Mark EG - My Year In Hard Dance

What's been your biggest achievement of the year?

I had many in 2011 - so I can't really say what was the biggest. I was very happy to get my new website up (www.markeg.com) especially the whole social networking/newsletter system on there that allows me to keep those who support me informed of what I'm up to. We also finally got our new MP3 store 'Beatbucket' to a level where it's about to be launched (sign up to our Facebook page for updates). I've had my own Arena at two of the UK's biggest parties this year (Megablast - Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester - watch the video here: http://www.markeg.com/mark-eg-news/389-mark-eg-in-cliff-top-video-drama.html) and I've even started my own Megav_Experiment that takes the whole audio /visual DJ experience to a completely new level. We (myself and Chrissi) also worked like crazy on our techno pseudonym The Anxious – which is a completely different image with more focused music direction than ever - in fact we did around 25 tracks this year, all of which will be coming out in 2012! Check it all out here: www.theanxious.net.

What moments will you never forget?

My panel appearance @ the Hard Dance Event for Q Dance was fun - oh and of course, being chosen out of all the DJ's in the world to be the first alongside Chris Liebing, Andy C and Sasha to Beta-test the new Allen and Heath DB2 mixer. In fact I was the first person ever to use it in a UK club. That was quite an honour and proud moment I can tell you. In fact, I'm going to be hooking up a lot with Allen and Heath in the future - their equipment craps all over Pioneer imho! See my video review here: http://www.markeg.com/mark-eg-news/379-mark-eg-allen-and-heath-db2-video-review-and-walkthrough.html and listen to DB2 FX Showcase under my techno guise Mark Anxious here: http://soundcloud.com/allenandheathxone/mark-anxious-xone-db2-fx. Unfortunately, I'll also not forget the amount of egos and complete fakeness I have met along the way in 2011 - it's definitely peaked I can tell you! It never ceases to amaze me how you can give someone a bunch of adoring fans and suddenly they turn into nasty horrible egotistical assholes! Shall I list them all for you? Hmmm, perhaps not - we'd be here all day!

Who's been your favourite newcomer of the year?

For hard clubby stuff, all that crew down in the South West constantly impresses me - Side E-Fect, Mike Steventon, etc. I love Sickman's and Danny V's sound too. For even harder schranzy nastiness Instigator really is on fire! For more techy stuff artists such as Florin, i1 Ambivalent (although not exactly new, but probably in the grand scheme of things!) are really doing it for me.

Who's been the artist of the year for you?

Way too many to list here. But I would say for proper techno it has to be Drumcell or maybe Reeko. Electronica: Apparat. Acid techno: Squat Dom. Hardstyle: Delete. Schranz: Instigator. Hard trance 2.0: Busho. Hardcore techno: Miike Teknoist/RedMore. Punky avin it stuff: Atari Teenage Riot. Hard techno: Andreas Kremer.

What's been your favourite label of the year?

Again this is just silly, hehe!! There's just too much good music out there. But off the top of my head: Motormouth, Digitally Infected, Stroboscopic Artefacts, Bullshit, Theracords, CLR, Electric Deluxe, Jackstar, Analogue Is Dead, Abstract, Spoontech, We Call It Hard, TMMR, Fusion, Mental Torments, the list is honestly endless.

What do you think has been the best track of the year?

You are joking? There have been about 10,000! The best way to find out what stuff I like and am playing is to check out my Megacast Radio Shows (for hard stuff) and my Blackout Audio FM Radio Show for techno. You'll find the feeds on my website www.markeg.com

What's been your favourite event of the year?

I hate singling out 'best' parties ‘cause every single party I played at was good in its own right. I don't think I did one party I didn't enjoy this year! But the massive Kazantip party I mention below was without doubt something that will stay in my mind forever, especially playing the darkest, dirtiest techno to so many great, happy people!

What's the funniest thing that's happened to you?

Being chased by robots with DJ Proteus @ the world's biggest beach party - Kazantip in Crimea. The festival attracts 150,000 people over a month of continuous parties. During one of the days we went around the whole site with a camera crew and ended up being captured by around 30 robots in some long corridor that looked like something out of Star Trek. The funniest part was when we had to leg it fast after we'd managed to escape - they all came chasing after us with water pistols! In the end I found a cunning robot suit made out of cardboard on the beachfront and they couldn't recognise me after that. I have not laughed as much in years. Check the aftermath here: http://www.markeg.com/mark-eg-news/378-mark-egs-bloody-kazantip-robot-video-you-have-to-watch-this-haha.html

What do you have planned for the next year?

The big things for me next year are to keep evolving what I'm doing, like I've done every year for the past 20 years in this industry. I'm not a planning kind of person, because the music game is so fickle that you have to constantly adapt and change. I suppose I just try to stay out of the way of the bullshit, do my own thing and let the music do the talking. That is after all, what it's all about eh.

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