Marc Mac

Last updated

Marc Mac
Marc Mac from 4hero.jpg
Marc Mac with MC MG, 2007
Background information
Born
London, England
Genres
Occupations
Years active1989–present
Labels
Member of
Website marc4hero.bandcamp.com

Mark Anthony Clair, known as Marc Mac, is a British DJ, broadcaster, producer, promoter and label owner in the UK dance music scene who was influential in shaping dance music of the 1990s. [1] [2] Mac has been instrumental in a number of genres including breakbeat hardcore, jungle, drum and bass, downtempo, broken beat and nu jazz. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] He is one half of the group 4hero, founded in partnership with collaborator Dego (Dennis McFarlane), and a co-founder of Reinforced Records. [8] [9] [2] Mac's other solo projects include The Visioneers (jazz/hip-hop), Manix (breakbeat hardcore), Nu Era (techno), and Nature's Plan (Afro-Latin). [10]

Contents

Early life

Marc Mac was born and raised in London and attended school in Harlesden. [11] His family emigrated to England from Jamaica and are part of the Windrush generation Caribbean-British legacy. [12] His parents were active in the community creating programming to support and advocate for local youth and their families. His family was instrumental in founding the Black Parents Movement and Black Cultural Archives in collaboration with other community members. [13]

Among the works Mac and his siblings grew up listening to were those by Bob Marley, Johnny Clarke, Two Sevens Clash, Elvis Presley, Elton John, and the gospel records of Jim Reeves; [11] while visiting family in the United States, he would listen to underground music from Detroit and Chicago, the early hip-hop of New York City and music by Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne Shanté, Public Enemy, Zulu Nation, and the label Cold Chillin. [14] [11]

Mac's early works were "faceless" in an effort to circumvent institutional racism. [1] Following in the foosteps of his family and Harlesden community context, Mac steeped his musical practice in anti-oppression practices advocating for equal rights and the protection and continuation of Black cultural legacies. [15] [16] [17] His productions pay tribute to past musical greats, Black visionaries from the Civil Rights movement, Black Panthers, Afrofuturists, and the early days of hip-hop, electro, folk and jazz. [18]

Sound systems

Mac started his career in music in sound system culture. In 1985, Mac and friends founded sound systems called Solar Zone and Midnight Lovers. His family's involvement in organising the local anti-oppression community afforded him the opportunity to practice and play in the professional context of a large concert hall in Alperton near Wembley. [11] [19] Solar Zone eventually gathered enough of a fan base to sell tickets and perform in blues clubs (then-illegal clubs, often found in suburban neighbourhoods). Like the Jamaican sound engineer/producer King Tubby, Mac experiments with aspects of DIY sound production. [20] [21] [22] Experiments with building speakers led him to create fully fledged mobile sound system rigs for radio and carnivals. [11]

Pirate radio

In 1989, before 4hero and Reinforced Records had started, Mac and Dego founded a pirate radio station called Strong Island Radio, [23] based in Dollis Hill where they attended college. [24] Its name came from the station with the same name broadcast from Long Island, New York. Mac and Iain Bardouille also played on the Girls FM station in the midnight slot. [25]

Reinforced Records

In 1989, Mac and Gus Lawrence founded Reinforced Records, [25] [26] which featured a diverse selection of sounds including breakbeat hardcore, jungle, drum & bass, and a roster including Goldie, Doc Scott, DJ Randall, Nookie, Tek9, Grooverider, Kemistry & Storm, Wings (aka Roni Size, Krust and Die), A Guy Called Gerald, Peshay, J Majik, Photek, 4hero, Manix and Tom & Jerry. [27] [28] Reinforced Records has supported new musical genres and emerging artists, pioneering the sounds of 1990s British dance music scene through mentorship, networking opportunities, collaboration and music production. [29] The Dollis Hill studio had an atmosphere and function similar in spirit to the community centres that they frequented as youth. [30]

Through Reinforced, Mac and Dego were introduced to Goldie by his partner DJ Kemistry at the dance music club, Astoria. [31] Goldie was first involved at Reinforced Records as A&R staff, then later started collaborating with the duo in their studio. [32] [33]

4hero

In 1989, Mac, Dego, Iain Bardouille, and Reinforced co-founder Gus Lawrence founded a rotating musical collective called 4hero, resulting in a number of singles and the album In Rough Territory. 4hero would later become just Mac and Dego. [24] 4hero's sound experimentations contributed to new music genres including breakbeat hardcore, jungle, drum and bass, and broken beat. Their remix of Nuyorican Soul's "Black Gold of the Sun" heralded a shift into nu jazz and which led to the 1998 album Creating Patterns . [24] [34]

Other work

In 2002, Mac, in partnership with Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick of the acid jazz band, Incognito, produced and arranged Speak Your Peace by Terry Callier. [35]

Mac has multiple independent projects and collaborations exploring a variety of musical genres outside of the group 4hero including Brazilika, Visioneers, and All Power to the People. [36] [10]

Discography

Albums (listed most recent to older):

Singles and EPs

Compilations

DJ Mixes

References

  1. 1 2 "The gentrification of jungle". Mixmag. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  2. 1 2 Burgess, John (19 January 2007). "4hero, Play With the Changes". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  3. ↑ Chapman, Dale (29 April 2025). "Hermeneutics of Suspicion: Paranoia and the Technological Sublime in Drum and Bass Music". Echo. 5 (2) (published 2003).
  4. ↑ "The Samplers and Breakbeats Behind '90s Jungle/Drum & Bass". reverb.com. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  5. ↑ Kalia, Ammar (19 August 2019). "We Out Here festival review – a new jazz generation is born". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  6. ↑ "Solid Gold: How 4Hero's 'Two Pages' predicted the future of d&b". DJ Mag. 23 January 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  7. ↑ "BBC Radio 1 - Radio 1's Residency, Sherelle". BBC. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  8. ↑ Muggs, Joe; Stevens, Brian David (2020). Bass, Mids, Tops: An Oral History of Sound System Culture. Strange Attractor Press. ISBN   978-1907222771.
  9. ↑ Hermes, Will (22 November 1998). "Dance Music Enlists A New Sound: Voices". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  10. 1 2 "Marc Mac". Discogs. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Marc Mac (4Hero) – Windrush Stories". UK Podcasts. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  12. ↑ "DJ Flight wins Outstanding Contribution at DJ Mag's Best of British awards 2022". DJ Mag. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  13. ↑ "Black Cultural Archives". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  14. ↑ "AN INTERVIEW WITH MARK 'MARC MAC'". Jungle Drum and Bass. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2025.[ permanent dead link ]
  15. ↑ Stories, Windrush (22 October 2021). "Marc Mac (4Hero) – Windrush Stories – Podcast". Podtail. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  16. ↑ Safo, Kwame; Wheeler, Seb (23 October 2020). "The gentrification of jungle:Kwame Safo talks to Marc Mac, Bryan Gee, DJ Flight and Junior Tomlin about the futuristic Black art form and why its Black roots should never be forgotten". Mixmag.net. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  17. ↑ History, Gear (27 July 2020). "The Samplers and Breakbeats Behind '90s Jungle/Drum & Bass". reverb.com. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  18. ↑ Interviews, Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & (1 January 2007). "4Hero". Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews. Retrieved 13 August 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ Krohn, Philipp (2015). Sound of the cities eine popmusikalische Entdeckungsreise (in German). Internet Archive. Berlin Rogner & Bernhard. pp. 363–365. ISBN   978395403-0910.
  20. ↑ "Encyclopedia of Invisibility — King Tubby". www.encyclopediaofinvisibility.com. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  21. ↑ Records, Enki's (27 January 2021). "King Tubby: Biography of the Legendary Sound Engineer & Producer". Enki's Music Records. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  22. ↑ Stars don't stand still in the sky : music and myth. Internet Archive. New York : New York University Press. 1999. ISBN   978-0-8147-4726-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  23. ↑ "4 Hero - The Evolution of Music | The Skinny". www.theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  24. 1 2 3 Shapiro, Peter (1999). The Rough Guide to Drum 'n' bass. Rough Guides. pp. 71–75. ISBN   9781858284330.
  25. 1 2 "Reinforced Records". daily.redbullmusicacademy.com. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  26. ↑ updated, Jim McCauley Contributions from Joe Foley last (23 March 2017). "14 of the best record label logos". Creative Bloq. Retrieved 25 June 2025.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  27. ↑ UK, Drum and Bass. "Reinforced Records Drum and Bass Label Profile | Drum & Bass UK". Drum and Bass UK. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  28. ↑ "The History of Rock Music. 4 Hero: biography, discography, reviews, best albums, ratings". www.scaruffi.com. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  29. ↑ "In Conversation with King Britt — Coloring Lessons". coloringlessons.com. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  30. ↑ Stories, Windrush (22 October 2021). "Marc Mac (4Hero) – Windrush Stories – Podcast". Podtail. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  31. ↑ "Goldie The Alchemist - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  32. ↑ "Mentors: How 4Hero Programmed Goldie's Software". Telekom Electronic Beats. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  33. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music (Virgin Encyclopedias of Popular Music). Virgin Publishing. p. 283. ISBN   978-0-7535-0252-5.
  34. ↑ Britt, King; Rodgers, Tara (April 2022). "'We Cross Examine with Old Sonic DNA': King Britt and Tara Rodgers in conversation on Blacktronika, music technology and pedagogy". Organised Sound. 27 (1): 55–58. doi: 10.1017/S1355771822000231 . ISSN   1355-7718.
  35. ↑ All music guide to soul : the definitive guide to R&B and soul. Internet Archive. San Francisco, CA : Backbeat Books ; Berkeley, CA : Distributed to the book trade in the U.S. and Canada by Publishers Group West ; Milwaukee, WI : Distributed to the music trade in the U.S. and Canada by Hal Leonard Pub. 2003. ISBN   978-0-87930-744-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  36. ↑ Bellini, Lara. "BBC - Music - Review of Various Artists - Brazilika". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
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