Saturday March 26th: Steve Mac


(Producer/Remixer/DJ)

He mixes music, he samples music, he produces music; he plays music: Steve Mac. He likes music.

Steve Mac, AKA (formerly) one half of the Rhythm Masters began his career as a scratch hip-hop DJ at the age of 15 – where he spent eight hours a day practising, and ultimately left school early because of his obsession with perfecting the vinyl ‘scratching’ skill. He was first inspired by the likes of Marly Marl, Dr Dre, Grandmaster Flash and Jazzy Jeff and many other Hip-Hop DJs and initially started ‘messing around’ making Hip-Hop records.

Steve’s Foray into house music first began with Rob Chetcutti in 1990, in Malta. Both in a local Hip-hop group, they spotted what they describe as each other’s ‘formulating talent’, and formed the production/DJ duo: The Rhythm Masters – Steve, bringing his acquired skills from his Hip-Hop past into house music.

After three years of studio work, Steve, (along with Rob) moved to England and spent much of the first half of the 90’s absorbing the house scene - particularly the garage sounds of the US, where his long-term fascination with Todd Terry and the US sound began.

The sounds from this time can be heard subliminally through every Rhythm Masters track – especially from their album Disconnect Your Head with tracks like The Ghetto and Underground (feat. The vocals of Diane Charlemagne) on Black and Blue. And, amongst others, 22 releases on their own label – Disfunktional Recordings. Steve and Rob formed Disfunktional in 1996 and have since, seen releases from Junior Sanchez, Yousef, Richard Grey, Paul Woolford, Kasjmir, DJ Triple A and forthcoming have a track from Danny Tenaglia to be released on the label.

It wasn’t until 1996 and their remixes of Todd Terry’s Jumpin’ and Plastic Dreams that it really took off for the Rhythm Masters. Their DJing took Steve and Rob all over the world and the UK, including regular sets at the likes of Ministry, Cream and Back 2 Basics. 1997 saw them win the coveted Music Week/Record Mirror Award as the Number 1 remix producers – securing their position as one of the top remix teams in the world. By the end of the 90’s they found themselves credited amongst the UK’s top 10 remixers of the decade in Music Week - a testimony to their ability to consistently produce top quality material for the underground and above.

The beginning of 2002 saw an amicable split of the Rhythm Masters as they both decided to take a break and pursue solo projects – whilst still keeping their record label going together. Steve has since completed projects with Lottie, Mutiny, Yousef, Paul Woolford, Darren Emerson and Tim Deluxe and is half way through his solo album.

Steve is also working on a new label called ‘Variations’ with Mark Brown and Nick Corelli. There will also be an offshoot for more underground productions called ‘Capsule’ and they already have tracks lined up from the likes of Paul Woodford, Yousef, Mutiny and Junior Sanchez to name but a few.

DJing wise, Steve is a perfectionist and uses three decks, FX and a sampler in his live gigs – remixing every record live and ensuring he is more than a little different.

Jim Mawsdley from Shindig, Newcastle said of Steve “ to say I was impressed was an understatement when I first heard Steve spin. With the flow of his records that he put together seamlessly to his encouragement of the crowd, everything was larger than life. He truly rocks”.

Yousef has cited Steve as: “a technically gifted DJ with an ‘interesting’, twisted and funky sound.”

His sets are unforgettable, his style energetic, and combining his musical taste and live shows, he is, above all, entertaining