Mark Wright / DJ Pressure M: Illegal Raves, Revolution and Resilience

What if you could relive the gritty magic of the UK's underground rave scene? Join me, Rua, as I sit down with Mark Wright, also known as DJ Pressure M, to discuss the birth of the UK rave scene and Mark's experience of a music revolution. We talk about the emergence of illegal raves, warehouse parties, and the pirate radio stations that fuelled a cultural revolution. Mark takes us through his remarkable journey from a music loving teenager to a DJ at legendary Centerforce radio station. We also dive into his deeply personal battle with cancer, uncovering the invaluable lessons he's learned about cherishing every moment and the irreplaceable support of community.

Our conversation navigates the seismic shifts in the rave and club scene, particularly the impact of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. Discover how this legislation pushed the vibrant, lawless raves into more controlled environments and how it was met with mixed feelings from the community. Mark also shares nostalgic memories of the pre-digital era of DJing, where the physicality of lugging heavy record boxes to venues was part of the mystique, contrasting it with today's streamlined digital age. This episode offers a captivating glimpse into the resilience of rave culture and the technological revolutions that have reshaped it.

Mark also reminisces about the golden age of crate digging in record shops and the thrill of anthems like "Sweet Harmony" and "Moby Go." Mark reflects on his progression from DJing to music production, the formation of his musical partnership, Urban Mods, and the creation of tracks like "Dark Light." But beyond the beats and basslines, this episode touches on the fight for life, with Mark's inspiring story of overcoming bladder cancer. Hear about the crucial role of community, the importance of staying positive, and the profound changes in perspective that come with facing such a challenge. This episode is a blend of inspiration, nostalgia, and life lessons from a legend of the rave scene and I can't wait to share it with you. 

Rua x

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello there. You are very welcome to. This is Disruption podcast, with me, your host Rua. This podcast brings you in-depth interviews with the fearless creatives in street art, graffiti, music, photography and beyond, who boldly challenge the status quo, break barriers for others and share their work unapologetically. Each episode is a deep dive into the lives of artistic risk-takers, exploring their motivations, their inspirations and their reasons for their willingness to disrupt societal norms. Some of these stories involve revolutionising their industries, while others are pushing the boundaries of legality with their art. Coming up on today's episode.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Something I've learned over the years. You know, confidence is really key as well. Confidence in what you're doing and belief. Believe in what you're doing, even though other people might. No, I don't like that or you like it, that's all that matters. Make it easy because you like it. Right. If you like what you're doing, that's all that matters. It makes you understand how important life is. Again, it sounds a bit of a cliche, but you know, live, live for the moment, right, enjoy every day. I've certainly learned that life is short, really short and precious you know.

Speaker 1: 1:09

In today's episode, I'm honoured to be joined by a true legend of the UK rave scene. Mark Wright, also known as Pressure M, was there at the very beginning in a movement that defined an entire generation, from warehouse parties to parties under motorway arches. The influence of the rave movement is still felt in the music that we love today, but Mark's journey is about more than just music. In recent years, he's faced a battle with cancer, a fight that has taught him the profound value of life and the importance of cherishing every moment. We will dive into his early days in the rave scene, explore his current projects and hear the powerful lessons that he has learned along the way. This is a conversation with a truly wonderful person. It is an episode that you do not want to miss. I am so delighted to be sitting here with Mark Wright today. Mark has so many stories to share and I'm so happy to be sitting here with him. Mark, I would love for you to introduce yourself and tell everybody who you are and what you do.

Speaker 2: 2:07

Hello, I'm Mark Wright, not the one from the Only Way. Is that it thankfully, although he seems like a really nice guy, but whenever everyone hears my name, they go oh.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Mark Wright from. The Only Way Is that it? No, no, that's not the one. So I'm Mark Wright. I have a DJ name, which is Pressure M, which I tend not to use now because I'm like 53 and it just doesn't sound cool anymore. Do you know what I mean? So it is just Mark. Right now. I mean, in terms of what I do, are we talking about work? Are we talking about DJing or are we talking about producing? We'll start with DJing and producing, right?

Speaker 1: 2:38

let's do that. Mark is somebody who has a lot of experience in not only being a producer and a DJ, but he also has a very unique perspective because he was there at the birth of the UK rave scene and I would love to start with that about you getting into music and what it was like being there at the beginning of the UK rave scene. Tell us everything.

Speaker 2: 3:00

OK, so I'm going to start just before, and I'm not even going to call it the rave scene, because the rave scene I guess kind of officially started not in 1987, because that's kind of for me that's when what we now call house music kind of hit the shores of the UK. So you know, just before then I mean I was I don't know 17, 18. I was going out with friends, we were doing the you know the things you did at that age. We'd go to the pub or we'd go to nightclubs like Hollywood's in Romford, like really kind of Essex-y glitzy sort of places, and we were drinking the racing.

Speaker 2: 3:34

Well, the house scene hit the UK and I've gone from drinking beer to drinking water and dancing. We'd go from standing around and literally the next week we were dancing, uh, in really dark kind of clubs. And yeah, it was. I mean, I was hooked. I was hooked by the music I'd always been into, kind of like soul music, not so much hip-hop. A lot of my friends were into kind of the early kind of 80s hip-hop. I was more of a, I guess, a, a soul boy really.

Speaker 2: 4:02

I like the music. You know I love a vocal track and I just found a kind of a common denominator in the music that was coming out of places like, particularly, chicago. You know New York, new York in particular had this really kind of sort of soulful element to the music, whereas Chicago and Detroit were more on the kind of, I guess, the techno-y sort of vibe and it was mad like it was. It was so underground and it was our thing and we tried not to share it with too many people because it was just so unique. You know the whole scene, yeah, and the clubs like Hollywood's I was just went back, you know I was talking about. You know, within literally a year they went from that kind of soul scene to playing, putting on kind of like early raves. I guess you know then, because it was hard, I guess, for a lot of promoters at the time to get venues, you know warehouses were being used, we were going to raise underneath motorway arches and it was all driven by pirate radio stations. So at the time I wasn't DJ. I love my music, but I decided pretty early on I wanted to be a DJ because I thought that's a cool thing to do. I love the music. So, yeah, so I kind of saved up all myself, some 1200s, and mix up, started buying records and managed to get onto a radio station which at the time was Centerforce, and it was the radio stations which were.

Speaker 2: 5:26

A lot of them were putting on a lot of these events or they were promoting it for other people. So because they were essentially illegal raves, you know they was unlicensed, you know you couldn't get a legal rave in a motorway arch, you know. Yeah, so they, they would say, right, okay, um, the meeting point is this particular petrol station, you know, let's say the one in the one in thorock, kind of springtime, that seems to be a popular, a popular meeting point. And you would turn up at say I don't know, 10, 11 o'clock in the evening and there'd be like a you know a ton of other utes hanging around waiting for something to happen. And then someone would turn up and pretty much say follow me, and there'd be this convoy of cars following this, this lead car to a dodgy venue somewhere.

Speaker 2: 6:11

So yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of how it was. But out of you know, obviously those first couple years I guess a lot of british artists started to make music as well, and the whole scene. I mean we're still listening to house and dancing to house music. Now you know it's. Its longevity has been massive. It's such a influence on the world musically.

Speaker 1: 6:32

I am so jealous that you were there for that. What was the atmosphere like? And when you moved into DJing versus being one of the ravers? What was the relationship between the DJs, the promoters, the audience? How was it shifting from being somebody on the dance floor to making the dancers dance?

Speaker 2: 6:52

I mean it's brilliant because so one of the main things that happened was that Gresham disappeared. You know, before, I think you know, in an environment where people were possibly drinking and listening to music, there was always the element of, you know, someone wanted to fight someone else or whatever. I never got involved in all that, but it changed completely. It was. It was nothing but positive good vibes and DJing to a crowd who they would dance to anything, and so that's a really good point actually, because at the time we wasn't just playing predominantly house music. There was we bring other, I guess maybe a soul track into what we were playing, or even a hip hop track, or it would be mixed up and you could play anything and people just wanted to dance. They loved the freedom. It was. That's what I mean, that's the word freedom.

Speaker 2: 7:42

Everyone felt free because it was a really underground scene that was just ours and you know, djing in that environment was just the best. Yeah, it was, uh, because it was so new, so different. You know, I guess it was probably akin to, maybe, the punk scene, you know, a generation earlier. It was very different to what was going on at the time. And then, if you go back in further, maybe the rock and roll scene when that kind of emerged in the 50s. So I think it was, it felt, you know, it felt like it was just a house, yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:14

And it's pure love. Everyone's happy to be there.

Speaker 2: 8:17

Pure love. I mean, I won't mention the obvious, but there was an element which helped that whole scene kind of move along.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Are there any memorable events or raves that you either attended or played at in the early days? I mean?

Speaker 2: 8:31

yeah, lots, rain Dance, in particular in Jenkins Lane playing. It was their birthday and it was, I say, their birthday. It was probably their second or third year birthday playing Stevie Wonder. Happy Birthday to you. And you know, 2,000 people are dancing to what was not a rave tune. That was memorable. That was the sound shaft.

Speaker 2: 8:53

So the sound shaft is, for those that don't know, and probably it may not be there anymore, there a there's a club called heavens, uh, charing cross. That was a big club and it had its own kind of scene going on there. But there was a small club at the back of heavens called the sound shaft. It was a small two-story venue and that was probably my most favorite place to dj ever. The dj were tuck away at the top of the club. No one could see you. You could look down on the crowd but they couldn't really see you kind of thing.

Speaker 2: 9:23

And that's where I started to play US Garage. So you know tracks from the likes of Strictly Rhythm, for example Nervous Records, but it was mainly that Strictly Rhythm kind of scene. So it was a really deep, soulful kind of house sound and I've got so many memories of that place. Mr C from the Shaman used to come down and just MC because he loved the club and he'd just take over the mic and MC over the tracks, which was just mad. What an experience. Yeah, it was fun, yeah, fun, and that was when we just started to go to. So then, obviously, you know, ibiza became a, became a destination, I guess, for everyone to go to who was kind of into that scene. So we started to go to Ibiza. Yeah, it became a bit of a mainstay for a lot of us really.

Speaker 1: 10:12

I'd love to learn more about. How did you handle the rapid growth of the commercialization of what was an underground movement previously? It sounds like you saw the opportunities and you embraced it. Was there any resistance to that at the time? Was there people who were like, no, let's keep this underground? To me it sounds like there were loads of opportunities where you're like this is actually something we can spread to much more people and get more people involved, but also imagine some people will be like, no, this is really special because it's ours and it's not controlled by anybody.

Speaker 1: 10:41

What was all of that like?

Speaker 2: 10:42

yeah, it's a really interesting point actually, because there was resistance, naturally, but it was the music in particular. The style of music became so popular. So what started to happen was it started to split off. So you had different genres of music. So you know, you know there was the kind of the whole rave scene, the happy hardcore, you know, the techno scene. It all became it just split off again. I'll go back to what I was playing at the time. What I loved was that kind of deep chicago, new york kind of garage sound that at the time, remained fairly underground and it actually stayed in small clubs rather than merging into massive big raves. But yeah, there was a lot of resistance and that's when DJs started saying things like well, I'm a techno DJ, I'm a rave DJ, I'm a house DJ, I'm a drum and bass DJ. All of a sudden, everyone started labelling themselves as this, that and the other. You know which was. I guess it was a natural progression from what was happening.

Speaker 2: 11:41

In some ways it was quite sad, because you know, I'm going to say 88, 89 people were playing a mix of all of that in their sets and all of a sudden you're just playing house music, you're just playing rave music. But I guess it was a natural progression, because big raves emerged from it. You know, massive raves, outdoor raves, you know. So it was a good thing, I think.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Ultimately, I think, the more people that can enjoy a movement and, like you said, ultimately freedom, which is, I think that's quite special.

Speaker 2: 12:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:13

There's something I'd love to ask about, and the UK scene was known for the underground nature. Yeah, and you're playing, for example, under a motorway. I bet there were a lot of challenges with the setup and rubbish sound systems as well yeah, I can only imagine. So do you have any memorable experiences for any unique workarounds you found for challenges like that?

Speaker 2: 12:37

me personally. No, I mean I've been, I've dj'd a few venues where you know the police have come in and shut it down, kind of thing in terms of putting on big events. That wasn't kind of my, that wasn't my thing. But I know the venue venues changed at the very last minute. You know there was because the police, for example, would know about a particular venue. They'd get there early and pretty much surround the place, block it off. So there would be situations where, yeah, the promoters would just move the venue to somewhere else. Rayswood never gave out an address, it was always very last minute. Or you know, you had to meet someone you know at a petrol station somewhere. So to the end that happened quite a lot. You know movie venues, yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:24

Creative solutions. I bet the promoters are like oh my God.

Speaker 2: 13:28

Yeah, ultimately they just want to put on an event for people to go. I mean, obviously there was a I mean this is getting into another area of the scene which is not positive as it should be but obviously there was a lot of money in the scene. A lot of people recognised that a lot of money could be made in the scene and that kind of. I guess it brought in you know some criminal elements to it which was the one savoury part of what should have been, you know, a very positive, you know vibe for people. But it was mainly kept away, I guess, from people kind of paying and paying to get into these places and listen to the music, you know.

Speaker 1: 14:01

I just recently. Actually, when you talk about the criminality or the illegal aspect, I just recently found out about the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act or the anti-wave act that was brought in in 1994 and I hadn't even heard about that. Obviously I'm not from the UK everybody listening can tell and also this was when I was quite young, so I didn't know about this until recently, but I saw it was the anniversary of that and I saw at the time there were huge protests and it was every kind of person because everybody was united in one word. To sum it up in, like you said, is freedom and people were protesting. I read that the act was to crack down on events with quote, repetitive beats unquote.

Speaker 1: 14:43

I mean that's really scrambling for something to criminalize. Yeah, do you remember that act coming in and what effect it had?

Speaker 2: 14:51

yeah, well, that's what pushed the whole scene, that's what kind of turned it really commercial in in many ways, because obviously it pushed it into clubs, you know where it can be controlled, where there were, there was licensing laws in place and all that and it kind of.

Speaker 2: 15:05

To a lot of people it ruined the scene. I don't think it did personally, because I think it was such a strong movement musically that people were not going to allow it to affect. But yes, I I do remember coming in it was like it felt freedom to dance was being just squashed by, you know, by the government. Yeah, repetitive beats like surely isn't most music has a repetitive beat? Yeah, it didn't really stop anyone from putting on raves. On the whole it kind of pushed the scene into a more kind of controlled environment. I think that's that was kind of pushed the scene into a more kind of controlled environment. I think that's that was kind of the beginning and the end for some people. But it's it started to split even more. I think like the uk garage scene, for example. You know it started at speed garage, people call it uk garage or you know it was like that two-step scene. All of those were that scene kind of started really in clubs, not in raves so and that's kind of where it stayed for a long time.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Great. I'm learning a lot, which is what I always want to do. This is really great. I'd like to talk a little bit about the changes that have happened since then with technology. I was wondering how did you acquire and share music in the pre-digital era, before you could carry your USB? You said something really interesting to me that made me think. When we were speaking recently, you said that back in the day you'd be coming with your records and you'd have your bag of records or you'd be coming up and it was obvious this is the DJ, and there was a kind of a ceremony to that the DJ's here.

Speaker 2: 16:28

And.

Speaker 1: 16:29

I love that. I just love imagining people being so excited by watching the DJ's here and we're going gonna hear some sick tunes now in a minute, yeah, and also as the DJ feeling like I'm about to make all these people dance. It sounds really special, whereas now we've got a USB, nobody really knows that the DJ is here. So I'd love to ask a bit about that. Also, how did you acquire and share music before the digital were so easy?

Speaker 2: 16:53

so yeah, um, obviously, if you was DJing a club, I mean, I tended to carry one record box and a quite heavy record bag, or sometimes two record boxes, and it was very much a kind of ceremony. You walked up the club or the venue and these things were heavy right, I mean really heavy. So we must be really strong back in there, because I tried to lift my record box every day I could lift it, but the thought of carrying it, sometimes if it was a, you know, if you was a dj at a dj at a radio, you'd have to carry it quite a long way to to get to you know where you park your car or whatever. In particular, you know, I was playing at the ministry quite a lot of the time for world dance and awol actually, which was, uh, it stood for a way of life. Yeah, every time I love walking to the ministry with record boxes because people could see the DJ coming in. It was a cool thing to do. But, as I said to you now you've got two USBs in your pocket.

Speaker 2: 17:43

You might be carrying your headphones, but then everyone carries headphones now, yeah, so that's kind of gone a little bit, which is a shame. Maybe I should just put my USBs in a record box.

Speaker 1: 17:51

Just carry an empty record box.

Speaker 2: 17:54

It'll be much lighter yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah, sharing music, god, I mean like so, for example, we would make a track in the early days and you would print off or you'd press maybe 50 copies initially just to kind of test how good it was, because you know you I might think it's good, but actually the the real test is playing it to a crowd. So you know, I would have personally, I would have a list of djs that I would send my stuff to, and then me personally I would receive a lot of records in the post, like a big kind of brown cardboard envelope, because you'd be on like mailing lists for various promotion companies, not even record labels, because record labels just send their their promotion track into a promotions company. They would have their list of djs and they just send out all these tracks. You was, in order to stay on that mailing list, you were obliged to complete like a, a review sheet really, so you'd play the track and then you'd have to give your feedback on what you thought of it. So that's kind of how music was shared really, via just promotion company, just sending out, sending out vinyl, or we'd go into.

Speaker 2: 19:00

I mean, I I used to have a selection of record shops I would use around london black market records being one of one of them, rhythm division down wrong and uh, roman road in um in Bow Paul, for Music in Bethnal Green, catcher Groove, and that was Dean Street in London and you'd have to kind of make friends with the record shop workers or owners and then they'd have like their own special selection under the counter and they'd see you come in and they'd they'd pull a few off you to listen to and they'd pull a few out from under the counter, say, check this one out, kind of thing.

Speaker 2: 19:30

My saturdays usually were spent like just going around record shops listening to records all day long in order to play stuff for that evening or you know, the following week. And and that's the bit I really miss now we, you know, we sit on our laptops scouring the internet, using various websites to find your music. But I actually love going around record shops because that was again, it's all part of the ceremony and you know picking up a you know just just been released track or no one else has got and you'd play it out and it'd be special it sounds special yeah were there any particular tracks or anthems that you feel defined the era, or any that were particularly special to you?

Speaker 2: 20:08

well, there's one's, one that I mentioned before this, and it's a track called Sweet Harmony, which most people, I think, know. Who's seen that? That was just huge. So props out to Jez Wright, by the way. That track in particular was huge. Moby Go was a huge one. When it came out, I mean, that was again. That was, I think, a very defining track. That was huge.

Speaker 1: 20:32

Looking back, how do you feel about the legacy of the movement and your role in it?

Speaker 2: 20:37

God, no-one's ever asked me that before. That's an interesting question. I feel really proud. I feel proud to have been part of the scene, but I feel privileged to be there when it kind of started in the UK. And what I love is that I'm still in in the uk and I'm, and what I love is that I'm still involved in the scene now. You know, I still, you know I still dj, I still make music, even for a, you know, a 53 year old oldie. There's some.

Speaker 1: 21:00

My daughter calls me now there's no age to stop loving music.

Speaker 2: 21:04

They're really no, you're right, there really isn't, there really isn't, but yeah, I do. You know, I feel very, I feel privileged to have been part of the you know, the emergence of the scene in the uk, but proud to still be sort of involved in which it's been. I mean, I just, yeah, I love everything about. You know the music in general really, and I love that it's, you know. I go back to talking about how you know it all split off into different genres and I think, again, that's a great thing and I just love music in general really. I think it's important to everybody to have some form of music, whether you like Slipknot, for example, or classical or whatever Music is. This is going to be a real cliche here, but music is the key to life. Um, it sounds really cheesy, doesn't it?

Speaker 1: 21:54

but to me it's yeah, music is everything to me. Yeah, a friend of mine has a tattoo that says the world has music for anyone who'll listen true, again, I've got a friend who has a tattoo which says music is the answer.

Speaker 2: 22:06

Um, and there's been so many tracks named music's the answer. But again, yeah, it's important.

Speaker 1: 22:11

Would you be able to tell us a little bit about your move from DJing into being a producer and what you're doing now?

Speaker 2: 22:17

Yes, so I've always, even as early as 1991 I think I've always kind of made music. So we'd go into studio and the the process in the old days was generally you had to hire a studio. You know you would have to pay for it, for an engineer, for the day or two days, and you know you would have to work really hard because you wanted to get your money's worth right. And so, yes, I've kind of been making stuff since the early 90s, some of it fairly successful, others just, you know, it's just a filler track, I'd call it. Really, djing and producing has always been side by side, so I never really stopped DJing over the years. This spells where I've kind of sort of backed away from it for maybe a year. But the thing with producing is the fact that as a DJ you know kind of what the crowd want and what works, and some of the best tracks are usually the simplest ones as well. So I've always tried to make sure you don't over produce a track or over engineer the track. So engineers by nature they would over engineer everything. They want to tweak everything, make sure everything's perfect, and you could. The guy I work with he's he is, he's very creative, but he is. He's a brilliant engineer but a perfectionist, all right. So you know, I would say, okay, the track's done. No, no, it's not done, we need to do this, we need to do that. Yeah, producing I love producing records.

Speaker 2: 23:46

My musical partner guy called Jez Wright no relation gonna mention is he was involved in the creation of Sweet Harmony, okay, but I won't say much more about it. But I just want to, yeah, again, I want to get that in because I think it's important. So we, we've always worked together. He, I used to use him as an engineer back in the days and then we, we basically formed a partnership, musical partnership, and we called ourselves the Ovo Mods. We've basically just made kind of just good, solid, I would say, house music.

Speaker 2: 24:14

Until a few years ago we he made an album and it was a very kind of left field sort of. He wrote the whole thing, he hired vocalists and it was as an album. It was really good. But there's one track in particular, uh, called dark light. I can't even explain what it was, maybe it was kind of a chill type thing. But I said to him it would, it would make a really good drum and bass track, and I've never really been in a lot. You know, I respect drum and bass, I like it, but I've never made drum and bass. So we messed around with the vocal and, hey presto, it worked. So we made this kind of like this liquid dnb track called dark light, and on the back of that we then made another drum based tune which was a bit, a little bit more kind of old school elements. Did you listen to?

Speaker 1: 24:54

yeah, I did so I have actually listened to the tracks and I love it. It's really, really good. That was the one I messaged you about and said I particularly like this one, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:02

Yeah, it's like it's got some old school kind of flavors and it's a bit of a sort of ode to the house or the rave scene in general, kind of squeezed into this drum and bass track. So anyway, they were fairly successful. Actually, like a lot of people liked it. It got played a lot. So we're not predominantly like a house or a drum bass outfit. We would kind of make house and drum bass and some chill stuff as well. So that's kind of what we've been doing. We've had, uh, we've had a. There was a gap of two years because I became ill and just didn't really get involved in producing at all DJing. I was still doing a little bit, so yeah, so basically we're kind of back in the studio messing around again making tracks.

Speaker 2: 25:40

Nothing at the moment that you know say this is what it's called, this is when it's going to be released, because we're still working on an EP. Basically, Awesome.

Speaker 1: 25:47

I'm glad that you're being creative with it and having fun. That's the main thing yeah, no, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:52

That's that's what music should really be about. What I've learned with age is that, you know, make music for yourself, not for other people. And that's in the early days we kind of make music for for other people, which you know. That's what you want to do great. And that's, if you want to churn out music, tune after tune after great, brilliant.

Speaker 2: 26:10

But ultimately you have to like it, you know, because what's the point otherwise? You know. So you for yourself, you know we're not doing it to earn a fortune, because you can't make a fortune out of producing tracks anymore.

Speaker 1: 26:22

Unless you know, unless you, commercially you're already, you know, a well-known sort of artist or outfit downloads get shared, so it's very, very difficult but yeah so we use it just for ourselves now so I was going to ask and you've just given some amazing advice do you have any advice for newcomers to the industry or anything you wish you'd known?

Speaker 2: 26:41

be yourself, all right. It's very easy to get kind of pulled into the you know, into the realms of trying to be like someone else or sound like someone else. Just be yourself, right. Just you know. Just have your, create your own style. That's what I would say. If you have a favorite dj or producer, listen to what they're doing. Don't copy them. Because I kind of done a little bit that in the early days you we'd go into the studio and try and copy almost what someone's doing. It never really works. It sounds like you try to copy someone. So take inspiration from, from djs, from artists, but ultimately you know, to stand out from the crowd or to be to be heard.

Speaker 2: 27:16

I think you've got to be just a little bit different original yourself be yourself. Yeah, exactly, yeah, be yourself, yeah, uh, what else? Don't do drugs, kids, that's bad for you.

Speaker 1: 27:27

Good advice, yeah very good advice, brilliant, thank you. That's really good. It's always nice to hear somebody who's been in the industry and had some experiences. What would you like to tell yourself when you were younger? And if it's be yourself and be unique with your sound, that's a really good message yeah, yeah, and don't.

Speaker 2: 27:44

Don't listen to the haters, because there's a lot of haters out there. There's a lot of people who are ready to give you their opinion. You know you'd like to. I like to see the good in everything and everyone, and sometimes that's to my kind of detriment. But there's a lot of people who will give you good advice. They can't see what I'm doing. My fingers, hand the hand quotes yeah good advice, but sometimes that good advice is with bad intention something I've learned over the years.

Speaker 2: 28:09

You know, confidence is really key as well confidence in what you're doing and belief. You know, believe in what you're doing, even though other people might. No, I don't like that or you like it, that's all that matters. Make music because you like it. Right, if you like what you're doing. That's all that matters perfect.

Speaker 1: 28:25

Well, you've just touched on a couple of things. I'd love to go a little bit deeper on, if you don't mind. And that was about you look at things with a positive attitude, yeah, and you have a lot of optimism. And you also mentioned that you've taken a couple of years off because you've become unwell. Yeah, can you tell us a bit more about that? Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 28:42

So in July 2020, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. It's called it's called uracal cancer. It's extremely rare One in every 2 million bladder cancers is a uracal cancer. So there's not a lot of information out there. Let me just go back a step because I think it's really important for both men and women listening right, because I I only spotted that there's a potential problem because there was specks of blood spots in my urine. Bladder cancers, I think, generally are higher in women than they are in men, because when a guy goes to the toilet, he's standing there and he's kind of looking at what's coming out, whereas with women it's different, right, so it gets diagnosed earlier in men than it does in women. I think that's important to to talk about. So you know, ladies check the bowl afterwards seriously, because so I only spotted with little specks of blood and I went to the doctor and it was confirmed that there was blood in my urine. So I went through the whole process and basically I was diagnosed with bladder cancer, had it removed in november that year and it was a case of it got taken out and that's it get on with your life, which I did until until last year same kind of time, really sort of May, june time one of my regular scans because obviously when you have cancer, you kind of go through this process of having regular scans for three years, five years, something like that. So one of the regular scans highlighted that there was another growth in exactly the same place. It was before. So I think it was a case that they there's a cell that was left behind and they couldn't they can't see cells and so they they removed it again and this time they suggested that I should go through chemotherapy, which I did. So I started chemotherapy in september last year and finished in february this year.

Speaker 2: 30:28

Yeah, that was a interesting process to go through. Um, not as bad, if I'm honest, as you kind of. You know, you hear the word chemotherapy and you have this image of this rather thin, gray looking person sitting in a chair being pumped full of poison, because it's actually what it is and that's kind of. That is a little bit of what you go through. But actually for me it wasn't. It wasn't terrible. And again, it comes back to having that positive mindset. I try to be positive and think positive in everything that I do. So to me it was a project, six month project head down. I'm going to just just get on with it and I can't you kind of go through the motions.

Speaker 1: 31:02

That's, that's kind of what I did, and now I am cancer free congratulations yeah, thank you, yeah, massive massive kudos for talking about it and for also sharing and giving this warning to other people who may need to hear it. That's a really interesting fact I didn't realise, but of course it makes so much sense that women wouldn't notice it as early.

Speaker 2: 31:21

I don't think it's talked about enough that element, you know, of seeing what's going on, because I think it's important for everyone, particularly women. You know, I think it really is. Don't ignore the signs, especially guys, many particular. Ah, it's nothing, you know, I don't want to go to the doctor. You know, if there's something that you can see that's not quite right, don't ignore it. Could be nothing great, but don't ignore it absolutely well.

Speaker 1: 31:42

Thank you for sharing that. Going through that experience, I can't imagine what that would have been like, but you'd mentioned that your wife was super supportive and you had some friends and family that were supportive.

Speaker 2: 31:52

I guess the importance of sharing with other people and having a bit of your community around you did you find that was something that was helpful for me it was really important actually, and initially you find out you've got cancer and you think you know it's a, it's that horrible word, the big c they used to call it. This is the big c. Years ago, when I was young, because no one, no one, could actually say the word cancer. Initially I just I didn't want to tell anyone and it was only my wife said listen, I think it's really really important that you share this because I'm going to support you and she's been an amazing support, amazing. But she said I can't support you totally and solely. You need the support of friends and family. And she was right.

Speaker 2: 32:31

You know, I told people I'm very open about everything. I'll talk about everything. I don't, you know, I don't have any issues. It was the best thing I've ever done Telling you know friends. In particular, you find out who your real friends are, the ones who are there for you, and they were.

Speaker 2: 32:48

Everyone's different. I know some people don't want to talk about it, you know, and that's, that's also fine. But and what? My experience is that having the support of your friends and family has been just brilliant. Just stupid stuff as well. Like you know, I've got a mate who you know he would make fun of me, you know, but it was just banner, right and and, and I love that. You know. I love the fact that you know I've got friends who would right and and, and I love that. You know. I love the fact that you know I've got friends who would just take the. Can we swear?

Speaker 2: 33:15

yeah, absolutely yeah, come on, you we're going, we're going for a walk or we're going to go down the pub, but you're not drinking. I am that kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 33:26

So you're driving me home yeah, basically yeah. That's such a good thing to highlight for anyone who feels alone or who feels like it's the right thing to do to go through it alone.

Speaker 2: 33:35

There can be strength to be got from friends and family, so thank you for sharing that, use the support and even, like you know, just places like Macmillan and all these sort of places that offer just therapy, talking therapy. And again, I was someone who was like, no, I'm not doing talking therapy, I don't want to talk about stuff like, even though I've talked to friends about it, but I'm fine, I've got my mates. But actually, if it's offered to you, take it, because I didn't initially and then I did. They give you a slightly different mindset and they teach you to think about things differently in a very subtle way. So take what's on offer, that's great.

Speaker 1: 34:08

Do you feel that your experience battling cancer and, thankfully, now being cancer-free do you think that it changed your outlook on life.

Speaker 2: 34:18

Yeah, definitely, yeah, absolutely. I've kind of um, I've got more of. I don't give a shit at you now that comes with age anyway, but with age and obviously going through that process and again I don't mean that in a bad way, but I'm a little bit more. I don't stress or worry as much as I used to it. It makes you understand how important life is. Again, it sounds a bit of a cliche, but you know, live for the moment, right, enjoy every day. I've certainly learned that life is short, really short and precious. You know you live a long life. You know, let's say, you live to 100. It's a fraction of you know anything that happens around you.

Speaker 1: 34:52

I love that message. I'm of you, know anything that happens around you. I love that message. I'm all about live for now. That is my whole thing, so I love that. That's the message you can share, mark. Thank you so much. We're going to wrap up soon, but I'd love to ask, before we do, what is next if somebody wants to see more of what you're doing? What are you working on at the moment and what can we look forward to from you?

Speaker 2: 35:11

production wise, I kind of already spoken about that. We are working on an EP. The plan this year was really to kind of put together an album like an original album, just stuff that we've written ourselves, just build something like original basically. So that's what's coming under the Urban Mods name. Dj-wise, I'm meant to be going to Dubai a couple of weeks for work and I may.

Speaker 2: 35:32

I've been asked to DJ on on I think it's called Pure Ibiza to do a set there, so that that may or may not be happening. I don't know. Other than that you can find me every other week in Thames, den or Surbiton it's all kind of on the border. So I DJ in this restaurant basically, but it's like a it's a bit of a hybrid restaurant kind of music sort of venue. They specialize in tapas inspired food. It's right on the river thames, near the hampton court section of the river, so we're kind of facing west. It's got a terrace, we catch the sunset and the whole vibe is very ib3 it's. It's that whole kind of thing, so that's.

Speaker 2: 36:07

So I'm there every other week playing an ambient, chill, kind of house sort of set. It's a brilliant venue. It's called the hideaway servicen and you'll find it online and, yeah, I'm there every other week, but we have other djs there as well. Um, it's a little collective of us and they're all, they're all brilliant in their own, in their own way, really putting together a new dj booth. Well, they're going to build a new dj booth which will house both vinyl, so, uh, technique, um 1200s, so we're going to be playing vinyl as well as usbs on cdjs. So it's almost we're kind of creating that mambo vibe where we've got the windows that come up, it looks out to the terrace when the sun's out, and on the back of that we're hoping to create like a record label as well, associated with what we're doing, particularly in the hideaway amazing.

Speaker 1: 36:54

Yeah, that sounds absolutely incredible and I am sold. So I would love to go and watch the sunset over the thames listening to some tunes by you.

Speaker 2: 37:01

Seriously come down, yeah, like you should.

Speaker 1: 37:03

You should it's, yeah, it's, it's special, it's really cool yeah it sounds special yeah now that people know where they can find you in real life, where can we find you on socials?

Speaker 2: 37:14

uh, obviously instagram. I'm there under mark right underscore pressure in. That's where you'll find me. You'll also find me on soundcloud as well, so I'll put all of my mixes up. So everything I do at the hideaway I kind of put onto soundcloud now. So some of the mixes are like four hours long. Yeah, loads of stuff on there. If you google the urban mods as well, you come across our music that we've done so far that's perfect.

Speaker 1: 37:38

So, mark, I would love to sit here and ask you loads more questions.

Speaker 2: 37:41

I honestly have so much more I want to ask, so we're at some point we're going to have to do a part two we'll talk about the uk garrison next time, because that's that's a big chunk of what I didn't talk about today, but we can talk about that another time.

Speaker 1: 37:52

We're going to have to do a part two. We'll tease part two now. I would love to hear some mad Ibiza stories from back in the day yes a thing of those, yeah so we'll do a part two, but for now it's been, as always, such a pleasure chatting with you. Thank, you so much for sharing. Thank you for being very honest and quite vulnerable. I really appreciate it and it's just been an absolute joy to spend some time picking your brain.

Speaker 2: 38:14

Thank you so much, thank you okay, there you have it.

Speaker 1: 38:18

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of this is disruption. If you've enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to follow the podcast and never miss an episode. You can find us on all major podcast platforms apple podcast, spotify, etc. Also on youtube. Stay connected with us on social media. You can find the podcast at this Is Disruption Pod on Instagram and TikTok and you will find updates and snippets of upcoming shows. Until next time, keep challenging the status quo, embracing your creative spirit and be brave. Go and create. Thank you and see you in the next episode.