Emerging UK talent Wax Worx has been on a roll in recent times by ensuring fans of his music are always well fed. Following through on releases with labels like Coyu’s Suara and Steve Lawler’s VIVa Music, the Brighton local again releases on his own imprint – Shanghaied Recordings.
We caught up with him to discuss the ‘Up’ single, as well as his upcoming gig schedule and who’s about to release on Shanghaied, keep reading for the full scope!
Hey Mike, thanks for taking some time out of your schedule to chat, what do you have going on at the moment?
Hey Kyle, thanks for having me. I have had a really nice busy start to the summer with gigs in London, Ibiza, New York and my home town of Brighton. I have had a nice solid release schedule with tracks out on 43 Degrees, Skill Matters, OneFold DGTL and Shanghaied and we have also started our own Shanghaied events so I have been very busy with that.
You started a label with Grahame from Data Transmission, how have the first few releases for Shanghaied been?
So we started Shanghaied in January last year, we kicked on with a 4 track VA highlighting up and coming artists as well as a track on there from myself, which got picked up by Monki and premiered on her BBC Radio 1 show. We then had releases from the Likes of Jamie Roy, MAKANAN, Fancy Inc and Ben Sterling, who’s track ‘WONKY’ is currently being hammered by the likes of Jamie Jones, wAFF and Eats Everything. So not a bad start by all accounts! We are really happy as the label is actually doing what we set it out to do, to highlight up and coming artists to the top flight DJs and music fans alike.
Your new record ‘Up’ is out now on the label, tell us about the writing, production, release, how did it come about?
This was really fun to make, I just wanted to make something not so serious and a bit bouncy and that’s what I came up with. I started with the vocal and built the track from there. The bass synth has a low and high element to it which flows with the kick pattern to make a really ‘uplifting’ groove, excuse the pun.
And the support has come from Golf Clap, Billy Kenny, Low Steppa and more, some massive names, it must feel nice!?
Yeah it feels lovely, it’s always nice to get support from artists you look up to! It blew me away when Paco Osuna played my Dominator remix literally in every set for a year last year including his mix for Pete Tong’s show on Radio 1!
Seeing as it’s a single, are there any plans for remixes down the line?
No remixes for this single as yet, but we will be starting our ‘Let’s Get Shanghaied’ remix series after the summer, kicking of with remixes from MC Flipside and These Machines!
We’ve seen from your social media that you’ve been busy in terms of DJing the past while, including IMS Ibiza, what has been the more memorable gigs for you this year?
It would have to be playing on the roof of the Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza at sunset, Magical!
And what do you have coming up for the rest of 2018, both DJing and for your productions?
So gig wise I’m back in Ibiza in July to play the ‘Lost In Ibiza’ Boat Party, Headlining the Data Transmission stage at Nozstock Festival on the Friday, Just finalising another trip to New York to play at Analog Brooklyn and a tour of Brazil in September. I will of course be playing the second Shanghaied party on July 14th with Low Steppa at Thirty 3Hz In Guildford.
Music wise I have my ‘Smokin Funk’ 3 track EP Dropping on VIVa Music Limited on July 6th, have a remix and an EP coming out on Nasty Funk Records, A track dropping on Starchild Musik with a remix from Vangelis Kostoxenakis, as well as more music lined up for Shanghaied before the year is out.
And what about Shanghaied?
Aside from our next event that I just mentioned we are looking to do our first Shanghaied night in my home town of Brighton, we already have the wheels in motion for an event in Amsterdam during ADE. Music wise we are taking a break from releases for a couple of months but will be returning in September releasing EPs from the likes of Rich Wakley, Fancy Inc, These Machines, MC Flipside, as well as some hot new up and coming talent.
You can stream Wax Worx – Up below. Or buy the release in full here.