The embodiment of the modern DJ, Mark Knight’s legacy already ranks him as a leading player in dance music culture’s evolution into the digital and globalised age. His high octane sets have caused dance floor carnage in every corner of the world, whilst his original productions and slick remixes make his studio skills the most in-demand and sought after in the business. Yet, Mark Knight’s success has been more than just gigs and remixes, his own workshop for 21st century dance musicians; the Toolroom imprint has developed into an uncontrollable beast, forging an insatiable, genre busting sound and reached the milestone of 100 releases in 2009 with none other than Faithless as new label artists.

Mark has recently released and outstanding compilation Toolroom Knights Mixed By Mark Knight 2.0 featuring exclusive and unreleased tracks written specifically for the compilation by both Mark Knight and Funkagenda. With new productions including a remix of Leftfield’s classic ‘Phat Planet’, both mixes reflect Mark Knight’s world famous DJ sets and see’s Mark pushing new boundaries and blurring the lines between DJ and producer.

And you probably know by now that DJdownload and Toolroom Records have teamed up to offer the individual parts of Mark Knight’s exclusive ‘Mannheim’ track and run a very special Remix Competition. The individual parts are exclusive to everyone who buys the 32 track album, to find out more about the competition Click Here! And to find out whats it like being a Knight , keep reading!

What does an average week in the life of Mark Knight consist of?
If I’m not away on tour I like to keep as much structure as possible to my working week, so I’ll get into the office/studio for 9.30am and work through to 7.30/8pm (sometimes later). I really have to split my time, balancing various roles within the week between A&R and the things that surround Toolroom – I like to have a hands on approach with the musical directive of the label. Then of course there’s producing music and maintaining a consistency of high quality output which is key to being on top if your game. I also need to make time to prepare my sets and everything that goes with the weekend gigs, doing re-edits and sourcing new music etc. And now, with my new weekly Toolroom Knights radio show I have to set time aside to do research and record it every week. All this while trying to maintain as much of a balanced life, which I have learned over the years is really important to make all the other things work. I am really fortunate to have a great team around me to make even attempting the whole thing possible.

Tell us about your new Toolroom Knights 2.0 compilation…
I wanted to encapsulate what I do in my longer sets with this double CD and make it standout, sourcing lots of unreleased music from my favourite producers. I’ve written 2 exclusive tracks for the compilation – ‘Club Politics’ and ‘Mannheim’… Funkagenda and I have also remixed the classic Leftfield track ‘Phat Planet’. I guess, without sounding cliché, I wanted to take people on a musical journey, starting out with deep house, right through to techno.

What’s the remix competition you’ve just launched?
As an exclusive to everyone who buys a copy of the double pack CD fromDJ Download, the individual parts of my track ‘Mannheim’ will be included. What we want is for people to have a go at re-mixing the track themselves, exploring all genre’s of dance, not just House. Toolroom will then release the best re-mixes alongside my mix in July when the track is released as an official single. You can read full T&C’s on my website www.djmarkknight.com, or click here !

Your diary over the summer is looking very busy with a lot of time being spent in the U.S. Tell us about your new residencies over there?
Both residencies at Pacha New York and Vanguard Los Angeles are going really well. The initial thought behind it was for me to play all night and rekindle the notion of one DJ and one journey, playing a 7hr set. I’m really enjoying it and to have a residency at two such major U.S. clubs is awesome. With the parties, there’s a big emphasis on set design and visuals to makes it interesting and this allows me to really put a stamp on the night, create a show and offer people something new every time they come to a Toolroom Knights show.

Ibiza season is upon us again. What’s your plans for the summer over there?
We’re gonna host 5 TOOLROOM KNIGHTS IBIZA TAKEOVERS this summer on this island – 4 parties at Pacha and 1 party at Space, kicking off 3rd July and running through to September.

I will be appearing at all the dates which include, Pacha on the 3rd July with Benny Benassi, then 7th of August with Sander Kleinenberg. 19th of August it’s Toolroom Knights V’s Subliminal Sessions with Erick Morillo, then on the 1st of September with Fedde le Grand.

In addition to the Pacha parties we’re doing a one-off Toolroom Knights Takeover on the Terrace at Space on Tuesday 25th August with myself, Dave Spoon and Kissy Sellout. Inside it’s Fatboy Slim and Carl Cox. So really looking forward to this. If you’re on the island this summer look out for the Toolroom Knights giveaways…stickers, bags and tee-shirts.

And for those who are opting for festivals rather than Ibiza, where can they catch you?
I’m flat out playing all the major festivals across the UK and Europe and the last weekend in August I’ve been booked to play three festivals in one day, which will be great fun! Here’s what’s in the diary… Global Gathering UK (we’re hosting out own Toolroom Knights arena), SW4, Creamfields. Dance Valley in Holland (Toolroom Knights Arena), Tomorrow Land in Belgium, Global Gathering Poland and Turkey. Summertime Dance Explosion in Bulgaria, Papaya, Pag Island in Crotia and Mysteryland Holland.

Being away so much, how do you focus on studiowork?
The great thing about music production nowadays is that it can be done anywhere at anytime with the use of a laptop. I use every available minute when travelling to either start tracks which I will then finish in the studio or it gives me the opportunity to continue tracks that I’ve started in the studio. It’s all about making the most of your time.

We hear you’ve recently launched a Mark Knight ‘Toolroom Knights’ weekly radio show. Tell us more.
The idea of the show is to reflect what you would expect to hear on the dancefloor at any Toolroom Knights party. Every week I play as much upfront music as possible in 60 mins, throwing in on top a 1 hour guest mix from artists in and related to the Toolroom camp. The only musical criteria for the show is quality, I play everything from deep house to techno. You can always expect to hear loads of exclusives . You can listen again each week from the player on my myspace www.myspace.com/djmarkknight

Toolroom recently celebrated its 100th release! What’s the key to the labels success and how do you see Toolroom developing in forthcoming years?
Good Music, hard work, passion, total dedication and good business principals has got us to where are now. All credit also goes to the team here at Toolroom. Its hard to find people that are so genuinely passionate about or success. As for our future we need to mature with our artists so look out for artist albums from all the key players on Toolroom. I’m putting my money on the new Tom Neville album one of the best pieces of music I have heard in years. We also started ‘Missspelt Music’ for the slightly more mainstream records we release and we have also invested heavily this year in our ‘Leaders Of The New School label’ so look out for big things from that. There are some massive arstists lined up for release in 2009 so watch this space. But one of our key objectives is to develop Toolroom Knights, not only the compilations but with the shows with key residencies all over the world and arenas at most of the major festivals.

Other than studio talent, what do you look for in a Toolroom artist?
The trick with A&R is spotting potential, so if you have an understanding of how to make a record you can spot good production. This may need guidance, but you can hear straight away who’s got it and who hasn’t. The success of Toolroom has been our ability to develop new talent and build a collective sound. Our roster is testament to this. I will always strive for us to be cutting edge and seek out fresh talent. We have never adopted cheque book mentality we will never do so and we don’t need to.

How do you sustain longevity?
Offering my own take on current trends is key to breeding longevity. Production techniques are influenced by new technologies and plugins and it’s important to stay on top of this. Also, I would find it very boring to switch on the computer and re-hash the same ideas over and over. I try to keep my musical output varied to reflect my taste as I feel this is a good challenge for myself and also makes me unique in producing various style’s of house.

What forthcoming releases can we expect from you?
Been busy in the studio over the past few months working on lots of new music. We’ve finally cleared the sample for ‘Good Times’. Myself and Funkagneda have made some changes to the track, giving it a totally fresh new sound. Expect release end of July. Then there’s the new one from myself and D. Ramirez featuring Karl Hyde from Underworld. Major coup, as it’s the first time Karl has collaborated with anyone outside of Underworld. Track’s called ‘Downpipe’ and will be available end of August. Also, look out for a new one from myself and Martijn Ten Velden in August called ‘‘Sophisticated Simplicity’’ I have been road testing this recently and it’s been going off!!

Click here to buy the album with exclusive remix parts