As well as being hailed as the man who brought back UK Garage by Annie Mac, Mike Delinquent has found success with his chart-topping remixes of 'Traktor' by Wretch 32. A favourite on Radio 1 and 1Xtrah, Mike is back with a new single and an album soon to come on Champion Records. We go in with Mike right here.

 

 

For those of us perhaps not so familiar with your music how would you describe your style of production?
My style is garage influenced with elements of grime, rave, old skool jungle, breaks, classical and Mediterranean sounds.

 

 

There’s a lot of the original feel good elements that made garage so big first time around in your work that seem to have got lost through the years as the genre changed and twisted, are you singlehandedly spearheading a Garage revival?
I think the 'single-handedly' tag came from a national radio show because my remix of Wretch 32's "Traktor" was one of the first garage mixes which surfaced on a big scale for a while. Garage never really left, but genres that have evolved since have indeed been heavily influenced by the original garage sound. Nowadays, producers like Woz, Disclosure, Preditah, DJ Q, Fabian, CRST and Sunship are all making really strong garage influenced music. It's definitely moved on.

 

 

Where do you see the UK garage/ bass music Scene right now?
It's thriving! I'm seeing more DJs merge genre styles in their sets, which is a big positive. You can hear a lot of Nu Garage in many bass sets these days. I myself like to include as much well produced bass music as possible in my set. Has to be high energy!

 

 

You’ve undertaken some very high profile remixes over the last few months. How have you found the whole remix process and how much input have you actually had from the artists?
I tend to receive the a cappella and music parts. My job is to then give the artist my interpretation of their song, which is always a challenge. I always enjoy it, it can get quite intense in the studio when I begin a mix, kinda like a professor mixing chemicals in a lab. Crazy vibes. My next remix is for Usher's next single, so looking forward to getting some U.S exposure, which so far I haven't had as much of.

 

You now have your own album close to completion what can we expect?
I've been working with some amazing talent, artists like Kcat, Mz Bratt, Lady Leshurr, C4, Mikill Pane and many more. I've been very lucky that they have all expressed an interest in wanting to feature on my album. Expect some high energy skankin and feel good music.

 

 

Tell us a bit more about the new single “Step in the Dance”
"Step In The Dance" is a collab with Lady Leshurr. After seeing her F64 on SBTV, I had to get in touch. We worked well together and the tune was recorded in two short sessions. The video is online now and it will be released on Sept 23rd with a heavy Zed Bias aka Maddslinky mix & a feature remix by Sneakbo.

 

With a new single imminent, album close to completion what’s next?
My album is due out in early 2013! After that, I have production for Kcat's album scheduled & more releases on my own imprint Mindset Records. Generally just full on world domination!!

 

Thanks for your time …any last words??
Catch me at Fabric on Sept 14th and The Jamm on Sept 22nd!! Keep raving!!

 

 

 

 

 Words by: Jonathan Swan 

 

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