{"id":30885,"date":"2016-05-05T16:04:16","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T14:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/?p=30885"},"modified":"2016-05-29T02:56:37","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T00:56:37","slug":"interview-mk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/interview-mk\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: MK"},"content":{"rendered":"

MK is an artist, producer, DJ, songwriter and an internationally respected name in the worlds of R&B and pop as well as Dance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a teenager growing up in Detroit, MK was lucky enough to be befriended by one of the true Techno originators, Kevin Saunderson<\/strong>. Kevin became a mentor and big brother, giving Marc the keys to his already infamous, Detroit KMS Studios<\/strong>. During those early years, MK chose to follow the path of Producer\/Artist over that of a DJ. Staying behind the scenes in the studio enabled him to hone his craft. One after the other, his productions and remixes were going top ten, top five and Number One over and over. <\/p>\n

Fast-forward to the present after a self-imposed break, MK has returned with some fantastic mixes and productions. Once again, he has proven himself to be consistent and yet surprising, with a whole new series of songs that showcase his uncanny ability to reinvent and rework an existing track. <\/p>\n

Now, MK travels the world, has been inducted into Pete Tong’s Hall of Fame, and is cited as an influence by the likes of Maceo Plex, Dubfire, Danny Daze, Laidback Luke, Afrojack, Todd Terry, Duke Dumont, Lee Foss<\/strong> and others. Over the Bank Holiday of May 28+29, MK will bring his “Area 10”<\/strong> concept to London’s We Are FSTVL<\/strong>, where he curates a stage featuring Hannah Wants, Catz N Dogz, Oliver Dollar, CamelPhat<\/strong> and more. Anticipating the event, I caught up with MK to discuss the festival, summer plans, New York, Detroit and more.<\/p>\n

“I use the experiences that I have had before to influence what I do”<\/span><\/h3>\n

Over the years, who would you say have been some seminal influences on your life and music? I\u2019ve read that you nice words for the likes of Will Smith and Quincy Jones, but have you been particularly inspired by any other artists? <\/strong>
\nGrowing up, I TOTALLY LOVED DEPECHE MODE, THE CURE, MINISTRY, JOY DIVISION\/NEW ORDER, and I was really into industrial sort of bands and then I met this producer, Chez Damier and he introduced me to all the Detroit people. Once you meet one of those guys, you end up meeting them all and trust me, there are a bunch of characters there. I love them all.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m wondering how your connection is with Detroit these days? How do you see Detroit\u2019s scene these days, outside of Movement. Have you noticed an influx of artistic types coming to the city? <\/strong>
\nDetroit is still home for me, my mom and sis and brother are there so the connections are pretty deep on a family level, friend level and on a music level. <\/p>\n

The city seems to be more vibrant today than it has been in the last 30 years. Originally, I think people started coming back because there was so much affordable space available. Artists, are always on the hunt for affordable work space, but the revival and rebirth of Detroit is everywhere. It reminds me of what went Brooklyn went through about 10 or 12 years ago. Still redeveloping but there is a feeling of community with the people living there, they feel like they are part of something special.<\/p>\n

On the same token, what about New York City? How have you seen seeing New York\u2019s current nightlife scene as compared to when you first moved there in the 90s. <\/strong>
\nThe New York club scene has really reinvented itself in the last six or seven years or so and it is very cool to play and hang there too, New York is definitely back.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s widely known that you took quite a hiatus from dance music, to the tune of a decade or so. Again, I\u2019ve read you state that you essentially got bored with the scene at some point. How does the scene now compare to back then in this regard? <\/strong>
\nThe scene is definitely different now but, to be honest, it\u2019s still all really new to me since back then I spent most of my time in the studio and wasn\u2019t much of a club guy, I spent most of my time behind the mixing boards.. <\/p>\n

What makes it exciting now?<\/strong>
\nI would have to say the fact that I am DJing has made all the difference to the way I feel about being out. I make a track in the studio and can see right away how people respond to it. It is really gratifying.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Have you embraced the idea of traveling more recently? <\/strong>
\nDefinitely a love and hate thing. I love being in different places all the time, I just can\u2019t stand the whole airport thing. Take of your shoes, put on your shoes, are you wearing shoes\u2026you know, the times that we live in make it hard to do things as easily as we used to.<\/p>\n

What have been some of your favorite destinations in the last couple of years? <\/strong>
\nMALTA, CROATIA, ITALY, IRELAND, FRANCE, AND OF COURSE THE UK AND WESTERN CANADA AND INDIO (COACHELLA)<\/p>\n

How do you think working on Hip Hop\/R&B\/Pop tracks has influenced your approach to house music production?<\/strong>
\nI use the experiences that I have had before to influence what I do when they relate to what I am working on or if it inspires a new idea. <\/p>\n

What about DJing?<\/strong>
\nSame answer, if I like something I find a way to put it into my sets.<\/p>\n

How has your studio setup changed over the years?<\/strong>
\nWell, it has gone from bare to kitted out to my laptop and now it is really fantastic again.<\/p>\n

What is a \u201cgo to\u201d piece of gear for you now?<\/strong>
\nCan\u2019t really answer that since it depends on what I am doing <\/p>\n

What if I asked you that question 15 years ago?<\/strong>
\nStrangely enough, probably the same answer.<\/p>\n

In May you\u2019ll stop over at London\u2019s We Are FSTVL with your own \u201cMK Area 10\u201d stage. What was your approach to curating this lineup? What is your philosophy behind \u201cArea 10\u201d?<\/strong>
\nYes, I am pretty excited about it. Area 10 is pretty much curated by me and I have a few people that help me put it together. <\/p>\n

The philosophy of Area 10 if there is one would have to be just follow your passion, don\u2019t let other people discourage you, stick to your gut instincts, it will happen… <\/p>\n

Area 10 was the area of the parking lot that I was responsible for when I had my one and only job while I was a teenager, Area 10 was my section of the parking garage that I was responsible.<\/p>\n

On the same topic, how do you choose what festivals and\/or destinations you want to bring such a project like \u201cArea 10\u201d. What criteria do you set and how does We Are FSTVL satisfy that criteria?<\/strong>
\nThere is not one answer to this, some you choose and others choose you, and then you decide which of them you are interested in<\/p>\n

Finally, how are you preparing for the rigorous summer schedule? And what releases do you have coming up?<\/strong>
\nWell, honestly I have been planning and thinking a lot about this. I am going on a cleanse, working out everyday and being sensible about my party time.<\/p>\n

MK & Becky Hill “Piece Of Me” is now available<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Soundcloud <\/a><\/span> Artist Page <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"we-are-fstvl-lineup\"<\/p>\n

28 & 29 May | We Are FSTVL<\/a> | Tickets<\/a> | London<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MK is an artist, producer, DJ, songwriter and an internationally respected name in the worlds of R&B and pop as well as Dance. As a teenager growing up in Detroit, MK was lucky enough to be befriended by one of the true Techno originators, Kevin Saunderson. Kevin became a mentor and big brother, giving Marc […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":30891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3971],"tags":[5539,9501,9,6777,4538,4788,4407,3999,9788],"class_list":["post-30885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-interviews-london","tag-area-10","tag-camelphat","tag-catz-n-dogz","tag-hannah-wants","tag-interview-london","tag-mk-london","tag-oliver-dollar","tag-we-are-fstvl","tag-we-are-fstvl-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}