Martin Ikin

DMC World Magazine·
Features

One of the old skool still causing havoc out there with the massive ‘Nothing To Fear’

Interview Dan Prince

Hi Martin welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?

“Hey DMC thanks for having me, I’m in London right now sat in my front room on the laptop.”

You have the world’s dancefloors going crazy at the moment thanks to your ‘Nothing To Fear’ monster on the super cool Exploited label. Talk us through the history of the track…this has been a regular tune in your sets for quite a while…

“Well its a funny story…I actually made it last summer and have been dropping it at all my gigs ever since. It’s one of those tracks that always gets a great reaction when I play it, so believing I had a decent tune on my hands I sent it to a few of the current big labels we all know and love. Naming no names but they all turned it down! So big props to Exploited for having the foresight to sign it x”

Let’s rewind, we all love and remember you as DJ Mayhem from way back in the early 90s, how did you first get into dance music as a teenager. What were some of the early tunes that first got sucked you in?

“Haha yeah the good ol “Mayhem” days…it seems like I was always into it. I remember using my dinner money to buy Nitro Deluxe – Let’s Get Brutal on my way home from school in 1987. Ha! I must have been 13 years old.”

Early DJ heroes?

“I’m not sure about DJ heroes, but definitely producer heroes at that time would have been Larry Heard, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Model 500. Then later on, LFO. I was really into that early Transmat/Metroplex sound that those guys were making from 85/6 to the early 90’s.”

Yeah I knew you were into Mark Bell/LFO, tell us more…

“An absolute massive influence, his production was just light years ahead of everyone in my opinion. Their sound design still blows me away to this day. LFO – Track4 has to be one of my fave tracks EVER. The main sound in that record is immense, I actually asked him once how he did it. And he told me…legend!!”

So you made your first tune, took it into Basement Records and played it to Phil Wells. Did you think they were going to like it…were you confident it had hit the mark?

“If I remember rightly, the thing I took into Phil was just a demo that I had made in a studio I had rented for a day. Definitely not the finished article. Luckily Phil saw the potential and signed me to the label and put me in the studio to tidy up the demo. I ended up making 3 new tracks and the demo got scrapped. Wish I still had a tape of that somewhere…”

How did you prepare for that first ‘Damage EP’ session later on with Ron Wells at the 14B studio? Weren’t you shitting it, what was that experience like?

“I remember going through all my records and putting little sticky notes on them with the details of where and what the sample was, so when i got in the studio all the sampling was proper quick…Even though it was done on Ron’s old Ensoniq sampling keyboard. I was so excited about that day and me and Ron got on like a house on fire. Amazing experience that was. Thanks Ron & Phil x”

An interesting post on your Facebook site at the weekend, ‘Antiques Roadshow is such a banging programme, up yours X-Factor.’ What would be the one piece from your house you would take on the Roadshow to get valued?

“Hahaha…I don’t actually own anything that would be worthy of the mighty Antiques Roadshow. That post was more about me having a pop at the cringeworthy X-Factor!”

What is coming out next from you release wise…?

“Got loads of things in the pipeline, including something coming on Get Physical and a new EP for OFF . Loads more too.”

Tell us about your studio set up…

“I’ve had the actual studio since 1995, before that I just had a few bits of hardware (Akai sampler etc.) in my bedroom at my mums house. The main set up is based around my Mackie 32-8 analogue desk, a few compressors – my Neve 33609 and Summit DCL 200 and Genelec 1032 monitors. Got a handful of synths too but the ones I use all the time are my Minimoog, SH101 and Ensoniq Mirage. Also, not used in my productions so much anymore but still loved and played everyday, is my Fender Rhodes Piano MK1. Sequencer is Logic on a mac pro, with occasional bit of sound design in Ableton or Reason, just cos I like some of the synths in those programs but much prefer to write and arrange in Logic.”

Not many people know this, but some time in the mid 90s you started to study Jazz Piano and even got your own Jazz Funk band going. Obviously that sound has always been a love of yours, but was it also a case of you getting disillusioned with the club scene?

“Yeah I love playing piano. I don’t think it was really about me getting disillusioned though. I’ve always loved the sound of piano and that led to me really getting into jazz piano, so it was just another musical avenue i wanted to explore.”

Okay let’s find out some musical stuff about you…

The record that always makes you cry?

“I don’t think there is one that makes me cry, is that bad? But a couple that do get the old hairs up are Donny Hathaway’s – ‘Song For You’ and Little Dragon’s – ‘Twice’, that song is beautiful!”

The best jungle record ever made?

“Oooh that’s a difficult one, there were so many bangers made in that era and my memory ain’t the best anymore, so I’m gonna go with an obvious one but still a killer with it’s Nightporter piano riff, the Reese Bass and a rinsing Amen – Renegade & Ray Keith – ‘Terrorist’.”

The big dance record you always jump up and dance to at a wedding?

“Can’t beat a bit of Michael or Chaka at a wedding can ya!”

The record you wish you’d have written?

“LFO!”

And…the record you are most proud to have created…?

“Erm tough one, they’re all my little babies!”

It’s your birthday. What 3 DJs do you invite to come spin at your gaff for a party?

“Pat Sharp with Smashey and Nicey, that would be a right crack wouldn’t it!?..Or that just me then?”

Where have been some of the stand out gigs of the summer for you?

“Siesta with MK was mental, ain’t seen that many people in a rave since the 90s.”

Funniest thing that has ever happened to you at a festival/rave…

“I played in Dubai a few years back. The fella took me for a curry before the gig, so I gave it the large and asked for it extra hot…who told me to do that!? Half way through my set I had to get the promoter to play a track while I ran downstairs to have an emergency crap!! Not funny for me but everyone else found it hilarious.”

Ever been starstruck?

“Loads. All the time.”

Anthem of the summer…

“Has to be MK’s Stormqueen Dub III doesn’t it?”

The singer or producer you would most like to collaborate with?

“MK or Shadowchild, both of em making great house music at the moment.”

And finally, not many people know this but Martin Ikin is really good at…

“Fixing electronics…what a fuckin’ nerd!!”