Mark Rae

The beginning of Rae & Christian

t5m — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:55:06 +0000

Mark got the idea for his record label from his record shop since it was so successful. He found himself a small office space and within a month fate stepped in. Simply Red’s studio was opposite his office, and the inhouse engineer was Steve Christian. Steve would come and listen to Mark chopping records and Mark would go and see Steve producing records in a professional way. They decided to work together and their first album was ‘Central Heating’.

A friend of Mark’s sent his demo to the guy who ran Delicious Vinyl in America, and in response he told him to remix the accapella version for The FarSide. He stayed up for three days straight, and it turned out that the owner of Delicious Vinyl loved Mark’s remix and told him to release it on his own label. Panic set in, but quickly subsided, and Mark ended up releasing The FarSide on his record label and the record sold like wildfire! As a duo, Mark and Steve ended up recording 90 remixes.

Mark believes that the best skill is to have a well recorded vocal tied in with his street edge and Steve’s musicality, they wanted to make something far superior than the artist’s original. They received lots of accolades, and took advantage of the business when £10,000 was the going price to make a remix.

Their best album was Northern Sulphuric Soul which catapulted into success, led them to do live performances at Glastonbury.

Record breaking

t5m — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:05:48 +0000

After Mark left college, he met Ed Pitts who had a great knowledge of funk music and Mark was the front runner for rare groove and hip hop music, so together they decided to open a record shop, Fat City.

Everyone in the North West came to their shop, and those who did come seemed to be buying records with drum beats. When Mark asked why they were buying these records, they replied that they made records at home and this is how he met the members of his record label Grand Central Records.

Working in a record shop was always a challenge, and it didn’t help that they got “crazy” customers now and again! Gang member’s who weren’t allowed in that part of town sent their girlfriends to the record shop instead - taxis would pull up outside, they would run upstairs and take out rolls of money and take all the gangster CDs like ‘Ghetto Boys’ and rush off in a hurry. Others would buy a CD, returning after eight months with a tatttered CD wanting to return it! Mark tells us it was very important to stand his ground…

There were other times that were just plain fun, like their Friday night “benders” and then coming in to work on Saturday still drunk and having to face customers. Mark would sleep under the counter on a plastic bag, whilst music was thumping in the background.

The record shop is still going strong, it is the only place you can buy that type of music on vinyl, he told t5m.

Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on…

t5m — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:18:25 +0000

Mark Rae, DJ extraordinaire was first exposed to the music scene as a young boy when he was trying to fall asleep and Reggae and Disco music would be vibrating through the lounge floor. His dad would also dance around to music in the 1970s, which made him realise that music was a very powerful thing.

In his teens, he listened to soul music, his favourite artists included Marvin Gaye and Johnnie Taylor and he regularly visited the record store Hitsville USA in Newcastle. With hip-hop on the rise, he began DJ-ing and he played rare groove selections at the Riverside in Newcastle, where The Smiths fans would tell him to stop playing American music, he told t5m.

He went to Manchester and spent his entire grant money at Ultimate Breaks and Beats (UBB) spinning records. There weren’t many DJs at the time, and so he taught himself how to spin, practising hours on end in order to perfect his skills. He played music like Trouble Funk and Public Energy.