Yeh this is Public Domain in their current form. The new stuff they've been churning out is amazing and their live show has been rewired and is supposed to be OFFTAP!!!
Here's a recent interview with Mark Sherry (one of the members of Public Domain who will also be playing a DJ set) - taken from here: .
Mark Sherry Interview
1. You’ve had a few different Public Domain members throughout the years. Tell us a little bit about the history of how Public Domain came about and the growth of the group to where it is now.
Public Domain was founded by myself (Mark Sherry), James Allan and Alistair MacIsaac. The first track we did together was Operation Blade. The track was originally created sampling vocals from Public Enemy’s Flava Flav. We never got sample clearance so we had to find a vocalist to redo the vocals…and fast!! This is where Mallorca Lee came in. I had known Mall from the rave days due to us doing some gigs together over the years so he was the perfect choice for the job. When it came to doing an album together Davie Forbes joined the team (Mallorca’s studio partner). They already had 4 tracks written that fitted into the PD bracket so we used them on the album along with 6 tracks that we had written...the rest is history. Mallorca left the band in 2002 when he found out he was going to be a Dad. He didn’t want to be jumping around a stage and touring as much with a baby on the way. We are still all the best of mates. Neil Skinner is our wicked new front man and is known for being MC Cyclone from Dyewitness. He has now joined PD as a full member after passing an initiation test of running across hot coals shouting “Im a Ladee, I’m a Ladee”. Alistair has now gone his own way too so now Public Domain are myself, James and Neil…PHEW !!!!
2. Your live set looks quite involved, having 3 members and a lot of equipment! What is each group member’s role in your live performance and what can we expect from this tour?
James and myself play the keyboards. Neil does some keys too and also does the vocals. The tour is going to be very tiring but we’ve all worked our asses off to ensure that this goes off with a BANG - big time!!
3. You’ve played some pretty massive and interesting shows to date, including playing at a Russian Dance Fortress (2 miles out to sea!) and most of the world’s biggest festivals. What have been your most memorable performances throughout the years and why?
Most recently we headlined at Coloursfest in Glasgow and it was very special for us because it was really our first big gig with Neil as our front man. We rocked the place in front of 6000 people on home turf and it was that gig that made everything click and fall into place with the new format of PD. I was also asked to stand in and DJ for Paul Van Dyk after our live show as he had sustained an injury and couldn’t’ make the gig…I took up the offer and it was definitely the best Scottish gig I’ve ever had!! My own personal favourite DJ gig would have to be DJing on one of the trucks at the Berlin Love Parade in Germany 3 years in a row…I couldn’t put that it into words.
4. Public Domain have come racing back into the charts once again with hits such as “Make the Connection” (Number 1 for 8 weeks running in the “Music Weekly” magazine) as well as the “Love U More” remix (weekly spinner on Radio One and is the number 1 track for Anne Savage and Guy Ornadel's current play lists for 2005) – What has this continued success meant for Public Domain and can you give us an insight into what material you guys have coming up?
Its all good in the hood but we never get relaxed about things like that – you have to keep soldiering on and coming up with new tracks. Love U More will be the last kind of remake that we will do for some time but we couldn’t refuse the offer because our manager is a brother of Paul from Sunscreem (the original artist). It was a really easy project for us to kick-start and also uses Lucia the original vocalist. We have also just released another single called Americana, which is a bit of a thumper with huge Latin style drums in it – its quite different but still has the hard-edged PD stamp on it. Its getting great support from all the biggest hard jocks just now.
5. Last time I interviewed Mark Sherry, he hadn’t yet had the chance to get into the studio to produce his own music. 2 years down the track, we see 2 very impressive releases lined up for one of Europe’s massive Tech Trance labels “Detox”, with “Vengeance” and “Live & Learn” as well his remixes of Ratty – Sunrise and Scott Mac’s Damager. Mark: Where will you be taking your production and what other tasty treats do you have in store for us?
Its something that I should have done a long time ago but basically I didn’t have the time. Over the last 2 years I’ve created a good environment to work in with any spare time that I get (which isn’t much these days!!). The only new project I can mention is that I’ll be doing a remix of Detox’s biggest ever release very soon…I’ll leave u guessing!!! ;0)
6. Mark: Do you have plans to work with other producers in the future? If so, who would you most like to work with and why?
There are too many to mention Kels, but my favourite newcomer producers just now are DJ Choose ( aka That Mucho – who’s just remixed Love U More for us…it’s bangin !!!) and Sam Sharp (Sander van Doorn). Mauro Picotto, Marco V and Scot Project are still up there in my faves too.
7. This tour involves not only a Live set by Public Domain, but also a DJ set by Mark Sherry. What can we expect from Mark and will his sound differ from the more mainstream sound of PD?
Well wait till you hear our live show now, it ain’t very mainstream!! This is the hardest set we’ve ever put together so I’m sure the Aussies will love it - it’s mental!! My DJ set will be a continuation of that with some bangin tech-trance and techno thrown in! BRING IT ON!!!
8. Since you were last in Australia, you’ve performed at the Dancestar Awards on Channel 4 and turned a lot of heads with your performance. What was this experience like for you guys?
The atmosphere was amazing - on the Dancestar Awards website it says that our performance was “one of the most electric performances we’ve ever recorded” (laughs)…maybe it had something to do with Mallorca walking across tables, kicking champagne bottles and having fireworks going off behind us…
9. What can we expect from your new album “Digital Rock n Roll” and when can we catch it in the stores?
There’s no release date set in stone yet but it should be summer time (UK). It’s more mature than the last album and has some varied types of music from dirty tech/prog, hip-hop, breaks and of course loads of seriously banging hard trance/tech-trance and techno!!
10. A widely talked about issue in today’s dance scene is MP3’s/digital downloads vs Vinyl and perhaps the death of vinyl as we know it. What are your feelings on this issue?
It’s sad that vinyl sales are reducing but it will always be there I reckon. You can’t beat having a big slab of plastic in your hand compared to a CD. 75% of the promos that get sent to me now are on CD so my set is roughly made up of 50/50 vinyl and CD which to be honest is a lot lighter to carry on tour (laughs). The download scare seems to be becoming a hell of a lot more controlled now, which is great news.
11. Who in the band focus on your musical direction? Is it all 3 of you or does someone lead the group musically?
We all contribute as much as each other. It’s myself (Mark) that likes the slightly harder grittier stuff… James and Neil bring more of the breaks and hip-hop to it. We all work great together when it comes to writing new shit.
12. You’ve all done so much so far in your career as musicians… so…. Where to from here?!
Ooooow I dunno… how about us heading down to Australia to tour for 2 weeks and play all the biggest clubs on offer…aaah damn it we’re about to do that aren’t we?!.WOOHOOO !!!!!
