LAMP Weekly Mix #151 feat. Kevin McKay
LAMP Weekly Mix #151 feat. Kevin McKay
It's not every day that you get the opportunity to host someone like Kevin McKay on your mix series. For over 20 years this house music stalwart has been amassing a robust collection of originals, remixes, and production credits whilst also forming notable imprints such as; the revitalized and thought leading Glasgow Underground, Breastfed, and Prestel Records, to name a few.His work with Mylo to co-produce and release the hit album 'Destroy Rock & Roll' was the foundation for further collaborations to emerge with legends like Romanthony, DJ Q, and Dada Life. His passion to bring new, emerging artists like illyus & Barrientos to the forefront further diversifies his already impressive skill set. With his hands in seemingly every aspect of the music industry Kevin McKay is and will continue to be an important cornerstone of modern day house music.MR PUZL: Kevin, welcome to our weekly mix series. We’ve been looking forward to having you in the rotation and have been fans of Glasgow Underground’s releases for a little while now. What have you got in store with this mix?Kevin McKay: Thanks man! That's great to hear. I'm very happy to be doing this for you. To be honest, I set about this mix in the same way I do almost every mix; I just got together a bunch of music I'm feeling at the moment and then tried to create a journey with them. This one starts off with a beautifully trippy George Fitzgerald remix and then slowly moves into clubbier territory before ending up with half an hour of so of the kind of thing you'd hear me play peak time.MP: Congrats on all the early support on your new track ‘The Oooh Song’. The disco vibes are real on this one!KM: Yeah am really happy how that one turned out and its been great to hear it on the radio and see it topping the Traxsource charts. It's the first time since doing Linus Loves and producing Mylo that I've felt that I'm coming out with stuff that is really working.MP: It was very welcoming news to me when I learned you co-produced and mixed Mylo’s album ’Destroy Rock & Roll’. That album was a massive influence on my early love for electronic music. What were some of the albums and bands that influenced your path into a music career?KM: That's really cool to hear, thanks so much. When I signed Mylo I was frustrated by dance music's inability to produce populist-but-not-cheesy albums. I wanted to make something that would work on the radio and appeal to 100s of thousands of people but also be something that would be cool that you would play at an after party next to albums by DJ Shadow, Kruder & Dorfmeister or St. Germain. I definitely had the idea that Mylo could do that and probably drove the project very hard in that direction so its great to hear that it's had the kind of impact I wanted it to.To be honest, I wasn't really inspired by bands or albums to start making music. It was the combination of going to the Sub Club (and seeing DJs like Slam and Harri and the guests they used to have - Weatherall, etc) and getting into DJing that did it. The more I got into it, the more it became obvious that making the kind of club records I loved was completely doable. And that is really thanks to local Glasgow guys like Slam making tracks like "Eterna" and sticking them out on their own labels. That said, the kind of music I ended up making was definitely influenced by the records I grew up loving. Some of my favourite records & artists from when I was a teenager onwards were; Prince but specifically “Sign o’ the Times”, Jean Michel Jarre, Fleetwood Mac’s “Tango In The Night”, Stevie Wonder’s “Fulfillingness’ First Finale”, Miles Davis “A Kind Of Blue”. When I think back to the kind of music I wanted to make as a dance producer, the overarching memory is of a desire to make tunes that stood the test of time. When I first got into DJ-ing I was buying a lot of more obvious records. I loved them at first but my love for them faded quickly over time so much so that I’d no longer think of those records fondly but as if I had been tricked into buying them (a bit harsh I know!). Because of this by the time I got into producing I didn't want to have any of my own records fall into that category so I was obsessive about every detail and tried as best as I could to make the kind of records that were like the albums I loved; music I could listen to over and over again.MP: Earlier this summer you put out a set of remixes for J Paul Getto called ‘Love Freek’ and ‘Music Freek’. What inspired you to create these 2 remixes that seemingly utilize similar parts and layers of the original?KM: It's a funny thing that happens to me when I start working on remix. I’m not sure if this happens to everyone (I’ve never talked about it) but no matter what my feelings are about the original recording, as soon as I have all the parts of it up on the screen in front of me my view changes. The music becomes part of something I am creating and a whole other level of criteria gets applied. With this track, I love the original, it has a superb, low-slung, head-nodding groove. I like this kind of thing as a DJ but as a producer, I don’t enjoy making them so I wanted to take the parts of JPG’s song that I liked and turn it into something else. I really wanted a vocal to sit on top of the baseline that I added (which was actually one Barrientos wrote in the studio) and so I found one that fitted. I realized at this point that I was straying quite far from the “remix” brief so I sent the new idea to JPG to get his thoughts. He loved the idea and so incorporated the vocals into his version. I'm very lucky that I have my own label where I can express these ideas without an A&R coming back to me saying, "err, sorry, what have you done here!?"MP: Scotland has been home of some influential labels like Chemikal Underground, Electric Honey, Numbers, and Soma Quality to name just a few. More recently labels’ like Ki Creighton’s Under No Illusion and artists like Illyus & Barrientos are emerging and paving the way with new sounds. Who are some other acts and imprints that you’ve been keeping up on recently that we should check out?KM: I'm not sure how new they are to you but I'm a fan of the following artists from Glasgow: Denis Sulta, Idamos, KC Lights. Sulta is part of the Dixon Avenue / Numbers crew and there are definitely other artists there that I like (but are maybe not so new) like Sparky. Sulta's agent is Ben Coghill and he runs Field Artists. He pretty much has all the good left-of-centre dance music from Glasgow covered @ http://fieldartists.net/ Also worthy of a Scottish shout - even thought they are not from Glasgow - are Austin Ato and Theo Kottis. To get the real lowdown on what's happening here check out http://www.synthglasgow.com/ Colin who runs the blog has great taste and his ear to the ground.MP: Your involvement with Romanthony was an important part of his legacy. In an interview with Bittle’s Magazine you mentioned your plans for a retrospective. We’ve seen some more remixes of ‘Too Long’ recently come out. Would you say that you are getting nearer to compiling that album of his originals and paired remixes?KM: It's been bit strange putting the compilation together. I've tried a few times to do it and just not been able to finish it. I'm not sure why. Losing Roman was a big deal to me and - even talking about it now - brings back all the feelings of loss, hurt and sadness at losing someone as unique as him so young. It's Glasgow Underground's 20th anniversary next year and so I'm planning a few retrospective pieces and I'm sure I'll be up for getting this one out there. MP: Your work with Illyus & Barrientos has been amazing, and the pairing of the two was brilliant. You’ve obviously have had your hands in practically every aspect of the music industry and the love is apparent. Is there one aspect that you can always rely on to get you back on your feet when a day or week just isn’t going your way?KM: Thanks again! I think if I was going to say one thing it would be DJing. There's nothing like going looking for tunes, finding a whole bunch of new music and then playing it and some personal favourites to a jam packed dance floor to remind me what a great job this is I have and how lucky I am to have it!MP: Glasgow Underground has a load of history behind it and it’s formulated some amazing chapters of your career to date. It’s been a pleasure doing research for this interview and I’ve learned so much for what you’ve done for this industry and house music as a whole. For those who are following in your footsteps what words of wisdom would you like to pass on?KM: I think if there's one thing I've learned that is key to success is that you need to be yourself. There's no point producing or DJ-ing a certain style just because its cool. I don't think that will get you very far or if it does, you will get found out in the end. The best way is just to be yourself, accept that and make the best of it you can. I've met loads of people over the years who could be really successful but - for some reason - they don't like what or who they are musically. Maybe they are the don at tech house but lots of people around them live in a Boileroom / RA world where that just isn't cool so they try and fit themselves into that world when it just doesn't come naturally and don’t get anywhere. What a waste. Definitely DO NOT do that! Do what you love and love what you do!MP: P.S. You mentioned in your bio that early on in your career you played a venue/event called Release here in LA. I’ve tried to ask around here about it but am drawing blanks. Can you tell me a bit more about it?KM: Sure, I was on tour with the Idjut Boys in May 1999 (I remember because Dan and I watched Man U beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final in a bar in west Hollywood!). We played 3 parties in LA. One was run by a promoter called Abby and Oliver Bristow (now of Amoeba) had something to do with it (at the time he was running labels). I can't remember if that was Release or if Release was a warehouse party that had Jelo et al involved. We also played a restaurant that I'm sure was called the Louis X1V. When I did the interview you mentioned I'm sure I would have known but I can't quite remember now.
Tracklist
1. Boxed In - Forget (George Fitzgerald Remix) [Nettwerk]2. Climbers - Feel Love (Kevin McKay Remix) [Glasgow Underground]3. Wally Lopez, Hunzed - Sa Caleta (Paul Ursin Remix) [Glasgow Underground]4. Alex Kennon - Last Call (Karmon Remix) [NONSTOP]5. Housekeeping - Micky Finn [Housekeeping]6. Strickland - Play The Game [Viva]7. Romanthony - Too Long (Kevin McKay & Landmark Remix) [Glasgow Underground]8. Camelphat - It Is What It Is (Kevin McKay Remix) [Glasgow Underground]9. Sam Paganini - Flow [Drumcode]10. Dorian Craft - After Act [Glasgow Underground]11. Camelphat - The Quad (Kevin McKay Remix) [Glasgow Underground]