Renate is one of my favourite clubs. It’s an old mansion in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain, with baroque fireplaces, mirrored ceilings and a massive garden. Now it’s a club with lots of rooms and different DJs and bars, though it really does feel like a house party. We went there a few times when recording our second album, War Room Stories, in the city. It’s a lot like Pikes hotel in Ibiza, except the music is more all over the place, which is fairly normal for Berlin.

It’s amazing what a varied experience you can have – we chilled in the gardens, found a maze in the cellar that you can get stuck in for hours, then discovered a tiny, weird little room playing minimal techno, and eventually went into the main room where the music was insanely loud and people were dancing like absolute nutters.

The following day we cycled to the studio and the place was still going. They start on Friday night, and only turn the music off Monday lunchtime.

One night I lost my phone somewhere in the club. Amazingly, the next day my band members received a text from my phone, saying “Hey, we found your friend’s phone and handed it in to the owners. Go and pick it up!”. I think that sums up the warmth of the place and the people, but also explains how very “Berlin” Renate is.
Roman Rappak is lead singer of Breton