• Search
• Subscribe
• RSS Feed

Mark Knight, Toolroom Records Boss, squeezed us into his schedule to chat about Dave Spoon's silly name, an eventful Berlin Love Parade and of course, his Tuesday residency at Amnesia. 

IV: Your Toolroom Knights residency at Armada/Contact is a big commitment for yourself and the label, how did the opportunity come about and why did you feel it was right to do it now?
MK: I did a few gigs with Armin [Van Buuren] over the last year, in Columbia and at a couple of festivals, he was playing a lot of my music and there is a natural overlap of fan base too, with the tougher, more progressive Toolroom sounds being kind of where Armada starts. It seemed to all make sense to do it together as we compliment each others brands. Armin's a really nice guy too so it just all added up." 

What do you think of the terrace? Erick Morillo has called it best club room in ibiza?
"It's wicked, much better than before. It's not so much of a throughway now and with the crowd facing you and the phat soundsystem, the whole room is more conducive to the type of environment I like to play in. I'm looking forward to some big nights until the end of the season." 

Away from Ibiza, You're recognised as one of the hardest working, most travelled DJs. Are you still globetrotting?
"Yeah, it's mental, ridiculous really. This weekend I did 3 countries in one day, Tel Aviv, Global Gathering [England] and a gig in Ireland. Seriously though, it's hard, it's fucking hard. I've pretty much got a gig or flight every day. But it's great, when you're aspiring to be a DJ, these are the type of things you think of and aim for."

"It's been a slow process as our growth has been organic, without taking too many big risks and more just a steady approach."

Is it a conscious decision to do as many gigs as possible?
"When you look at the guys who have been successful, they have really tried to ram home their product, brand and profile. There's no point doing the wrong gigs, because that would be detrimental to what you're trying to achieve. But, there has to be a persistent profile and awareness that you have to maintain because there are so many kids out there desperate to be doing the same as you. You have to keep at it."

So branding is key in the modern environment?
"Absolutely….it's all about brands. Look at what has been successful, like Subliminal for Erick or Bedrock for Digweed. You need to have brand association, it's multilevel now, multifaceted."  

The label has gone from strength to strength in the last year, doubling in output if I'm not mistaken. What do you attribute that to?
"We've put more records out but the success is down to hard work and making the right moves. It's been a slow process as our growth has been organic, without taking too many big risks and more just a steady approach. But as the momentum has built with that, it just keeps going and we don't get the peaks and troughs of one big hit followed by months of nothing. For example, this week we're hoping the "Baditude" single by Dave Spoon can get into the top 20 and it just keeps growing and growing."  

PLAY: BADITUDE - OFFICIAL VIDEO - SPOON , HARRIS & OBERNIK »

So in this busy schedule, have you had any gigs of note recently? You had a float at [Berlin] Love Parade didn't you?
"Yeah, it was horrible! (laughs) It pissed down all day and we were trying to find our float, which was number 30, and we were only at number 2 - it was miles away! It took me 2 hours to get to it and I was drenched by the time I got there. The speaker also caught fire as it was so wet; it was fucking hilarious until we thought the whole float might catch fire. There's nothing you can do about stuff like that though and in the end it was great - but the whole event is so weather dependent." 

Are there any particularly special nights you've played recently whilst touring? Places that could be the next hotspot for house music maybe?
"I've actually had some really great gigs recently. The crowd reaction in places like Haoman 17 in Tel Aviv and the PR Club in Bulgaria were amazing. You know, in these places the crowd is just so up for it, I love playing in that type of environment."

What productions are you working on at the moment?
"I'm revisiting 'Columbian Soul' with D Ramirez. I'm also doing a track with Dan Diamond called 'Club Politics', a spoken word vocal describing all the bullshit that you get in clubs, which is a bit different. I'm also continuing to work with Adam [Funkagenda] on various things. But I'm constantly trying new ideas, playing them out, revisiting them, looking for new angles and just trying different things." 

That link between production and DJ is crucial then, in terms of roadtesting new material?
"Exactly. You have the opportunity to play a new record out at a high level and fine tune it to make it as good as it can be.  In order to make world class records, you have to have the opportunity to get a feel for and gauge how good a record actually is. Sometimes you'll play it out and then bin the idea. That's the great advantage of the digital era." 

And where are we up to with the Toolroom Knights compilations?
"Well, we have Dave Spoon's out at the moment, which he is touring for and then Dirty South is due to be released in September. We're still busy doing the Toolroom Knights gigs at Ministry [London] as well, which are going great." 

The smash hit in Ibiza this summer, is your take with Funkagenda of Laurent Garniers' classic "The man with the red face". When you both knocked it up in a coffee break, did you realise how big it would be?
"No, not really, you always knew you had a fighting chance due to the original because, the parts are brilliant, but it just didn't translate into a modern set and just didn't work. But, with parts as good as the originals and when you've got a great melody it's just a case of updating it with modern production techniques, styles and arrangements. So effectively we did a cover version of it, rather than a remix.  It's actually the fastest selling record on beatport this year, but no, I didn't expect it to be as big as it has been." 

"We want to set trends and be completely unique in our approach and model of how we do business. We want to be the future of how dance music does business."

Funkagenda is signed to the label too isn't he? Who else should we be looking out for?
" SPS from Canada and from the UK we have Chris Special and Tim Weeks, guys who we're looking to push this year. We found these guys through demos, like Dave Spoon. In fact, with Dave Spoon, the only reason I looked at his demo was because he had a silly name and I love that stupid monty python humour. He literally only got noticed because of his name and his career has been borne out of that demo in the post, obviously he's got bags of talent and we've nurtured that but it all started from that demo!" 

You'll be producing a mix for the Ibiza-Voice podcast shortly. What can people expect to hear?
"I will be yes! I'll put loads of exclusive, unrealeased material on it, forthcoming tracks from myself and from Toolroom, including my new one 'Club Politics'. It'll all be fresh, brand new music so I'm not going to give you a podcast of stuff you've heard before and I'm not giving you a tracklist either! It's one for the future." 

Back to Ibiza, What do you feel about the laws controlling club opening hours?
"I actually think it's not such a bad thing. I might be going against the grain but I think there comes a time when enough is enough and why not just party hard at night, take a rest and do it all again the next night. I do think it's a shame about DC10 though, there should be exceptions or one offs but in general I don't think it's such a bad thing."

Did you go to the IMS? Why not? What do you think about the concept of music conferences?
"No, I didn't go. (uncomfortable pause!) I didn't really see the point of it to be honest. I think there is a need for music conferences because you can't beat face to face business. But the business model has changed so dramatically, everything is done digitally now. Back in the day, you would press vinyl and force it into the DJ's hand. Now, you'd be emailing him the idea whilst it was in progress. In Miami, we don't give away promos anymore, maybe only to a handful of DJs. The nature of how quickly things move now means you can't arrive at a conference saying "here are my next 5 months releases", because everyone would have a copy within a matter of days. So maybe 2 or 3 key events a year is all that is needed. The most relevant conference to labels such as Toolroom is the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), the way it is set up and structured is conducive to business and work. " 

You've mentioned a couple of times about how the business model has changed. Do you feel like Toolroom are pioneers or part of a new generation in the industry?
"Totally, yes. We want to set trends and be completely unique in our approach and model of how we do business. We want to be the future of how dance music does business. You know [for example] we've been selling downloads on our site for 5 years; we saw that straight away about how it would work in the future. We have visions of being a 360 company, pioneering in our approach to the point where majors [labels] are looking to us because they don't know what to do. Some of them [major labels] are like oil tankers, so big they can't turn round whereas we're dynamic and can move with the times. We're looking to do everything from producing and publishing records, management and the touring too, all within the Toolroom brand. Definitely I'm proud that we're aiming to be at the forefront of music in the future." 

What is the future for Toolroom Knights in Ibiza?
"Well, we'll definitely be back next year at Amnesia. We're looking to do something concept led, I'm not saying we'll be as whacky as Cocoon, so don't expect Dave Spoon in chaps or something although Dean [D Ramirez] would be well up for dressing up... but it'll be a weekly party as Toolroom Knights. We'll be able to program it more in line with what the brand is all about and with the type of artists you'd expect to see at one of our nights. "

www.myspace.com/djmarkknight | www.toolroomrecords.co.uk