![5 Questions with MarQ and Hailey Before Their Live Performance At Contour [Exclusive Interview]5 Questions with MarQ and Hailey Before Their Live Performance At Contour [Exclusive Interview]](https://www.dancemusicnw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_0953-small.jpg)
The Dance Music community has been shaken up with recent posts by artist like Mat Zo about the prevalence of ghost producers in the dance music industry. Arguments can be made to support each side, but it’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t something unique to Dance Music. One thing is certain though and it is this: raw talent is always something that can be appreciated. Anyone with enough cash can buy their way into the industry but it’s those with talent that can have a lasting career. What this tells us is that there is a hunger in the community for new and raw talent; people are craving something real.
MarQ is a local artist that has been in the Seattle area for a while, not only DJing but also producing his own music. This time, he has teamed up with new local singer Hailey Gorman. For those that have been to Foundation Nightclub before, Hailey might be a familiar face; she probably let you in when you were on guest list once upon a time. Together, they have been working on both covers and original songs. They have released a couple of complete songs on SoundCloud and other platforms.
They will be performing for their first time live together this coming Friday, June 12 at Contour. Their sound is more on the progressive side and it will be exciting to see what they have planned for a live show.
[divider]5 Questions with MarQ and Hailey[/divider]
1. You have been a long time local DJ, but have you always been producing music. Which came first?
I actually was producing/writing music long before I started djing. I played in bands since High School, in the early 90s I got into electronic music via industrial. Bands like Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Front Line Assembly etc. In the late 90s when trance started to really take shape, it started influencing some of the industrial bands and that got me into psytrance acts like Sun Project, GMS & Infected Mushroom. In 2001 I switched over to doing trance, and for this music, djing was the performance medium.
2. How did you and Hailey come together and make music?
Hailey works at Foundation where I frequently play. One night we were talking, and she said how she is a singer, so I offered to do a track with her. I try to always be open to working with new people; sometimes it goes nowhere, especially with singers. There are a lot of people who want to, who try to, but very few who actually can deliver. At times like this, you find a diamond in the rough like Hailey. She came over to the studio and was ready to go right from the start so we got a lot done in the last few months. I am really happy about how everything is coming together, and I feel like we have some pretty strong tracks for only working together since March of 2015.
3. With your new songs with Hailey, is the production just the two of you or is there anyone else that contributed to the music production?
On the covers – Someone Like You for example, I found the midi online so I had something to work with. It was a bit of a chore, because the original is in 2/4 time, not 4/4 time, and some of the phrasing was not right for dance music. Then I work all the instrumentation for the track, she comes over lays down the vocal and I work some magic, adding some effects to her voice and its ready to go.
On the originals – You Are Beautiful, I See You, and the next one currently in the works, Colorblind, Hailey writes the vocals, and comes up with the chord progression she wants it to be built around. She comes over, records a scratch vocal, plays the chord progression and then I build the song around it. So for the originals, its a true collaborative effort. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that she has some music training and can play piano.
4. Your first track with Hailey was an Adele song cover; what was the inspiration for “You Are Beautiful”?
MarQ – When we did the first track, so that we had something that was somewhat familiar, I wanted to do a remake. Hailey picked the song, and a great choice it was. It gave me a frame work and a road map to the song, and gave Hailey some great lyrics and some direction from the original. That allowed us to get it done so quickly. She really stepped up her game & quickly came up with the 3 original songs.
Hailey can tell you more about the inspiration for You Are Beautiful.
Hailey – On the inspiration for You Are Beautiful…..I have been writing music for quite some time, but never really had a direction to take it or created an actual track. Right after I met MarQ I wrote this. At the time, a dear friend of mine had been struggling with some difficult things in her life, watching her being affected in such a way made me want to (originally) write her a letter, which I was planning to mail to her as encouragement. This letter instead of being mailed was molded into a song…and You Are Beautiful was born. This song was written to remind my friend of her internal beauty and value, and also to encourage all people to respect, value, and appreciate the inner beauty in each other.
5. Are there any plans for a full EP release?
Yes now that the tracks are getting finalized, we are going to start shopping it around to some labels. We also just entered the Casablanca Records Demo Contest. We are currently #2 on that. So we will see how that goes. You can vote for us here.
After speaking with MarQ it looks like that they are open to more to do more shows and at different locations. It definitely wouldn’t be out of place to see them perform at Foundation, the place they met. You can follow their work on SoundCloud, Facebook and for any booking inquiries you can reach MarQ at marq@marq.org.
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