Mayer discovered his love for the diverse house music spectrum in the 90’s by listening to DJ mixes and live radio broadcasts by Masters At Work, DJ Sneak, Carl Cox and others. The last 2 decades has brought him numerous top charting records and other highlights, like releasing on the world famous Strictly Rhythm Records, the legendary King Street Sounds’ Nite Grooves, Chicago’s finest Large Music, Miguel Migs’ Salted Music and remixing ‘The Godfather of House’ Frankie Knuckles. His music also appears on compilations like Defected In The House and Hed Kandi. DMCWORLD step in as the main man gets set for his next release on the mighty Adesso Music…
1) Thank you for joining DMC today. Firstly, before we start, how has your week been?
Thank you for having me, great to be back with DMC. My week was good, lots of changes the last couple of months. I moved back to my home country again. The last few weeks have been about settling and finding my way again here.
2) You have released on some of house music’s biggest labels Strictly Rhythm Records, Nite Grooves and Defected to name a few! Is there any label that you have not released on that you would love to? If so who and why?
I’m grateful I’m able to work with these labels. They have such a long and rich history musically. Technically I have not directly released on Defected, I would love to have a record with them still. There are so many labels out there and I produce a variety of house music styles, so it’s hard to choose. I love Franck Roger’s Real Tone Records for example, although I think he releases mainly his own music.
3) Your bio states that you found your love for the diverse house music spectrum in the 90’s by listening to DJ mixes and live radio broadcasts by Masters At Work, DJ Sneak, Carl Cox. Are there any other artist’s that really inspired you in the 90s?
I was very young still when I was introduced to electronic dance music, so the late 90s were about discovering my taste. There was no internet, so listening to my alarm clock radio and hanging around in the local CD shop at the age of 12 was all I could do. There’s a CD series called Madhouse by Dutch DJ Jean, which always had 2 CDs. I was hooked on the more groovy and funky side of that series. I also loved music by Ludovic Navarre aka St. Germain, Todd Edwards’ ’Saved My Live’, Paul Johnson for example. Anything else I was listening to before that was on cassette, like Michael Jackson.
4) Are there any current artist’s that inspire you?
I love so many different types of house music, music by Joeski, Fred Everything, Jimpster, Colorjaxx, Hotmood, Dennis Quin.. there’s too many to name.
5) Outside of electronic music, what other types of music do you listen to?
I’m a big indie singer/songwriter fan in my private time.
6) This release see’s you team up with Polish DJ/Producer Deeplomatik. What was it like working together? Did you have to adjust to each other’s workflow?
Having lived in Poland for 7 years and knowing Deeplomatik aka Seb Skalski for over 10 years it was basically friends hooking up and making music. Seb is a talented DJ/producer/musician. We have been producing music before and more still to come too.
7) What equipment did you use to record this E.P?
This record was made in Ableton, but as it was a while ago I’m not sure what we used. I would have to check with Seb.
8) What is your favourite bit of gear when you are writing tracks?
I’m not one for the analogue gear to be honest. I would love to, but just don’t have the space for it. I work with Reason Studios myself, always have since Reason 1.0. I think just the basics are important. I love working with FabFilter, Arturia and Soundtoys plugins.
9) Do you have plans to do any more collaborations this year?
We have another record coming up and I’m sure we have some unfinished projects which we might look at again.
10) Finally, what upcoming DJs/Producers should we be looking out for this year?
There is so much good music out there and in many different genres. I’ll give a shout out to my friends Husky and Dutchican Soul. They both keep on grinding in what they do and I respect that.
