Read the Marky Ray Interview below and share it on social media.
Please tell our readers who you are and what you do?
Marky Ray. Dj for the Legendary World Leaders in Fun: Brass Tax in San Francisco. Home of the funnest people, the silliest parties and honestly the dirtiest beats I've every heard. They're constantly impressing me but also intimidating me because every party I'm like "I have to follow that??" I play tech house, breaks and light almost lullaby-ish sounding.. IDM? I'm not really sure what to call it. Just fun music that can make you dance and actually feel things. Good things if I'm doing my job right.
Here's my latest mix from the SF Eagle if you'd like a taste:
https://soundcloud.com/marky_ray/ggdown/s-wMv8N
My friend Renzo and I also have rescored 2 movies in a project we call The Firmament. We play the movies silent and rescore them live for a full movie theater audience. Last year we sold out SF Indiefest's closing night performing our rescore of Mad Max Fury Road. We just performed Akira for Another Hole in the Head Film Festival and will be pereforming it again for this years SF Indiefest.
Oh! And also I ran Echo Space – it was a VR dance club with a new live dj every week. People from all over the world would come see me (or whoever I had booked) play through a VR headset (like a rift, vive or the occasional gearVR). We ran for about a year and a half on Altspace, but they closed down the middle of last year. Our party was the only thing I've seen like it and Altspace just got resuscitated by some company called… Microsoft? I have a feeling Echo Space it or something like it may be back soon *wink.*
How would you describe your influences and how have they changed over the years?
I went to my first rave at 15 (and actually recently reconnected with the promoter that threw it! He's still throwing AYLI parties in SF). I lived in london for 3 years and had a pretty nice mix of super hard and fast music. As I got older and living in SF I started listening to more house, but still needed that edge… which is why I (still) spin breaks. Within the past 2 years I'd be playing at house parties after the club we were at closed but I kept missing out on the socializing and at 4am I found it was kinda nice to slow it down and play some lighter, dreamier stuff but with some trip hop or japan sprinkled in to keep people on their toes. I realized it doesn't always have to be banging. So naturally I came up with another name for that project which is: Marky Wave.
Growing up my mom got me into the Beatles. Hard days night was a record I would play non stop on my fisher price record player.
We listened to a lot of R&B, "light rock less talk" on car rides which is why I know (and love) like, every Whitney Houston song. Musically speaking one of my biggest influences was my cousin. He was 3 years older, had a TON of CDs and it open me up to a lot of different sounds and styles that I couldn't get enough of: Old disco compilations, 90s Energy Mixes, New Order, Sublime, The Cure Erasure, Smashing Pumpkins. He really sent me on a good trajectory with those. I should thank him. BT was one of the first DJs to really blow my mind and he's always made such beautiful intricate pieces I'm constantly impressed with his work and push to innovate. Also noteworthy for me are James Lavelle, Krafty Kutz, DJ Icey, Ryan Hemmsworth and Anna Sia. Oh and Tennyson – I've been lightweight stalking them for like 2 years and it looks like they're really starting to blow up. They were everything at last years dirtybird campout (who all are so talented and so fun also – respect!)
What´s new right now?
I'm gearing up for festival season and have played a lot of renegade stages but am putting some energy towards actually getting booked for some of these. So definitely share/like/follow my mixes on soundcloud, my DJ page on facebook and come see me play – or tell your friends to if you aren't in SF but they are ?
For the Movie Rescores, follow The Firmament on facebook. We're open to playing outside of SF and maybe have a couple gigs lined up along the coast. It's a lot of work and equipment to move around but we've been getting rave reviews so if you're seriously interested or just want to say hey – check out our facebook page – like it, share it and send us a message.
oh yeah and something something/vagueness about VR stuff – I'm sworn to secrecy.
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Are you a superfan of anyone? How did you become a superfan? Do you remember how you become a fan and what turned you into super fan? Have you ever thought about why you´re such a fan?
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What was the biggest mistake you made when you started making music and what would be the number one tip you could give to a newcomer musician?
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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?
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Do you have good promotion tips for other musicians?
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Do you have insights on how to grow your audience on soundcloud that you want to share with our audience?
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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
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How do you personally discover new music?
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Once you discovered new music, do you tell others about the new music/artist you discovered? If yes, how exactly?
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What is your number one tip to improve your music production or songwriting skills?
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What is your best tip for those who struggle with finishing their tracks?
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We meet again in one year. What has changed?
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https://soundcloud.com/marky_ray
https://www.facebook.com/dj.marky.ray/
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Enter your questions to the artist in the facebook comment section below.
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