Mark James has been at the forefront of the Australian dance scene since the early 90s. With his production company Future Entertainment he has toured the likes of Carl Cox, John Digweed & Sasha. We caught up with him a couple of days before Two Tribes 2000, his biggest party yet..
Vital statistics
Who: Mark James
Age: ‘ahh. do I have to answer that?... Let’s just say 30 something..’
Birthplace: Melbourne
Where did it all begin?
It all started a bit by accident really. In the 80s you couldn’t go out and listen to dance music, it was pretty much all rock. This really frustrated me, so I started to get into DJing and later on some promoting – first here in Melbourne, where I was doing some DJ work, nothing very big. I then went for a holiday to Queensland, through Brisbane and down to the Gold Coast. What started as a holiday ended up being an extended stay. I got some work DJing at local raves and clubs and did some promoting. I ended up staying for about 4 years! Around 1990, home beckoned and I decided to head back to the ‘city’ (Melbourne).
Since being back in Melbourne I’ve done all sorts of things from raves to club nights. In those early days, we were generally putting on raves, but we slowly moved more into the club scene, promoting nights such as Express @ Chasers, Pure @ The Palace & Mansion up to present day with Ultrasound @ SALT.
How many people work at Future Entertainment?
We employee 8 full-time staff to run the events and club nights. For a large event, this will grow to up around 200 casual staff.
What have been the highlights along the way?
Working with the big names has always been fun and memorable and there are a couple which particularly come to mind. Bringing Carl Cox out to Australia, DJing with him and producing the track ‘Eternal’ under the name Eternal Rhythm. Bringing Sasha & Digweed to Australia for the first Northern Exposure tour in ‘94
What have some of the major challenges been?
Definitely dealing with the media and their reactions to the recent ecstasy related deaths. The dance scene has always been associated with drugs such as ecstasy and whenever there is a death involved, questions are inevitably asked of us. The recent death at Happy Valley has been particularly difficult due to the timing – it has brought some “intense media scrutiny” on us. We’re in the final stages of organising what is possibly the largest dance event Australia has ever seen (Two Tribes), so anything that creates bad publicity can be very stressful. For our parties, we make sure we abide by all the rules & regulations set down by the authorities – we can’t afford not to and we want to make sure all the people at our parties have a good time.
How did the collaboration with Hardware come about?
I’ve known Richie (Rich) since the beginning. In fact, I pretty much started his career – one of his first DJing gigs was at one of my parties. After we moved on from the rave scene, we concentrated on the club & progressive type nights while Richie was doing more of a techno thing. For events like this, it just made sense to team up and get the best of both worlds.
What motivates you to keep at it?
Dance music in general. It’s pretty much been my life and now I don’t know anything else. Almost all parts of my life revolve around the music and the scene – from DJing, to promoting to production.
You mentioned Production. What have you been involved in?
Eternal with Carl Cox as I mentioned before, Bass Culture, Gina G was an ex-girlfriend of mine and I did the production side of her tracks. Lisa Maxwell and I had a track which charted for over 8 weeks. For the Olympics I’ve done a remix of Men at Work and I’ve just released a track called ‘Nebula’ under the name ‘Blade’ (Vapour). I’m also in the process of setting up a studio with Sean (Quinn) and Kasey (Taylor) – it’s just about done and I can’t wait to get back into producing some more tracks.
Who have been your favourite people to work with?
The internationals are great to work with – they’re out here making some money and basically having a holiday, so they’re usually a lot of fun; guys like Carl Cox, John Digweed, Jeremy Healy & Judge Jules.. Locally, I really like working with Sean (Quinn) and Kasey (Taylor) of Our House. They’re probably 2 of the nicest guys in the industry.
Who/what have been your major influences?
It’s hard to say.. I’ve been doing this for so long now, we’re kind of doing our own thing. Of course, the whole UK dance scene and culture has been a big influence in the DJs we bring out. If anything, it’s an inspiration to see large events like Creamfields and the upcoming Gatecrasher Festivals in the UK – as it’s something we’d like to do here in Australia.
What excites you about the Australian dance music scene?
The current movement of the scene from being underground for many years to almost mainstream today has been fun to be involved in. With acts like Madison Avenue not only breaking into the mainstream here in Australia but also around the world, it is opening a lot of doors for other acts to follow. We’ve always had a high standard of artists here, but probably over the last 2 years or so, a lot of the guys have gotten much better at what they do, the equipment has gotten better and it is all producing even better music.
Is putting on events like Two Tribes stressful?
There can be a lot of stress – large events like Two Tribes have a huge initial cost, which you can&’t be sure you’ll recoup until you see the ticket sales. Last New Years, we ran Welcome 2000 on New Years Eve AND Summadayze on New Years Day. Together, they cost over $1.2 million to put on. When it’s all getting too much, I just go for a long drive in my car. Luckily, with each event there is that time after everything is organised, where you can kick back and party along with everyone else.
What have been the major challenges with regard to putting on Two Tribes?
Organising the lineup that we have was a major challenge. Not only getting them all to Melbourne on the same night, but arranging for them to tour around Australia. Most acts/DJs won’t come to Australia for one night, it’s just not worthwhile – so we work with promoters in other states to organise nights around the country.
What are you most looking forward to about Two Tribes?
The day after? That’s really only half true – I am looking forward to seeing all of our hardwork come together. Around 3am on the night of the party, I can usually relax, as everything that needs to be done IS done. That’s when I’ll be able to enjoy the rest of the party.
What do you do the day after an event?
When a night’s finished, we make sure all the DJs and friends get home safely and we’ve got to make sure the pack up goes as planned. I’ll then usually spend the rest of the day relaxing. The whole of the following week is generally taken up with tying up loose ends and then I get some SLEEP!
Where to from here?
We’ve got heaps of stuff planned. As you’d probably know there’s the Gatecrasher tour in April, we’re also bringing out Timo Maas, and the Miss Moneypenny’s tour. In June, we’ve got a special TRADE tour (featuring Steve Thomas, Robert Miles) that will go back to back with Paul Van Dyk (6 hour set, no less). In October there’s going to be another Gatecrasher. We’ve got something HUGE in November which I can’t tell you about at the moment, but it is absolutely massive. Another New Years Eve of course, and then next year, we’re really keen to get more into festival type parties. Two Tribes is already an outdoor-type event, so Two Tribes 2001 will see it become a dance festival much like Apollo was in Sydney a couple of years ago – only much bigger. We hope to tour to Sydney & Perth with the event too.
Mark James & Future Entertainment present Two Tribes 2000 @ Victoria Docks, Melbourne – March 12th, 2000, Featuring possibly the biggest lineup of DJs & acts ever assembled in Australia, including: BT, David Morales, Seb Fontaine, Dave Seaman, Richie Hawtin, Roger Sanchez, Sister Bliss. It’s the Melbourne leg of the Renaissance, Global Underground & Platipus Tours. Don’t miss it.
