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 The man better known as Marzz and Innergy takes some time off to answer a few questions about himself, his past and future musical activities and his label Detox Recordings. Read on...
i:Vibes: Hello Michiel, nice of you to take some time off for us. Why don't you start off with telling us a little about yourself.
A: Ok, I was born June 22nd, 1977 (26 yrs) and apart from producing records, I own a multimedia company called Connecting Media. We do multimedia productions in the broadest sense of the word. That means website design and development, CD-Rom and DVD productions, digital businesscards, live broadcasting over the internet in video and audio (we've built a special Internet Field Production van) video productions and music and sound-design for multimedia productions (games, educational CD's etc). At the moment I live in Hilversum which is in the center of the Netherlands near Amsterdam.
i:Vibes: So how did this all start for you musically? Any particular events or individuals that should be mentioned?
A: I grew up with music around me daily, because my father is a musician (saxophone, clarinet, guitar and flute) and my mother plays the piano. It was mainly jazz and classical music I heard, but also lots of other musical styles. I started playing piano at age 7 and from 14 years old till now I've been playing drums. (Digital) music production started for me when I bought an Amiga 500. I think that's when I was around 14 years old (1992).
I got into it when I heard songs like Human Resource- Dominator, L.A. Style - James Brown Is Dead and some tapes of the early acid house music that a friend brought to my house. I bought a sampler for my Amiga soon after that and this gave me the possibility to record my own sounds and manipulate them in a simple way.
The 8-bit sound quality however was pretty average compared to the productions I listened to. So as soon as I sent my tapes to record companies the reactions were: "Good tracks, but the sound-quality is not good enough". When I heard the sound of a professional Akai Sampler at a classmate's house I was blown away by the sound and for example the effect of a filter over a sound. I wanted this machine so I saved up for one by delivering newspapers. As soon as I sent my demo's made with this new equipment, I got a record deal with Coolman Records from Rotterdam. From then, Tim Brouwers got me into some other stuff and also Fred Berkhout who runs Detox now.
i:Vibes: What would you say has had the biggest influences on your musical activities till now?
A: Well, at first I think it's hearing tapes a friend brought to my house. Later on it's hearing certain DJ's perform. So livesets are always a big inspiration for me. In particular from DJ's like Marco V, Chris Liebing, Dano, Tiesto and Paul van Dyk. It's not so much about their technical qualities, but more about the kind of records they play and the reactions of the audience that influences me to produce certain things as well.
i:Vibes: Your latest Innergy release, "Dynomite" was co-produced by dutch hardcore DJ Dano. How did you two get to do a collaboration?
A: Dano is not a hardcore DJ, it's only the style he got famous with but he's been DJ'ing for about 20 years now, and has always played several styles with an accent on techno! At the moment he's fully into Detox and techno. I've known Dano personally for about 6 years and we produced tracks together before so it was nothing new. He's always one of the first people to I play my new tracks for as well and Detox Records is kind of a follow up to MO'Records, a label Dano started for me (MO stands for Michiel Overeem) and where I released "Avalanche - Progressive Pulse / Cozmic Wave" on.
i:Vibes: Do you DJ yourself or do you have any plans to start?
A: I don't DJ, but I'm planning to to live performances with my music probably by the end of this year. Dano and I've got some requests to do this in Australia so fingers crossed.
i:Vibes: Which artists/DJs would you say are worthy of praise at the moment?
A: Dano, Marco V, Eddie Halliwell, Tom Harding, Tiesto, Chris Liebing and many others...
i:Vibes: Let's talk about your label, Detox Records. First off, where did the name come from?
A: Well, the name was invented by Fred Berkhout who actually runs the label. He's always good at coming up with good-sounding names but there's no real meaning to it actually.
i:Vibes: How and when was the label created?
A: It was created after the success of the one and only release on MO'Records I did and after Fred Berkhout taking some time-off from the music industry. This happened in the beginning of 2002.
i:Vibes: How would you describe the sound of Detox, and what are you looking for when you're searching for new material?
A: Deep, dark, hard and uplifting with big/long climaxes and progressive influences. A mix of all the elements I like the most in several styles. We're looking for powerfull, organic, tracks that work on the dancefloor!
i:Vibes: Detox is still a pretty small and underground label, and nowadays it is hard for these kind of labels to survive. How are things going for you guys at the moment? Are things going well or are you struggling to keep going?
A: Well, as no-one releasing on Detox relies on music production solely, it's not really a problem. But it's not easy to get all the hours paid you put into the music. We're still building up and things are getting better and better but the financial side of the music industry is not what it used to a few years ago. For me it's more about the satisfaction of my music being played out there and all the DJ support we get.
i:Vibes: What can we expect from you in 2004?
A: At the moment, I'm doing a co-production with Tom Harding for Detox. I'm also working on the new Marzz release now and I'll be doing some remixes. Furthermore you can expect a lot of new things from me this year on Detox and also different kinds of productions probably on other labels.
i:Vibes: Do you have any hobbies outside of musicmaking?
A: I'm a drummer and I do Karate. I also like to go out a lot to bars, disco's, houseparties, concerts, etc.
i:Vibes: Finally, here's your chance make a statement to the followers of your sound. What would you like to say to them?
A: Just listen to what works on the dancefloor, and don't start out like "Ok, I'm gonna do a trance track now, or a techno track". Just do what feels best to you, keeping in mind the DJ's and the dancefloor.
Thanks yet again to Michiel for devoting some of his time to us!
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