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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! |
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Interview with Marc Johnson
Reported by El Capitano Pete
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Submitted 19-10-04 10:09
Marc Johnson joined the rave scene in 1993 playing hardcore having been inspired by the DJs he saw at World Dance. He soon became established and found himself playing across the country at some of the huge raves of the time including the legendary Helter Skelter.
However in the late 90’s hardcore headed in a direction that caused Marc to loose interest. Searching for music that had the energy, rawness and bite that the hardcore of the time was lacking in, Marc discovered hard house and hard NRG.
He didn’t waste anytime and began producing his own tracks, resulting in several consecutive releases on Splitscreen records. In 2003 Marc and his friend Jupe, setup their own record label: FlashPoint. FlashPoint has gone on to become one of the premier hard NRG labels and now Marc has begun working on some new projects.
If you’re a hard house DJ then you can be fairly sure you’ve got some records in your collection that Marc Johnson has been involved in. With his own label FlashPoint; his A&R position at Tripoli Trax; a series of releases on other labels including: Elasticman, EnergyUK, Passion, Recharge, Toolbox, and with forthcoming tracks on Tonka Trax and Brain Damage, Marc has firmly made an impression on today’s hard house scene.
This year has proven a great success for you, including the role of A& R at Tripoli Trax – tell us about how that came about?
It was completely random - I’ll never forget it to be honest, the mobile rang one afternoon and it was Tarik on the other end, I actually clinched my fist as I thought I was gonna get offered a remix for Tripoli. He said there was a vacancy open there and asked if I would be interested in coming up and having a chat about it, I was completely stunned for a few days and went up during the week.
I’ve shopped online at puregroove.co.uk for years but I had never actually been to the shop itself; so I went in there and met Ziad first which seemed strange as he had produced one of my all time favourite tunes: “4 To Da Floor”, so I was a little bit fan-like when I met him I suppose. Tarik then took me to the offices down the road where they had the whole Tripoli back catalogue all racked up against the wall - that’s when I first thought: “What the hell’s going on?”, but we had a chat and he offered me the job which I accepted, so long as they realised that my post job is there and has to come first. In the ten months that I’ve been at Tripoli/Pure Groove they’ve been really supportive to that, which has helped.
I have since asked: “Why me?”, because it was a complete bolt out of the blue and I was absolutely gob smacked, and they replied saying that they could see I was working hard with a lot of releases out over a period of time and they also liked the way FlashPoint was developing.
What elements do you look for in a track to determine if it’s suitable Tripoli material?
Tripoli was traditionally a hard house label so it’s got to be in that vibe, obviously it’s got to be well produced and have a certain something that grabs me. I know when a track comes along that I want us to sign because I’ll put the CD on repeat; loose track of time, and before I know it I’ve listened to it about thirty times - that’s when I know. I then play it to Tarik: the boss man, and he’s happy if I’m happy. He’s not blocked anything yet which is a good sign.
Why did you change the sleeves of Tripoli Trax back to the old style?
Tripoli’s had over hundred releases, and think Tidy is the only other hard house label that can boast that, so I thought the label should be proud of it’s prestigious history. That was the first thing I asked for when I went there as I thought the old sleeves gave the label its identity. I never really liked the other sleeves, plus it was a good time - Steve had just left; I’d come in; the direction was gonna change and the next century of releases were gonna begin. Personally I think they look wicked.
Having taken on the role of A&R at Tripoli, following in the footsteps of Steve Thomas and Steve Hill, have you had any feedback from them about the direction you’ve taken the label in?
Not really as Steve Thomas lives in Spain and Steve Hill in Oz , so I haven’t really spoke to them much.
You’ve recently remixed the massive Tripoli anthem “Block Party”, which is getting rave reviews and major play from the hard house A-list such as Paul Glazby and Justin Bourne - how did it feel to work on that and were wary of peoples reactions to it?
Block Party was one of my favorite tunes, so when the chance came up to commission new mixes of it I was always gonna muscle in and do one of the mixes myself, as remixing one of your favorite tunes is something you dream about. Dom sent all the samples down and when I listened to them I instantly knew it was gonna be fun as the thing with OD404 tunes is that they always cram them with cool sounds.
I remember speaking to a mate the week before, explaining how I wanted it to come out with the big breaks section and teasing 1st stab break, then the big riff coming in. So Dave and I just both got on one and nailed it. I’m very proud with how it’s come out as it’s exactly how I pictured it.
If I’m honest, I was a bit nervous about initial reactions as people always get sentimental about remixing old classics and some have been slated badly, but I knew that if people listened with open ears they would appreciate it. Both Dom and Oz mailed me saying they really liked it which was the icing on the cake really. The fact that Glazby and Justin Bourne have been playing it a lot really makes me proud as they are my favorite DJs, so they are the people I want playing it.
Working in a Pure Groove, you must have had a fair share of “interesting” customers coming in to the shop. Have you got any amusing anecdotes?
Hahaha! What with Pure Groove being in Archway, a walk to the sandwich shop and back can be great entertainment sometimes! I’ve been fairly lucky as I’ve not had many strange ones in the shop, but I have had a old lady call up twice who had it in her mind that she needed to convince me that Michael Jackson isn’t a kiddie fiddler - she wouldn’t let it lye either.
Since setting up your own label FlashPoint with Jupe in 2003 you’ve had a string of well-received releases with several featuring on major compilations including the Extreme Euphoria and Hard House Anthems series – which has been the most successful release to date?
It was either “Deformed” or “Great Responsibility”. There were only fifty units between them and I can never remember which one was which – Jupe is the brainy one in the team; I just look at the pictures! They both sold particularly well though and to this day we still can’t believe a little two-man operation, with a tiny amount of outlets, which at the time was run out of my flat, could shift that amount.
FlashPoint has been growing with each release, gaining huge recognition within the hard house community. Where do you see the label in the next twelve months and are there any exciting projects planned?
Oooh, we’ve got some naughty stuff planned!
Nick Sentience has just finished his remix of “Act of God”, the Energy UK DJs have remixed “Macumba”, Justin Bourne is remixing “Kick Ass Elements” by DMF and myself, and Colin Barratt is remixing a tune I produced with Paul King. We have Paul Glazby remixing “Release The Freak” which was the tune that really got the label noticed, and Jupe and Dave Parkinson will be giving our first release: “The Real Deal” the once over. We’ve also got a cracking tune from Ben Stevens and have just licensed the classic OD404 tune “Biofilter” from Kaktai that I’ll be remixing.
When we first started the label no one was interested in giving us a distribution deal, but we didn’t care and just got on with it, so we like to think that we showed that nothing can stop you doing what you want to do so long as you put your back into it.
Having said that we’ve recently signed a distribution deal with Tuned, which was really pleasing as it will enable the label to reach more outlets and give us more time to concentrate on other aspects of the label.
Over the next 12 months we just want to continue what we’ve started but on a bigger scale as we’ve got the distribution now. We’ll be keeping the label high energy intense sounding, no frills, no following trends, just good old fashioned thrap. Hahaha.
With running FlashPoint & Tripoli you must get a lot of demos sent to you, who should we be keeping an eye out for in 2005?
There’s a lad on the Banging Tunes forum called Flymo, he’s making some really evil twisted stuff. The production on them sounds very impressive, I’ve asked him to keep sending me material as I’ve got a good feeling that he’ll do something we will want to take soon. He’s got a track out now on Titanium Trax and I believe he may have something signed to Tonka but I’m not completely sure on that.
The other one is James Nardi. James has worked his nuts off with Nick Irwin and Julian Dwyer this year and in total has had something silly like eight or nine tracks signed, which is really impressive as getting tracks signed is not easy these days.
The tunes keep improving and he’s just done a monster that I wanted to sign for Tripoli but some lucky bugger got in there before me – I wont say anymore, but when the tune comes out it’ll definitely make waves and elevate him up to that next level.
You’ve recently collaborated in the studio with the likes of Casper, Dave Holmes, DMF, George-E and Paul King, who else would you really like to work with?
This is a tough question as there are loads of producers I admire, but if I had to pick I would say OD404. Dom and Oz have been there, seen it, done it. To stay at the top of the tree for such a long period of time is amazing and their tunes are of such high quality all the time.
You’ve just started working with Dave Parkinson as your engineer again after a three year break. In your time apart Dave went on to make a huge success with Prime Mover and you have also made your own mark on the hard house scene across a spread of labels. How does it feel to be working together again?
It was really strange when we got in the studio once more after all this time - the banter and alcohol consumption we partake in hasn’t changed, but he has picked up a slightly alarming flatulence habit though, which isn’t good! It’s funny that after so long, and after so much has happened for both of us, that we’re working together again.
Dave is as good a bloke as you’ll meet, super talented and not a bad bone in his body. I’m very glad he went on to do so well as Prime Mover and now as part of the Happy Mondays as I could never understand as to why he would be contempt with just engineering for a living, as he’s got so much more to offer. I was gutted when I wasn’t allowed to work with him a few years ago after he got signed exclusive, but I never begrudged him his success as he does deserve it more then most.
The hard house scene is continually changing, with the UK hard trance hysteria of 2002, then the return of the sound of the hoover and now the techno hard house fusion, what direction do you see the scene taking next? Return of the bounce?
Hahah…erm….no!!!
The reality of it is that the scene is a music scene, so it will therefore be dictated by, I guess, the people responsible for making the music not by anyone else regardless of what they try to tell you. I keep reading about the bounce revival but can’t see it happening somehow as no one is making it (although I’m expecting a month or two of bouncy pop hits very soon, as its always the way) - just a few DJs are playing it and fair play to them as variety is the spice of life.
The hoover came back because a load of producers started pushing the sound and new labels were born to support that, it might happen with bounce…….it might not,
For what it’s worth I believe the music is going to be more chunky, funky, and even spunky this year. I get loads of demos sent through and I’m definitely noticing people are paying more attention to try to make the music more groovy. At Tripoli I’ve just signed a tune from Champion Burns and I’ve got Steve Thomas committed on a remix.
Pete Wardman is producing again, the Captain (Tinrib) is back and sailing the waves he’s making, Paul King made a massive impact last year after being quiet for a while, so musically things are looking like the chunk and funk will be coming back for sure.
Your own productions have been coming on in leaps and bounds recently, getting lots of play from the big DJs in the scene. How do you find the studio work and what special ingredients make a Marc Johnson track?
I love the studio work, I never just sit there and stare out the window and expect the engineer to carry me as they wouldn’t stand for it. I always know what I want from a track and I always try to impose that. I would like to think that who ever I work with the vibe of the track always comes out the same
The tracks have got to have a heavy driving bass, some acid, plenty of loops and some nice stab sounds, basically the tunes have to have “get up and go”.
I’ve said it before that I owe a lot to the engineers that I’ve worked with, they’ve all been great to work with. D’Zyne, Dave Parkinson, DMF, Dave Robertson, Allichi, Paul King, Casper, and Alex Calver are all highly skilled and nice blokes, and worth their weight in gold.
How do you feel when you hear your tracks played out?
It’s an amazing feeling, the buzz never changes, and even now it still feels as good as the first time I’d ever had a tune played out. The last Hard House Academy was an amazing night for me, quite a few of my tracks got played and plenty that I had signed. I was buzzing naturally all night and when Glazby played “Pandemonium” in the heaving main room, well it was nearly a pant wetting moment…nearly.
Bootlegs: a bit of fun or an unimaginative cash-in?
Hahaha, depends on what way you want to look at it I guess, each to their own!!!
What words of advice do you have for any budding producers out there?
Keep at it and keep your head up. For a long time I felt like I was bashing my head against the wall and often wondered if it was all worth it, you’ve got to believe in what your doing and do it from the heart. Eventually someone will take notice as there are always people keeping tabs on what’s going on. If you’re in it for fame and fortune then get out now while you’ve still got a chance.
What has been the highlight of 2004 for you?
“Pandemonium” getting the sure player/tune of the month in DJ Mag. I’ve had tunes reviewed in magazines before but I’ve never had a tune of the month so that’s been the proudest moment so far.
You've recently been taken on by Airbourne DJ management, who look after people like Sol Ray, Superfast Oz, Dynamic Intervention and Alex Calver. How has that affected your life and will we be seeing more of Marc Johnson up and down the country?
It hasn’t really affected it yet as I got taken on the day Hills went on holiday. She’s back now so hopefully things will start to happen. I’d love it if she could get me a couple of well paid gigs a week consistently so I can think about giving up my day job, as it would be great to be able to concentrate completely on the music - plus I hate getting up at 5am; my sickness and late record is terrible, and I want jump before I’m pushed, hahaha.
It’s new territory for me as I have always done things for myself so I’m just keeping everything crossed that it will be a positive thing. Everyone who knows Hills, speaks highly of her and of how efficient she is, so I am quietly confident.
With the exciting launch of Insekt nearly upon us, can you briefly describe the impetus behind the event how you are going to make this a party clubbers will return to again and again?
We’re basically trying to offer an alternative to whatever’s currently out there. We’re all into our hard house as opposed to hard dance and we all want to support our scene so we’re looking to make this as high quality as possible in every department. It’s not gonna be Passion records #1 - #6 on +8 at 10pm - the night is going progress with some proper warm up sets planned. In November Ziad will be playing his tuff house sound that he would play at one of his other gigs - he won’t be catering for us with new hard house as that’s not what we want, we want the night to build so that by the time the last set comes then who ever has that can really cut loose and give it some welly. The line ups will be filled to the brim with quality, George E and myself will be the weakest names in the main room and after the opening night we’ve both agreed to rotate our gigs, one plays one month the other the next month, so the night is not here to boost our careers.
It wont be a case of getting five DJs for a combined total of £100 to try and save a few quid as it’s not about making money (although of course we don’t want to loose money), it’s about putting on the best party that we can put on so that people will come back. You’ve only got to look at Ed and the success of Riot, every line up he puts on is quality, that’s where we want to be.
Fire club has to be one of the best venues in town, and will be awesome for our party, the sound system is amazing and with Justin Bourne, Paul Glazby and Superfast Oz we have three of the finest DJs/producers/label owners in our scene as bi-monthly residents. You know that you’ll be hearing the freshest, most upfront material at our party as these three are at the forefront of our scene.
How did you get Involved with Insekt and what’s your role in the team?
Allen (TG) and George E both ran the Purple Turtle events and wanted to start all-night Saturday event, they approached me to see if I wanted to get involved in handling the bookings but I said if I was to get involved then I would come in as an equal partner so it’s all legit. They were cool with that and we decided that one more person would strengthen the team so we approached a good mate that we trusted: El “trendy” Capitano Pete Rothy. We’ve all got our various roles in the team: Allen deals with the admin side, liaises with Steve at Fire regarding the booking of the club and takes care of production, George does the PR and promotional stuff, Pete does all the listings, flyers, press releases, and I do the line-ups and book the DJs. We’re a complete unit and all egos get left behind as we’ve all bollocked each other at some point if someone’s not pulling their weight - no hard feelings as we all want the same thing.
What with your daytime post job; working in Pure Groove; A&R for Tripoli Trax; managing FlashPoint; running Insekt; DJing and spending time in the studio, do you ever have any spare time and what do you do with it?
Hahaha, I work five days a week at Royal Mail, on my rest day I work at Pure Groove, and I’m back in the shop on Saturday after I’ve finished my post round. I’ve got a residency on Saturday and Sunday nights at the Purple Turtle with whatever other gigs I’ve got. What the f*ck is spare time and what’s it used for? Hahaha, it’s so bad that I’ve sold my Playstation 2 after playing it once in twelve months! I always make sure that I have a good drink on the Saturday night stop myself going barmy, sometimes too good as I have been known to sway once or twice.
You can catch Marc playing at Feeling-Of-Life in Swansea on Friday 29th October, Bedlam at the Fridge on Friday 5th November, Insekt at Fire on Saturday 13th November and usually every Saturday and Sunday evening at NRG Files and Byte at the Purple Turtle.
Photos courtesy of Matt
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Other Features By El Capitano Pete:
Insekt Preview - An Interview with James Nardi
Insekt Launch Party Preview – Interviews with Ben Stevens, Superfast 0z and Ziad
Interview with George E
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Great interview