INTERVIEW: Micky [nakedlunch]

The Naked Lunch label is rolling 3 releases strong as I write this, after putting out TRG’s ‘Generation EP,’ a split 12” betwixt Breakage and Instra:mental and a little more recently a 3 track single from American producer Jus Wan (full review here). With an exciting array of styles and approaches the Irish label is proving to be one for those in the know to keep eyes out for as they’re intent on using their 12”s to propel music thats a little left of centre into the lugholes of a very hungry audience.

It also helps that label boss Micky, is as much the exceptional DJ as he is the proverbial A&R man. Our earlier post on his May mix got us talking and now we’ve nailed it… a Sonic Router exclusive from one of the most interesting selectors to come through our world in a while.

Big Smiles.

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Micky: My names Micky, I live in deepest darkest Ireland. I just moved back here after 11 years living in Amsterdam & Rotterdam.

Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?

I work as a debt collector… possibly the most frustrating job on earth due to the fact most of the people I deal with have plenty of cash but will complain and cry about having to pay a €200 bill while sitting inside of a 2009 6series BMW

How did you first get into DJing?

I really got into DJing when I moved to Amsterdam in 1996, a friend of mine managed the Fat Beats hip-hop store and he gave me a pair of sl1200's and a mixer. Then I started making mix tapes and giving them to some of the Dutch promoters... but they more or less told me that they only booked Dutch DJs. At the time I started working in Amsterdam with a guy called Andy Haze, he was an English DnB promoter who had just started a weekly night in a club called Mazzo and he made me resident.

From there I went on to promote a night called Redzone with Martyn and Nymfo and be involved with a night in Amsterdam called Ichione.

Do you have plans to produce yourself? If so what’s your production set up like? Has it changed a lot since day dot?

I have great plans but it never really works out so I gave up trying years ago… the way the music scene works it seems you do need to be a producer to get gigs…

What got you into dubstep?

I lost interest in DnB due to the fact for me it basically boils down to a few key producers and if your buying records or listening to music and your choice is restricted to about 6/8 artists it gets boring . I got into dubstep via buying vinyl… I buy a lot of different styles and dubstep was just the logical progression in my music tastes.

I think the turning point was when I went to see Kode 9 playing in Rotterdam in 2005. That sealed the deal.

You’re the first dubstep label to come out of Ireland right? Is there a big scene for dubstep in Ireland?

I think I was first by default... The label was up and running and I moved back here around the same time… there is another label based in Galway called Dub Culture.

There is a decent scene and you can and will see almost all the brand names. Some of the nights I have been to have been great but the scene seems to be centralised in Dublin. Everything in Ireland seems to centre around Dublin though (public transport, money, work, clubs etc)

Do you see yourself as sitting on the periphery of the scene? Geographically as well as in terms of the music you’re releasing…

Well I have no real choice about being on the periphery of the scene living where I do in Ireland, but I have always been an outsider when it comes to scenes, I tend to be more into the music and not the scene. As regards the label being on the periphery, I don't have aloof ideas of what it’s about or what it stands for; it is what it is really.

Obviously Instra:mental and Breakage are crossing some kind of invisible genre divide by making more 140bpm music. Did they need convincing or were you just tapping into the well of beats sitting on their hard drives?

I met Instra:mental via Martyn and kept up communication, they are real good guys and really into what they do and they wanted to help me out with the label so they gave me ‘Futurist’ and the rest is history, I’ll be eternally grateful to them as it turned out to be something very special to me.


Instra:mental - Futurist [Naked Lunch]

Do you think DnB producers bring something else to 140bpm music?

I suppose they bring their take on what dubstep should sound like, some get it right and turn out something pretty original and some of it just ‘sounds’ like a DnB producer making dubstep.

What else have you got coming up this year? More releases/gigs etc

I don't know about gigs, I have a few things lined up but like I said in dance music it seems you have to be a producer to get gigs, the age of the DJ died around 96... If anyone wants to book me drop me a line.

On the label front next up will be a 10" by Scuba which hopefully will be out soon. I’m just waiting on the artwork then it can be sent for mastering. Following that will be a 10"from a Detroit legend Sherard Ingram aka Urban Tribe/Stingray313/Drexciya, then something from Instra:mental and lots more stuff which will all be revealed in due time.

The forthcoming tracks can be heard on the myspace page

Tell us a little about the mix you have done for us, what tracks just had to be in there?

There is no concept behind the mix it’s just a selection of tunes I’m playing out when I do DJ. I play records a lot, it’s my way of relaxing and every now and then I smoke a joint and record what I’m doing; sometimes it turns out real good other times its shite.

I had to put the Omar-S tunes in there as they just turned up in the mail last week and I’m going through a real Omar-S phase now.

What is the thing that is most exciting you at the moment in the bass music scene?

How there seems to be a blurring between all the styles, it’s nice to hear DJ playing across the board and having people being into it and not turning their nose up at it - something that never happens in DnB… when you go to a DnB night you get only DnB - at least at some of the nights I go to…

Have you got anything else you want to tell us, words of wisdom for our readers?

Think hard about the reasons for starting a label. If your reason is to get DJ gigs or status then don’t bother. If your reason is to get music heard that you truly believe in regardless of who made it, then go ahead and work as hard as you can to get it realised.

::

DOWNLOAD: Micky [Naked Lunch] - Sonic Router Mix



Tracklist:

Stingray313 – Sphere of Influence (forthcoming on Nakedlunch)
Instra:mental – Temptations (forthcoming on Disfigured Dubs)
Untold – Reminder [Ramadanman Remix] (Unreleased)
A Made Up Sound – Closer (A Made Up Sound)
Dj G & Headhunter – Spacecake (Subway)
Scuba – Speak – (forthcoming on Nakedlunch)
Unknown – Untitled (Unknown)
Pearson Sound – Psln (forthcoming on Hessle Audio)
Jaques Palminger - Tudeldub Remixe [Shackleton Remix] (Pudel Produkte)
Cooly G – Narst (Hyperdub)
Omar s – The Further You Look The Less You Will See (FHXE)
Martyn – For Lost Relatives (AUS Music)
Sperix – Structure & Function (Unreleased)
Moderat – Rusty Nails [Shackleton Remix] (BPitch Control)
Unknown - Untitled (Unknown)
Instra:mental – Leave It All Behind (Applepips)
Omar s – U (FHXE)

Links:
www.myspace.com/mick667
www.myspace.com/thenakedspace