Exclusive Interview
Chatting Hurt With MRJ
Michael Radziwanowski or Michael R Jr, also known as MRJ, is a DJ and producer from Walbrzych, Poland. His passion for house music was inspired by his father, Noiseman, one of the first underground house DJs in their hometown. At the young age of 10, he had his first chance to get behind the decks, experimenting with some UK garage classics from his father’s vinyl collection. Soon after, his childhood fascination became a driving passion. It was only a matter of time until he started producing his own sound. Honing his production skills as Michael R Jr with a more jackin/funky flavor, he signed to noteable labels like Flapjack and DOIN’ WORK. Now he's flexing his skills as MRJ with deeper, garage-styled vibes, featuring tracks on labels like Simma Black and Country Club Disco. Hi recent release comes in the for of a remix for Playless's brand new track Hurts on Love & Other.
We had the honor of speaking to the talented MRJ about his remix of Playless Hurt
Hello Michael Thank you so much for taking
time out to do this interview with us we are so excited! A very warm welcome to
think in electronic
We live in South Africa and have never
experienced snow what’s your favourite thing about winter and the snow?
Well basically it looks good till it gets
messy and becomes dirty pile of frozen water .
For the first time you might be amazed but
people living here in Poland got used to snow so its not anything special to us
haha and I hate winter cause its really cold here.
1.
This is a staple TIE question
what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear South Africa?
Wild animals , Lions , deserts .
That’s what comes to my mind and maybe DaSunlounge mix from 2011 I think when
he played there .
1.
Tell us more about yourself on a
non musical front.
My name is Michal Radziwanowski Im 20 .
I am studying management here in Wroclaw
where I live . My family lives in smaller city nearby so whenever I want I can
go back to my homecity Walbrzych and spend some time with my parents . Im bit
messy guy and I drink a lot of tea so my desk looks funny with all those cups
everywhere . I play a lot of video games and in free time I play dota and csgo
and I think ill never grow up enough to ditch games haha I just love them .
Like most of the people I like to look good so whenever I can I go to gym . I
think that’s pretty much how looks my life right now . Its best time in my life
I’m having now
2.
Your dad Noiseman inspired your
passion for music. What are some of your fondest musical memories from growing
up?
Well my dad had that great shelf with CD’s on
it and I just picked random stuff to listen to . I remember that I loved some
really oldschool music like Kraftwerk or Yello and when I was like 8 or
something I listened to prodigy nonstop .
3.
You started DJ’n at the age of 10
on vinyl. Tell us more..
Yeah my dad got technics 1200 mk2 and I was
fascinated with that enough to start putting tracks together myself . Well
start was rough I couldn’t adjust the tempo right and it took me few weeks till
I got used to that. Well its nothing special -practice makes perfect.
4.
Everyone can DJ but not everyone
can produce. Producing is a lot harder than it sounds. How did you learn to
produce? Do you have any musical training?
I don’t have any musical training . I have
figured all that musical stuff myself. I started producing on logic but it was
not my kind of DAW and switched to Ableton quickly which is so much easier and
faster for me to recreate what’s in my mind.I was doing some Jackin house and
funky house back then and it was really easy for me to just get the right
sample and work with it . I didn’t have to worry about that musical stuff and
theory having right samples , cutting them and putting together .But then I
become more into deep house and garage sounds and I thought I have to figure
out how the heck they are doing those sounds and I just sat and analyzed loads
of tracks . Watched some tutorials on yt but it was just for taking good
direction not really for copying what was on the video and signing myself under
that.
5.
How long did it take you to find
your sound?
I think im still looking for my sound ,
experimenting with different kind’s of styles , some of my tracks are bright
and flashy , with clean sound and other are just dirty with minimalistic perc
and bassline . Im inspired by Shadow Child and im into that kind of sound
lately .
6. What encourages/
inspires you to produce music e.g. other music, surroundings, feelings,
emotions? Do you ever feel like you have to stay restricted to just one
genre?
I love to
listen to dnb and some indie stuff but don’t really feel like I have to produce
that stuff. Whenever I sit to produce I have to be filled with some kind of
emotions like you asked. Track depends on my mood and current flow . Foundation
for my tracks is always 4x4 beat and then I can put some other stuff like
breakbeat breakdown in the middle or 2step beat to add some little flavour .
For me its just music and genres are not restricting me but as I said I base on
4x4 beat always .
7.
We are bungled with new music
being released everyday how do you keep up to date with new releases as well as
selecting what you play?
I can’t spend so much time on finding tracks
now cause of studies but my dad is like finding so much good stuff from his
sources I don’t even know where finds that but I feel comfortable that I don’t
have to do it myself haha .
8. Sell us your music in 3 words?
Goose bumps everywhere
9.
You just did a remix of Playless Hurt. Tell us what you were trying to
achieve with the remix and how you tackled it.
I let
myself flow . I just wanted to achieve good sound which will give you goose
bumps on right soundsystem .
10. How do you go about planning your set?
Do you have a routine you go through before sets?
I
select my tracks before like everyone I think . I don’t really plan it . I just
listen through stuff and put that into my folder .
11. Do you have any comments from fans about how your music has
affected them or changed their lives?
Well there was few responses from my fans but
I don’t think im well known enough and have that much people my board yet .
12. If you had only 5 minutes to play one track that could leave a
great impact on the world, what track would you play and why?
Candy Dealers – Street Delight ( Harold Heath
re-rub) . because it’s just beautiful track and makes you forget about the bad
things for a moment . Maybe people would appreciate real deep house and start
to listen to good electronic music after that .
13. The music industry can be very
negative how do you turn the negative into positive?
I just do my thing and don’t let anyone fuck
me , lol. That’s pretty much how I don’t get into that negative stuff
14. We noticed that you in to fitness, share with us your fitness
routine.
I do Captain America routine haha . Im pretty
sure you can find it on the internet . it’s pretty straight forward . Train
with biggest weight you can and do 5 reps every time and by that I mean that weight
should stop you doing 6th.
15. What can we expect from MRJ in the future?
Well I don’t even know what I will be doing yet . but for sure im
gonna deliver you some great tunes and mixes !.
Rapid Fire
- When
you not doing music what can you be found doing?
Playing dota, spending time with my
girlfriend,watching movies,studying
- 3
things you absolutely can't live without?
Tea,My PC,music
- One
thing your fans don't know about you
I was bboying till I had surgery .
- Your
favorite item of clothing and favorite scent...
A Tie , STR8 that normal one .
- 3
things you would like to change about yourself (physical or personality
wise)
I’d love to be more patient . be little bit
higher and have Magenta Eyes .
Any last messages for your fans
I will treat you really good with some
upcoming stuff on my soundcloud and facebook page !
Thank you Michael for doing this interview
with us we hope to catch you performing around the world sometime soon