Roddy (Mavrik): The Wednesday Alternative Mix

Music

Mavrik has become a staple party amidst London's sprawling nightlife. It can often be difficult to trust the unknown, and many parties have come and gone over the years. However, the sentiment behind Mavrik remains the same as it was originally founded upon: a party for friends without the allure of big names, good music for good people. Past guests include the likes of Nick the Record, Red Greg, Tim Sweeney and more. On the 12th of August the party will return alongside Mr Bongo Soundystem and John Gomez for a night of music which promises to be both well informed and dancefloor driven. It is a party after all. The event will also be raising money for local children's charity Free to Be. Baring all this in mind, we caught up with Roddy (Mavrik) to talk music and records as he contributes to our Wednesday mix series. Listen and read the interview below:

Please introduce yourself…Who are you and where are you from?

I’m Roddy from Mavrik. Originally a party & blog based in Leeds, but now residing in the capital.

How did you find yourself as a disc jockey?

There’s no cool story here I’m afraid. I didn’t inherit my Dad’s dusty old dub collection and decide to carry on collecting in his name! I’m unfortunately the product of the ultimate University cliché – the bedroom DJ.

What inspired you to begin buying and collecting records?

I only started buying records a few years ago. It gives you a bit more ownership over the music you like. There is something quite disposable about downloading a track and throwing it straight on a CD or USB, it just seems to get lost in your laptop a little bit. It’s good fun going around buying records from all genres and countries – stuff that was released 30 years ago and could have had a dozen owners since then. Maybe I’ll fulfill the ‘cool story’ in question 2 one day.

Once I was poking around in the attic of the pub I live above and found an old box of records. There were a few receipts in there dating back to 2003, so they had obviously been there for quite a while. After a lot of cleaning and sifting through a fair amount of awful bashment, I managed to get my hands on a ton of great records. Loads of interesting Funk & Soul 7”s and wicked Afro-Jazz from artists like Letta Mbulu.

Who were your early musical influences?

Ray Charles, Jonny Cash.

What’s the aspiration of your party, what do you hope to achieve?

The idea behind the London parties is try and keep things simple. We’ve always tried to use unique spaces and focus on getting the right booking musically, as opposed to worrying about how many punters a big name would bring down. Most of the attendees are our mates and we do the parties because we have a lot of fun doing them, and hope the people who come down have fun too!

Where was the mix recorded?

At home in the Ivory Tower.

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

Friday evening, on your way home from work.

What would be your dream setting to record a mix: Location, system, format?

At home in the Ivory Tower.

Which track in the mix is your current favourite?

Tricky one, there are quite a few! Benga Benga has been fairly rinsed now, but I still really like it. Another favourite would be the big jazz track 14mins in. It’s by Ezra Collective and you can grab it as a free download from their bandcamp.

What’s your favourite recorded mix of all time?

The 1st ‘You’re a Melody’ with Floating Points, Jeremy Underground & Red Greg has to be up there.

If you could go back to back with any DJ from throughout history, who would it be and why?

Larry Levan

What was your first DJ set up at home and what is it now?

It was a pair of Numark turntables and an awful 2-chanel mixer. The set up was appalling, compounded by the fact I had absolutely no idea what I was meant to be doing. However, I sold the lot for £150 which I felt slightly guilty about. Sorry Rob from Ebay.

I’ve now got two Technic 1210s, Allen & Heath Xone 23 and 2 CDJ200s.