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Formerly known as Marvin The Martian, Marvin first appeared on the UK rap scene as a member of Why Lout?, who made a splash with their track 'Stay Of The Kane', which sampled Art Brut's 'Emily Kane'.
By 2006, Marvin had gone solo, but was still sampling indie bands, using part 'Walk With Me' by the then unsigned GoodBooks for a track on his 'Hoods & Badges' EP.
On 21 Jul, he releases his latest single 'That One Time', with his debut album 'Devil In The Distance' out the following week. The album is an autobiographical work that drifts between dark and comic, with everything from tales of being stabbed by rascists at a Brixton bus stop to playing pranks at school. |
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I started writing when I was very, very young, putting couplets together, working out rhythms and hooks. I had no understanding of what
I was doing, I think Fresh Prince had me thinking it was what kids were meant to do. By the time I was about sixteen, I'd figured out that maybe I
could do more with my writing than just impressing my friends, but honestly it wasn't until I was maybe twenty or twenty one that I started to take my music seriously.
Q2 What inspired your latest single/album?
My single 'That One Time' is about my many romps in secondary school. I went to a pretty rough boy's school in south London, so every day was an adventure; for the song I climbed back into my 14 year old self, reminded myself of some seriously funny incidents and added a very
sarcastic spin to them. We knew we wanted to do something 'Grange Hill' in the production so we put together a fun summer electro beat for it.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
My process is pretty simple. I'll go into my pre-production studio with my producer Jack Nimble - he's usually got a few things on the go - I tell
him what I'm thinking and he tells me what he's been thinking, he gives me a set of headphones with his ideas while he takes a set of headphones
with my ideas. I take an hour or so to hone in on the concept, the beginning, middle and end while Jack cracks out the keyboard, messes
about with some synths and gets on with the next track. It usually works so that we've got at least two songs on at the same time. It's a kind of
factory process but it means we get to challenge each other and recently it's allowed us to really get creative with our conceptual work. We'll
have one and a half songs in 24 hours on a good day.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
The artists that have the biggest influence on my work are rappers, obviously. I take a lot of energy and confidence from Dizzee Rascal and
Jay-Z. They help me to keep going. Musically though the list is very broad. Right now, I'm taking a lot of my delivery and my concepts from
David Bowie and my old Trojan compilations.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Walk with me. I'm going to take you somewhere you've never been before; I'm going to show you the good, the bad and the curtains. You're not
going to miss a thing.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single/album, and for the future?
I want to connect. I appreciate the opportunity my fans have given me so far but I have an album that I think can reach a lot of people's souls.
I don't think I'll ever be able to truly measure successes and failures within my career so it's hard to say what I truly want, but I'd like to
be able to continue working as an artist after my first album. I can't ask for more than that the way the industry is today.
published july 2008
