’. And I was laughing. And I was the same way before I met Diddy. But you know, he’s a cool guy, a perfect guy, a genius business guy. He knows how to play the game, how to manipulate things. And in the ‘90s, he ‘got’ techno, he was there at the Sound Factory, listening to Junior Vasquez. And now, he’s doing everything. And the best thing is, he treats me like an old friend every time we meet.”

Do you see similarities in you and him? He backs away from this, maybe an A-list comparison too far. “Well, we are interested in many other things,” he concedes. “This year, I am launching a new sunglasses range, designing mens’ underwear and some other design stuff. And then there is the fashion stuff. I create music for catwalks – not just a soundtrack, actual new music for a show. The fashion world is very interesting for me. It’s so well organised.

“It feels great to finish the record. But what happens next? I don’t know. I don’t have the answer yet. I would like to make a movie about my life over the past 30 years. One part in Berlin, one part in New York. Part fashion, art, sci-fi. But more erotic. I want to show things that have never been done in cinema.

“It is like Bowie, he looked closely for new things all the time, even if he is not doing things that are immediately obvious, things you don’t see every time. New things, new challenges, more experiences in life.”

DJ Hell is 46. He’s spent more than half his life playing records. He might have many other ideas and actions on the go – the planned movie, the mens’ underwear, the next round of Autumn/Winter shows - yet he genuinely appears to retain the same passion for his “first passion”, music. “I am just back from Miami, then I was in New York, Canada, Budapest, London and back to Munich. There are some lower moments, but you try not to think about them. And the parties now are amazing. I would say that right now, I am in the best situation of my life. I would say that yes, this is the highlight.”

‘Teufelswerk’ is released on April 27th.

http://www.myspace.com/djhell

By Barry O’Donoghue