For our readers who aren’t familiar with you, can you summarise yourself and what you play in a few sentences?
I’m Jonny, aka Marksman, a London-based melodic progressive house & techno producer, DJ & label owner for the brand Elevation London, we also run regular parties in some of the biggest London clubs and soon-to-be the world. I’d describe my music style as ‘planting a seed and watching the flower grow’ for every track which take you on a journey which then creates a beautiful botanical garden over the course of a mix. I also coach aspiring producers and DJs to go professional with their production career.
Let’s get straight to the good stuff. If our readers wanted to listen to 5 tracks that describe your vibes, what are the 5 tracks you would offer up?
Marksman – Warp Speed
Marksman – Mendacious
Marksman – Retribution (Soon to be released hehe)
Marksman – Drifting (Feat. Emma Petty)
Marksman & Nick Fetcher – Ingoma
What is your favourite thing about DJing in 2023?
I love being able to connect with my audience and seeing how they react to my new music, during my sets I play only my own productions and tracks from my label Elevation London, so it acts like a testing ground and gives me a great gauge on how good the track will be when released.
What’s your least favourite thing about DJing in 2023?
How most people at big shows will all be on their phone recording videos of drops instead of enjoying the music and having a good time in the moment. When are you ever going to watch that video again? Probably never, get dancing and enjoy yourself
Okay. I need you to invent something for me that relates to the music scene. It can be a gadget, a tool, a product, a new law…. the world is your oyster. (Tip: Think about what dance music needs, or what you think is missing, and invent that)
A community of playlisters in every niche where any member of the community can send their music to our email and playlist network whenever a new release comes out to get a huge organic boost on release day for free. Oh wait… I’ve already invented this, it’s called the Elyssian Network and it’s in beta testing 😉
Coolest place you’ve ever played?
Eyeife Festival in Cuba, I was headlining the Thursday night and the vibe was off-the-chart! The Cuban people don’t have many places to experience live electronic music due to a lack of venues, this festival is literally the only electronic music festival in Cuba so being a part of it was truly an incredible experience. I also think it was the first time a lot of them had heard melodic progressive house & techno, so I’m considered in Cuba a pioneer of electronic music!
Longest set you’ve ever done?
Myself and Exoco, the founders of Elevation London, started in the house party scene where we’d throw all night parties at our house in London from about 7pm til.. well whenever our legs gave out. I think the record is 15 hours.
At the end of this interview, we’re going to drop a mix from you. Why should readers listen? And what kind of person will like it?
If you flip a coin and it lands on either heads or tails you’re gonna enjoy this mix, it’s a musical journey that will captivate you from the get-go all the way to the end. It’s showcasing my 2023 and 2024 releases, most of which haven’t been released yet but you can hear them for the first time ever. I’ve often found ‘people that don’t like this sort of music’ tend to really love melodic progressive music, so I fancy the odds that you’re gonna love it.
Look into the future. Give us a prediction for 2024? What kind of stuff is going to happen that we should know about?
In 2024 I’m going to do a South America tour and play around the festival scene internationally. Release wise I’ll have released an EP on Anjunadeep and grown my own label to be a powerhouse competitor to them as well. You can claim to be one of those cool indie people that knew about Marksman before it was cool.