We can’t get enough of this Venitian power house
Welcome to DMCWORLD Marco, a very busy Summer looming for you. Your collaboration with Prok & Fitch ‘You Need Some’ has already smashed the top of the Beatport charts – you met these prolific producers in strange circumstances though.
“Yes, I knew the guys only by their name and the music but I had never met them in person until 2 years ago when I was playing with Chris Lake at space in Leeds. I heard P&F were playing the same night in the same city on another club. I ended up not having enough time to go there after the gig but I was lucky to met them on the return train to London; can you imagine 4 DJs traveling together? The general banter was as cool as you would expect – potential productions and what we could all do with one another.”
How did the initial studio session go – were there loads of ideas flying around from you all?
“They were two really good days in the studio. We chatted about some ideas to work together the weeks before our meeting, so we didn’t have to start something from scratch; “You Need Some” is the first of the two tracks we did on that session being released. We had a pretty clear vision on what we had to use on both tracks.”
Where did you road test the record, what club crowd got to hear it first?
“About 6 or 7 months ago at the Kinky Malinki party at Proud2. The crowd went ballistic!”
Are there further plans to hook up with these guys?
“Yes there is, we already met last April to work on a vocal track and on a remix of an old track of them, I have to say I’m really happy on what we have done. We will probably meet in July again.”
You were born and raised in Venice. How did you stumble on dance music?
“It happened in a pretty natural way. When I was 15 or 16 I used to record music on the radio, one day I listened to a dance chart and loved those extended mixes of the same tracks I was used to listen on short radio versions, on the same chart there was the track that gave me a completely new input, – “Pump Up The Volume” from M.A.R.R.S. After that I become uber passionate and started to produce my first demos on the next years.”
Your home city has started to see some clubs popping up – you don’t associate this beautiful city with banging nightclubs though – it’s all about Bellinis at Harry’s Bar surely?
“Yeah, sadly it is. There are only very few good clubs in Veneto hosting international DJs, unfortunatelly always the same names though. Anyway, the rest is all about discobars more or less fashion with crap soundsystems and most of the times you can hear the worst commercial music.”
What did your family think of your choice of career?
“It was not easy for me at the early stages because I knew that a full time job would have kept me away from the music production. In the beginning my parents have tried to push me to find a ‘normal’ job! But now the family sees all the success that’s arriving, and they love it.”
Can you remember your first ever DJ gig and what you got paid?
“Yes I can! It makes me smile when I think to it, If you mean the first ever gig I’ve made alone and got paid it was on a very small club on a Sunday afternoon, I was in the ’89 when I was 17. There was only 3 or 4 people on the whole club and I got paid something equivalent to 50 euros, I came back home very happy that day! [laugh].”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
1. Prok & Fitch vs Marco Lys “You Need Some” (Original Mix) – Great Stuff
2. Marco Lys “Can’t Get Enough” (Original Mix) – Rising Music
3. Jay Lumen “Teach Us”
4. Oscar Acagy – UP
5. Olivier Giacomotto & Popof ‘Back Together’
6. Prok & Fitch vs Marco Lys ‘Bango’
7 DJ Chus & Sonny Wharton ‘Runnin’
8 Michael Gray Vs Marco Lys ‘Forever’
9 Jorin Voorn ‘Goodbye Fly’
10 Bass Kleph ‘Ghost Machine’
A huge diary of great gigs coming up in the summer months – where are you looking forward to in particular?
“There are some gigs I’m really looking forward because of their location or particularity: Summer City Festival in Gdansk, it will be in the same arena where Italy will play at EU soccer championship some days before; Rising Music party at Fire’s Lightbox in London, after a long time Chris Lake, Nelski and myself will dj together; Nature One on august, don’t need to add anything else to describe it, the biggest festival in Germany; Ministry Of Sound on september for Kinky Malinki party… and confirming more dates this week. It’s a busy summer!”
What producers from around the world are you giving high fives to at the moment?
“There are a few actually: Joris Voorn, Kaiserdisco, Olivier Giacomotto, Jay Lumen.”
You have brought out a multitude of dancefloor bangers on labels such as Positiva, Defected, Strictly Rhythm, Rising Music and Toolroom over the years – whiter were the big labels though that you loved in the early days of your career?
“When I started to produce, many of the big labels that are around now didn’t exist and somes of the old labels are not existing anymore, but there are somes still living it up – I had the chance to sign one of my records to Strictly Rhythm who are one of the originals. Things were a bit tougher before the internet era!!”
How would you describe your production style?
“Groovy, techy and addictive!”
Which one of your many releases are you most proud of?
“They are some I’m very proud of, if I have to name just one it’s the remix I’ve done for My Digital Enemy’s ‘Wasted’ in 2007.”
What do you love about Ibiza?
“Everything! The secluded beaches you have to know someone to know about, the endless days of sun, the diverse nightlife, the ‘no problem’ attitude of all the workers there. Truly is a place like no other.”
With so much traveling around the world, how much of your production is completed on tour?
“My setup is all in my home studio so I can’t properly work or finish a track while I’m traveling, but I do spend a lot of time on the place smashing out new ideas.”
What do you think of the millions of dollars being poured into the American EDM scene, do you think it will kill it off very quickly?
I think every territory in the World has gone through changes in the way different genres of dance music is embraced and portrayed. The US is no different to that, and I think we’ll see even more changes in the US as this year progresses into 2013.
What crowd from around the world are the craziest?
“Ibiza by a landslide!”
What has been the best DJ gig of 2012?
“So far – in March at Proud2 in London, alongside with D.Ramirex, Alex Kenji and Kid Massive, there was a special alchemy that night!”
Apart from dance music – what other genres / artists do you enjoy listening to?
“I can go from old school rap and hip hop to pop to rock, I like when music gives me deep emotions. I have pretty eclectic music tastes – artists like Angelo Badalamenti, Justice, M83, Chemical Brothers really do it for me.”
What is coming next studio wise from you?
“There are some new collaborations I’m working on with Prok & Fitch, Michael Gray, Hoxton Whores, DJ PP and some of my own that I’ll be starting soon. Some solo tracks are on their way but details are being kept under wraps right now as this is going to be fairly special.”
