From their early days as The Good Men to breaking into mainstream chart success, Chocolate Puma have seen it all. Future Music took a trip to visit the studio of the two godfathers of Dutch House.
They were responsible for giving Laidback Luke his first break. Which in turn helped the likes of Bart B More and many, many other now famous producers rise to fame. Their epic career and experience in production have made Gaston 'Dobre' Steenkist and René 'DJ Zki' Horst of Chocolate Puma the original Dutch House masters. They've seen the top ten of the UK charts under three different guises – first as The Good Men with Give It Up in 1993, then Chocolate Puma's I Want To Be With You and also as Riva featuring Dannii Minogue with Who Do You Love Now in 2001. Their track Give It Up was even sampled by Simply Red for the massive number-one hit, Fairground before being sampled again by Fatboy Slim and countless other acts along the way.
The previously dusty old synthesizers and giant mixing consoles had been relegated to the attic and in place was a slick office environment with the Chocolate Puma boys now working completely in the box.