Interview – Madox
There is nothing more confusing these days than the line between both breakbeat and electro. With an increasing amount of DJs moving between the two genres, and indeed the two genres both disseminating and sharing ideas, DJ Madox aka Stephano Miele success in recent times is a prime example of how to overcome any form of barrier which may be inherent in attempting to pander to both crowds.
Hailing from Naples, Italy, Madox is one of the rising stars of breakbeat. With a number of releases on several of the largest breaks labels, as well as his own imprint Mantra Breaks, Madox has in the past few years indelibly positioned himself as a talent to be recognised. It is at times however, that not only has he had to contend with genre barriers, but that it has also been somewhat difficult to push the breakbeat sound in his home country, mainly due to the embedded techno and house scene that has flourished there over the years.
“I never have a big response in Italy, I don’t really know why,” he laments. “It’s just a kind of mentality. I would be very happy to get more gigs in Italy and more appreciation there, but it’s difficult. That’s why I have moved to London to make some music there, it’s much easier.”
This hasn’t stopped Madox from being successful however, and is a testament to his abilities that he has been able to find a swath of fans outside of Italy. This popularity was highlighted this year by his nomination within four categories of the seminal Breakspoll awards – one of the genres best indicators of popularity.
The award nominations has made Madox extremely appreciative, and yet his humility in being nominated is obvious when asked why he thought he had been nominated so many times. “I dont know!” he replies happily. “I think it was more about my DJing, I hope. I don’t have a huge mailing list or anything, so I’m very happy – I did all this from Italy, because I just moved to London. It’s a good result. We won the label bit this year with Matra. It’s really good because we are an Italian label, completely Italian – and it just this year we have started to release English or un-Italian producers so we’re really happy about it.”
Alongside running the highly successful Mantra label, Madox has spent a large portion of his time in the last few months polishing his upcoming album, Urban Plastic. Due for release last year, Madox admits that there were artistic reasons for the delay in its release. “It was due out last November, but I changed some tracks. We decided to wait some time and to promote some other things. I think it will be release in October. The first single is already out now though, Plastic Fantastic, and it’s in the charts at number 16 in its first week which is not bad at all.”
“It’s not a proper breakbeat album,” Madox explains of the landscape of his work. “It’s between breakbeat and electro house – it reflects my style. When I DJ I never play only breaks, I’ve never played only breaks since the beginning. Nowadays everyone is playing only kind of electro house stuff, but I’ve been doing it since the beginning! But, my breakbeat stuff is quite house-y, so I don’t have any particular problem.”
His current tour of Australia is pure Madox, and will be a showcase of both his genre defying style as well as tracks off his forthcoming album. When asked what he will bring his reply is enthusiastic and energetic. “Banging stuff man! Purely banging stuff,” he laughs. “Don’t expect any minimal shit or stuff, only banging stuff. Doesn’t matter if its breaks, or house or techno, the only thing is that it should be banging and that’s all!”
Tags: Breakbeat, breakspoll, electro, italy, mantra