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Mike Monday
London

14 Releases

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Biography

He's the worst-kept secret in the UK. Long tipped as one of the country's most up-and-coming producers, in 2005 Monday's profile exploded with a run of killer productions that have got bootys shaking in every faction of the electronic underground. "That Shit Was..." turned on the electronic funk crew, "Ca$h" the deep housers, the "Bootyfunk Ep" the big room bootyfunkers and "Flashlight" the electro heads. The real exposion, though, has been the run of huge tracks on Monday's own label, Playtime "Tooting Warrior", "Belter" and of course "What Day Is It?" - a crossover combination of stripped back jackin' and deadpan humour that appealed as much in Paris, London and San Francisco as it did in Berlin. And now? Sasha to Steve Bug, Mylo to Rob Mello, David Duriez to Chris Duckenfield, Josh Wink to Tom Stephan - everyone's DJing in some room of Mike Monday's house. His DJ schedule has kept pace, too - a Russia tour for Ministry of Sound, gigs across Europe and Asia Pacific, monthly slots in Paris and of course his residency at Playtime the club, alongside regular guest slots at four of London's five biggest clubs. Why such an array of production styles, gigs and fans? Actually, in Monday's view, there's no confusion at all - it's just his refusal to be boxed into one specific genre of dance music. He's always held that approach, dating his "Mondayisms" - the funk fuelled rhythm, booty shakin' basslines and self-effacing sense of humour in every track - from what he cites as his early influences. "I was never a rock or indie kid at school,"he says. "While my mates were shoe gazing with Morrissey and The Cure, I was shaking my butt to anything from Pfunk to Prince." It all started in the early 90s, he adds. "When I first moved to London, I played saxophone in various funk and jazz bands, including Beat Foundation with Andy Cato from Groove Armada. London was a real melting pot then, a really vibrant and exciting time for electronic music. I got hooked on house pretty quickly because it had such a real sense of possibility. Nearly every month a new sound would appear. And there weren't any strict stylistic boundaries just great records." It's been a long journey from Beat Foundation to now, though, playing on every continent, remixing artists from U2 to Marc Romboy to deep underground tracks from Hi-Phen and Dirt Crew records. Today his main label is Playtime Records, an offshoot of Mike's residency at Playtime the club described by DJmagazine as "one of clubland's finest inventions". A project with Playtime's other founder, Big Daddy, the label reflects the club experimental, jackin', flat out weird but with both feet on the dancefloor and a real old-school spirit. "It's a throwback to the best days of acid house," Monday says. "The club is the last mixed place left in London gay, straight, men, women, geeks, fashionistas - whatever! That's important to us because it's the kind of test bed you need for new music: an open mind and a club where people really care what they hear - but where they want to hear something new. That's what house music should be. It's got to be fresh, new, so exciting you can't help dance to it..."
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