[Music & Interview]: Mark Groot

 

 

Mark Groot is a producer and artist from the Netherlands. This young and talented man quit law school and dedicated his life to only one thing; his Music.

He followed a course on SAE (Audio Engineering school) and graduated with honors. Besides his work as a producer and DJ he works at Delsin Records, where he takes care of the vinyl shop.

His music is flowy; sometimes even sort of hypnotizing but direct hitting. In his tracks as well as his sets you can hear that Mark likes to play with different moods. Catch people with dynamic and tense music and after that get them back on the ground. This skill together with his open minded and friendly personality makes him Mark Groot.

Mark Groot in short is a positive, passionate and very driven person with a clear goal in his head.

 

Hi Mark. We met virtually the first time at the end of 2015. If I remember right, you sent me some tracks. How did you find the NovaFuture Blog and why did you have the idea of sending tracks to the “guys” running it?

Yes that’s true. I actually used NovaFuture Blog for some time to dig new music. Of course Hardwax and Decks are great ways to find new music, but what I like about blogs is that you can also find unofficial releases from talented producers. 

At the time I sent my tracks over I was in an audio engineering school. It was that time where I decided to fully focus on my music and step up the game. 

So I thought let’s try NovaFuture Blog. 

 

Actually we fell in love with your stuff immediately and wanted to support you so we published the first feature about you, the self-released EP “Never Try Never Know”. When did you produce it and what was your inspiration for it?

I remember making those tracks in the studio at my school. It was the very first EP I made where I felt like it was good enough to send out. I wouldn’t say there was a specific inspiration for it. I always see it like this, you have inspiration versus processing. Inspiration would be the part where a specific creative idea pop ups in your head after some sort of stimulus. 

This EP was more a processing type of workflow. This means you just start working and while you create, you come up with new elements that fit. It’s more playful I would say. 

Of course I’m influenced by a lot of things I hear and see, but that’s more like an unconscious process. 

 

 

Who are your favourite producers & DJs? What inspires you in general?

At the moment my favorite DJs would be Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann.

I think no matter where in the world those guys play, they always succeed in creating the vibe that’s needed. True Techno gurus. 

The same question for producers would be harder to answer. I don’t have one specific person whose productions I all dig. 

But it would be names like, Jeroen Search, Kobosil, Z.I.P.P.O, Nthng, Altinbas, Dold, Jonas Friedlich, Sterac, FJAAK, DVS1, Prince of Denmark, Robert Hood and also Klock and Dettmann. Let’s stop there because there is almost no end to this list. 

 

 

You also work at Delsin Records in your home town Amsterdam. Is that a source for inspiration too? What are you doing there and how did you get the job?

Lots of music is being played at the office of Delsin so of course in a way it affects me and influences me, but I think more in a subconscious way. I wouldn’t say after work I feel the most inspired. 

To get the job, I actually just sent the guys of Delsin a mail asking if they needed someone. Luckily, they could use some help at the vinyl section. So I take care of that now. 

 

After the first feature and another one, your EP “YWIMC” on Naught Music, we started a closer co-operation by releasing together the EPs “Matter Of Time”, “DE.LETE” and “Influence”. We released each of them step by step, track by track. How did you come up with that idea?

True. I remember having lots of tracks done. Some very different from each other, so I thought it would be better to give all the tracks a chance to be properly heard. 

One every week seemed like a good concept to me and it worked out well. 

 

 

But you are not only a producer but also a DJ. You released 2 mixes on your own soundcloud and one podcast for Upperberry. How did the guy behind Upperberry get in contact with you and do you know why/how you got hisattention?

About a year ago the guys of Upperberry contacted me asking if I wanted to do a feature on their blog. They offered to have me participate in their podcast series. 

I’m not sure how they found me, but I think they heard some of my productions. Maybe through NovaFuture since they are also from Berlin.

 

You also played a few gigs. Tell us about them. Who arranged them? How is it for you to play in front of an audience?

For now I arrange all of my gigs myself. When I was younger, I played a lot at local clubs in my hometown and even on the radio. So I already experienced some of that.

But of course it’s great to take people on a journey with your music selection. It really doesn’t matter if there are 500 people enjoying the music or just 10, seeing people enjoy what you do is already a great feeling. 

 

 

Did you also play your own tracks? How was the audience’s reaction?

I haven’t played my own tracks yet. I’m always very critical and precise about my own tracks and selecting tracks for gigs, but I’m sure I will soon. 

 

You are from the Netherlands. Do you like the techno scene there? Did you ever visit a club in Berlin or Germany? Do you see any differences and/or similarities?

I have lived in Amsterdam for 5 years now and at the moment the techno scene here is quite alright. After the closing of club ‘Trouw’ there was a year where Amsterdam really missed a good techno club. But pretty recently two new clubs opened, ‘De School’ and ‘Shelter,’ and those clubs fill the void pretty well. 

Besides the clubs, Amsterdam is almost famous for its amount of festivals that take place. Festivals like ‘Dekmantel Festival’ are a real addition to the techno scene here in my opinion. 

I did visit some clubs in Germany and also specifically in Berlin, but I have not experienced enough in the Berlin techno scene to really give my opinion about it.

A big difference between Amsterdam and Berlin though would be the opening hours of the club.

In Berlin the Saturday til Monday culture is way more integrated than in Amsterdam. There are some clubs here that can be open for 24 hours but it’s just not yet integrated enough in the culture. To me, that’s a big miss. 

 

 

What are your plans regarding DJing?

To do as many shows as possible. This summer I already got some nice bookings scheduled  such as the closing act on a festival and playing in a big church outside of Amsterdam. 

There are also some more exiting things coming up where I can’t say too much about, yet. 

I also hope to play in Berlin soon. 

 

Do you have some new productions in the pipeline? What’s coming in that area?

Yes yes yes, you can expect a new EP of mine including remixes, which I’m very excited about.