We spoke to him about what people can expect from the show, as well as a few other things thrown in for good measure…
Manchester’s Finest (MF):Thanks for taking a bit of time out of your day to talk to us.
Majestic (M): How are you mate, you alright?
MF: I’m alright pal yeah, pretty good, it’s a bit cold though innit?
M: Mate, literally even down here it’s freezing.
MF: So you’re coming up on Thursday aren’t you?
M: Yes, Thursday – Deaf Institute…
MF: Have you been before?
M: No I haven’t, but a few of my friends have performed there and say it’s a cracking little venue. I know it holds only around 250 people…
MF: Yeah it’s not massive…
M: Yeah I like that, you don’t want it to be too big sometimes. Otherwise it can get a bit impersonal.
MF: Have you been up to Manchester before?
M: Yeah I’ve done Manchester loads, where have I played? Erm, I’ve played Ruby Lounge, the O2 up there when I was playing with Sigma, loads of places. I love Manchester. I used to play in The Printworks quite a lot too, the club was called Pure.
MF: Haa – yes! I remember Pure. Yeah it was really good. My mate used to work behind one of the VIP bars when we were at uni, so we were in there all the time getting our free drinks and that.
M: There was always a decent crowd in there, I used to love it!
MF: It’s turned into a big German Bierkeller thing now.
M: Really? That’s a shame. It’s a shame Sankey’s has gone now too as well.
MF: Yeah I think they’ve just up sticks and gone to Ibiza out of the cold and rain.
M: Makes sense. I used to love Sankey’s though man, fantastic venue. And even now, Manchester is realistically one of the most important cities in the country for dance music, obviously starting with the Hacienda – the good old days. One of the things, I wish I was around in that era, like the Summer of Love. I’ve got loads of friends who were around in that time in the music industry when it was all kicking off and it sounds like the most crazy time. Crazy, illegal warehouse parties…
MF: Yeah my uncles were big in the scene big time and you just get proper jealous that you missed out on it.
M: I just feel that I’ve missed out on all the ‘glory eras’
MF: But to be fair to you, there are glory eras at the moment…
M: Actually yeah because you’re in and amongst it, you sort of forget what’s happening in the Grime industry. Like Skepta is an international superstar now and I used to have a studio with him – like these are my people, these are who I grew up with. 10 years ago we were sat in Barnet in a recording studio, saying to each other – imagine if this happened – like touring the world, grime being a mainstream thing…
MF: And now it’s happened!
M: Yeah and you don’t realise that you’re part of making history when it’s happening.
MF: I suppose it’s only later when you look back that you see the impact you’ve made.
M: That’s what I’m saying like, there was, in our recording studio there was me and a geezer called MsM who’s Skepta’s engineer, who was someone I went to school with, and I’d just sit down there and think – look how far things have come in the last 10 years. It’s really good times man. It’s like the world’s got smaller, what with the Internet, in a really good way. You can link up with people and collaborate from all over the world without even leaving your house.
MF: Talking of the Internet, I was looking at your Facebook page, and I see that you’ve got a competition thing up for your gig this Thursday…
M: Yeah, to try and help the youngsters come through, give them a little warm up slot. I thought, you know what, I remember being a kid wanting to be on things and you never felt like there was a chance so I thought – let’s do something nice for them.
MF: Brilliant. You found anyone yet?
M: Ah mate there’s been so many entries, I was up all night listening – giving everyone at least a 10 minute listen and there’s so much good stuff. Some of them are like 16 year old kids, one of them has 91,000 likes on Facebook, he does a weekly Facebook Live with about 2000 live viewings – he’s killing it. Creating his own little brand – DJ Erfone he’s called – he’s from Scotland and he’s really good at presenting and everything – he’s got a lot about him. He might be a choice. And then there was a Manchester DJ who was really good, who I thought might be perfect, but we’ll see.
MF: But it’s great that you’re giving people opportunities because it’s proper hard nowadays…
M: It just shows from the response I got on Facebook from this competition, just how many hungry, up-and-coming DJs there are out there.
MF: So your visit to Deaf Institute, it’s called Limitless – what can people expect?
M: So we created this brand Limitless because where I DJ, produce and MC, people often find it hard to put me in a box and so I’ve always been one to say – I don’t wanna be in a box! Its an ongoing battle with the music industry because people want you to be in a box and I’m like – in this day and age – you font need to be.
That’s what the whole concept of Limitless was – I mean it is what it is – it’s limitless. Music for me should be limitless, there should be no boundaries, there should be no ceilings, so you can literally just do what you want as long as you love it and that’s what the whole concept of it was.
That’s why there’s a nice mixture of people on the line up like Nathan Dawe who’s an incredible DJ who’s had an amazing 18 months and The Manor who I’m a big fan of from London who are very much like The Streets – Mike Skinner-esque and that’s why the line up is so varied.
In terms of what people can expect, there’s going to be a musical journey – I love to take people on journeys and the night will feel like we’re taking you through so many different things. I remember like when I was a kid you were either one thing or another – you were either into rock music or you were into hip-hop and I was the weird kid who was into everything – who would skateboard and listen to Slipknot, then go onto pirate radio and MC.
Even looking at Post Malone, he’s a youngster that’s just come through now and he inspired me – he don’t care! If he wants to make a rock tune, and then a hip-hop tune he will and I love that and that’s what it should be like.
MF: So you’re celebrating music as a whole?
M: Yeah that’s it – you listen to my Spotify and from one tune to the next it’s different. I’ll be listening to some film scores by Hans Zimmer one second then Sultans of Swing by Dire Straights because I’m just musically eclectic and I think a lot of other people are too.
MF: Great stuff, that’s pretty much it to be fair Majestic – I’ll let you crack on with your day and preparing for the gigs. Good luck with Thursday and I hope you enjoy Manchester.
Limitless with Majestic is coming to Deaf Institute this Thursday 14th December
