Rejoice people of England! The new golden couple of hard techno is back! Yep, Mark EG and Chrissi have just come back from a Brazilian trip unlike any they’ve done before: They performed their first ever Live PA, together, in Sao Paulo. From the word on the grape vine, it must have been quite a set! “The set was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had!!! Imagine, being there, with your missus, on stage!!!!” Yeah, Mark, I know, one of my wet dreams too… He he, not talking about YOUR missus of course!
You might know them as The Anxious, the pseudonym they’ve been releasing under for years, churning some of the hardest, darkest techno on tons of labels (for the train spotters: Planet Rhythm, Compound, Submissions, Blueline, their very own Blackout Audio label...). Of course, Mark is (in) famous for his hard trance and hardstyle sound in the UK (he once told me he was pissed off always ending up in the Hard House line up at Dance Valley) but personally, I’m more into his techno stuff and apparently, it's his techno roots that really are in demand on foreign shores.
So, curious as I am and considering I’ve been trying to get this interview for nearly a year now, I jumped at the occasion to have a chat with the man himself before he left for Brazil.
Hello Mister EG… I know you’re super busy so thanks for (finally… ahem) taking the time to do this. Let’s start with the usual questions for the (rare breed of) people who’ve never heard of you... Can you tell us about your career?
Well sometimes I wish I thought of this as a career but I really don’t. Music is a love that I turned into my life with the help of a pair of Technics 1210’s. Sure I’m a DJ and produce music, but everything in my world revolves around music and understanding it. I suppose I’m just lucky I realised what I wanted when I was quite young and just went for it. I work as hard as the next bloke, whinge about life on the odd occasion (just like everyone does), but I count my blessings when I’m in front of a pair of speakers, I really do. I just hope it always stays like this.
Your sound is so varied, can you ever define it?
No, this is too hard. As a DJ/producer, I play so many different styles at so many different parties. In the global techno scene I’m more known for my alias as The Anxious. Hard and dirty techno. Closer to home in the UK rave/hardcore scene I’m known for hard trance. Then in Holland they all reckon I’m just into hardstyle. In the acid techno scene, I’m known for more acid techno based stuff. And then in the UK clubs, I try to play a mixture of it all. I find a real skill in understanding a new type of club and having the records to fit with it. I know it confuses the hell out of people but I just don’t want to become stale and I certainly don’t want to stick playing the same old same old, cause I just get bored. Music is there to understand, not to complain about.
You have your own label, Blackout Audio. How did that come about?
Chrissi and I run the label. Years ago, I met Chris Liberator in Canada and he told us we should think about starting one. A few years later and we’d got a really driving techno sound in the studio and thought it was time to go for it. We managed to convince long-term friends such as Chris McCormack, Patrick Skoog, Glenn Wilson, Andreas Kraemer and Thomas Pogadl to remix stuff for us. Everything was rolling. But we had such a bloody nightmare with a house move that it really slowed us down last year. Now we have a new studio, a new atmosphere and a new outlook on life. We’ve got some amazing tracks in the pipeline even if I do say so myself. We’re even doing our first ever Live PA in Brazil in three weeks time, which is a big milestone for us ;)
Of course, Blackout Audio is also a website where you write about your amazing DJ trips, music etc and a forum (my employers should sue you for wasted salary man…)
Our website www.blackoutaudio.co.uk was started as soon as we did the first release on the label. It was a way for me to promote the releases but also became a way to put all the reviews that I do in various magazines on the web. I’d been the Assistant Editor for Wax Magazine and done so many interviews and articles. So I put the best ones up. Before long, I realised we’d had major hits on the site so I put a forum up there. And that’s when it exploded. It’s now become a serious web community, a place for many different types of people from all over the world to talk about music. I’ve very proud of the site, designing it, learning code is my way of doing ‘proper work’. I think you need something like that, just to keep you grounded. I’m in the middle of doing a major site overhaul that should be up very soon.
When you were a kid, what did you think you wanted to do when you grew up?
When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a Vet but I think the problem started when I got a Radio for Christmas, I had this earplug that I left on during the night without my parents hearing. I heard so much good music on there, but it was the thrill of listening under the pillow in the dark that is the buzz about music that will stick with me forever.
So from there, how did you get into Djing?
I got into Djing through music, I’d learnt many classic instruments as a kid and my dad’s records were a massive influence, so of course, music was my main influence. There was a radio show on the headset I listened to and it was asking for DJ’s. I remember going into Manchester on the train, without my parents knowing, to the record shop it mentioned all the time. I picked up a load of electro records and came home and just stumbled upon the fact that the speeds were the same and I could put them together. I’ve never looked back since.
Where did you get your name?
Nosey cow. Hahahaha.
Ok… What about your look?
It’s actually from Chrissi. I stupidly asked her if she could do my hair in the same way as her and it sort of stuck. Little did I know I’d have to sit in front of mirror and do it every week!!! I reckon I’m going to have to change it soon. Haha.
When I first saw you at a gig, I just fell on my arse, I had to stop and have a good look! You were jumping around all over the place while mixing; there was so much energy in your set... Not a lot of DJs do that… How do you keep it up?
I’m just totally enveloped in the music I play. People sometimes say I am a performer but it was never meant to be that. I just remember that time when I was just getting into the club scene, being on the dance floor and feeling a certain way about the music I was hearing, I still feel that way. And I don’t want that to ever leave me. So in a way, I accentuate the way I ‘m feeling. I feel energy off the dance floor that I just cant describe. It’s a pure feeling that I need to counteract. But all the time, the mix and music is above everything else. Performance is always second.
When you produce stuff, what equipment/software do you use mostly?
A mixture of hardware and software. I’m from the old school way of production, from the times when a computer was some huge machine that took up the size of a room. So without various dusty synths and outboard effects unit, I wouldn’t feel like I was in a real studio. Mind you I do have a laptop and I’m dead pleased with some of the stuff I just make on that with just Ableton, Reason, Cubase and the rest of it all. But even then, when a track is done on my laptop it’s not actually finished until I get it on the mixing desk and add that extra sparkle that I just can’t get from a computer.
Right and on the DJ side? CD or vinyl?
If you had asked me six months ago I’d have said CD. I was playing at a hardcore event in Bournemouth and the DJ’s before and after me were all playing CD. So on I came and there was the usual notable drop in sound quality and volume with the vinyl I was playing. Not only that, the stage was unsteady and of course the records were jumping everywhere. Add to that the fact that a lot of my records are slower than hardcore stuff and you can imagine the reaction. I came off and decided I simply had to switch. But then I got back home and really started to think about it. The sound of CD’s is so clinical and digital - the top end that you get on CD’s really gives a false sense of power (and also a headache with prolonged listening at loud volume). When you play a record the top end is reduced and there’s also a fantastic warmth to the sound that you just can’t get off CD. So I started to research into needles, care of vinyl, correct deck set up and ways to sort this problem out. In the end I realised I didn’t have to switch. I don’t think people realise this, but in 99% of clubs the decks are set up wrong and the needles are not suitable for the job. For now, I’m sticking to vinyl and perhaps the odd CD every now and then if I really have to.
You’ve been voted “UK Best Hard Dance DJ” in 2003, you’re super famous in Serbia… Seems like people are in awe! How does it feel? Any anecdotes?
How does it feel? Well just like my life actually. I’m not one for all this awe crap; I’m a regular person like the rest of us. I do see why people feel that way about DJ’s but I try to be as down to earth as possible in my life. It’s funny cause I’ve played in a lot of countries when people are all over you and then I’ve played in places where people respect what you do and then you just join in with them on the dance floor and that’s that. They don’t want all this egotistical bullshit. It is good getting a five star hotel, being driven from airport to gig and then back to airport but it’s not as glamorous as it seems. Give me my own car, my own space, a good party, a pint of Stella and my own bed any day.
Still, did you at any point in your career think: “that’s it, I’ve made it”? I mean, did you start feeling like a star... Did you want to be a star?
Up until 10-15 years ago I wanted to ‘make it’. Right now, I just want to stay doing what I do. It’s strange cause my goalposts have changed so much since I was a kid. At first I only wanted to be able to be up there and behind the decks, Now I am behind the decks and after such a long time in the industry, I just want to make the right decisions about what I play and where I play. As a producer, I want to make music that goes forward and do something different. I never dream about playing certain venues anymore, I just do what I do and hope I can keep doing it.
What’s behind project Anxious?
The Anxious was really a development of our production since we first started. We’ve produced hard trance, acid techno, electronica and all sorts of weird stuff but to us The Anxious became a real forward thinking project we could put or name to and be proud of. The Anxious stands for difference, attitude and an original sound.
Ok, I know you need to go so, to finish… Looking back on all these years in the business, what’s different between when you started (82!!!) and now?
I’ve gone in so many directions over the years I confuse even myself. At first the music that got me into this game was Detroit techno and electro, then house, then acid and then I discovered trance. Now I play a mixture of different sets at different clubs. But now I’m into nearly every type of music I hear that makes me think. I listen to people’s voices and find a rhythm in it all, I listen to the car engine on the way to gigs and get into it. I’ve made a life out of music and I’m so happy that I could do that. Now I see it as a challenge to discover new music and get myself into it. If I’m being honest, I play only a narrow range of music as a DJ, but I reckon it’s up to me to bring the rest of it into my sets and show the people who respect me something different over the next few years. I always remember the saying someone once said to me, ‘If you’re a DJ, you’re a music person’ and that’s me down to the ground.
Cheers! And for you guys who want to have a listen to the Brazilian live set, check out the Blackout Audio website…
