international news _ Jonty Skrufff _ 7th March 2005
Meat Katie's Mixed Up Past
UK breaks producer Meat Katie unveiled details of his upcoming compilation CD for Fabric this week and revealed on the accompanying press release that he was thrown out on the streets aged 15.
"I got kicked out of my house at 15 and I left there with no shoes or socks, I never went home since," the 33 year old producer (real name Mark Pember) recalled. "All my friends ended up in prison or dead and now I'm doing the things I'm doing- it's shocking and incredible but in a nice way, because if I can do it then I know that anyone can. I have my own family, I run my own record label, have my own studio and I DJ all over the world. I have to turn work down now. And that's all from sheer commitment," he added.
Though he remains closely associated with breaks, Mark's long been introducing house and electro elements into his sets and his new Fabric CD reflects his approach directly.
"It's a really good time for breakbeat at the moment but I'll play a blinding (good) house track or electro track or techno track over a mediocre breakbeat record, any day," he stressed.
"Nowadays there's a lot of narrow-mindedness, there's the people who listen to a track with a 4/4 beat who say 'oh, this'd be blinding if it had a break underneath!' and you feel like going 'yeah, but it's blinding anyway, what's the matter with you?'."
He continued his tirade against narrow-mindedness in DJ magazine this week, in a feature celebrating the fusion of breaks, electroclash and house, branding purism 'a bit like racism'.
"The boundaries have become more blurred recently, which is a great thing," said Mark.
"Clubbing is becoming fun again and that's due to DJs/ producers and clubbers looking for something different on their nights out," he added. "People are no longer happy with ten hours of trance or progressive or any other style."
(Jonty Skrufff / Skrufff.com)
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