Marcus Intalex Interview
18 plus years in the game and innovative still, Manchester’s Marcus Intalex has been part of the rave/dance music scene since day one, following the mercurial strands of modern day club tempo electronic music from techno to drum and bass and beyond. DJ, event promoter, radio host and record label boss, Marcus has done it all and still found the time to alongside the likes of ST Files and Calibre, produce some of the most forward thinking, energetic, soulful and groove heavy drum and bass tunes to hit drum and bass distributor record release sheets and store bins to date; period.
Between the 25th and 28th of February, Marcus Intalex will be touching down in New Zealand to play four dates alongside legendary drum and bass innovator and sonic architect Doc Scott. In preparation for this epic tour Bassdrop decided to get on the phone and talk a bit of shop with Marcus to find out what’s really happening.
Tell me about your background before drum and bass?
I guess when I was a teenager I discovered dance music and I started buying records. That was back in the day when it was the beginning of the rave movement, Acid House, early Chicago House, Techno. I basically started buying the stuff at a record shop in Manchester called Eastern Block and started DJing because I was the only person with the records; you know?
Dance music morphed in different directions, but the version I liked was the UK take on the Detroit music and the Chicago feel, but with dub bass lines and stuff. So I followed the whole thing through to today and the current sound of what drum and bass is. The thing is [though], I still have a massive love for a lot of techno, and house stuff. I keep myself up to date with all that kind of thing as well.
Early this week I discovered some stuff from last year I’d never even heard of. You’ve probably heard of them; Bon Iver. I’ve just spent days listening to nothing but, and watching things on YouTube, and just getting fucking blown away man. I can’t believe I missed them man, I can’t believe I missed that whole thing all of last year, I didn’t even know it happened, you know what I mean?
I guess it just comes with being really engrossed in what you’re doing yourself man, sometimes you just miss things, and then sometimes when you find things like that, it’s like fucking hell, what’s that all about? I mean, it’s just fucking brilliant!
Okay, how has the drum and bass scene changed since you first became involved in it?
That’s a fucking brilliant question man. I can answer that really quickly, or it could take me about three years to answer that man. It’s forever changing, and I think it’s not just drum and bass; it’s the whole music industry has changed dramatically. The way people buy it, the way people access it, the way people listen to music.
The internet has just made music a completely different entity almost. Little tracks that you make at home, before you know it people in New Zealand or people in Japan or whatever know about it, and it’s been like that for quite a few years, but I think it’s definitely changed the development of the music.
Over the last four or five years... a lot of really good new artists are coming through. I think it took a long time for people outside of the UK to really understand how to make it. For a long time [it was] a UK only thing, because only people who grew up with it in the UK knew how to make it. Now it’s just changed so much.
Obviously [that’s to do] with technology changing and allowing people to just make things with a laptop and stuff, and there’s a lot more people making music out there, and a lot more individual artists in music as well. I think it’s great, and it’s up to people such as myself and other DJs to search through it. It’s certainly a lot more interesting now, you’ve got to keep well aware, and you’ve got to keep listening all the time, because there’s just fucking tons of people making it.
The one concern I have is in some cases, the people that make it are the people that like it. So when you look at your potential customers out there, they’re the ones that are making it. I don’t know how to put it to make it make sense, but there are more fucking people making it then buying it almost, do you know what I mean? Everybody who feels a real desire about the music ends up making it. I’m not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing, do you know what I mean? I think as long as it puts good music out there, it can only be a good thing
Completely! Anyway, on what levels are you currently involved in the music industry?
Fucking too many. Obviously being a DJ, running two record labels (soul:r, revolve:r), which is taking more and more of my time up, and I’m doing more office stuff then ever before, which is not the enjoyable part of my life. Liaising with a number of club promoters to try and organise nights, doing the fucking radio show, and trying to find time to make music myself; you know? Which is funny, cause for someone who does this for a living I just don’t seem to find time. Quite often I’m too worn down or worn out to actually make music, and obviously being around people who make it and play it all the time, sometimes I just want to have a moan about things.
Haha, I can relate to that man. So, what music are you listening to at the moment that really excites you?
Well, obviously Bon Iver, I just found this other guy I quite like called Cass McCombs, and he sounds quite a bit like The Smiths, he’s not really like The Smith’s music, but he’s got jangly guitar stuff. I just heard a couple of things I like from the new MGMT album, a couple of tunes on there are fucking amazing. I’m listening to a lot of techno at the moment as well, real empty, sparse sounding stuff, kinda like Rhythm and Sound and that.
What have some of your favourite experiences been travelling through and performing in New Zealand over the years?
Look, actually the last tour was pretty special. The night in Auckland and especially the night in Wellington, when me and Doc Scott played; those were some fucking seminal nights. There is a certain sense of excitement I get about going to New Zealand that I don’t get from going almost anywhere else. You know it’s going to be good, you know you’re going to have a good time, you know you can go there and play what you want; the reaction is going to be good. The people are fucking friendly, I love the country itself, I think it’s a great place. It’s just this feeling; it’s something I really look forward to. It’s like this - Australia is like the servo station stop-off on the way there. You relax when you stop off, but all you’re doing is mentally preparing yourself for it almost, because you know it’s going to be that good, do you know what I mean?
Martyn Pepperell
Marcus Intalex Interview
