As an Oxford graduate, Mike Monday is a rare breed of producer. He’s not just good at it, but highly qualified to do it too. Starting life as a double act with Andy Cocup (now of Groove Armada) and forming the Beat Foundation, he eventually decided to spread his wings and blaze his own trail, taking on the turn of the millenium with single releases on his own MM label, as well as Whoop! and Kinky Vinyl before releasing his first full-length instant-classic, Smorgasbord, on Playtime Records.

Now, after a 2 year hiatus, Mike returns with a fresh new album and fresh new approach, on the ridiculously cool Om Records. Gavin Leversuch took some time out with him to get the lowdown…

“I played at a little dirty warehouse party in the middle of Miami’s ‘cracktown’.”

So Mike, you’re now back from your little jaunt in Miami. How did the show go? What else did you get up to?

“The Om event was incredible - 5 rooms, some of which were outside, with what seemed like about 5 million artists and little old me.

I had a great slot, sandwiched between Tiefschwarz and Cobblestone Jazz which is my kind of sandwich. I think we all rocked it, especially Cobblestone Jazz who are incredible live, and I got to meet the Tief brothers and Mathew Jonson who have all been recent musical heroes of mine. So overall it was ‘totally awesome’, to use the American vernacular.

Other than the Om party I played at a little dirty warehouse party in the middle of Miami’s “cracktown”, which was the definition of underground. It was with pretty much the whole San Francisco posse, both the Om and the Dirty Bird crew, as well as the ressies from one of my favourite clubs over there, The Endup. So it was a proper family affair and I ended up playing back to back with Justin Martin which is always a laugh, despite the fact that he had a terrible bout of flu.”

It’s certainly not the first time you’ve been to the Winter Music Conference, have you got any tales of past shenanigans or special memories of the event you’d like to share? How did this year’s event compare to past events?

“Last year I ended up at the warehouse again, even though I wasn’t playing, and we ended up being driven back to South beach in a big yellow school bus. I’ll never forget that journey, it was surreal. This was rivalled this year by the impromptu beach ball fight that occurred in the morning at the Om party while Fred Everything was playing.

But in general there seemed to be a lot less people in Miami this year, partly due to it not falling on the same weekend as spring break, but also partly because both the airlines and hotel put up their prices massively this year. This turned out to be a good thing for the hassle level, as it just seemed a lot easier to get in everywhere, and the bouncers were a lot less stressful.”

There’s a very good reason you were allied with the Om stable for this year’s event. Can you tell us a bit about your new album? How are you settling in with them?

“Yes I’m about to release an album with them. I’m just in the process of completing the last tracks and I’m really happy with it so far. It’s called “Songs Without Words” and is similar to my first album “Smorgasbord” in that it has a very wide range of genre on it, probably even wider. In fact I’d say that in every sense it goes further than “Smorgasbord”, and is even more a reflection of me personally.

“I’ve effectively been my own A&R man until now, so working with a real one has been interesting!”

Working with Om Records has been a very different experience than any other situation I’ve been involved in as they’re from the US, and are much bigger than company I’ve released on before. Up until this point in my career I’ve effectively been my own A&R man, so working with a real one has been interesting! And while Om are better known for deep and jackin house, they actually release a wide variety of music from electro to hip hop, and are very musically open minded, which suits me!”

Check out MoSTV’s spotlight on Om @ Sonar, including an interview with the man himself…

Has this album been more rewarding overall than Smorgasbord? How did your approach differ?

“It’s certainly been a hell of a lot more difficult! With “Smorgasbord” I had a number of tracks that were already done which I knew had to be on it in some form whereas with this one there wasn’t anything. I’ve had an extended 2 year absence from writing music while I set up my new studio in my garden and concentrated on DJing, so getting back to it and completing this album from scratch has been a monumental task. I also wanted to go further in exploring the possibilities of instrumental dance music as a medium to write a great album to listen to. To do this I’ve played a lot of live instrumentation on it, as well as using a lot of analogue gear, unlike Smorgasbord which I mainly did on a computer.”

“I am really excited by a lot of the dubstep that’s been coming out recently.”

Who was your greatest influence in the early days and who is your biggest influence now?

“Like anyone I have an enormous amount of influences but probably one of the biggest throughout my life though has been Prince. These days I honestly can’t pick out one, I’m influenced by a lot of stuff. That’s the way I write music by devouring as much new and old music as I can and seeing where it takes me. But I am really excited by a lot of the dubstep that’s been coming out recently, the stuff that is like techno but with a wider rhythmic palette.”

Do you have any shameless self-promotion you would like to do while you are here?

“My first new material for 2 years, “The 11 11 / Hello Nest” has just been released and is available at all good record shops and DJDownload now. And you can catch me playing at the first ‘Om Friends & Family’ event at one of the most exciting new venues in London, Corsica Studios in Elephant and Castle on Saturday 24th May with Paul Woolford, Jimpster, and Charles Webster which is an amazing line up, I cant wait!”

(Interview: Gavin Leversuch)

Mike’s Current Top 5:

1. Mathew Jonson - Symphony for the Apocalypse (Wagon Repair)
2. Benga - E Trips (Tempa)
3. John Spring - Skychef (Sub Static)
4. Cle - Nomads - Matthias Tanzmann Remix (Poker Flat)
5. Fine Cut Bodies - Huncut Hacuka (Chi Recordings)

‘The 11 11 / Hello Nest‘, Mike Monday’s first single in 2 years, is out on Om Records.

Mike headlines for Om Records at the ‘Friends & Family’ party on Saturday 24th May. Tickets on sale at ticketweb.co.uk