Justin Martin

You can tell he loves what he does just from the ever mischievous smile of Justin Martin. From his bio “Life is too important to be taken seriously” one wonders if it should be changed to “Live each day like it’s your last”. Miss Eleanor caught up with Justin for a moment at Movement 2011 Day 1, as they discuss the beginnings, touring and the label Dirtybird.

Justin Martin: AND Action!

Pulse: [Laughs] I’m speaking with Justin Martin of Dirtybird, who has been seminal in nurturing the underground scene with Claude Von Stroke in San Francisco. You have been booked to play at the Beatport stage this Monday. Justin Martin: Yes I am so excited.

I heard that you have a crazy 72 hours where you are playing here tonight at the Works for the “I heart you but I’ve chosen techno” party, then you are supposed to go to Vegas? And then coming back to play the festival on Monday? [Laughs] I’m going to Vegas.

Wait, so how does that work. You are just racking up the miles. Yeah I know, it’s going to be a crazy weekend. I should have taken my vitamins but I forgot.

Well you know, we got Vitamin Water (a Movement 2011 sponsor) Good idea. I think that is going to be my next drink. Vitamin water and vodka.

So is this your first time playing Movement/DEMF [Detroit Electronic Music Festival]? Yeah, it’s my first time playing DEMF. I’ve been here many times and I love this festival so it’s such an honor to be playing.

And how does this festival compare to other larger festivals you have played, like Exit festival and Piknik. I’ll say this, for a US festival, it's the best festival, hands down, without a doubt. It actually has a very European feel to it to me. The mainstream music in Europe embraces a lot more underground electronic music that here is considered underground. So when you play somewhere like Exit festival, its crazy. People really dig it, but to have that in the US is kind of rare, I think and Detroit is definitely the Mecca for it.

Do you do anything before to prep for your gig? Any superstitions? Any superstitions? Yeah I always wear my sweatshirt for the first 2 songs and then take it off no matter how hot it is [laughs]….I don’t know. Well I don’t really have any superstitions. I always try to prepare by making sure that all my CDs are burned properly, ‘cause every time I open my CD booklet, its always a mess from the night before. Everything by the end of the night is all in one sleeve. Like 6 CDs stacked on top of each other, beer spilled on them, like there are holes in the CDs (hahaha). Yeah so I make sure everything is in order. And I try to make sure I have something special that makes me excited to play that night.

So what is most vivid DEMF memory? Probably when Claude Von Stroke DJ-ing on the Beatport stage, both times he played. It was just incredible. His parents were there, up on the stage with him. And just hearing him play some of my new tracks and a lot of the new Dirtybird tracks and seeing the crowd reactions, it was like “alright cool, its working, we are doing something right!”

How did you get linked up with Claude Von Stroke? Actually, my brother first met him b/c he edited a video that my brother wrote for The Roots. It’s was really different. It’s still in the music industry but they were doing a lot of film stuff. At the time Barclay (aka Claude Von Stroke) was doing a movie called Intellect that was basically a “How to DJ” DVD. There were so many “How to Scratch” DVDs, but there was no one was telling these stories of all these successful people like Paul Van Dyk and Miguel Migs. So he interviewed each person and found out how they became successful and I had just graduated from college and he needed music for the DVD. So in exchange for me giving him music for the DVD, he basically became my mentor. So he wanted to see these lessons that he made in this baby, his creation.

So it paid off! Yeah it actually worked. So he became my manager. Really helping me start my career and then shortly after, we started Dirtybird.

That’s amazing. So what’s the deal behind the “Bird”? There’s Dirtybird and a couple of tracks with birds? Yeah Dirtybird originally started with…..well before the label we were looking for a name for our crew because we were doing renegade parties in San Francisco Golden Gate Park. You know, outdoor, free, bring a sound system, a bunch of good food to BBQ. I was bartending at the time to pay my bills, I just finished college. And we were just sitting in the bar one night trying to think of a crew name. And he kept drawing this bird he was drawing since he was a kid. A little scribble, the Dirtybird on the napkin. I don’t know who said it, but it was either me or my brother , “That’s a DIRTY looking bird” DIRTYBIRD! Yes, you know. And it kind of just grew from there. It became the crew name and the label. And there is something to be said of that and nothing sweeter than the sound of birds. [both laugh] 

I don’t know if you noticed but I put a lot of bird sounds in my tracks. No matter how rough or tough it gets, you add a little symphony of bird chirping, then it suddenly becomes….
It’s very melodic.
Yeah exactly.

So what can we expect from you in this coming year? I’m working on an artist album right now for Dirtybird. It should be out in the fall. I’m working my butt off. It’s quite difficult since I’m touring quite a bit but determined to make it happen.

How do you find time to produce music? I don’t sleep very much. I have a really bad sleep problem but its ok; I get a lot done because of it.

Who are you going to check out at the festival? Oh my god, I’m so excited to see the Soul Clap guys. I’m excited for the party tonight, “I heart you but I’ve chosen techno”, Maceo Plex, and Robag, and Tanner Ross, Catz ‘n Dogs, my boys, the first guy I ever produced with Sammy Dee, is starting this project called Pillowtalk where he is singing producing these throwback, 80’s soul vibe and he’s debuting his performance here.

Right he’s performing vs. Thugfucker
Right, oh man I love those guys.

Interview by Miss Eleanor



Bentwave, airs every monday nights hosted by Miss Eleanor, brings the electronic music to radio in a format you can dance to. Bentwave keeps you stepping to beats you won't hear in most other dance contexts, with tunes ranging from smart electronics, clickhouse, deep techno, minimal, microsound, 8-bit goodness, and other bumping tunes of the 'bent' variety. Tune in and expand your wavelength!
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Justin Martin on Pulse