Page 22 - Zone Magazine Issue 012

bazza's ragga stack
Vibes on toppa Vibes
Welcome back to another Ragga Stack. Some sick tunes in my top 10 and an interview with the undisputed Mash up & Party Style king: DJ Maars who, has now turned his hand at original style production which features in his latest release on Irish Moss Records. I've also started a brand new Podcast called ''Dirty Dubcast'' and have two previous Zone Mag interviewee's Bluntskull and Count Skylarkin. I'm really enjoying the podcasting and getting really positive feedback so if your have a few hours spare and want to hear about DJ's journey's into the mad world of music please subscribe on itunes or hit up the Soundcloud page. Big respect and see you all next time.
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/dirty-dubcast/id1148972908 / https://soundcloud.com/dirtydubsters/sets/podcasts
" I've recently set up a new record label called 'Easy
Now Recordings' with Tom, focusing mainly on pressing quality reggae hip hop mashups to hand stamped,
hand-numbered 7” vinyl. "
Greetings Maarten, your latest release ''Soundclash'', on Irish Moss Records is an original production featuring UK HipHop MC ''Born Ina Barn'' most people will know you as the mash up maestro. Has this been a deliberate move into making more original productions and how did the link with Born in Barn come about?
Hi Barry, yep I'v decided to concentrate more of my time on original material and collaborating more with different artists locally and from around the world. I really dig making new connections and working with vocalists, it feels a lot more rewarding when a track really comes together. I first caught Born Ina Barn doing their thing in live Southsea many years ago, and been following their work since then. They are from the Isle of White, and I was living in Portsmouth at the time so very close by. I had just finished off a solid instrumental, and thought they would be a great fit!
Speaking of Mash ups, you have a seemingly endless flow of releases on soundcloud and juno. What is the process when you decide on a mash up, do you have an idea clear in your head ahead of time or is it a drag and drop process to see what vocals fit certain riddims?
I've definitely made a fair few, over 80 was my last count! I originally started just making mashups to play out at gigs myself, I'm a huge fan of reggae and dub, but I found a lot of tunes didn’t have enough ‘crunch’ to play out and be DJ and dancefloor friendly. I'm also a massive fan of hip-hop, so it seemed like a natural progression to mash it all up! The ideas usually just come to me at random points in the day, or when im hunting for tunes to play out for the weekend. The hardest part is to find good quality, un-used and
rare acapellas which haven’t been overused already. I usually just scour the internet or dig for those rare gems on wax.
Can you let us know about where you source the riddims used? There are some killers in the DJ Maars collection. Are they primarily from a golden box of 7's or do you scour online ect?
I have a pretty decent collection of 7”s, though having moved to Australia I had to leave most of them behind as its pretty expensive to ship over. Now I usually just dig for tunes online, I’m always on the out for good intro’s, hooks and horn riffs to use. I also have a pretty good digital collection of reggae, dub and hip hop for playing out which I tend to delve into.
What is the one piece of production gear/technology/software can you not be without?
Good question! My studio is pretty humble surprisingly; I mainly just use my laptop, a pair of Mackie monitors and an Akai MPK. Ableton Live 9 is my program of choice due to the usability, used in conjunction with a bunch of plug-in’s, so I guess it would have to be Ableton.
You are currently living in Australia. How has this been for your music career? Are the Ozzies feeling the Reggae, party style vibes in the same way a over in your homeland (UK).
Moving over here has been great so far, iv made a lot of solid friends and connections here in Melbourne that are into the reggae hip-hop style, most notably my production partner in a lot of tunes and EP’s, Tom Showtime. We have been putting on weekly parties in Melbourne for the past couple of years
and people really seem to dig sun soaked reggae hip-hop, I guess it just suits the weather! Its also not just in Melbourne, we’ve been booked to play at a few festivals and in other cities like Sydney and Brisbane, its great to be able to travel and bring it to different crowds.
You recently set up a record label. Can you tell us a little bit about this?
Yep, I've recently set up a new record label called 'Easy Now Recordings' with Tom, focusing mainly on pressing quality reggae hip hop mashups to hand stamped, hand-numbered 7” vinyl. It's been a good success so far, our first release has sold out, with our second release looking like its going to do the same pretty soon. We also have a series of EP’s up for free download on our bandcamp, go check em’ out!
Any future projects or plans we should know about?
At the moment I want to focus on getting the third release out on Easy Now, there’s been a bit of a delay due to being busy but its on track to be a good’un. I've got a fair few fresh mashups banked up ready for free download release very soon on Soundcloud and Bandcamp. Apart from that, im working with a couple of fresh vocalists at the minute to release more original material...ears to the ground!
Any final shoutouts?
For sure! Gotta big up Tom Showtime, 100% Phat, Irish Moss, Spinforth, Fleur and anyone that iv collaborated with & helped along the way, I couldn’t have done it without ya!
Big up Mr. Maars.
22 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE