Any historian who takes it upon themselves to pen the tale of Canadian electronic in the years to come will most certainly find the name Mike Shannon figures early and often in itβs telling. From his humble beginnings in the sleepy suburban town of Kitchener, Ontario, the last 15 years have seen him become an internationally lauded producer with albums on 3 of the industryβs most respected labels (Plus 8, Force Inc, Scape), as well as a steady stream of consistently charted singles and remixes. The Sherp had a short chat with the man, as heβs slated to perform as one of the headline acts at the Eden Festival this coming weekend.
Hey Mike, weβre glad youβll be back in India soon! How did you first get interested in electronic dance music and what were some of your earliest influences – club and musically speaking?Β
Well electronic dance music for me all started with listening to the radio when I was a kid.Β I discovered dance music at an early age and discovered house/techno very early thanks to a friend of mineβs brother that was a dj at an all ages dance club.Β I was into Hip House stuff from Chicago like fast Eddie and Tyreeβ¦ my first 12β purchase was Rob Base and DJ easy Rocβs βit takes twoβ.Β Eventually I discovered techno and was listening religiously to a show that was broadcast live to air from Toronto by djs Chris Shepard and Terry Kelly.Β I always recorded that show every weekβ¦ plus I was able to get WJLB from Detroit from my hometown and was really into the show from the Wizardβ¦ aka Jeff Mills.Β Pure education.
How different is the musical scenario is Berlin? What drove you to move there from Ontario?
I fell in love with Berlin back when I went to play my first gig there in 2001.Β At the time Canada had lost a lot of its underground scene and it was clearly time to move on.Β With most of the cool parties in Toronto unable to function anymore due to legalities it really felt at the time that the momentum for this underground culture in Ontario had died down.Β Things were still exploding in Europe everywhere and it just felt that it was time to be a little closer to the action.
Youβve performed in India before. Now that youβll be back what are you looking forward to the most?Β
Looking forward to shaking it with the Indian people again!Β I had such a wonderful experience the last time I was in India.Β It just blows my mind how cool people are in Indiaβ¦ living in a city as chaotic as Mumbai for example and still able to have peace and tranquility generally.Β The Indian people are so warm and peacefulβ¦ I admire that so much.Β Canada can be such a violent place sometimesβ¦ with all the Hockey fights and electronic bull ridingβ¦ itβs hard to find tranquility in the city with all that around!
The soul and funk that characterizes your music is quite infectious. What were your major influences while growing up?
Michael Jackson / Quinsy Jonesβ¦ Thriller was on constantly from the age of 6 and upβ¦ and there was some impressive dance moves in the house!Β Stevie Wonder was also a huge one around the houseβ¦ always in rotation. My mom worked at a record store and we had quite the variety of music in the house. She was all over the placeβ¦ from Joanie Mitchell to Human League.Β My dad was more into the Blues and New Orleans musicβ¦funk and jazz. James Brown was a big one too and it went right along with the dance party in our house!
Letβs talk about Cynosure. Can you run us through how it began for you?
Cynosure started out as a project between myself and a Arts collective in my home town of Kitchener Ontario.Β It was an artist initiative program set up to show artists how to live from their artwork.Β You know, showing us how to make a proper business cards and how to sell our selves and our artβ¦ that kind of crap.Β Painters, illustrators, graphic designers and musicians.Β So we set up the label project to show off the works of everyone involved.Β But the funding for the project was suddenly axed because the government didnβt want to have itβs funding go into something that was associated with Techno music.Β So we had no choice but to rub our pennies together and make it work.
So myself and a few of the participants put the budget together and put out the first release in 1999.Β I took over the label on my own after that first release and we havenβt stopped since.
Will vinyl always be a vital part of the release plan for your label Cynosure? How has the digital market changed the game?
Vinyl will always be a part of the plan for us.Β The digital thing has changed the way things work a little but at the end of the day the real purists want this music on vinyl. And lately you can see that the trend has turned back to Vinyl in the last two years.Β Especially with the djs in Europe.Β Some how itβs really in fashion at the moment to play with vinyl.Β It was funny for me to see the legions of djs that said they would never go back and then realizing that it wasnβt cool anymore to be computer jock with the sync, effects, etc.Β And now a ton of them have gone back to the record shops and started playing vinyl again.Β Works for me!Β So obviously the digital thing has changed many things in the industry on all levels from distribution, promotion, performance, etc. But the positive way that the digital revolution has changed things is now music has the potential to have a much greater outreach.Β The real trick is to get that song noticed in the giant convoluted sea of content.
Have you ever had a hard time in your work when you thought you might have to switch careers and get out of making music for money?
Itβs never happened before no.Β Iβve been djing for 20 years and always was related to electronic music in some way almost my entire life.Β The only normal jobs I ever had were working in record shops and doing contruction/demolition.Β Sometimes I think that it would be simpler sometimes to just fade back and do something that is 9 to 5 with a salary.Β But Iβm having too much fun at the moment to stop it all and get a job at a fast food place.
Picture yourself having a sloppy moment on stage. Which track would you drop to save your set?
It depends on what stage your on but if it was the big room I would drop Model 8 by Lemon 8 Iβve seen that one blow the roof off so many times from the mid 90βs to now it still works like magic.
Last question – The EDEN festival will be all about live art, performance and music. Do you have anything special planned for the festival?
Iβm working on a couple of tracks that I started the last time I was in India and I plan on playing them for the first time when I get on the decks at the festival.Β One of the tracks is really trance inspired techno that I produced when I stayed in Goa last year.Β Letβs see if you can guess which one it is!
Here’s a short clip of the man in action:
Be sure not to miss the Canadian’s DJ set exclusively at the Eden Festival this weekend!