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For this edition of MY FIRST GIG, I spoke with Dutch DJ/producer Mark Oudshoorn a.k.a. Mark Mywords. Reflecting on his debut, the curly-haired artist says: “Back then, house music was still considered ‘the devil’s music.’”
“I started DJing when I was just twelve. I was a true vinyl collector and quickly realized that if I wanted to mix two records together, I needed to concentrate more. That’s when I really started to immerse myself in the music. Back then, I mostly played gabber. This was in 1995.”
Old gear
“Both my first and second turntables came from my dad. They definitely weren’t Technics or Pioneers, just old belt-drive models – one didn’t even have pitch control. My bedroom setup didn’t include a mixer with EQ either. After a few years, I moved on from gabber though. That’s the story of my life: every so often, I need new music.”
Freewheeling
“At seventeen, I was working as a camera sales assistant when I met a group of friends who had turntables and a mixer set up in their living room. I’m still friends with them today. They were more technically skilled than I was at the time, and in their living rooms, I could really freewheel. Every Friday we’d get together, spin some records, and have a beer. That’s where I had my first experience with a Technics turntable with proper pitch control. Everything suddenly felt so natural!”
Swedish loop techno
“I was already going to Awakenings back then. I got really hyped by the signature 140 BPM Swedish loop techno sound that Drumcode was known for. Around that time, I also started collecting records again. I didn’t plan to make it a career, but I loved playing. That eventually led to my first gig.” (first picture)
Devil’s music
“During Lappendag – a local fair) in my hometown Hoorn – my friends and I spontaneously threw an outdoor event. It was just a party tent with a table, some turntables, and slightly bigger speakers than we used at home. I remember it vividly. Hoorn had never seen anything like it. At the time, house was still viewed as dangerous, “devil’s music”. It was definitely still a thing. We had about a hundred people show up for that first time. We ended up organizing it twelve more times, with the final edition in 2011 drawing two thousand people! In the end, the police were actually happy with us, because most Lappendag events happened on one main square, and we set up on another, helping spread out the crowd.”
Hooked
“The first time I played in front of a crowd, I was hooked right away. It was a completely different experience from staring at a wall behind your decks. The set went well, and thanks to that gig, I gained some recognition in town, which led to my first paid set in 2003.”
Groovar
“A casual acquaintance back then and now a close friend, Camiel Daamen, was throwing a party at Poppodium Manifesto in Hoorn.” (picture above) “I got in touch with him through my girlfriend at the time. He invited me to play, and of course I said yes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very busy night. I was the second act on the lineup and at that point I played mostly progressive and tribal with lots of drums. My stage name back then was Groovar. How did I come up with that? I had to play on a radio show just before the event, and on the day of the broadcast I realized, ‘Crap, I still need an artist name!’ Why I landed on Groovar? Honestly, no idea anymore.”
Impressive sound
“I was less nervous at Manifesto than I had been that first time in the party tent. I knew I had my technical skills down and was just excited. Naturally, I invited a bunch of friends for support – they all came. After all, I was the first one to get paid for DJing, even if it was just fifty guilders or so.” (laughs) “That gig with Camiel went well. Sure, compared to how I spin now it was amateurish – I was mostly focused on the technical side. I think I only looked at the crowd like three times.” (laughs) “What struck me the most was the impact of that powerful sound. I was used to my bedroom speakers, so this was a whole new level. The dark club, the booming system – I loved it! Had I prepared my set in advance? Nope, and I still don’t. Only if I’m recording a podcast – then it helps to know what you’re going to play.”
Deep melodic
“By then, more bookings started to come in outside of Hoorn. The ball was rolling. I’ve played at all kinds of parties and can adapt to many styles. For example, I play pretty hard techno at Techno Tuesday, but the next week I might play a deep melodic set at 115 BPM somewhere else. Since 2005, I’ve used Mark Mywords as my main alias. I’ve never had idols – my taste is always evolving. Every few years, I discover a new genre I love.”
Focus
“I don’t play at a lot of festivals. I’m more often in clubs. I’ve played at Paradiso, Melkweg, Sugar Factory, Radion, Undercurrent, and Panama, among others. I’ve also played in Germany, Turkey, and Lithuania. What I learned from that very first time is: do what makes you happy. Focus on what you love, not the money. That mindset has kept it fun for me, even twenty years later. DJing is still something I do for joy, by choice.”
Fasttracker
“I’ve been making music myself since 1994. Back then, I used Fasttracker on my PC. I always loved creating music. I was also really into computers. I’ve been producing seriously since 2005, when affordable, powerful computers came on the market. Some people say they produce because they have to if they want a DJ career. I produce purely for fun, not to achieve something. Over the years, I’ve released tracks on Carlo Lio’s label Rawthentic, and also on Tronic, Toolroom, Bla Bla, Basmati, Natura Viva, and Orange Recordings.”
“For now, the only thing on my schedule is my monthly residency at Techno Tuesday at Melkweg. No new releases at the moment either. I’m focusing on something else – but I’m keeping that under wraps for now.”
Photo credit picture Marceline and Mark Mywords: Salomao Nunes Photography
This interview with Mark Mywords is originally published on This Is Our House in November 2019.
Who is Mark Mywords?
Mark Mywords started his musical journey with DJ’ing and producing a little over 25 years ago. It took untill 2011 before his first records where shared with the world , but after a string of releases on renowned labels such as Tronic, BlaBla, Inmotion and Rawthentic, his DJ career started to gain some traction.
A release on Gabriel Ananda’s infamous label Basmati really put Mark Mywords on the map and by then everything started to fall into place. More and more gigs followed. First mostly in Mark Mywords’s home country The Netherlands at venues like Paradiso, Sugar Factory, Thuishaven and Radion and festivals like 18hour festival, Burning man NL and The Gardens of Babylon. Mark Mywords even landed a residency in one of Amsterdams oldest and biggest clubs Melkweg, which has been going on for almost 7 years.
During this time Mark Mywords kept getting at it in the studio, resulting in over a 100 releases. This made sure international interest sparked and Mark Mywords got to play in numerous countries all over Europe. Over 40 now, more and more grey hairs start to appear in his trademark haircut, each one of them a reminder of the great amount of adventures he went on with his crowd.
Sometimes Mark Mywords suprises with rolling downtempo grooves and atmospheres so deep you think you need your diving gear, on other occasions with high energy melodic tracks that push your hands towards the ceiling. And sometimes with grittiness so dirty it makes you pull a face like your dance partner just farted after holding it in for a week. However the situation, this DJ got the perfect records for it.
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