Staff WriterAlt8, born Evan Marshall has been carving a name for himself in Ireland and abroad. Having had a massive 2021, the Irish producer is keeping up his string of finely crafted hard techno releases with continuous releases on well regarded techno labels.
Respected for his indelible high energy DJ sets, Alt8 has been tearing up clubs in Ireland and across Europe. Fast paced Industrial drums with lots of rave influences from the 90’s and early 2000’s such as Shranz are evident in his style. Leading into 2021 Alt8 has begun to form a distinct sound from mixing hard Techno drums or Shranz like grooves with soaring melodies and trance like synths. Musical influences come from artists such as DJ Rush, Chris Liebing, Klangkuenstler, Shlomo, Rebekah & Slam
We caught up with the rising techno star to see what he’s been up to for the last year.
Ireland has been churning out some really talented producers when it comes to electronic music. Who’s been a main source of inspiration when it comes to Irish talent for you and why?
Ireland is definitely booming right now with upcoming talented producers and I often get sent some really good tracks. Someone who has definitely inspired me and helped me unlock my creativity is Will Kinsella aka Hybrasil. During lockdown I completed two of his Elevator Programme courses which gave me the tools and confidence to get my productions to where they are now. Big ups Will
Why should we listen to your music?
When I begin to produce a track I generally have a vision and my mood helps to articulate it. I want my tracks to be a story to the listener. I tend to stick to the higher bpm ranges but I don’t limit myself to a particular ‘’style’’ as such which I think keeps things interesting with each release. Expect the unexpected.
You say you take a lot of rave influences from the 90s and 00s – however, that was before your time! What is it about that era that draws you the most?
I always romanticise the ideology of having lived through the 90’s warehouse rave era and more recently I’ve began to wonder what it was like during the early 00’s hard techno scene. It just screams No Bullshit, just good music and nothing else to it. During lockdown I starting digging up some early 2000’s Hard Techno records and I was instantly hooked with some of the Shranz like grooves from the likes of Chris Liebing, DJ Rush, Patrick DSP & Sven Wittekind. A lot of stuff im currently producing is influenced from this era and I hope to share those in 2022.
With releases on Kneaded Pains, DistroKid, T-Minus and soon to be Moments In Time, can you share with us some label goals for the next 5 years?
I have some pretty cool releases upcoming and i’m always pushing to climb that label ladder but a dream label for me would R-Label. It’s my end goal label for sure. Others I’d definitely like would be Monnom black, Soma records, Possession & RAW.
Your remix for Rebekah was no doubt a huge task. Can you tell us how you added your own twist to her original?
By far one of the most enjoyable tracks I’ve produced. As soon as I heard the distorted vox I had a vision of a dark rolling track. There was a strange pad used in Rebekah’s original that I loved. I took that, transposed it up 7 semitones and filtered it in & out throughout the whole track which really created a continuous hypnotic but dark vibe. The Reese Like sustained baseline brought some Rave to the fold and really gives it energy! This remix got supported by so many big artists worldwide and I’m just so happy & greatful people like it. Massive respect to Rebekah for the opportunity.
Questions: Emma Chambers