The name behind the worldwide club hit ‘Operation Blade’, Public Domain are equally renowned in the hard dance scene for their production work and energetic live performances. Having just released their latest single ‘Love U More’ and new mix album ‘Central Energy: Public Domain vs Warp Brothers’ on Central Station, ITM got the chance to speak with one third of the trio, Mark Sherry.

For some people it’s their first dance CD they hear which creates their lust for the music. What was your first experience with dance music?

I would have to say that Pete Tong on Radio 1 was my first introduction to dance music. I used to tape it faithfully every week and try and track down all the harder tracks that he would play in the last section of the show. It was a broad range of styles from the Prodigy to Hardfloor to Altern 8 to Leftfield to Bizarre Inc and everywhere in between!

How old were you when you first began DJing, producing and performing live?

Myself and James have played keyboards since we were young lads. Since I was around 8 I’m sure. Neil was a drummer from a young age too. I’ve been dabbling in production since in was 16 but I was DJing a couple of years before that. James and Neil are around the same although James has also been at college to do an HNC in audio engineering. It works out being a great team cos myself and Neil have learned by getting hands on and James has done it by studying it. We always have different ideas about production because of this and it really works for us.

What equipment do you use at your home for producing?

Well we have a full professional studio for our Public Domain work. We have two JP8000s, a Novation Supernova, Korg MS200 and Triton, TB303, and loads of several rack mounted units. We find nowadays that we don’t turn them on much – we tend to use mainly soft-synths now as they are a lot more user friendly and some of the sounds you can get out of them are unreal. At home I do all my solo stuff on my pc and entirely using Cubase SX, soft-synths and heaps of plug-ins. There is no need to have massive studios anymore and due to my house being filled with vinyl it suits me fine having a small set-up. You can get just as big a sound out it as u can in the studio!

What labels are you signed to currently, and which ones have you been signed to previously?

As Public Domain we have been signed to Xtravaganza’s label Xtrahard and released Operation Blade, Rock Da Funky Beats and 2 Many MCs/Let Me Clear My Throat. We are now signed to Central Station in Australia and Incentive Music in the UK. With Incentive we have already released Make The Connection, Americana and also are about to release our latest single Love U More. Under my own name Mark Sherry I have released After Dark on Red Monkey and Vengeance/Live And Learn on Detox. There are also some remakes kicking about on white that I have done – Tubular Bells and That Fixt Camera. I am also behind the Cosmic Freefall bootleg that has recently blown up. There is our new PD album on the way soon too and several new single projects from the band and myself. I have also remixed Ratty – Sunrise and Scott Mac – Damager (Connected) – they are both out very soon!

Who are your top 5 all time favourite DJs or producers?

I would have to say Marco V, Mauro Picotto, Scot Project, Hardfloor and The Prodigy. Most recently though Sam Sharp aka Sander van Doorn and JK Walker are really doing it for me just now – big time.

Do you know of any new talent, which we can expect to hear of in the future?

Probably as I’ve just mentioned Sam Sharp and JK Walker but also Remy, Max Walder and Marzz are all constantly in my record box. They are very techno orientated producers who I really love the sound of.

Are there any DJs you would love to be on a line up with?

We are quite lucky that way including my DJing because we have been on a lot of really big line-ups over the years. I reckon I could say on behalf of me and the rest of the guys that it would be a bit special to be on the same list as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers or someone along those lines.

Who would you love to get in the studio with to work on a collaboration?

Well we might be doing some big collabs with some a-list DJs over the next year or so, so basically watch this space. Personally I would love to get into the studio with Mauro Picotto and his producer Ricky Eiffe as I think we would learn a lot from them.

What are your favourite 5 tunes of all time?

Westbam – Wizards of the Sonic (Matt Darey vs Red Jerry remix), Hardfloor – Acperience, Transformer Too – Pacific Symphony (DJ Ricci remix), Binary Finary – 1998 (Gouryella remix) and also Laurent Garnier – Crispy Bacon.

Public Domain is known for it’s renowned track ‘Operation Blade’ which hit the charts in countries such as Germany, UK, Australia and several others, do you feel it was difficult to come back into the scene big time following the success of ‘Operation Blade’?

To be honest we haven’t left the scene in the first place for us to “come back”. We haven’t been in the charts for a few years but that isn’t a priority for us in the slightest and we’ve still been touring around the world playing live. I’ve also been very busy DJing. Because we’ve been in the studio working on our new album we haven’t been able to do as much touring as we would like… But once it is finished, that’s when we go and start touring it full steam ahead… bring it on! We never ever worry about trying to come out with something bigger than Blade. We just keep the heads down in the studio and churn out as much as we can. We never know what we will come out with one day but the minute you start forcing the issue it will probably cause you problems being creative.

Would you consider a different alias, if you were to produce another style?

Yeah I think you have to if you want to experiment with different styles. We have some different styles on the new album as PD and we are also thinking about starting some different aliases for some new projects too. I have Outburst as an alias for my solo stuff also.

Are there any clubs or locations your eager to play a set at?

As the band I think we would love to perform in Japan again and I’m sure when the new single and album comes out we will get ourselves back there. We have played in Velfarre nightclub in Tokyo as PD and it was amazing. The crowd was wicked. I’ve also DJed in the Underground club in Japan and also Code in Tokyo. The vibe over there is immense and the gigs really kick ass.

Following your Australian tour recently in March, how would you describe the dance scene over here?

It’s healthy as ever, we played to full houses all over the country and we loved every minute of it. We say this in every interview but we really feel great after a tour to Oz. Although the population isn’t that big in relation to its size – the club scene is very big and buzzing all the time. We really love it!

Public Domain’s single ‘Love U More’ and mix album ‘Central Energy: Public Domain vs Warp Brothers’ are out now through Central Station.