blog // Featured, Interviews, Mixes, Music

Remarc interview

28 June 2011

We are incredibly proud to announce that one of the original jungle legends will play the closing set at our boat rave this Saturday 2 July.

Remarc is one of the originators of jungle music, a supreme master and true pioneer of the art of chopping breaks. His first release came out on vinyl back in ’93 – not long after the term “jungle” was first coined. Leading the way with his prototype junglist experimentations, Remarc created a large following for himself and inspired successive generations of producers and ravers with his forward thinking drum programming and heavyweight sonic force.

Remarc systematically tore apart and rearranged the amen break like never before – creating timeless classics in the process. Tracks such as R.I.P, Sound murderer, Ice Cream & Syrup and Ricky still get rewound countless times at raves, shaking 21st century foundations with their mighty low end and catching ravers off guard with clever and playful edits. In recent years Mike Paradinas signed him to Planet Mu, joining the likes of Venetian Snares, Boxcutter, Luke Vibert and Milanese on a hugely eclectic and futuristic roster.

The legend himself kindly took time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for us. Enjoy!

Hi mate – how are you and what are you doing at this moment in time?

I’m good man, and really just dj’ing and getting dubs done whenever I can get time to get in the studio – which aint been too much over the last couple months to be honest!

How would you describe your musical style?

Raw… oldskool.. organised mayhem (sometimes – lol!)

You are widely credited with being an hugely influential pioneer of jungle choppage. What originally influenced you to push this sound?

Nothing really influenced me to push it – I’ve always just done what I like to hear and what gets me going in the studio. From my first tunes, if you listen to them in succession, you can hear them experimenting more and more as they go on. I’ve always stuck too my style of production and I love and appreciate the fact that i can continue with it like 17 years on.

Why do you think the amen break has been used more so than any other in jungle music? What attracts producers / ravers to it?

As I always say… the amen is the most powerful, energetic break there is. You can simply loop it and it just sounds “right”. Then no matter what you do with it it still just sounds right, whether it’s a hard amen track or a processed amen to fill another break/drum pattern. It has its own atmosphere that no other break can reach so to speak… and I think the attraction to it is the energy in it for both producer and raver!

How has your production set up changed since you started? What hardware / software did you use and what do you use now?

Everything i use is software now. I used to use Akai samplers (950 and 3000) and Atari ST with Cubase on it back in the day. Now i mainly use NI Kontakt, still use Cubase and a small handful of plug ins.

Have you got any exciting news in the pipeline?

Im getting started on my website where i aim to start getting some tunes out there as well as other bits and pieces. I’m planning a limited edition picture disc vinyl release that should be sorted in the next couple of  months. I’ve got a couple of remixes to do so look out for them. And I’m fixing up my fourth American and second Australia/new Zealand tours for later in the year. So yeah
kinda busy and always keeping it jungle!

What’s your biggest tip for up and coming producers?

I have 2….

1) be original and

2) if your’e chopping amens don’t get carried away!!!!!!!

What are you all time top 3 jungle tunes?

Ermmm…you know i haven’t really got favourites anymore……when ever i get asked though Hypes remix of Hello Lover always jumps to mind as well as Babylon on Deejay Recordings. And maybe R-Type by Jo / DJ Lime.

Thanks Ree! Catch him at the Braindrop Boat Rave on Saturday 2 July alongside the mighty High Rankin The McMash Clan, Creecha and Nomad Noise! Details on the flyer below x