If renowned DJ and Toolroom Records owner Mark Knight cancels his Australian tour next month, that’s on us – we may have shocked the British legend with tales of the current blistering inferno in which we live. “That’s mad! That’s mad that is!” Mark cries in his strong, cockney twang.
Australian weather is a world away from anything the renowned producer and house heavyweight is used to – and don’t worry, he is still coming over.Mark is en route to the office when we chat, these days preferring the desk job and operations of his record label over live appearances.
Since the inception of Toolroom (in 2003), creative developments in Mark’s career have been influenced by the team with which he surrounds himself and has furthered his output as a DJ. “Massively,” Mark says, “it’s not like anything I’ve ever had around me.
“I’ve never had a manager, I’ve never been conventional, but I’ve built a team around me. The success of each individual part works one against the other. They’re so intrinsically linked, that’s the key to success. Things have gone so well that I can be super selective about what I want to do.
“I’ve never been a conventional DJ – party, play, hang out, I’ve never done that. I’ve been doing this 17, 18 years now, and it’s Monday morning 9am I’m making sure I’m in the office.
“By next year, I probably won’t be worrying about DJing because I don’t need to DJ every weekend. I don’t want to DJ every weekend. It doesn’t make it special; it makes things very one dimensional in your life.”
It’s quite a turn for Mark, whose ambitions and accolades in his work have gone from being the highest-selling Beatport artist of all time and a Grammy-nominated musician, to sounding as if he’s most happiest in the office – ultimately, this move is because he wants to give back.
Naturally, with Mark further and further cutting back on his DJ sets in the new year, his appearance at Gold Coast's Nxt Lvl will be a pretty special show for Mark as well as his fans.
“That’s the thing, innit, it should be like that, it should be special for both parties. Like, if you’re in a band and you’re on tour for 30 years doing the same thing over and over again, it wouldn’t be special anymore, it’d be like, ‘Oh here we go again’.
“In DJing, you’re expected to do the musical element and the touring nonstop and if you start without stopping, it’s gonna be exhausting – it shouldn’t be like that.
“Luckily I can go back to still being associated with music and inspired by a job that I love, developing other people’s careers, still having a career of my own but not having to perform all the time – but when I do tour, because it’s so rare, it’s a very special thing to do.”
Mark is at the point of his career where he has reaped the benefits of his success that he is now able to set aside the performance side of things to give back to those who may or may not be in a position that he was in when he first started out. “Absolutely,” he says.
“This is about taking elements of what I love, finding new talent and helping push them in a direction that can then help them push for a successful career. It’s an ongoing process that I really enjoy as much as the performance element – I take great pride in helping other artists develop their careers.
“I spend a lot of time in the studio helping them finish music, helping them write music that fits who they are. If that makes you think, ‘Oh yeah, he wants to be focused on doing that’, then yeah, that’s what I want to do.”
