MonkeyMarc Interview

Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 10:27 Written by Certified Scribe Wednesday, 03 February 2010 10:48

Content: Music - Music: Urban

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Market Watchdog

Combat Wombat DJ MonkeyMarc dropped his debut album ‘As The Market Crashed’ December 1 last year through Omelette Records.

MonkeyMarc has had the debut on the boil for quite some time. He explains the album's context as well as the ideal behind it. "It's been about two to three years working on it but some of the tracks are almost six years old. The whole concept behind it is the stock market crash and the ass end falling out of the banks over the last couple of years."

It's a concept ripe for exploration as MonkeyMarc has employed an assortment of vocal snippets to illustrate his stance on the phenomenon.

"I think it's ridiculous really to bail a bank out with taxpayers money when the banks were originally taking individual's and poor people's money down at the same time. I think it's a tragedy really, especially what's happened in the States." The DJ is ready and willing to put forth his ideas about the shape the world is taking over the past couple of years. It's a truly global and bold move to attack such a topic with a collection of refined hip hop and dub instrumentals.

Indeed, 'As The Market Crashed', in itself, is a testament to the potency of globalisation. MonkeyMarc elaborates on the story of how the mixing and mastering processes were a very literal journey. His hand was forced by the timing of some festivals. in Germany and England. "Well basically I recorded the whole album in my studio in Melbourne. All the recording and the first half of the mixing was done here. I ran out of time because I put in for a few overseas festivals. They accepted me but I only had three weeks to get over to Europe. I had to book the ticket and started asking around for engineers. I luckily found a great place in Paris, although it sounds very romantic, it was purely incidental. I then went back to the UK and asked around for mastering and found a place just down the road from where I was staying in London which just so happened to be where all the big UK dubstep producers get their stuff done."

MonkeyMarc might be forgiven for feeling the pinch of pressure following this whirlwind tour of album completion but as he explains, the response thus far has been pleasant. "It's been a really good response. Melbourne has probably had the biggest response so far with Triple R radio making it their album of the week, that was a real plus for me. It's also been getting a bit of play on the old Triple J. It's starting to get some editorial from a couple of reviewers overseas as well, in San Francisco. It's had a bit of an international flavour to it which has been quite a surprise really."

Fans of Australian hip hop music would be familiar with the level of stigma from overseas fans and critics, particularly in the US, towards the idiosyncrasies of Australia's take on the genre. However, if one were to postulate about a possible breakdown of this ignorance, you would have to think producers will be the first to bridge the gap given the obvious; music's global nature. MonkeyMarc articulates his perspective on the matter. "You can't really go on about beer and barbeques for the next ten years and expect that Australian hip hop to advance anywhere special. I think people from overseas really want to see an educated emcee talking about their country for sure, but also something that they don't know about. Maybe educate them whether it be a political education or some sort of social commentary on what life's like in say Brisbane."

Aside from his overseas live aspirations, MonkeyMarc has his sights set on a national tour. "Yeah at the moment I've got my album launch happening in Melbourne, February 11. I'm slowly planning a national tour hopefully in March, April. Hopefully be rocking up towards Sydney and Brisbane so that's the main plan. I'll possibly be doing a gig in Alice Springs in April as well. It takes a while for word to get out, especially with an instrumental album."

‘As The Market Crashed’ is out now through Omelette Records.