MMM have been catching the clubbing cognoscenti's eyes with their eclectically-tailored parties in London that mash-up house, dubstep, electro, hip-hop, baile funk, grime, DnB and more in some of London's more out-of-the-way party spaces. Who are the visionary types behind these tasty sounding little mash-ups? And what the hell is the Shoreditch Block Party? We must have some answers! Here's what Nikhil from MMM had to tell us on the matter.

How did you all meet?

We all went to uni together in Cambridge, which has quite an intimate (and incestuous!) scene. So although we were in different years, we always saw each other out and about at music nights - between us all we pretty much had a finger in every pie! We also realised recently that we all started our first nights at the same venue - this little 150 capacity dive called The Kambar. I thought it was a nice coincidence. Mine was a hip-hop/funk night, Amit's a garage/grime affair, Sam's a reggae/dancehall/dub night, and Zaz's was jungle d'n'b.

So we were basically mates for a few years, always playing out at the same nights, seeing each other at house parties and all that... after a while it became natural to start talking about the collaboration once we're all London-bound again. (We're all Londoners and all planned, of course, to return to London after studies).

What were your ambitions when you set up MMM?

Well, I set up the promotions name in Cambridge in my last few months - the main idea being to start something before I leave that will make a little noise and that people will hopefully recognise once we move back to London. I had this idea of the London scene being an impossible nut to crack. I wanted to do all that I could to keep the loyal crowd we'd created from student days.

Once all the boys were on board and we started talking about plans for London, it was really quite simple - to be able to run the occasional rowdy party with all our favourite DJs, all our good friends, and all their good friends. And it was always about big sounds - but also with our varied interests, trying to find ways to fit the jigsaw together in interesting and coherent ways that work for the good of the party.

Take us back to the first party – who played, where was it, and was it any kop?

Hah, now that's something we love reminiscing about. Our first party in London was just last year at Play Bar, Old Street - a little two floor venue that we hired one floor of - so a capacity of 200. We absolutely cained the old-school promotions - emails, text and word of mouth! It was a friends and family affair, with us and all our mates playing. It was stupidly rammed. And it went off. We had to pull the bassbin out into the middle of the room to service the dancefloor!

It's awesome now looking at the parties we're managing to pull off - still a long way to go of course - but nice to be able to use more interesting spaces, put on the line-ups we truly want to see, and watch it go off on the night.

Which guests have smacked it harder than any others?

Ooh, so many, that's such a difficult question! The obvious choice is N-Type. He graced one of our warehouse parties in Hackney Wick and absolutely rocked it... I was positively surprised as I still had a bit of scepticism about dubstep for that crowd, but the mosh proved me wrong! He absolutely loved it too, and what a gentleman he was. That's why we've got him back for the Block Party - it's perfect for him.

One more... Miss Gem The Brave. We found her on Myspace and thought she looks like a pretty cool girl, so put her on in the second room at one of our Warehouse Parties in Hackney Wick. And boy did she smack it! She absolutely loves hearing what she's playing, and she's got a really good jackin’ sound. Now she's a room 1 fixture all the time.

Do you think people’s tastes are a generally a bit more broad-minded then say 3 or 4 years ago? Is eclecticism more embraced these days?

Well, people certainly do love to talk about how eclectic they are don't they?!

But yes, I think it is on the whole. All entertainment's becoming more bite-sized and people's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter - true for me in any case! Music is also more accessible than 3-4 years ago. This all results in this "eclectisism", as we're calling it. We can't go out to a night and listen to just one genre ‘cos we get bored. However, a lot of the real varied music line-ups are done with an ironic slant - and often with little coherency. That's something we don't want to do!

Take us through the guests for your Shoreditch Block Party then – what made you book each of them?

C2C – ‘cos they rock. Simple. I've rarely seen such talented turntablists who can rock the crowd so well. They've got this amusing French charm, and the 2 DJs tear through all these sounds in the most inventive way. It felt like we had to do something like this for a 21st century Block Party. This is our homage to the old school!

Check them out here:
part 1

part 2

part 3

Radioclit - definitely a good fit for a MMM party. They like it rowdy, with a dance music style taking cues from crunk, grime and all that... again perfect for the block party ethos! I remember going nuts to them at one of the Get Familiar parties.
N-type - well that's obvious really, he'll smash it! Dubstep has become quite a feature at our nights, we choose our guests carefully as we know our crowd isn't specifically a Dubstep crowd, but we know that when it's done properly it can go off! And for this he's perfect.

Detboi - the Irish bassmentalist - this boy is one to watch! Rated highly by the likes of Annie Mac, Herve and Sinden, which can't be bad. He's got a real fresh style incorporating all sorts of big bass sounds – jackin’ electro baile funk baltimore club and all that. Check out his tunes, you won't be able to stop yourself nodding your head!

What are your ultimate plans with Man Make Music? Where would you like to take the whole venture?

Ah, the eternal question. Well I like to dream, and I like to be ambitious, so I'd like to take it everywhere! Man Make Music, Man Make Style, Man Make Art, Man Make Film, and the venue, Man Make Space. Get in touch if you want to get involved! (sorry, little plug).

Which other parties in London and around the world do you really admire?

I'm sure the rest of the guys have got their own faves, and completely different at that... but I'm a festival man, so first and foremost it's got to be Exit Festival. That was literally a life-changing experience - if you've been you'll know what I'm talking about. The dance arena is so epic, with one of these "god is a DJ" type rigs. The booth is like 20 metres up. The crowd stretch back to the top of these hills at the back so it's self contained, unlike most open air festival arenas - it gives it this incredibly intimate vibe, despite the fact that you're dancing with thousands of people. I also love the silly festivals like Bestival and Secret Garden Party.

In London, I really rate TDK. Always a good party. Also the Get Familiars at Fabric, Issst/Slaang, Bugged Out, Chibuku and lots more.

OK dream line-up time.....and where would you host the party for this dream team?

Tough question! It'd be a festival. But less guitars, more filth. Lots of guests, but to name a few - some biggies like Chemical Brothers, DJ Shadow, Wu Tang, Basement Jaxx, Elephant Man or something jokes like that. Closer to home, the whole Dubsided crew, Diplo/Switch and friends, the kings of dubstep, Claude Von Stroke, Buraka, Mr Hudson & The Library, Spank Rock (they tore it up last week at Bestival), and lots more.

I reckon somewhere in India would be dope. Near the sea maybe. Lush.

And finally – why should we try Man Make Music?

‘Cause we know how to throw a good party! It's not about being too cool for school, it's not about keeping up appearances, it's all about having a good time. At a MMM party you'll see hands in the air and sweat dripping from the walls (if we've got walls of course).


Check out full details of the Man Make Music Shoreditch Block Party here