Category: Music & Interview

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father and son spinning records together as DJ team. We are not sure but we think that’s a novum. Could you both please tell us something about you, what you do in your normal life, your youth and what kind of music you listened to at that time?

Jörg: I am a married state certified technician in engineering, aged 43 and a father of three. Besides Felix, there are Kida (14) and Laila (11). As a boy, I was very much into skateboarding and was mostly listening to rock or heavy metal like AC/DC, Metallica and Danzig, but also to EBM or industrial bands like Ministry.

Felix: I am 21 years old and graduated last year in our hometown in Heidelberg, where I live as well. Most of my time is consumed by music, but I have a side job in Mannheim and travel a lot to visit bigger cities and festivals. I’ve been doing that for as long as I can remember, the first concert I went to was “Die Ärzte” around 2008 or something. After Rock and Metallica , I got into hip hop for a while as well. Then around 2011 I started to really get into dance music.

 

When did you start with djing as solo artist?

Jörg: I got my Technics 1210 MKII and my Vestax PMC-46 at the turn of the year 1993 /1994 so I could play the tracks I wanted to listen to, mix them the way I wanted to and to record sets as I would like to hear them. So it was a very egoistical reason.

Felix: After my 18th birthday in 2013.

 

(Luettringhouse)

 

When and who came up with the idea to play together?

Felix: It just kind of happened, as I came home from a party and started playing, at some point my father walks in and goes “what’s that” and “have you ever heard of Blablabla” and we started playing together for a while. This became a regular thing and this was kind of the inception.

Jörg: Yes, after being very sceptical of digital djing for a long time, I tried Felix´ controller a Pioneer DDJ-SX on said day and realized its amazing possibilities with loops and cue points. A couple of weeks later, I bought a NI Traktor S8 for myself and one day we had the idea to connect the two controllers together so we would be able to play together. This was the beginning of our two controller style, which we still practice to this day.

 

(Jörg from Luettringhouse)

 

What’s your favourite style? Who are the DJs and producers who inspire you?

Felix: Ha, the question I most looked forward to! My favorite style is hard to put into words, as it’s somewhere in between slow-rolling techno and progressive house, an atmospheric experience of sorts. My absolute hero in terms of DJing is John Digweed and if you’d like to know what I was just trying to describe, he is the de facto master of said style, in my opinion and his mixing skills are just out of this world. Favorite DJane is, without question, Monika Kruse! The queens connection with her fans and her lovable presence are particularly noteworthy. My favorites of the younger generation are Layton Giordani, as his feeling for timing and vocals seems so perfect to me! I get a lot of my inspiration from his productions. The same goes for SHDW and Obscure Shape, their grooves and timing are so awesome. I also learned so much from Jonny Miller and Paul Thomas, my two former teachers from London, where I studied at the SubBass academy. Last but not least, I have to mention Robert Babicz, as I have one of his melodies tattooed on the back of my shoulder.

Jörg: Techno. Dark, hard, dirty, industrial which may contain some epic melodies. In the nineties, above all else, it was Sven Väth to me, as I was lucky enough visiting Omen club Frankfurt between March 1993 and its closing in 1998 and experienced awesome, ecstatic nights where he was always part of the crowd, despite his steadily growing fame. Musically, I was influenced by producers like Christian Vogel, Tobias Schmidt, Neil Landstrumm, Robert Hood, Jeff Mills and I have bought nearly every release on Djax Up Beats (favorite Random XS) and not to forget the harder sound from Berlin, especially Dj Tanith, who is still one of the djs who can make me dance through his whole sets. Besides him there are Sunil Sharpe, Max Durante and Ancient Methods playing the way I would like to hear techno. Not only their extraordinary mixing skills impress me, but they all release productions which I mostly buy. Another great act is Orphx and I fell in love with Fred Umwelt, Headless Horseman and Furfriend.

 

(Felix from Luettringhouse)

 

Do you also listen to other stuff than techno and house?

Jörg: Not really at the moment. Of course I kept all the music from my youth and I bought the latest Metallica album, but I rarely listen to other music.

Felix: Yeah, I recently rediscovered my love for old-school hip hop in a way and I’m very high on soundtracks as well.

 

(Luettringhouse)

 

When you guys select the stuff for a night playing together, who choose the records, who owns them? What is the process?

Felix: We choose our own records separately and always own them ourselves. When we know our time slot, we have a chat about what the crowd most likely wants at that point and talk about what we could do. Jörg is very high on feeling what the crowd wants at that very moment, while I love to be prepared for every scenario. But being prepared doesn’t mean anything is carved in stone or is recorded beforehand and just being played, of course.

Jörg: Exactly, In the beginning we were showing the tracks we wanted to play to each other so that the other one could react. But by now, we know each other’s styles so well that we do not need to know which tracks the other one has chosen beforehand, to be able to perform up to our standards. This is of course very important to us because of our different styles. We have different types of playing together. Sometimes we change every two or three tracks, sometimes after 15 or 30 minutes. One does the start, the other one does the finish. Sometimes we play doubletrouble with up to four decks or two decks plus remix decks. It´s always interesting because there are two people and therefore two separate brains involved, which creates something one could not make up on his own.

 

(Luettringhouse)

 

Where did you already play together? Which was your favourite spot? Any nice anecdotes?

Jörg: Sucide Circus and Tresor Berlin, Nachtleben Frankfurt and Villa Nachttanz in Heidelberg, where we already have been hosting our own event series called „Generations“ five times. My favorite spot will always be Tresor. Well, when before we were going to play there in 2015, we were sitting in our apartment. We had diner and took a rest so we just had slept for an hour or two. After waking up again and realizing that we were now about to play at this huge place of techno history, we both were like „yeah well… I had a great pizza and some sleep so it would be okay to just go home now.“ (We were absolutely terrified) Luckily, we called a taxi, went to Tresor instead of the train station and played the opening set, which was one of the greatest moments in my life. Besides Omen in Frankfurt, Tresor has always been the most important club to me. I first went there after the Loveparade in 1994 and 21 years later, I was playing there with my own son. It was that magic feeling that I got a Tresor tattoo on my left arm for, exactly one month later.

Felix: And we have the Suicide Circus coming up this Friday coming up for the third time, where we’ll close the show for Tanith and Wolle XDP for the first time, as we had the honor to open twice for them in the past (thanks guys!). Then, on Monday, we’ll play an afterhour at Grießmühle. And in terms of anecdotes, nothing out of the usual craziness that is this scene, although it felt pretty great to be able to perform at places where so many of my heroes had stood before.