Mike Banks interview
- Issue #285 (November '07) | In Writing
- By: Mark Fisher | Featuring: Underground Resistance
- Links: Underground Resistance
- Printable version
Unedited transcript of Mark Fisher's interview with Underground Resistance's Mike Banks, which formed the basis of November 2007 issue's cover feature
Wire: Have Galaxy 2 Galaxy permanently changed their name to Universe 2 Universe?
Mike: Galaxy 2 Galaxy was one era of High Tech jazz and now, with the addition of a couple of new members of the band, De'Sean Jones and Jon Dixon, I decided that Galaxy was what it was the Universe is what it is right now. And their 19 years old and 23 years old perspective is different, young, and brings really new energy, so I think the band has moved on.
Wire: That brings me onto the next question. How do you get new artists? Do they come to you, or do you search them out?
Mike: Kinda both. I'm just happy that I've been blessed not to DJ. And by me saying that I mean I'm at home a lot more. Now that Cornelius is our manager, we've been travelling more than I did early in my career. The thing with UR is by me not DJing, I'm home all the time, so whereas maybe the other guys are always on the road out DJing, I'm there. I hear all of the new crazy freaky stuff.
I heard Drexciya, and I thought it was some of the weirdest space shit I ever heard. I was proud to be able to introduce the world to Drexciya. I was there for a number of artists coming through there - Gerald Mitchell, Robert Hood. I mean, Rob pretty much invented minimal music as far I'm concerned, I feel pretty good to be attached to that. And I was even there when 4 Hero were Manix. Me and the guys, Dego and Mark, we were good friends, we went out and had some good theoretical talks about electronic music. They were young, I knew the game, so I could help guide some of these guys. I was just really glad that UR was there, so sometimes they search us out, and sometimes I hear about someone like Rolando. A friend of mine, who I'd originally asked to be our DJ, said, 'hey man, I've got a wife and kid, I can't do it, but I know this kid that's DJing over in this little spot for fifty dollars a night'. And we saw his ability and his skill, and me some of the guys went to check him out, and Rolando was really tight. So that's a guy that we went out, heard about, went to see him, and he was really impressive, and I'm just glad that I could introduce an artist of that calibre off the label.
Wire: What are the conditions like in Detroit at the moment, economically and musically?
Mike: I think there's a real similarity between the music and the economics of it. At one time Detroit was the only place in the world where cars were made in that kind of abundance, like Detroit was the only place that made Techno back in the mid 80s all the way through the 90s but, like with the auto industry, we face more competition now. Obviously it's a more global game and it's the same with the Detroit auto makers. First there were three car companies and now they face really stiff competition from great auto makers from all over the world, just like we face competition from great electronic music producers all over the world. So what used to be your territory only, now is shared by many.
I learnt from the auto makers. Every year in Detroit they'd have a car show, have cars covered with a veil. They snatched the veil off when they introduced the car, it's pretty much the same how we record. I'm not so keen on any and everybody seeing recording techniques because, maybe in Europe it's not a competitive thing, but for the way we were brought up, it certainly was competitive. So music is an art but sometimes in our situation, in our environment, it is extremely competitive. That's why I think the DJs are so good. They used to compete with each other, Derick against Chicago, and us and plus 8, we compete, it's like friendly competition. We are quite secretive with how we do things.
Mike: Galaxy 2 Galaxy was one era of High Tech jazz and now, with the addition of a couple of new members of the band, De'Sean Jones and Jon Dixon, I decided that Galaxy was what it was the Universe is what it is right now. And their 19 years old and 23 years old perspective is different, young, and brings really new energy, so I think the band has moved on.
Wire: That brings me onto the next question. How do you get new artists? Do they come to you, or do you search them out?
Mike: Kinda both. I'm just happy that I've been blessed not to DJ. And by me saying that I mean I'm at home a lot more. Now that Cornelius is our manager, we've been travelling more than I did early in my career. The thing with UR is by me not DJing, I'm home all the time, so whereas maybe the other guys are always on the road out DJing, I'm there. I hear all of the new crazy freaky stuff.
I heard Drexciya, and I thought it was some of the weirdest space shit I ever heard. I was proud to be able to introduce the world to Drexciya. I was there for a number of artists coming through there - Gerald Mitchell, Robert Hood. I mean, Rob pretty much invented minimal music as far I'm concerned, I feel pretty good to be attached to that. And I was even there when 4 Hero were Manix. Me and the guys, Dego and Mark, we were good friends, we went out and had some good theoretical talks about electronic music. They were young, I knew the game, so I could help guide some of these guys. I was just really glad that UR was there, so sometimes they search us out, and sometimes I hear about someone like Rolando. A friend of mine, who I'd originally asked to be our DJ, said, 'hey man, I've got a wife and kid, I can't do it, but I know this kid that's DJing over in this little spot for fifty dollars a night'. And we saw his ability and his skill, and me some of the guys went to check him out, and Rolando was really tight. So that's a guy that we went out, heard about, went to see him, and he was really impressive, and I'm just glad that I could introduce an artist of that calibre off the label.
Wire: What are the conditions like in Detroit at the moment, economically and musically?
Mike: I think there's a real similarity between the music and the economics of it. At one time Detroit was the only place in the world where cars were made in that kind of abundance, like Detroit was the only place that made Techno back in the mid 80s all the way through the 90s but, like with the auto industry, we face more competition now. Obviously it's a more global game and it's the same with the Detroit auto makers. First there were three car companies and now they face really stiff competition from great auto makers from all over the world, just like we face competition from great electronic music producers all over the world. So what used to be your territory only, now is shared by many.
I learnt from the auto makers. Every year in Detroit they'd have a car show, have cars covered with a veil. They snatched the veil off when they introduced the car, it's pretty much the same how we record. I'm not so keen on any and everybody seeing recording techniques because, maybe in Europe it's not a competitive thing, but for the way we were brought up, it certainly was competitive. So music is an art but sometimes in our situation, in our environment, it is extremely competitive. That's why I think the DJs are so good. They used to compete with each other, Derick against Chicago, and us and plus 8, we compete, it's like friendly competition. We are quite secretive with how we do things.