DJ, producer, and artist MR.BLACK chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about his latest endeavors and future plans in music.
Hi MR.BLACK, with 2021 coming to a close, how was the year for you?
This year has been super productive and incredible for me. I’ve had some shows and festivals throughout the year but a lot of studio time due to Covid-19, which brought a lot of effective studio time. The results were 40 tracks this year, launching my own imprint and time to bring to life my vision of combining art, music, and technology in different forms.
You, along with electronic duo Gproject, just announced a partnership with the NFT community Desperate ApeWives and the launch of DAW Music. Can you tell us more about this project?
DAW Music is a pioneering record label that was co-founded by myself, Gproject, GoodDollar, and leading NFT venture Desperate ApeWives. Our vision is to create a bridge between Art, Music, and Technology. DAW music is a futuristic NFT label. Our mission is to build a healthy ecosystem and home for artists to make a living out of their talent and also for collectors to be part of their success.
As part of the partnership, you and Gproject have also released the first-ever Desperate ApeWives anthem. Tell us about the track and also what the reaction to it has been like?
Firstly, it was great to work with my good friend Gproject in the studio; the work was for something unconventional therefore, we needed to think outside the box to bring something unique and targeted to a new world. We had to research the community, slogans, language, and form of expression to understand how to execute the idea properly, so there was a lot of background work before even jumping onto the studio to produce this. The reactions were amazing; the community really liked how we put brought to life this Ape anthem, tagged us, and used our slogans on socials. In the music industry, we needed to explain more and educate why we chose the Ape and elements as not everyone is aware of this NFT world. Some of the people thought we were a bit crazy, haha.
So, how was your time in Miami for Art Basel? Was this your first time in the city for art week?
First, I want to start by saying that Miami is one of my favorite cities in the world. The last time I’ve been there was during Ultra time, but this is my first Art Basel during Miami Art Week, and the experience was amazing; seeing all these parties around the city brought a lot of vibes. Our first party was on a big yacht with lots of people from the DAW community and I played there with my good friend Gproject. The second party was in a cool club that involved art galleries inside the venue, we played there just before Major Lazer, and it was incredible. Regardless it was fun to see people from a different industry, many productive meetings, and overall a great experience.
You have got a history with Hardwell’s Revealed Recordings. What drew you to working with the label and what projects are you working on together at this time?
Revealed has been my home label for a few years now; I really trust and believe the team, and I’ve been getting a lot of support from Hardwell himself, and it was natural for me to open my imprint HYBIT together with them. We’re about to close off 2021 with around 20 releases this year which was beyond expected. We’re currently working on the music schedule for 2022, and we’re already lined up with major cross-label collaborations between Revealed and legendary trance imprints.
What inspired you to get into electronic music production and DJing?
My inspirations were The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Daft Punk, and afterward Tiësto, Infected Mushroom, and Shpongle. After I got connected to these artists and their music it felt like music production was all I wanted to do.
Who inspires you musically today? Any dream collaborations?
Innovation is inspiring. The ability to combine multiple genres and to create fusion is what makes me inspired. David Guetta is a dream collaboration for me, always up to date, fresh, and definitely re-inventing himself time after time. He’s an example of how you can do multiple projects and everything still sounds solid and working.
It’s been a difficult time for so many people with restrictions and lockdowns. How did the pandemic impact you and your music? What was your first show back?
End of February 2020 I came back from a tour in Japan straight to my first quarantine and got the news that all my upcoming shows are canceled. I realized that we’re in a new reality. I took this as an opportunity and I’ve opened the label and alias with Revealed Recordings, a home for most of my releases. I’ve started to work with music and technology, which brought to life the DAW label and the joint projects with the community and I’m super thankful for that.
We all understand it has been a difficult year with restrictions, but are you hoping to play some live sets when available? Please tell us what we can expect.
To be honest I can’t wait to tour regularly without the hassling of restrictions, looking forward to playing around the world in all the clubs and festivals once again. I’ve got a show in Israel this weekend, luckily things are open here and I’m going to drop the DAW anthem for the first time here!
Looking ahead what are your plans for 2022?
Continuing working on my dream which is combining art, music, and technology in different forms and bringing to life a lot of projects that I’m currently planning. Super excited and can’t wait to share with everyone!
To learn more about MR.BLACK, visit his official website.
