British DJ Rocks in Japan!

Mike McKENNA

It’s Saturday night in Shibuya, Tokyo. As the elevator rises, the roaring sound of a base guitar hits you in the stomach. “Tonight will be a blast!” shouts DJ Mike McKENNA, welcoming us into the restaurant that has been turned into a nightclub for one night only. He is not only deejaying for tonight’s dance party, but he is also the main producer of the whole event.

Mike glances at the dance floor and checks tonight’s customers while deejaying. On his cue and with a swing of his arms, the crowd on the floor roars and erupts in cheers, in response to Mike. “DJs must always be keen and sensitive to the crowd on the floor and lead them,” he says. “We must always be dressed in clean clothes and be happy, too!” Mike is very serious when working.

Mike is known as one of the best club DJs in Japan at the moment. Aspects of his job range from deejaying both in and outside Japan, to coordinating music for events and composing remixes of club music. His original remixes are used for software games and large scale events as well as for promoting his business in tie-ups with major corporations.

Mike was born and raised in Stoke Newington, north of London. When he was growing up, there were clubs for kids, called “kids’ discos,” that he often used to go to. His mother’s inclination for music also had a great influence on him. She gave him Ray Charles’s all-time hit record, “Hit the Road, Jack,” which had a huge impact on him. Mike then started to deejay using his own jazz music arrangements, turning them into club-style music.

Mike had wanted to become a lawyer for a long time, but after graduating from university his desire to see the world become stronger and he decided to come to Japan. He worked as an English teacher during his first year, but once he began to do some DJ work, he found he wanted to prolong his one-year stay. He then started composing music, and his DJ activities in Japan began to widen. In fact, “DJ Mike” has become increasingly recognized in the club scene during his 13 years in the country and often flies around the world to London, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Holland, Italy and other countries in the course of his work.

“DJs must compose music rather than just play music,” says Mike. “I hope there will be more DJs like that in Japan.” Mike composes and mixes three remixed club music sets on average each month and uploads them onto his website. He also says, “Inspiration is very important when you compose remixes. I feel so down when I don’t feel inspiration to do this.”

“Because I always want my customers to get the maximum enjoyment from my performances, my mind is always preoccupied with work,” Mike says. “When I create music, I express the sounds as I feel them. But the sounds go through various steps until they are released as a product. Because people have different tastes, the concept of the sounds is not understood by everyone concerned. After all, in the music world talented people are not always successful.”

Mike McKENNA Disco Science
www.discoscience.net

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