Originally
born and bred in Haarlem in Holland, Hip hop was where Martijn
made a name for himself early on in his career, tasting success
as the DJ of Dutch hip hop collective “Da Mad Scientists”. They
played all over Holland between 1987 – 1989 at venues such as
the Paradiso, Mazzo, Rothanhuis, Akhnaton, and DMC Amsterdam 1998
and supported some of the great world renowned hip hop acts of
the time like Kool Moe Dee, Stetsasonic, Cash Money and Marvelous.
Martijn even found himself guest Djing with the Stereo Mc's!!
Mind
you in the midst of all this mayhem, the pull of making house
music was never far away and so during the same period, Martijn
found himself working with Olav Basoski and DJ Zki (aka The Goodmen)
honing down his production skills.
In
1990 the now well respected producer, writer, remixer, and all
round studio talent, decided to move to London and bring his musical
talent to the shores of the UK . He found himself well and truly
immersed in the UK hip hop scene and in 1993 co-produced and co-wrote
an album for Ignorants. The album was recorded in Sarm West Studios
over a period of 3 months and the single Phat Girls reached no
56 in the UK national charts – no mean feat for an underground
hip hop record at the time !
In
the same year, he started the band Saxual Harassment with saxophonist
Howard Sie and in the following two years they released three
singles and an album, toured Holland with a live band and were
nominated for the Heineken Crossover Awards in 1995.
It
wasn't long though before the sound of house music won him over
again and here begins Martijn's journey to become one of today's
most respected and innovative producers on the scene.
Having
found himself Djing to house crowds throughout the UK , Europe
and Middle East , he decided to hook up with production partner
and fellow DJ, David James to form the inimitable Audio Drive
.
Together
they remixed the likes of Ms Dynamite 'Booo!', Michael Moog 'You
Belong to Me', DB Boulevard 'Point of View', Agent Sumo 'Why',
Eddie Grant, the Sugababes ‘Angels with dirty faces' and Tom Novy
‘It's Over' and found themselves at number 1 in the Hype Chart
with the Audio Drive remix of "Tide of Dreams" by Prophets
of Sound. They also co-produced (with Grammy Award winner Rick
Nowels) a track for Kylie called "Whenever you feel like
it"' which was an exclusive on the Scooby Doo Original Soundtrack
CD and found its way onto her Fever remixed album.
Many
of their own productions were released on their label Dirty Skankin
Sounds and they found themselves licensed to a wide variety of
international quality house comps (e.g DC10's Circo Loco and Pete
Tong's Clubbers Bible). Then they did the "Voodoo Magic EP"
on Fluential / Defected Records followed by ‘I feel good', which
was the first release of the now renowned Toolroom Records. Their
last production together was a remake of the classic 'Come Get
My Lovin' by Dione, under the guise DJMTV on Fantastic House /
HiBias. Roger Sanchez loved the track so much, he made it ' New
York 's finest' on his Release Yourself Radio show.
Never
one to stand still, Martijn then began working with Mark Knight
and another successful partnership was in the making. Their first
production, 'Our House EP' was released on DTPM and it reached
number 6 in the BuzzChart, number 8 in the HypeChart and had massive
radio support from Pete Tong. DTPM held a special launch party
for the release @ Fabric where the boys played a blistering four
deck set which rocked the club till the early hours of the morning.
Their
next production was 'Acid Test', released on Fantastic House in
March 2004, with radio support again from Tong plus Seb Fontaine,
Annie Nightingale, X-press 2 and hailed by Steve Lawler as his
biggest track of 2003.
It
was soon clear that Martijn and Mark had a winning formula and
other projects including 'The Hedgetrimerz', released on Toolroom
Trax in the summer of 2004, were not only popular club tracks
but working on radio too – this track had seven plays in a row
by Seb Fontaine on Radio 1! Martijn and Mark's latest production
'A New Reality' featuring E Man on MN2S, was released January
2005 and reached no. 2 in the UK Hype Chart……… Watch this space
!!!
It
was only natural that with this success and demand, the boys would
soon be remixing and they've now built up a string of high profile
remixes : Soul Central 'Strings of Life', Brad Carter 'Morning
Always Comes too Soon', Portobella 'Vive Le Difference', ATFC
'Fall Down', Narcotic Thrust 'When the Dawn Breaks', Holmes St.
Ives '8 Letters' and Ferrer & Sydenham 'Sandcastles', All
of which have kept Martijn well & truly in the dance charts
and on dancefloors around the world…………
And
of course it comes as no surprise then that Martijn and Mark have
been nominated for “Best Artist” and “Outstanding Remix” @ the
House Music Awards 2005 being held at the newly refurbished Hammersmith
Palais. (www.housemusicawards.com).
However,
keen to keep his name in the headlines, Martijn now also dedicates
a lot of his time to working on solo productions - 'The Sureshot
EP' came out during summer 2004 on Nocturnal Groove (Home of Shapeshifters
'Lola's theme' ) and reached number 8 in the Buzz Chart. He's
crafted a sound which is undeniably funky yet tribal with progressive
and electro overtones and as one major fan put it “b ye bye soulful
house, welcome to the dark side. Shamone Mother F*****S” !!!!!!!!!
He
also has releases set to break through in 2005 / 2006 on Toolroom
Records, Phonetic Records and of course a follow up on Nocturnal
Groove. And guess what - there's another collaboration (you just
can't keep this man down !) with fellow Dutch producer Lucien
Foort (of Quadrophonia fame !) which is aptly entitled Bleeep!
– causing a storm with all the major jocks.
Djing
is also a major part of his life and represented by Main Stage
Artists Booking agency (Eric Prydz, Shapeshifters, Ali B, Ferry
Corsten) Martijn is booked throughout the world to play his twisted
house sets. He has played the DJ Magazine Arena at the infamous
Opening of Space-Ibiza, becoming the first Dutch DJ to do so,
headlined at The Fresh Master Class Festival alongside Tiesto
and Sven Vath, played at "Another Twisted Halloween"
alongside Mr C and Sister Bliss, played at the Get Loaded Festival
in Glasgow alongside James Zabiela and Danny Rampling and is often
at Ministry of Sound, the Cross, Fabric, Turnmills, Heaven, AKA
and many other clubs. He has to be one of the most enthusiastic
DJ's out there and was quoted on Cooljunkie a s being “ the most
enthusiastic DJ ever seen--he smiles, he dances and he sends out
this vibe that feels like he actually knows what you're feeling
while he spins; he's in total harmony with the crowd! ”
So
it seems clear to all around that Martijn's diverse musical influences
coupled with his love for all that is quality in house music,
will ensure he continues his rise to the top.
Make
no mistake - this is the true story of one major flying Dutchman!
BACK
TO SITE |