Mix Master Mike
Insider's guide to...
By Jonathon Valenzuela
Who is he?
Mix Master Mike, born Michael Schwartz, is a multi-award-winning turntablist from San Francisco.
Turntablist?
You know, those guys who scratch records. Turntablism is the live manipulation of records to produce new sounds, which are layered upon each other to form whole new songs.
And multi-award-winning?
Mix Master Mike has won three DMC champions, from 1992 to 1994. His first was as part of the Rock Steady DJs, along with DJ Q-Bert and DJ Apollo. His wins in 1993 and 1994 were with DJ Q-Bert; and there was a rumour at the time that both were asked to stand down to avoid monopolising the competition. The DMC denied this, and in 1995 both Mike and Q-Bert sat as judges for the competition. Also, in 1995 he was honoured with the Grandwizard Theodore lifetime achievement award by the International Turntablist Federation. Pretty huge for a 25 year old.
What else has he done?
After the numerous wins, Mix Master Mike, Q-Bert and DJ Apollo formed the seminal turntablist group The Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Their music was much better than their spelling, and they continued to push the boundaries of turntablism until they disbanded in 2000. Also, Mix Master Mike joined the Beastie Boys as a tour DJ and producer, helping out on the records Hello Nasty and To The Five Boroughs. He was the guy they were talking about on ‘Three MCs and
1 DJ'.
What a busy guy! Where can I see him?
Mix Master Mike is touring with the We Love Sounds festival, which hits Sydney on Sunday 8th June. He is also playing a solo show at the Metro Theatre on Saturday 31st May. Tickets are on sale now, $45 (+bf). See listings for details.