Mark Greene is an Irish DJ/Producer based in Meath just outside Dublin who’s been running his own events with friends and starting to make quite a dent in the global techno circuit.
Hey Mark, where are you based and how did you first get started in the scene?
Hi, thanks for having me. I am from County Meath in Ireland, just outside Dublin. I first began going to gigs when I was about 18 years old. Some Techno, some Trance, but I immediately loved the atmosphere at these nights and it quickly became a regular thing. Two friends and I then started running our own nights in our local night club and that really started off my interest in pursuing music. I learned to mix first and then enrolled in a production course in Dublin city.
Who are your musical heroes or the people who most inspire you?
Carl Cox would be an obvious one and someone who has probably influenced many artists. I have been lucky enough to have him play a few of my tracks at big events and it really gives you confidence going forward. I actually got to meet him recently and it was great to chat with him. Starting out mixing and producing I was obsessed with the Advent & Industrialyzer (and I still am). So I was absolutely delighted to have Industrialyzer on remix duties for my upcoming release. Others who have been a massive help to me in terms of influence and advice would be Phutek and Steve Mulder. Two top guys in the techno scene in my opinion.
How does it feel to be standing shoulder to shoulder with some of these people
It’s crazy to be honest. When I started out I never thought I would even get to meet half of these artists, let alone work together and release on their labels.
What would you say has been your biggest achievement so far or thing you’ve most proud of?
My biggest to date has yet to be announced but I have signed 2 originals to a massive label. The release is not out until September so I have not told many people about it as yet. But it is something I have been working towards since I started regularly putting out music. The thing I most proud of is having featured in two of Carl Cox’ last Essential Mixes. His most recent was the 25th anniversary of the Essential Mix and he played my track ‘Back Off’. I was completely in shock!
There are a lot of people making techno. For those that are not aware, how would you describe your sound? Is there a philosophy behind the music you play?
Well I began making quite harder sounding tracks around 130+ bpm. I just loved trying to make nails type tracks when I first started out. Over the last 2 years though my style has slowed down a lot to about 125bpm (128 at most) with more experimental elements I would not have used before. So it is always getting better for me personally. I always try to make tracks that I would like to hear when I am out which usually leads me to making energetic, club-orientated music with a good thump to it.
Talk to us about your latest release on Funk N’ Deep and the inspiration behind it. Who’s been supporting it?
Yeah I am really happy with this one. I have been wanting to release on Funk’n Deep for a long time. I recently remixed for one of their artists Dale Fairbairn and then sent some demos over to Mike Ly who runs the label. The 2 originals are quite different to each other which gives the release a nice balance. I was keen to sort 2 stand out remixers so I chanced my arm asking Ricardo (Industrialyzer) and thankfully he said yes. Gary Burrows has been putting out some great stuff lately too with plenty of ravey elements so it’s great to have him on board. We sent the EP out on promo and so far have received some nice words from artists like Mistress Barbara, Frankyeffe, Andre Crom, Secret Cinema and more.
https://soundcloud.com/changeunder/cupremiere-mark-greene-divide-original-mix-funkn-deep
What’s the music scene like where you’re based? Where’s hot, who are the big names locally and how often are you playing?
Dublin has a massive scene at the moment, and has done for the best part of the last 5-6 years. The amount of local artists in their early twenties who are creating a buzz is amazing. I live a little outside the city and between producing and working my day job it can be difficult to get to gigs as often as I would like as a punter. But when I do go out District 8 would be the usual choice. Big names coming from Ireland’s house and techno scene at the moment that I would listen to would be KETTAMA and Hybrasil and then I have always been really into everything Ian O’Donovan puts out. In terms of my own gigs I have been actually playing more often outside of Ireland recently which is odd. However, this year I signed with BPA agency who now handle all my bookings and I have been thankfully getting more Irish gigs.
Tell us about your DJ setup when you’re performing
I keep it fairly simple with CDJ’s, a DJM mixer. People always laugh at me but I still use CDs too. It’s just what I prefer.
What are you goals for the future and do you have any other things planned that you want to share? Would you ever consider launching your own label perhaps?
As I mentioned previously I have a big release coming in September I am delighted about. We are pretty much bang smack in the middle of festival season now and my hope is next year I can play at more European summer festivals. I will be over at ADE in October and I am really looking forward to that. It will be my third time over and it is always unreal. In terms of a label it is not really something I think I could take on at the moment. I see a lot of people release a handful of tracks and then start up a label and probably don’t realise how much work it is. I would hate to start one and then not fully commit to it in terms of time. At some point I would like to put together an album of sorts but that is a good bit further down the line.
